NASA's most beautiful images of space

By Creative Bloq Staff
published

Here are five of NASA's most amazing images that even the most talented of creatives would struggle to make.

Take stock and recharge your sense of proportion. It's good for your soul. Even when you're in the fiery pits of a deadline and your coffee-swilling Creative Director is baying for blood, it pays to remember your place in the celestial order of things.

We're tiny, and the Earth is, let's be honest, dwarfed by most of everything in the known universe.

The universe is also making works of art that, may just be, prettier that the stuff you're working on. If not prettier, it's work will probably have more far-reaching consequences than your efforts. And if not more consequential, the products the universe is making have, at least, stood the test of time (depending upon your vantage and velocity).

So, here are five images from space - made by NASA - that should help you find peace, and a put your day in proportion. And if they don't, they're beautiful nonetheless.

01. The final frontier

This images looks like a psychedelic still taken from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In reality the red arc is actually a giant shockwave created by a speed star (opens in new tab) called Kappa Cassiopeiae.

Download a hi-res TIFF (opens in new tab)

02. How the sun shines

This image shows x-rays steaming off the sun (opens in new tab). The blue and green streams are actually visualisations that have been overlaid on picture taken by a telescope.

Download the hi-res TIFF (opens in new tab)

03. When galaxies collide

This amazing light show was created when two spiral galaxies had a grazing encounter (opens in new tab). The images was created by combining images captured by two different telescopes, each designed see different things.

Download a hi-res TIFF (opens in new tab)

04. Where stars are born

This is W3, a huge stellar nursery that's about 6,200 light-years away. It's situated in one of the Milky Way galaxy's main spiral arms, called the Perseus Arm. Look closely at the downloadable TIFF and you'll see yellow and blue dots in the red filaments. These are young stars.

Download a hi-res TIFF (opens in new tab)

05. Darkness seldom seen

This amazing view of Saturn (opens in new tab) was taken in the planet's shadow, with The sun's rays backlighting the famous rings. It was taken by the Cassini Orbiter and is both rare and precious. The last time Cassini was in a position to take such an image was 2006.

Download a hi-res TIFF (opens in new tab)

Words: Martin Cooper

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Creative Bloq Staff

The Creative Bloq team is made up of a group of design fans, and has changed and evolved since Creative Bloq began back in 2012. The current website team consists of six full-time members of staff: Editor Kerrie Hughes, Deputy Editor Rosie Hilder, Deals Editor Beren Neale, Senior News Editor Daniel Piper, Digital Arts and Design Editor Ian Dean, and Staff Writer Amelia Bamsey, as well as a roster of freelancers from around the world. The 3D World and ImagineFX magazine teams also pitch in, ensuring that content from 3D World and ImagineFX is represented on Creative Bloq. 

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