The Herschel Space Observatory’s mission to photograph the stars is winding down, so we wanted to take the chance to remember some of the finest images Herschel captured during its three-year tour of duty. Now, yes, some of these images are color corrected and touched up to highlight the more spectacular points contained within them — like the star forming inside a galactic bubble eight times more massive than our sun. In our view, that doesn’t make them any less valuable to astronomers studying them, which is the whole point. It also makes them way better eye-candy for the rest of us to gape at, so we’re just going to be thankful for it, rather than nitpicky.
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Let us know what your favorite shots are in the comments!
(via ESA)
- I guess this galaxy looks a little bit like a Space Invader, in the right light
- Herschel contributed a couple of our favorite images of space from 2012
- This comet will be close enough that you won’t need a giant space telescope to see it
