Space scientists share 16 stunning ‘cosmic gem’ images

By Dean Murray

Space scientists have revealed a gallery of "cosmic gems."

A new series of images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes displays a collection of galaxies showcasing their variety.

There are 16 new pictures in the gallery, each one containing X-ray data from Chandra that has been collected across the observatory's decades in space.

This high-energy data has been combined with data from telescopes such as NASA's James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes, IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array), and others both on the ground and in space.

NASA says that studying galaxies offers a way to learn about our own.

Megan Watzke, of the Chandra X-ray Center, said: "Galaxies are like cosmic gems, each with characteristics including size and shape that make them distinct.

"Just as gems reveal the history of Earth through how they were forged over billions of years, these galactic gems are a way to study Earth's place in our home galaxy of the Milky Way.

"By looking outward to other galaxies, we learn more about our own – including clues to its past and future."