Along Came a SpiderA "stunning" closeup released this week shows part of the Tarantula Nebula, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. The star-forming region of ionized hydrogen gas sits in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The cloud hosts many extreme cosmic phenomena, including supernova remnants, according to the European Space Agency. (Related: "Hubble Telescope Catches Superfast Runaway Star.")
Image courtesy NASA, ESA

Space Pictures This Week: Stormy Sun, Oldest Galaxies

See the "stunning" Tarantula Nebula, before-and-after pictures of the Japan earthquake, and "surreal" star births in this week's best space photos.

Published March 21, 2011