Golden GlowThe barred spiral galaxy NGC 1097 has a supermassive black hole at its center (pictured). How supermassive? It's 140 million times the mass of our sun. Researchers believe black holes are key to understanding the evolution of galaxies.

Photograph by ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), K. Onishi (SOKENDAI), NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope

WEEK'S BEST SPACE PICTURES

Week's Best Space Pictures: A Satellite Burns Up

In the latest images of our universe, stars collide and a satellite goes up in smoke.

ByJane J. Lee

Photo gallery bySherry L. Brukbacher

Published June 19, 2015

Feed your need for heavenly views of the universe with our picks of the most awe-inspiring space pictures. This week, researchers discover a supermassive black hole throwing a 50-million-year long tantrum and NASA checks up on a delta in a Louisiana lake.

Week's Best Space Pictures: A Satellite Burns Up

Do the oldest satellites in space need saving?

These are the first images from Earth’s giant new telescope

Vera Rubin was the GOAT of dark matter

What we can learn from watching 100,000 animals in unbelievable detail—from space

You can still see comet 3I/ATLAS in the night sky. Here’s how.