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ALMA has made the most precise measurements of cold gas swirling around a supermassive black hole -- the cosmic behemoth at the center of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 3258. The multi-color ellipse reflects the motion of the gas orbiting the black hole, with blue indicating motion toward us and red motion away from us. The inset box represents how the orbital velocity changes with distance from the black hole. The material was found to rotate faster the closer in the astronomers observed to the black hole, enabling them to accurately calculate its mass: a whopping 2.25 billion times the mass of our Sun.

Earth’s magnetic bubble, called the magnetosphere, is illustrated in blue. The magnetosphere provides natural protection against space radiation, deflecting most charged solar particles from Earth.

The Rosy Glow of a Cosmic Seagull.

An example of an interstellar collisionless shock is seen in this photo of a bow shock in the Orion Nebula.

A sphere of colour.

Washington state endured a band of early morning thunderstorms
Washington State Suffers from Williams Flats Fire Caused by Lightning.

NGC 3432.

The young Earth's atmosphere might have looked like this artist’s interpretation — a pale orange dot.

Conceptual illustration of permanently shadowed, shallow icy craters near the lunar south pole.