8 mesmerising images of nebulae captured by NASA telescopes

The Orion Nebula is a picture book of star formation, from the massive, young stars shaping the nebula to the pillars of dense gas that may be the homes of budding stars. The Trapezium resides in the bright central region.

The star V830 Orionis shines on the cloud of material left over from its formation, here seen as the NGC 1999 reflection nebula.

The Helix Nebula is an example of a planetary nebula. Though it looks like a bubble or eye from Earth's point of view, the Helix is actually a trillion-mile-long tunnel of glowing gases. In its center lies a white dwarf star.

This Hubble mosaic is the highest resolution image ever made of the entire Crab Nebula, which is located 6,500 light-years away. The orange filaments are the tattered remains of the star and consist mostly of hydrogen.

These opaque, dark knots of gas and dust called "Bok globules" are absorbing light in the center of the nearby emission nebula and star-forming region, NGC 281. Bok globules may form stars, or may eventually dissipate.

Emission nebulae are bright, diffuse clouds of ionized gas that emit their own light. In NGC 2313, pictured here, the bright star V565 (center of the image) highlights a silvery veil of gas and dust, while the right half of this image is obscured by a dense cloud of dust.

Caldwell 99 is a dark nebula — a dense cloud of interstellar dust that completely blocks out visible wavelengths of light from objects behind it. 

These tendrils of cosmic dust and gas sit at the heart of M16, or the Eagle Nebula. The aptly named Pillars of Creation, featured in these stunning Hubble images, are part of an active star-forming region within the nebula and hide newborn stars in their wispy columns.