Top 5 striking NASA images to uncover mysteries of the universe | See photos

Since humans began looking up into the sky for the first time, thousands of questions about space, the universe, and galaxies have remained unanswered. The quest to search for answers and decode the biggest mystery of the Universe about its creation introduced humans to wonders of space, including interacting galaxies, nebulas, moons, planets, and black holes. Space agencies like NASA keep sharing mesmerising images from space for us to understand the Universe better.

Two bulbous shapes glow in the center. Shades of gas in blues and purples radiate near the center, while fuchsias, reds, and pinks surround the outer edges. Stars dot the background.⁣

Eta Carinae may be about to explode, but no one knows when. It could be in the relatively near future, though (astronomically speaking) that may be a million years away. With a mass about 100 times greater than our Sun, Eta Carinae makes an excellent candidate for a full-blown supernova, or the explosion of a star.⁣

Swirls of bright green hues fill this view of space. In the center, the bright “heart” of the Crab Nebula can be seen. Stars dot the sky in the distance.

The eerie glow of a dead star, which exploded long ago in a supernova, reveals itself in this @NASAHubble image of the Crab Nebula. But don't be fooled: the ghoulish-looking object still has a pulse. Buried at the center is the star's tell-tale heart, which beats with rhythmic precision.

This light-year-long knot of interstellar gas and dust that looks a little like a caterpillar is a newborn star – a protostar.

Stars form in large clouds of gas and dust called molecular clouds. These massive clouds are cold and clump up. Eventually, gravity causes some of these clumps to collapse. When this happens, friction causes the material to heat up, eventually leading to the creation of a protostar.

Caldwell 69 is one of over 100 objects in the Caldwell catalog: a list of galaxies, nebulae, and other cosmic wonders easily seen by amateur astronomers.

The fiery, dying star at its center—blazing at a temperature of over 450,000 degrees Fahrenheit (250,000 Celsius)—is shrouded by a blanket of icy hailstones.

A nebula that is shaped like a cat’s eye. There is a bright pinpoint of light at the center. As you move outward from the center, there are bubbles of dust; the centermost one is blue. These shells appear as concentric rings at the edges of the nebula, looking much like the layers of an onion cut in half.

Planetary nebulae are one cat-egory of nebulae. They got their name because when they were first observed through early telescopes, they resembled planets. However, a planetary nebula is the final stage in the evolution of a star that is similar to our Sun.