8 jaw-dropping photos from NASA's new image gallery

Space agency's new online repository of more than 100,000 photos is now available to all Earthlings.

The Cat's Eye Nebula, which is 3,000 light-years from Earth, as captured by the Hubble telescope. (Photo: NASA)

If you're a fan of incredible space photography, you're going to love the massive new digital gallery NASA just made available.
Built by Luna Imaging, the gallery is composed of more than 138,000 high-quality shots from 70 collections covering everything from the Apollo missions to the Hubble telescope, Mars rovers, International Space Station and much more. 
“We envision that NASA Images will appeal to space fans, STEM educators, visual resource fans, archive fans, people who appreciate open collections,” a Luna spokesperson told Gizmodo in an email. “We’ve already had some interest in the site from people with GIS and geospatial interests because of the satellite imagery the collection includes.”
Below are some beautiful images we located with just a few keyword searches. To have your own look around, hit the gallery here. 
1. Supernova N49

Photo: NASA

 

Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, N49 is the remains of a supernova that has since transformed into a stringy thing of beauty. It was captured here by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2006.
2. Mars revealed in stunning detail

Photo: NASA
In 1976, the world received its clearest view yet of the surface of Mars thanks to hundreds of high-quality photos sent back from NASA's Viking mission to the red planet. Pictured in this shot is Valles Marineris, a 2,500-mile-long mega-canyon that spans some 20 percent of the surface of Mars and reaches depths of more than 4 miles. 
3. Our place in the Milky Way

Photo: NASA
NASA's new gallery also includes access to a number of informative and beautiful artist renditions, like this one marking our place in the Milky Way galaxy. 
4. Lunar training

Photo: NASA
Some incredible behind-the-scene photos — including this one from 1968 showing a NASA Langley researcher "moon walking" — are also available. 
5. Space walk rescue system test

Photo: NASA
In 1994, Astronauts Carl J. Meade and Mark C. Lee performed in an in-space demonstration of a space walk rescue. NASA recently celebrated 50 years of successful space walks with the release of the documentary "Suit Up."
6. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts Jupiter

Photo: NASA
In the summer of 1994, the world watched as 21 fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed in Jupiter, the first direct observation of an extraterrestrial collision of solar system objects. The impacts were massive, but one in particular, that of fragment G, exploded with a power estimated at more than 600 times the world's nuclear arsenal. 
7. Coronal rain on the sun

Photo: NASA
Turns out it does rain on the sun — just not the kind any of us would want to experience. In this photo captured by the orbiting TRACE telescope, coronal rain — plasma riding magnetic waves above the sun's surface — is falling back to the surface as it cools. The average temperature of this "rain"? A searing 107,540 degrees Fahrenheit. 
8. A view of Earth from Saturn

Photo: NASA
The pale blue dot, the term coined for the ultimate Earth selfie, continues to amaze as NASA spacecraft move further through the solar system. In this spectacular shot captured by the Cassini spacecraft of Saturn in 2006, we see the planet's stunning array of rings. And then, to the left of the first brightest ring, you see it: a pale blue dot, our home, more than 746 million miles away.