8 stunning nebula images captured by NASA

The Horsehead Nebula is a part of much larger complex in the constellation Orion. Known collectively as the Orion Molecular Cloud, it also houses other famous objects, such as the Great Orion Nebula.

Horsehead Nebula

The Crab Nebula takes on a more detailed appearance that yields clues into the spectacular demise of the star. It is also the highest resolution image ever made of the M1-Crab Nebula.

M1: Crab Nebula

The entire nebula is 7 light years long, the Cone Nebula resides 2,500 light years away in the constellation monoceros. This monstrous object is actually an innocuous pillar of gas and dust.

Cone Nebula  NGC 2264 

This Nebula image shows the fine web of filamentary "Bicycle-stroke", featuring embedded in the colorful red and blue gas rings, which is one of the nearest planetary nebulae to earth.

Helix Nebula 

This sharp and colorful close-up of the dying star’s nebula was recorded in 2009 by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3.

Butterfly Nebula

N44 is a complex nebula filled with glowing hydrogen gas, dark lanes of dust, and a starry gap called a "superbubble."

Hubble Views N44 Superbubble

The planetary nebula NGC 7027 resembles a jewel bug, an insect with a brilliantly colorful metallic shell.

Jewel Bug Nebula

The nebula is known as Hen 2-104, located several thousand light years from the earth. It appears to have two nested hourglass-shaped structures that were sculpted by a whirling pair of stars in a binary system.

Southern Crab Nebula