NASA's Cosmic Road Trip: A Journey Through the Universe's Stunning Destinations

“The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever.” This quote by Konstanin Tsiolkovsky was said in 1895, when there was no hint of going to outer space. It hints at the human mind, which saw the signs that humans would have to leave the planet for evolution. 

Space exploration and knowing how the world we are living in comes into existence is always a curiosity for the human mind, as Buzz Aldrin, the first astronaut who went to the moon, said, “Exploration is wired in our mind; if we see the horizon, we want to know what’s beyond.” 

And NASA is always there for those who want to know what lies ahead of them. The amazing captures of the Hubble and James WEBB telescopes have shown the outer world perfectly, and in a new post from NASA, they took all the space fans on a road trip.

They shared a series of four pictures, and the agency posted them with a caption that says, “Get in – we’re going on a roadtrip!

Light is our highway, and we’re coasting through the cosmos to visit four stunning destinations. Hop in and let @NASAWebb and @NASAChandraXray lead the way!”

Let’s check out all the images:

Rho Opiuchi:

In the first image, NASA chooses “Rho Opiuchi,” the closest place to our earth, which is 390 light-years away. The agency wrote, “The first stop on this tour is the closest, at about 390 light-years away. Rho Opiuchi is a popular place for astronomers to study stars. X-rays from Chandra are purple, revealing infant stars that flare and produce X-rays. Infrared data from Webb is red, yellow, cyan, and blue.”

The Orion Nebula:

Next on the trip, NASA stops at the Orion Nebula, which is close to 1,500 light-years away from the planet. For the Orion Nebula, NASA wrote, “This region is a bit farther, about 1,500 light-years away. Chandra reveals young stars that glow brightly in X-rays, colored here in red, green, and blue, while Webb shows the gas and dust (in darker red) that will help build the galaxy's next set of stars.”

Spiral Galaxy:

For the next step, NASA exits the Milky Way galaxy and glides to the Spiral galaxy, which is seen at a slight angle. The purple light that is coming from the centre gives evidence of the Black Hole. 

NASA says, “Exiting the Milky Way, our next destination is a spiral galaxy seen at a slight angle. X-rays from Chandra in purple show evidence for a supermassive black hole in its center, while Webb finds the dust, gas, and stars throughout the galaxy in red, green, and blue. This image also contains optical data from @NASAHubble in red, green, and blue.”

MACS J0416:

The last and final destination for the road trip was the farthest and biggest galaxy cluster, which is one of the largest objects in the universe, held together by gravity.

NASA described the image in the caption and wrote, “Our final stop is the farthest and biggest! MACS J0416 is a galaxy cluster, one of the largest objects in the Universe held together by gravity. Galaxy clusters can contain hundreds or thousands of individual galaxies, all immersed in massive amounts of superheated gas. Chandra’s X-rays in purple show this reservoir of hot gas, while Hubble and Webb show the individual galaxies in red, green, and blue.” 

The post has garnered over 3 lakh likes on Instagram in the span of just 19 hours.