This enormous section of the Milky Way Galaxy is a mosaic of images from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

This Herschel image of the Eagle nebula shows the self-emission of the intensely cold nebula's gas and dust as never seen before. Each color shows a different temperature of dust, from around 10 degrees above absolute zero for the red, up to around 40 Kelvin, or minus 388 degrees Fahrenheit, for the blue.

Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy in infrared light, this nearby dwarf galaxy looks like a fiery, circular explosion. Rather than fire, however, those ribbons are actually giant ripples of dust spanning tens or hundreds of light-years.

Sprigs of holly, a big red bow and silver bells appear to dress up this cosmic star-forming wreath, captured by WISE.

Seen as a red dusty cloud in this image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, Puppis A is the remnant of a supernova explosion.

This image shows a giant dust cloud in between the claws of the constellation Scorpius

New infrared observations from WISE reveal how the first supernova ever recorded occurred and how its shattered remains ultimately spread out to great distances.

This artist's concept illustrates an icy planet-forming disk around a young star called TW Hydrae, located about 175 light-years away in the Hydra, or Sea Serpent, constellation.

New measurements from the Herschel Space Observatory have discovered water with the same chemical signature as our oceans in a comet called Hartley 2.

Cassini images of Saturn's moon Enceladus backlit by the sun show the fountain-like sources of the fine spray of material that towers over the south polar region.

In this artist's conception, a galaxy accretes mass from rapid, narrow streams of cold gas. These filaments provide the galaxy with continuous flows of raw material to feed its star-forming at a rather leisurely pace.

The black areas in this image—called infrared dark clouds (IRDCs)—are exceptionally cold, dense cloud cores seen in silhouette against the bright diffuse infrared glow of the plane of the Milky Way.

Herschel found oxygen molecules in a dense patch of gas and dust adjacent to star-forming regions in the Orion nebula.

Messier 101 is a grand design spiral galaxy, which is a disk of hundreds of billions of stars with a small central bulge and prominent arms spiraling out from the center. In this image, stars appear blue because they are hotter and glow brightly in the shorter wavelengths observed by WISE.

In a strange twist of science, astronomers using the Herschel Space Observatory have discovered that a suspected ring at the center of our galaxy is warped for reasons they cannot explain.

This plot shows energy emitted from a supernova remnant called SN 1987A.

This image shows filamentary structures surrounding the region of SN 1987A. These are from cold dust, as cold as 10 to 20 Kelvin, filling the space between the stars. The dust in the interstellar space may have originally formed in past explosions of other supernovae.

The cosmos sport a pair of infrared shades, as seen in this new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

Infrared mash-up of RCW 120 using data from Herschel Space Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope.

This image of the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula from NASA’s WISE shows clouds of dust and gas being pushed and eroded by a massive star.

A new, colorful collection of galaxy specimens has been released by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, mission.

NGC 2259 is an example of an open cluster where the stars are more loosely organized.

This latest image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, shows three different nebulae located in the constellation of Perseus.

In infrared light, NASA’s WISE reveals a giant nebula around Lambda Orionis, inflating Orion’s head to huge proportions.

Dense filaments of gas in the IC5146 interstellar cloud can be seen clearly in this image taken in infrared light by the Herschel space observatory.

Vital clues about the devastating ends to the lives of massive stars can be found by studying the aftermath of their explosions.

This view of the Eagle nebula combines data from almost opposite ends of the electromagnetic spectrum. Herschel captured longer-wavelength, or far, infrared light, and the space telescope XMM-Newton imaged X-rays.

Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy in infrared light, is one of the biggest satellite galaxies of our home galaxy, though it is still considered a dwarf galaxy compared to the big spiral of our Milky Way.

This turbulent region, jam-packed with stars, is home to some of the most luminous massive stars in our Milky Way galaxy.

This view from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, takes in an area of the sky in the constellation of Scorpius surrounding Jabbah that is larger than a grid of 8 by 8 full moons.

In visible light, NGC 281 in the constellation of Cassiopeia appears to be chomping through the cosmos, earning it the nickname the “Pacman” nebula.

Using the Herschel Space Observatory, astronomers have detected the emission from cold water vapor in the planet-forming disk around the young star TW Hydrae.

Using the Herschel Space Observatory, astronomers have discovered that comet Hartley 2 possesses a ratio of "heavy water" to light, or normal, water that matches what's found in Earth's oceans.

The high-mass stars in NGC 281 drive many aspects of their galactic environment through powerful winds flowing from their surfaces and intense radiation that heats surrounding gas, "boiling it away" into interstellar space.

Swirling dust clouds and bright newborn stars dominate the view in this image of the Lagoon nebula from NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope. Also known as Messier 8 and NGC 6523, astronomers estimate it to be between 4000 and 6000 light years away, lying in the general direction of the center of our galaxy in the constellation Sagittarius.

"Y dwarfs" are the coldest star-like bodies known, with temperatures that can be even cooler than the human body. NASA's WISE uncovered these elusive objects for the first time, using its heat-sensing, infrared vision.

The squiggly lines, or spectra, reveal the signatures of oxygen molecules, detected in the Orion nebula by the Hershel Space Observatory.

Astronomers studying observations taken by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission have discovered the first known "Trojan" asteroid orbiting the sun along with Earth.

In a strange twist of science, astronomers using the Herschel Space Observatory have discovered that a suspected ring at the center of our galaxy is warped for reasons they cannot explain.

New findings from NEOWISE, the asteroid- and comet-hunting portion of NASA's WISE mission, show that comet Hartley 2 leaves a pebbly trail as it laps the Sun, dotted with grains as big as golf balls.

This layout compares two pictures of a supernova remnant called SN 1987A -- the left image was taken by the Herschel Space Observatory, and the right is an enlarged view of the circled region at left, taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

Seen here by NASA’s WISE, the cloud CG4 might be imagined as a cosmic alligator eating its way across the sky.

This image from NASA’s WISE, highlights several star-forming regions.

Infrared mash-up of RCW 120 using data from Herschel Space Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope.

Image of a huge complex of star-forming clouds and stellar clusters found in the constellation Cygnus has been released by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, mission.

Compared to our own Sun, it is about 100 times as massive and a million times as bright. This famed variable hypergiant star is surrounded by the Carina Nebula.

An artist’s impression showing a galaxy with a molecular outflow.

Affectionately called the “Monkey nebula” by some, NGC2174 is a cloud of gas and dust that surrounds the star cluster NGC2175.

This preliminary release will allow astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts worldwide to explore the sky as seen by WISE.

In infrared light, NASA’s WISE reveals the nebula SH 2-235 to be a huge star formation complex – more than 100 light-years across -- as seen in this new view.