January

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft began to fill in the blanks of Mercury's previously unseen surface, revealing this enigmatic feature that came to be known as "The Spider".

Mercury's spider formation linked to asteroid impact

February

Hubble captures one of the youngest galaxies ever by using galaxies to magnify the distant object's light. Gravitational lensing was used extensively throughout 2008 to reveal the properties of distant objects.

Gravitational lensing weighs 70 galaxies and infers dark matter

March

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured four avalanches of fine grained ice and dust, accompanied by a billowing cloud, tumbling down Martian cliffs.

Martian avalanches caught on film by orbiting probe

April

This spectualar collision between two spiral galaxies is just one of 59 incredible images of interacting galaxies released to celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope's 18th year in orbit.

The wild dances of the interacting galaxies

May

Perhaps one of the most memorable images of 2008 was Phoenix's first look at the frigid north polar terrain of Mars. The flat landscape is strewn with tiny pebbles and shows polygonal cracking, a pattern seen widely in Martian high latitudes and also observed in permafrost terrains on Earth. During its five month stay on the Martian surface, Phoenix made the first direct 'taste' of ice, a crucial step towards determining the habitability of the red planet.

Spectacular new colour view of Mars from Phoenix

June

More than 800,000 frames from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope were stitched together to create a giant infrared portrait of dust and stars radiating in the inner Milky Way.

Giant Milky Way mosaic unveiled

July

In a series of images taken over several months, astronomers finally learn of the outcome of the baby red spot: it is swallowed whole by the Great Red Spot and then regurgitated after having the life sucked from it, while Red Spot Junior skirts past the Great Red Spot unscathed.

All change for Jupiter's red spots

August

Cassini shot past the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus acquiring a set of high resolution images targeting known jet source locations on the moon's tiger stripe fractures. The images are helping scientists to learn about the geological history of this enigmatic moon.

Enceladus images "dazzling success"

September

Using the Gemini North telescope, astronomers presented what is likely the first picture of a planet around a ‘normal’ star similar to our Sun. The sun has about 85 percent the mass of our Sun, and bears a planet about eight times that of Jupiter, orbiting over ten times the distance that Neptune orbits the Sun in our Solar System.

First image of planet around Sunlike star

October

A deep new image of part of the Virgo cluster revealed monumental tendrils of ionized hydrogen gas 400,000 light-years long connecting the elliptical galaxy M86 (right) and the disturbed spiral galaxy NGC 4438 (left), providing striking evidence of a previously unsuspected high-speed collision between the two galaxies that could have stunted star formation.

Galactic collisions could halt star formation

November

This image gives the first clear view of the faint boundary of the Crab Nebula's X-ray-emitting pulsar wind nebula. Fingers, loops, and bays all indicate the pervasive nature of the magnetic field of the nebula.

Fingers and loops revealed in the Crab Nebula

December

Astronomers using the Subaru Telescope observed light echoes from Tycho’s Supernova Remnant that provide new insight into the exploding star’s origin and type.

Subaru sees new light from Tycho's 16th century supernova