ViewSpace

Explore the Universe with Interactives and Videos

Visible

X-Ray

Multi-Wavelength

What is ViewSpace?

ViewSpace is a free, web-based collection of digital interactives and videos highlighting the latest developments in astronomy and Earth science.

ViewSpace gives you the opportunity to explore our planet, solar system, galaxy, and universe. Provided free with the support of NASA, ViewSpace is developed by a team of scientists, educators, and communication specialists who collaborate to ensure that content is accurate, up-to-date, engaging, relevant, and accessible to a wide audience.

Interactives

ViewSpace interactives allow you to explore objects and materials from different perspectives, discovering how we can combine information to better understand the universe.

Split image of a disc-shaped galaxy. The left half of the image shows visible light in shades of brown and gray. The right side shows an infrared image in reds and blues.

Different forms of light: Explore visible and invisible wavelengths of light that help us understand features like the dusty brim of the Sombrero Galaxy roughly 30 million light-years away.

Split image of stars and dusty clouds. The left half of the image shows visible light of the dusty clouds in orange, brown, and blue. The right half of the image shows infrared light of the clouds in dark smoky gray, and the stars in orange.

Hidden objects: Unveil invisible light to reveal hidden objects like the stars forming inside Mystic Mountain, a pillar of gas and dust 7,500 light-years from Earth.

Begin Your Journey with ViewSpace Interactives

Videos

ViewSpace videos tell the stories of the planets, stars, galaxies, and universe, giving viewers the opportunity to experience space and Earth as seen with satellites and telescopes.

Astronomy: Explore the sky with stories told through spectacular imagery from space telescopes.

Screenshot of a video titled "Where on Earth?" showing a satellite image of the Marlborough Sounds, South Island of New Zealand

Earth science: Gain new perspectives on our home planet based on data gathered by Earth-orbiting satellites.

Learn More about ViewSpace Videos

ViewSpace is produced by the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute , in partnership with the NASA's Universe of Learning project and NASA's Earth Observing System, Hubble Space Telescope Project, and James Webb Space Telescope Project.

ViewSpace has been exhibited in museums, planetariums, and science centers across the country since 2000.

What Will You Explore?

The Latest Discoveries in Astronomy and Astrophysics

Screenshot of a video titled "Chandra Spies Aftermath of Planet Collision" showing an illustration of rocky debris surrounding a star

Recent Natural Events and Satellite Views of Earth

Screenshot of a video called "EarthWatch: Eruption of Mount Sinabung" showing a satellite image of an erupting volcano

In-depth Stories of How Science and the Universe Work

Screenshot of a video showing the path of an eclipse on May 29, 1919

Stunning Imagery and Accessible Explanations

Screenshot of a video titled "Cosmic Tour: Monkey Head Nebula" showing a labeled image of a cloud of gas and dust

What the universe is made of

How the universe changes over time

How we know what we know

The future of astronomy and Earth science

Field of scattered galaxies overlaid with large semi-transparent areas of blue and pink — **Stars, Galaxies, and Dark Matter**
What objects and materials make up the universe, and how do we study the invisible as well as the visible?

Data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-Ray Observatory are used to create a map of dark matter (blue) in galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745.
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland/D.Ha & NASA/CXC/Durham Univ/R.Massey; Optical & Lensing Map: NASA, ESA, D. Harvey (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland) and R. Massey (Durham University, UK)

A distorted galaxy arches over a hazy blue oval galaxy, appearing like a bird hovering over its egg — **Galactic Collisions**
What are galaxies; how do they vary; and how do they form, interact, and change over time?

The Penguin and the Egg (Arp 142) is a pair of galaxies that are being distorted by their mutual gravitational attraction.
*Credit: NASA-ESA/STScI/AURA/JPL-Caltech*

Bright Saturn tilted slightly right, with Titan in upper northern hemisphere — **The Solar System**
How do the Sun, planets, moons, comets, and asteroids interact as a system?

Saturn’s moon Titan casts a shadow as it passes between the planet and the Sun.
*Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)*

Milky Way curves across the sky, with outline of a fox appearing at the top of the arch. Line from the fox leads to inset box with telescope image of the Lobster Nebula — **The Night Sky**
How do telescopes help us better understand the objects and materials that light up the sky?

With telescopes, we can see details of the Milky Way, including glowing clouds of dust and gas like the Lobster Nebula.
*Credit: NASA/CXC/PSU/L. Townsley; UKIRT; NASA/JPL-Caltech*

Black space scattered with many points of light, some with clear galaxy shapes, and others just appearing as dots — **Expansion and Fate of the Universe**
How fast is the universe expanding and what does this tell us about its past and future?

Over time, space expands, stretching the wavelenghts of light and causing the distant galaxies seen in the Ultra Deep Field image from the Hubble Space Telescope to look redder than the closer galaxies.
*Credit: NASA, ESA, B. Mobasher (STScI/ESA)*

Graphic titled "Infrared Light Curve for the Transiting Exoplanet HD 219134b" showing a graph of observed star brightness on the y-axis versus elapsed time in days on the x-axis. A number of data points, plotted in orange, show a dip in brightness. In the background is an illustration of a star with a planet crossing in front of it. The dip in brightness shown on the graph corresponds to times when the planet is moving across the star. — **Detecting Exoplanets**
How do we detect and study planets orbiting other stars?

Changes in the brightness of starlight, measured by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, indicates the presence of a planet orbiting the star.
*Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech*

Large, colorful, semi-transparent circular object on a background of space scattered with small orange points of light. The large object has a complex cloudy and filamentous texture, with regions of blue, green, orange-yellow, and red-purple. — **The Death of Stars**
What happens to stars at the end of their lives, and how do stellar explosions affect the space around them?

Visible, infrared, and X-ray light from supernova remnant Cassiopeia A reveal remains of an exploded star.
*Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Steward/O. Krause et al.*

Many bright white, yellow, orange and blue galaxies of different shapes and sizes. Several of these galaxies have arc-like shapes. — **Gravitational Lensing**
How can we use interactions between light and matter to probe the deep universe?

The enormous mass of galaxy cluster Abell 370 bends the space around it, magnifying and distorting the light from more distant galaxies into arc-like streaks.
*Credit: NASA, ESA/Hubble, HST Frontier Field*

A supermassive black hole emitting neutrinos and gamma rays. The top right of the image shows a bright object, which is the black hole, surrounded by a disc of black and orange gas and dust. An orange beam shoots toward a planet at the bottom left of the image. The beam contains lambda and gamma symbols. — **Multi-Wavelength and Multi-Messenger Astronomy**
How are astronomers combining data from space and ground-based telescopes, particle detectors, and gravitational wave detectors to understand cosmic objects, processes, and events?

An artist’s illustration depicts the detection of neutrino particles and gamma rays emitted by a supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy.
*Credit: IceCube/NASA*

Pillars of gas and dust. Toward the center of the image are three dark brown pillars that rise from the bottom to the top of the screen. The leftmost pillar is the tallest, the rightmost pillar is the shortest, and the middle one is in-between left and right in size. Surrounding each pillar is an aura of glowing, yellow gas. The background is opaque, blue and purple at the top, and contains handful of red stars of various sizes. — **Starbirth and Cosmic Erosion**
How and where do stars form, and how do they shape their surroundings?

Pillars of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula are sculpted and illuminated by stellar winds and high-energy radiation of bright stars.
*Credit: NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team*

Satellite image of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii. The island containing the volcano is a mix of green and brown, and it has a perimeter going from the bottom left of the image to the top right of the image. Outside of that perimeter is water, which has a blue color. Shadows are cast on the land and water by clouds, which have a white color, that float above. — **Natural Hazards**
How can we use satellites to map, study, and monitor Earth’s land surface, oceans, and atmosphere?

An image captured by the Landsat 8 satellite in May 2018 shows active lava flows from Kilauea volcano in Hawaii.
*Credit: NASA Earth Observatory, USGS*

Large oval fills most of the scene. The edges are black. The oval is mottled with blue and orange spots. — **Origin and History of the Universe**
What evidence supports our theories of how the universe formed and how it has evolved over time?

A map of the sky from the Planck Space Telescope highlights variations in the cosmic microwave background radiation—energy left over from the big bang some 13.8 billion years ago.
*Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration*

Top half is the black background of space. Earth appears in the lower half, with its curvature splitting the scene. A satellite appears at top center. Small white circles appear where the satellite has mapped locations on Earth, appearing in a curved row. The one on the right looks like a spotlight that connects to the satellite that appears above. — **Telescope and Satellite Technology**
What tools and methods do scientists use to study Earth and space?

NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite (SMAP) helps scientists monitor droughts, predict floods, and improve farm productivity.
*Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech*

Illustration of seven planets close to one another against a black background that is speckled with stars. — **Worlds Beyond our Solar System**
Is Earth unique? Are we alone?

Observations from space telescopes have revealed thousands of exoplanets of different of sizes, compositions, temperatures, and atmospheres, including seven rocky Earth-sized planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system, 40 light-years from Earth (artist’s illustration).
*Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt, T. Pyle (IPAC)*

Where Is ViewSpace?

ViewSpace videos are on exhibit at museums, science centers, and planetariums across the country.

ViewSpace interactives are available online.

Use the map to find a ViewSpace video location near you.

Location Spotlight

Photograph showing a monitor with a ViewSpace astronomy video playing, mounted at eye-level on a wall beneath the word, "Planetarium." The monitor sits between two sets of glass-fronted cases displaying historical photos and newspapers, and images and posters about space. — **EcoTarium**

Worcester, Massachusetts

Photograph of a monitor showing a ViewSpace video. The monitor appears to be on a wall in a lobby area which also includes nature photos. — **Westcave Preserve**

Round Mountain, Texas

Photograph of a ViewSpace video playing to people in an auditorium. — **Lowell Observatory**

Flagstaff, Arizona

Photograph of a ViewSpace video playing on a large monitor mounted on a brick wall outside of an exhibit hall. — **Maryland Science Center**

Baltimore, Maryland

Lobby and open door of dark room labeled Edelman Planetarium with images of space covering wall panels, that also read There's more to explore. Lobby includes small table and chairs and cart with computer station. — **Edelman Planetarium at Rowan University**

Glassboro, New Jersey

Museum exhibit with large image of Hubble over Earth below sign reading Best of Hubble with three monitors showing different images. Another poster and monitor display are visible. — **Clark Planetarium**

Salt Lake City, Utah

How is your venue using ViewSpace? Contact us to get details on how to be featured!

Becoming a ViewSpace Venue

ViewSpace provides informal learning sites with engaging, accurate, relevant, and up-to-date astronomy and Earth science content. Access to ViewSpace is free, requiring only registration, a computer or Smart TV, and persistent internet access. ViewSpace content is self-updating and videos can be set to play automatically, requiring minimal staff effort to maintain.

Join hundreds of others in featuring ViewSpace as part of your exhibits.

Who Produces and Supports ViewSpace?

ViewSpace is produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, and is provided free of charge through financial support and subject matter expertise from the NASA’s Universe of Learning project, NASA’s Earth Observing System Project Science Office, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Project, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Project.

Funded by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, NASA’s Universe of Learning is an integrated astrophysics STEM learning and literacy project developed through a partnership between the Space Telescope Science Institute, Caltech/IPAC, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Sonoma State University.

NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) is a coordinated series of satellites designed to observe Earth’s land, atmosphere, oceans, and biosphere. As part of the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, the EOS Project Science Office (EOSPSO) is committed to sharing information with both researchers and the general public.

The Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope are two of NASA’s flagship missions designed to explore and advance our understanding of the universe. The missions’ communications programs are dedicated to sharing scientific advances and making the world’s astronomical information accessible to all.

Welcome to ViewSpace

Hero Interactive

About ViewSpace

Overview

What is ViewSpace?

Interactives

Videos

Collection

What Will You Explore?

Sample Images from ViewSpace

Venues

Where Is ViewSpace?

Location Spotlight

Becoming a ViewSpace Venue

Partners

Who Produces and Supports ViewSpace?