Every image has provenance
A photograph is not decoration — it is scientific evidence. This archive catalogues openly-licensed and public-domain astronomical imagery with verified provenance: source, instrument, license, and credit, all linked to the Knowledge Graph.
21 images · 14 collections · 9 source archives · every image openly licensed or public domain
Featured images
Latest images →- A dark field scattered with thousands of galaxies of many colours; several appear stretched into arcs by gravitational lensing.Public Domain
Webb's First Deep Field (SMACS 0723)
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
- A glowing, cliff-like edge of orange gas and dust below a starry blue expanse, with newborn stars sparkling throughout.Public Domain
Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
- A shimmering shell of orange and blue gas expanding around a pair of central stars.Public Domain
The Southern Ring Nebula
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
- Four interacting galaxies clustered together with a fifth foreground galaxy, amid countless background stars and galaxies.Public Domain
Stephan's Quintet
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
- A bright, slightly lumpy orange ring around a dark centre — the shadow of the Milky Way's black hole.CC BY 4.0
Sagittarius A* — The Milky Way's Black Hole
Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration
- Jupiter in infrared, with glowing polar aurorae, bright cloud bands, and faint rings.Public Domain
Jupiter (James Webb Space Telescope)
NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team
Collections
JWST First Images
4The first full-colour science images from the James Webb Space Telescope, released in July 2022.
Deep Fields
2Long exposures that reveal thousands of distant galaxies in a tiny patch of sky.
Black Holes
2Direct horizon-scale images of supermassive black holes.
Nebulae
4Clouds of gas and dust where stars are born and where they end their lives.
Galaxies
5Island universes of stars, from the Milky Way to the deep field.
Solar System
6Worlds of our own Sun — planets, moons, and the Sun itself.
Mars
2The Red Planet, seen from orbit and from its surface.
Jupiter
1The largest planet and its dynamic atmosphere.
Saturn
1The ringed planet and its moons.
The Sun
1Our star across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Earth from Space
4Our home world seen from the Moon, from orbit, and from billions of kilometres away.
Apollo
2Images from the Apollo missions to the Moon.
Voyager
2Images from the twin Voyager probes on their grand tour and beyond.
Cassini
1Images from the Cassini mission to Saturn.
Galleries
Source archives & providers
The platform is prepared to ingest from these open archives; images are currently catalogued by hand with verified provenance. All providers are planned — nothing is scraped or ingested automatically yet.
- NASA Image and Video Libraryplanned
NASA · public-domain
- STScI (Hubble & Webb)planned
Space Telescope Science Institute · public-domain
- ESA/Hubbleplanned
European Space Agency · cc-by-4-0
- ESA/Webbplanned
European Space Agency · cc-by-4-0
- ESO Image Archiveplanned
European Southern Observatory · cc-by-4-0
- Event Horizon Telescopeplanned
EHT Collaboration · cc-by-4-0
- NSF NOIRLabplanned
NSF NOIRLab · cc-by-4-0
- Wikimedia Commonsplanned
Wikimedia Foundation · public-domain
Astrophotography
Amateur and professional astrophotography — equipment, processing, and observation guides — are kept clearly separate from institutional scientific imagery. Explore the astrophotography guides →