Vermot de Pas: Conquering Space, NASA's Photographic Icons, 168560, Paris

The Cat's Eye nebula is surrounded by an enormous but extremely tenuous halo of gaseous material, more than three light-years across.

Rare and remarkable triple eclipse of the planet Jupiter observed by the HUBBLE telescope

HUBBLE telescope. This extraordinary view brings together more than 10,000 galaxies.

Launch of the Atlas V rocket carrying the MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER (MRO) satellite.

Saturn planet. Cassini probe.

Impressive extravehicular activity (EVA) showing astronaut Stephen K. Robinson, STS-114 mission specialist, anchored to the International Space Station's Canadarm2.

One of the most beautiful views of Saturn's Moon: ENCELADE.

Photograph from Earth orbit. A full moon is visible in this view above Earth's horizon and airglow, photographed by a member of the International Space Station's Expedition 12 crew.

HUBBLE space telescope. False-color composite photograph of the "Roue de la Charette" galaxy.

A superb ultraviolet view of the planet Saturn from the HUBBLE space telescope.

Photographic montage showing the planets Jupiter and its volcanic moon Io.

Saturn. This natural color view is a mosaic of 36 images - that is, 12 distinct series of red, green and blue images - taken over a period of about 2.5 hours

Superb and historic photograph from the "BLUE MARBLE" series. Western Hemisphere.

True color image of Mars taken by the OSIRIS instrument aboard ESA's Rosetta probe during its flyby of the planet

An exceptional view of the Sun. The Earth has passed through a stream of solar wind escaping from this vast coronal hole

Magnificent view of Saturn's moon "Enceladus". The image is a juxtaposition of wide-angle views taken by the Cassini interplanetary space probe

A composite image of data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) and Hubble Space Telescope (red and purple) shows a phase that Sun-like stars undergo at the end of their lives

HUBBLE telescope. This image reveals a spiral galaxy and a spectacular background of more distant galaxies.

Space shuttle DISCOVERY (Mission STS-128) has just left the International Space Station.

Photograph of the Messier 82 galaxy.

Astrophysical photograph from Earth of the M20 Trifid nebula in the Sagittarius constellation, 5200 light-years from Earth.

Here, the HUBBLE telescope is observing a rare type of star whose atmosphere contains more carbon than oxygen

A fabulous galactic spectacle formed by the largest of spiral galaxies has a disk that is distorted into a rose shape ...

Perfect bottom view of Space Shuttle Discovery (Mission STS-131) flying over the Caribbean Sea. April

Perfect view of Space Shuttle Discovery (Mission STS-131). April