Skip to main content

See the astonishing real-life space photos that inspired 'Cosmos'

NASA tweeted that it created a new album on its Flickr account with a few never-before-seen images of celestial bodies, in conjunction with Sunday's premiere of Cosmos. Mixed with some old photos, the entire album of 43 images shows how the parts of our universe we don't see can be amazing, scary, and beautiful all at once. Some of the photos depict phenomena seen on the 13-episode series, which remakes and pays tribute to Carl Sagan's 1980 program. Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts the show, taking on a part Captain Kirk, part travelogue guide role as he leads viewers on an exploration through our galaxy. The popular astrophysicist is a big supporter of NASA and funding space research, so it's not surprising that NASA would support and complement Cosmos with exclusive photos — and they're simply too stunning not to share.

Photos and captions courtesy of NASA / CSC / SAO

'Cosmos' Space-Time Odyssey photos from NASA

1/10

Enter the Vortex ... in Psychedelic Color
This false-color image from NASA's Cassini mission highlights the storms at Saturn's north pole. The eye of a hurricane-like storm appears dark red; the hexagonal jet stream framing it is a yellowish green; low-lying clouds circling inside appear orange; and the rings of Saturn appear in vivid blue at the top right.