Out-of-this-world images from NASA's JPL

From exploring spiral galaxies millions of light years away to research done here on Earth, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is the leading U.S. centre for robotic exploration of the solar system. It has 19 spacecraft and 10 major instruments carrying out astronomy missions.Take a look through some of the most interesting photos from their missions.

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Located about 130 million light years from Earth in the constellation of Canis Major, spiral galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163 display a spectacular light show. (NASA / CXC / SAO / STScI / JPL-Caltech)

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The famous Horsehead nebula takes on a ghostly appearance in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. (NASA / JPL-Caltech)

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This composite image is a mosaic comprising four individual NAVCAM images taken from 31 kilometres from the center of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Nov. 20, 2014. (ESA / Rosetta / NAVCAM)

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X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). This is the first picture of the sun taken by NuSTAR. The field of view covers the west limb of the sun. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / GSFC)

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NASA's Cassini orbiter looks toward the trailing hemisphere of Mimas, one of Saturn's moons. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute)

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The puzzling, fascinating surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa looms large in this newly-reprocessed colour view, made from images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute)

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In the constellation Ursa Major, each of the two colliding galaxies in Arp 299 holds a supermassive black hole at its heart. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / GSFC)

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This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows two pits near Nilokeras Scopulus partially filled with lumpy material, which is likely trapped dust that blew in from the atmosphere. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona)

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This image from the Navigation Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the position in which the rover held its arm for several days after a short circuit triggered onboard fault-protection programming to halt arm activities on Feb. 27, 2015, the 911th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS)

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This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows dark-toned dunes in the western Medusae Fossae, which provide some evidence of having a local origin. Many of the dark sand patches cover slopes up to discrete layers. The sand may be eroding out from those layers, but the slopes can also act as sand traps. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona)

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Although the pits visible in this image look like impact craters, they are actually embedded into material that was thrown out of a large crater (not seen) when it was formed. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona)

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The slim crescent of dwarf planet Ceres smiles back prior to the arrival of an emissary from Earth. This image was taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on March 1, 2015, just a few days before the mission achieved orbit around the previously unexplored world. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA)

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This artist's conception shows the 30 Ari system, which includes four stars and a planet. The planet, a gas giant, orbits its primary star (yellow) in about a year's time. (Karen Teramura / UH IfA)

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This artist's concept shows NASA's Dawn spacecraft arriving at the dwarf planet Ceres, the most massive body in the asteroid belt. Dawn is the first mission to visit a dwarf planet. (NASA / JPL-Caltech)

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This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows sand avalanches in Meroe Patera. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona)

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This view from the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the rover's drill just after finishing a drilling operation at a target rock called 'Telegraph Peak' on Feb. 24, 2015, the 908th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS)

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The flat-faced rock near the centre of this image is a target for contact investigation by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in early March 2015. The view is from the rover's front hazard avoidance camera on March 3, 2015, during the 3,948th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars. (NASA / JPL-Caltech)

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A year ahead of InSight's May 2016 mission launch, the area of Mars under continuing evaluation for a landing site is shown in this map. (NASA / JPL-Caltech)

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This image shows a possible landing site for the 2020 Mission: Jezero Crater, as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Jezero Crater is an ancient crater where clay minerals have been detected, and there have been signs indicating that water was once flowing into a lake. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona)

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The small spherules on the Martian surface are near Fram Crater, visited by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity during April 2004. The area shown is 1.2 inches (3 centimetres) across. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell / USGS)

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Pyroclastic flows from Guatemala's Fuego volcano eruptions sent ash plumes spewing over Guatemala City in early February, 2015. This image is from the ASTER instrument onboard NASA's Terra spacecraft. (NASA / GSFC / METI / ERSDAC / JAROS, and U.S. / Japan ASTER Science Team)

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In the weeks after NASA's InSight mission reaches Mars in September 2016, the lander's arm will lift two key science instruments off the deck and place them onto the ground. This image shows testing of InSight's robotic arm inside a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, about two years before it will perform these tasks on Mars. (NASA / JPL-Caltech)

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Technicians in a Lockheed Martin clean room near Denver prepare NASA's InSight Mars lander for propulsion proof and leak testing on Oct. 31, 2014. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / Lockheed Martin)

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This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows dramatic buttes and layers on the lower flank of Mount Sharp. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS)

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Supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies blast radiation and ultra-fast winds outward, as illustrated in this artist's conception based on NASA's NuSTAR and ESA's XMM-Newton telescopes. (NASA / JPL-Caltech)

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Out-of-this-world images from NASA's JPL