JPL Creates Free, Downloadable ‘Galaxy of Horrors’ Posters

Just in time for Halloween, Jet Propulsion Laboratory has released a series of free, downloadable posters featuring some of the universe’s spookiest and most mysterious phenomena that it has dubbed the “Galaxy of Horrors.”

The colorful posters feature a  “dead” galaxy, an explosive gamma ray burst “caused by colliding stellar corpses,” and ever-elusive dark matter,” JPL said in a written statement. 

“As fun and creative as all three posters are, they’re based on real phenomena,” according to the statement.

“In a dead galaxy, new star birth has ceased and most remaining stars are the long-lived variety, which are small and red, giving the galaxy a crimson glow,” the statement explained.

“Likewise, when dead stars collide, they sometimes create a gamma ray burst, or the brightest type of explosion in the universe,” the statement continued. “And while dark matter may sound like it’s right out of a Halloween tale, its gravity keeps stars inside galaxies and holds groups of galaxies together in clusters – yet scientists don’t know what this invisible stuff is made of.”

Jason Rhodes, a JPL astrophysicist who consulted on the project, said he enjoyed blending art and science.

“One of the things I really like about these posters is that if you spend some time studying the art and then maybe go learn a little more about each of these topics, you’ll see there was a lot of thought by the artists about the choices they made to highlight the science,” he said.

The posters, modeled after classic horror movie advertisements, are available in both English and Spanish and can be downloaded at exoplanets.nasa.gov/alien-worlds/galaxy-of-horrors.