NASA's WISE probe has sent back its first images from space, and you can see them for yourself here.

WISE, or the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, will scan the entire sky using infrared light. It will then stop working in October, because it will overheat when its liquid coolant runs out.

The first two pictures show the Andromeda galaxy, which is 2.5 million light years away from Earth. The blue version highlights the older stars in the galaxy, while the red version shows the heated dust in Andromeda's spiral arms. The dust is heated up by all of the hot, new stars in the galaxy.

The third image shows a huge cloud of gas, dust and newborn stars. In the very centre is a star cluster called NGC 3603. This contains some of the most massive stars known to science, and is helpful to scientists studying the early universe.

The last picture is of a comet called Siding Spring, which was only discovered in 2007. By studying the comet's size and the contents of the dust cloud surrounding it, WISE will allow scientists to investigate the birth of our solar system. 

Pictures by:

1. NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE

2 & 4. NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

3. NASA/STScI/MPIA/Univ. of Heidelberg/Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign