After NASA repaired the Hubble Space Telescope in 1999, the Heritage Project used the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 to capture an image of NGC 1999 in the Orion constellation. Hubble's image of NGC 2371/2 in the Gemini constellation reveals a dark, symmetrical lobed structure, which astronomers initially mistook for two separate objects.

The gas giants outside our solar system are not capable of hosting extraterrestrial life, but do offer clues in a lingering mystery about how distant planets form, researchers said.