NASA via AP
The Cartwheel galaxy as seen by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer's Far Ultraviolet detector, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory

On a far smaller scale, that form is a jellyfish. And the branching of vegetation and capillaries happens in a massive nebula too.

The Crab Nebula, from Chandra.

More Pictures of the year 2009: space images at the Telegraph.