Space Pictures This Week: Conjunction, Aurora, More

Standing Guard

Photograph by David Kilabuk, Your Shot

An Inukshuk—a stone figure of a human—bears witness to the northern lights over Nunavut, Canada, on March 7, as seen in a recently released picture.

Such figurines can be found across the Arctic and have been traditionally used by the Inuit for various forms of communication, such as navigational aids, memorials, or markers of animal-migration routes.

(Also see "Vancouver 2010: Olympic Logo No 'Friend' to Some.")

Published March 16, 2012

Sparkling Unicorn

Image by Greg Parker, Your Shot

The nebula known as IC 2169 appears as a pink cloud dotted with stars in a true-color picture taken from New Forest Observatory in the United Kingdom on March 10.

The cosmic cloud of dust and gas is a turbulent star-forming region in the constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn, a relatively faint grouping of stars that is best seen during winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

Published March 16, 2012

Milky Mountain

Photograph by Kae Horng Mau, Your Shot

The soft lights of our Milky Way galaxy flow across the sky over Mount Kinabalu, a mountain peak on the Malaysian side of the island of Borneo, in a picture taken February 27 and released this week.

The mountain reaches 13,435 feet (4,095 meters) above sea level, offering relatively clear views of the night sky from high above the clouds.

Published March 16, 2012

Massive Cluster

Image courtesy ESA/NASA

A new picture from the Hubble Space Telescope offers the most detailed view yet of Messier 9, a globular star cluster about 25,000 light-years from Earth. Released Friday, the picture shows more than 250,000 individual stars shining in the huge cluster.

Like other globular clusters, M9 is a roughly spherical swarm of stars loosely bound by gravity. But this cluster lies close to the heart of our Milky Way galaxy, and the gravitational influence of our galactic core is pulling the cluster slightly out of shape.

Published March 16, 2012

Urban Design

Photograph courtesy NASA

The distinct patterns of the city of Dubai are outlined in light in a nighttime picture taken February 22 from the International Space Station and released this week.

To the left, the human-made island called Palm Jumeira juts into the blackness of the Persian Gulf, while to the right the ultrabright Burj Khalifa Tower, the world's tallest building, shines amid the orange-hued coils of major roadways.

Published March 16, 2012

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Image courtesy SDO/NASA

Published March 16, 2012