Space Pictures This Week: Space "Horse," Mars Rover, More

Touchdown

Photograph courtesy Bill Ingalls, NASA

The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft is seen shortly after landing near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, on November 19.

Expedition 33 Commander Sunita Williams of NASA and flight engineers Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency returned from four months onboard the International Space Station.

(See "Space Station Arm 'Tames' Dragon Capsule-SpaceX Docking Is a First.")

Published November 26, 2012

Green Lit

Photograph by Jeremy La Zelle, My Shot

Green curtains of aurora stretch over the sky in the Alaska Arctic in a picture submitted to National Geographic's My Shot on November 17.

"The constantly changing kaleidoscope of colors are reminiscent of a fireworks display—but without sound," photographer Jeremy La Zelle wrote with his submission.

"All we hear is the quiet peaceful sounds of a freezing Alaska night."

(See "Aurora Pictures: Best Fall Photos of Northern Lights.")

Published November 26, 2012

Martian Vista

Image courtesy Caltech/NASA

NASA's Curiosity rover snapped this picture after moving 83 feet (25 meters) eastward on November 18—the 102nd Martian day, or sol, of its mission to study whether life once existed on Mars.

The view shows Yellowknife Bay, part of the Glenelg area of the Gale Crater, which is located near the base of a three-mile-high (five-kilometer-high) mountain rich with layered sediment deposits laid down over hundreds of millions of years.

(Read more about the Gale Crater.)

Published November 26, 2012

Gilded Mountains

Image courtesy ESA

The sands of the Sahara appear like golden brush strokes around the Tibesti Mountains in a March 2012 satellite image recently released by the European Space Agency.

Located in Chad and Libya, the mountains' highest peak is Emi Koussi, pictured above as a circular structure in the lower-right portion of the dark area.

Lava flows can be seen extending from the westernmost volcano, Toussidé.

(See volcano pictures.)

Published November 26, 2012

See More of Our Favorite Space Pictures

Photograph by Quang Nguyen Luong and F. Motte, Herschel SPIRE/ESA

Published November 26, 2012