Space Pictures This Week: Alien Invader, Framing Venus

Visible Orion

Photograph by Arjang Vatankhah Ahmad Abadi, Your Shot

Taken in Iran and submitted to National Geographic's Your Shot on March 1, this image shows the Orion Nebula, the brightest part of the entire Orion constellation. An estimated 1,300 light-years from Earth, the nebula is one of few that's visible with the naked eye.

Published March 8, 2013

Space Delivery

Photograph from NASA

As the SpaceX Dragon approached the International Space Station (ISS) this month for its second docking with the orbiting station, a crew member inside the ISS took this photo (released March 3) moments before the two connected. The Dragon is unmanned, but carried more than 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) of supplies for the crew, including materials for experiments.

In October 2012, SpaceX became the first private company to make an official resupply delivery to the ISS, which is run by a consortium of national governments. The Dragon had completed a successful first dock with the ISS in May 2012. (Related: "SpaceX's Dragon Docks With Space Station-A First.")

Published March 8, 2013

Crowd of Galaxies

Image courtesy N. Rose and NASA/ESA

In an image from the Hubble Space Telescope released March 5, this photo shows the Abell 68 galaxy cluster, captured here in infrared light. The collection of luminescent blobs in the center and upper left, according to NASA, is a series of individual galaxies, each including hundreds of billions of individual stars—and presumably, exponentially more orbiting planets.

The cartoonish alien invader in the upper right corner of the picture is due to the gravitational field of a galaxy cluster distorting the background images of more distant galaxies.

Published March 8, 2013

Developing Imagery

Image courtesy Burgess Howell, SERVIR Global/NASA

A new set of cameras aboard the International Space Station, known as ISERV Pathfinder, offers new views of Earth, including the Rio San Pablo river in Panama as it meets the Pacific Ocean in an image released March 1.

Installed in the ISS in January, Pathfinder was designed to provide geographic imagery, especially for developing countries hoping to monitor the incremental impacts of natural disasters and other environmental changes. The area around the San Pablo river has been considered a wetland of international importance by international governing bodies.

Published March 8, 2013

Venus In Frame

Image courtesy SSI/Caltech/NASA

In an image released March 4, the Cassini spacecraft was able to snap this picture while in Saturn's shadow. By pointing itself toward the back-lit planet, Cassini captured Earth's twin Venus (white dot among Saturn's rings) shining brightly in the background. This particular viewing position around Saturn is known as "high solar phase." Cassini has been orbiting the ringed planet since it arrived in 2004. (See more photos of Saturn.)

Published March 8, 2013

Salty Seas

Illustration courtesy Caltech/NASA

Using data on from the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, this artistic conception (released March 5) shows what astronomers from NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory believe is occurring on one of Jupiter's moons, Europa. The scientists hypothesize that chemicals bubble up to Europa's frozen surface from the moon's liquid ocean, where they are bombarded with sulfur streaming from atmospheric eruptions on the nearby moon Io.  (Related: "New Jupiter Mission to Target Alien Oceans.")

Published March 8, 2013

See More of Our Favorite Space Pictures

Image courtesy SDO/NASA

Published March 8, 2013