Best Space Photos of the Week - Feb. 18, 2012 | Rocket Launches, Space Photography & Space Images | NASA Photos & Amateur Astronomy, Skywatching Images

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Astronaut James B. Irwin, lunar module pilot, during the Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) on August 1, 1971, at the Hadley-Apennine landing site. The first Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) on the moon, stands to the right.

Lunar Legacy: 45 Apollo Moon Mission Photos

Photos: NASA's Space Exploration Vehicle for Asteroids & Beyond

Photo of a Russian Soyuz rocket launching two European Galileo navigation satellites into orbit on Oct. 12, 2012.

Photos: Soyuz Rocket Launches Galileo Navigation Satellites

Gallery: President Obama and NASA

Fifth Prize: Robert Gendler, Spiral Galaxy Messier 96

Amazing Space Photos by Robert Gendler (Gallery)

Photos: NASA Tests Orion Spacecraft Parachutes: Dec. 20, 2011

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SDO Sees Sun Tornadoes

Credit: NASA/SDO

Tornado-like plasma twisters dance across the sun in this still from a NASA video recorded by the Solar Dynamics Observatory during a 30-hour period between Feb. 7 and 8 in 2012. [Full Story and Video]

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Southeastern United States Seen from Space

Credit: NASA

Southeastern USA at night is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 30 crew member on the International Space Station. The brightly lit metropolitan areas of Atlanta, GA (center) and Jacksonville, FL (lower right) appear largest in the image with numerous other urban areas forming an interconnected network of light across the region. Image released Jan. 29, 2012. [Full Wallpaper for Computer Desktop]

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Hungarian Moon Halo

Credit: Tamas Ladanyi / World at Night (TWAN)

Astrophotographer Tamas Ladanyi of the World at Night (TWAN) took this spectacular image of a lunar halo over a castle in Veszprem, Hungary on Feb. 2, 2012. This image was posted on Feb. 17, 2012. [Full Story]

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Cassini Photo of Saturn Moons Rhea and Titan

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Craters appear well defined on icy Rhea in front of the hazy orb of larger Titan in this view of the two Saturn moons. NASA's Cassini spacecraft snapped the photo on Dec. 10, 2011. This photo was posted on Feb. 16, 2012. [Full Story]

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NGC 6752 Globular Cluster

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

NGC 6752 globular cluster has blazed for over 10 billion years as one of the most ancient collections of stars known. It has existed over twice as long as our solar system. NGC 6752 contains a high number of "blue straggler" stars, the origin of which remains a mystery. These stars display characteristics of stars younger than their neighbors. Collisions between stars in this turbulent area could produce the blue stragglers that are so prevalent. NGC 6752 lies 13,000 light-years from Earth. This image was posted on Feb. 14, 2012. [Full Gallery of Daily Space Photos]

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Aurora Borealis above Yellowknife, NWT

Credit: Auroramax

For reasons scientists can't yet explain, the northern lights blazed up in a dazzling display this week, despite the apparent lack of a major solar flare typically associated with these celestial light shows.

This image shows the northern lights over Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories of Canada at 02:21 MST on February 14, 2012. [Full Story and More Photos]

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North America Nebula

Credit: Jean-Luc Dauvergne

The image was taken by Jean-Luc Dauvergne in August 2007 from the observatory at the Pic du Midi mountain. This image was posted on Feb. 16, 2012. [Full Story]

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Use the Force

Credit: Clara Moskowitz/SPACE.com

These lightsabers from toy company Uncle Milton would do any Star Wars fan proud. The light sabers were unveiled at the 109th International Toy Fair in New York City this week. [Full Photo Gallery]

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Misty Solar Eclipse

Credit: Tamas Ladanyi/The World At Night(TWAN)

Skywatcher Tamas Ladanyi of The World At Night (TWAN) captured this image of the eclipsed sun glowing above Kab Mountain in Hungary on Jan. 4, 2011. This image was posted on Feb. 15, 2012. [Full Story]

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Earth In a Droplet

Credit: Markus Reugels, LiquidArt

Photographer Markus Reugels uses high-speed photography to capture these images of falling droplets. [Full Story]

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Survivor Black Hole

Credit: NASA, ESA, and S. Farrell (Sydney Institute for Astronomy, University of Sydney)

This spectacular edge-on galaxy, called ESO 243-49, is home to an intermediate-mass black hole that may have been stripped off of a cannibalized dwarf galaxy. This image was released on Feb. 15, 2012. [Full Story]

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Sky Heart over Paranal Observatory

Photographer Julien Girard drew the heart in the air with a tiny flashlight at ESO's Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. The VLT telescopes are barely visible on the hill at lower right. This image was taken in October 2011 and released for Valentine's Day on Feb. 13, 2012. [Full Story]

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Vega Rocket Launches With Birds

Credit: ESA - S. Corvaja, 2012

On February 13, 2012, the first Vega lifted off on its maiden flight from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. [Full Launch Photo Gallery]

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Planck All-Sky Image Superimposition

Credit: ESA/Planck Collaboration; T. Dame et al.

This all-sky image shows the distribution of carbon monoxide (CO), a molecule used by astronomers to trace molecular clouds across the sky, as seen by Planck (blue). A compilation of previous surveys (Dame et al. (2001)), which left large areas of the sky unobserved, has been superimposed for comparison (red). The outlines identify the portions of the sky covered by these surveys. Image released February 13, 2012. [Full Story]

Best Space Photos of the Week - Feb. 18, 2012