Best Space Photos of the Week - May 12, 2012 | Space Images

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Best Space Photos of the Week - May 12, 2013

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Skywatcher Photo Catches Star Trails & Plane Over Ancient Tomb

Credit: Ajay Talwar

An ancient resting site provides a somber backdrop for this stunning skywatcher image. The image was taken by astrophotographer Ajay Talwar from New Delhi, India in front of the tomb of Akbar Khan in early 2012. [Full Story]

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New Astronaut Photo Highlights Impact Crater

Credit: NASA.

A new photo snapped by astronauts aboard the International Space Station highlights a 70-million-year-old impact crater in Algeria. [Full Story]

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Astronaut Sees Squashed 'Supermoon' From Space (Photos)

Credit: ESA/NASA

An astronaut in space snapped spectacular photos of the supermoon of May, including views of a squashed moon sinking behind the Earth's horizon. [Full Story]

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Stars Swarm like Celestial Bees in Stunning New Photo

Credit: ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

A new image of Messier 55 from ESO's VISTA infrared survey telescope shows tens of thousands of stars crowded together like a swarm of bees. The stars are some of the oldest in the universe. [Full Story]

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Moon and Venus Set Over Historic Old Delhi Mosque

Credit: Ajay Talwar / TWAN-India

The moon and Venus set over an iconic monument in Delhi in this skywatcher’s photo. [Full Story]

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Bella Luna: Skywatcher Captures Old Moon Over Historic Italian Church

Credit: Stefano De Rosa

A slender old moon seems to be touching the top of this beautiful Italian church in this skywatcher image. The image was taken by Stefano De Rosa in Turin, Italy on Dec. 4, 2011. [Full Story]

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Space History Photo: M2-F2 Crash on Rogers Dry Lake

Credit: NASA

In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, an M2-F2 aircraft is seen after it crash landed on Rogers Dry Lakebed at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California on May 10, 1967. [Full Story]

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Far Out! Jupiter-Bound Probe Snaps Photo of Big Dipper

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SWRI/MSSS

A Jupiter-bound NASA probe has snapped what may be the farthest-flung photo ever taken of the Big Dipper. [Full Story]

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Photos: Fireball Drops Meteorites On California

Credit: Lisa Warren

A meteor in the sky above Reno, Nevada on April 22, 2012. [Full Photo Gallery]

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Monster Sunspot Triggers Big Solar Flares (Photos)

Credit: Giuseppe Petricca

Giuseppe Petricca of Pisa, Italy, sent in this photo taken on May 11, 2012. He writes that he used "my Nikon P90 and a wielding glass in front of the lenses. [This photo] has been taken during the afternoon, when the sun hid temporarily behind a tree." [Full Photo Gallery]

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Dark Shadows

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Cassini spacecraft swung by Saturn’s moon Janus on March 27, 2012. Deep shadows darken some of the moon’s large craters. The spacecraft got this shot at a distance of approximately 28,000 miles (45,000 kilometers) from Janus. Intriguingly, another moon of Saturn, Epimetheus, orbits close to Janus, and the two moons periodically change orbits, so that one becomes closer to Saturn, while the other floats further away. [More Images]

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Close Encounters of the AEHF-2 Kind

Credit: United Launch Alliance

Looking like a scene from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” dramatic backlight illuminates a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle at Space Launch Complex-41 of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rocket successfully launched the Air Force's Advanced Extremely High Frequency 2 satellite (AEHF 2) satellite on May 4, 2012. [More Images]

Best Space Photos of the Week - May 12, 2012