Best Space Pictures of the Week - Aug. 25, 2012 | Space Images

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90 Days on Mars: Phoenix Lander Sends Martian Postcard

Photos: NASA's Phoenix Lander on Mars

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Massive Solar Loop on Sun Captured by Photographer

Credit: JP Brahic

A gigantic plasma loop protrudes from the sun in this magnificent amateur astronomy image. Astrophotographer JP Brahic captured this photo from France on July 19, 2012. [Full Story]

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Photos: Spacewalking Cosmonauts Upgrade Space Station (Aug. 2012)

Credit: NASA TV

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka is seen just before tossing a spherical satellite into space from the International Space Station during an Aug. 20, 2012 spacewalk. [Full Photo Gallery]

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Inside Arizona's Lowell Observatory (Photo Gallery)

Credit: Tom Alexander/Lowell Observatory

Onlookers enjoy Lowell Observatory's Clark Telescope in Flagstaff, AZ. Photo taken on April 10, 2011. [Full Photo Gallery]

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Above an Icon: Venus, Jupiter and Moon Shine Over Gandhi

Credit: Ajay Talwar / The World at Night

This early morning shot of India's salt march memorial captures the crescent moon with Jupiter and Venus. [Full Story]

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Hubble Telescope's Hidden Photo Treasures: 2012 Winners Gallery

Credit: Josh Lake/NASA & ESA

Josh Lake (USA) submitted a stunning image of NGC 1763, part of the N11 star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud. [Full Photo Gallery]

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Sun Zoom Arc

Credit: NASA/SDO

Huge loops of magnetic particles leapt out of the sun on arcing magnetic field lines, August 14-15, 2012. The Solar Dynamics Observatory caught this solar activity in the AIA 171 wavelength (but colorized red). An active region at left shows its own loops, in addition to streams of plasma jumping back and forth. Earth could easily fit inside any of these loops. [See more Images]

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One More Night, The Stars Are in Sight

Credit: NASA & ESA; Acknowledgement: Gilles Chapdelaine

Hubble Space Telescope produced this image of the globular cluster Messier 56 (M 56 or NGC 6779), which lies about 33,000 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Lyra, the Lyre. The cluster consists of many stars bound to each other by gravity. [See more Images]

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Face to Face

Credit: NASA

: NASA's retired space shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis switched locations at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 16, 2012, during processing for the departure of each to their final destinations. Endeavour will end up in Los Angeles at the California Science Center, and Atlantis will move to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. [See more Images]

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Mars InSight: NASA's Mission to Probe Red Planet's Core (Gallery)

Credit: NASA/JPL

Artist rendition of the proposed InSight (Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) Lander. The mission will launch in 2016. [Full Photo Gallery]

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New Space Weather Video Shows Sun Waking Up

Credit: NASA/ESA/SOHO

A new video shows just how much the sun has woken up in the last few years. [Full Story]

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Amazing NASA Videos Capture Drama of Mars Rover Landing

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Two new videos let viewers relive the Mars rover Curiosity’s daring Red Planet landing on Aug. 5, 2012. [Full Story]

Best Space Pictures of the Week - Aug. 25, 2012