Best Space Pictures of the Week - Dec. 1, 2012 | Space Images

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Venus Transit of 2004: 52 Photos of Rare Celestial Sight

Skylab's Remains: NASA Space Station Debris in Australia (Photos)

Water and Space: NASA Sounding Rocket Launch

NASA's Wallops Flight Facility: Rocket Launches from Virginia (Photos)

Three new planets -- Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury --- joined the Celestial Buddies line of plush planets, which already includes Earth, Mars, the moon and the sun. The whole line was displayed this year at Toy Fair 2012.

Photos: New Space Toys at Toy Fair 2012

Atlas 5 rocket launches NROL-36 payload for National Reconnaissance Office.

Air Force Launches Secret Spy Satellite NROL-36 (Photos)

Sunspot AR1476 with Jupiter Size Comparison

Monster Sunspot Triggers Big Solar Flares (Photos)

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'Earthshine' Illuminates Stunning Crescent Moon

Credit: Vegastar Carpentier

A waxing crescent moon is aglow with earthshine in this beautiful night sky photo. [Full Story]

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Astronaut Photo Showcases Fire & Ice

Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Fire and ice merge in a photo of ash rising from an eruption at Russia's Karymsky volcano, captured by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station. [Full Story]

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Saturn's Second 'Pac-Man' Moon Revealed in NASA Photos

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/SWRI

New images from a NASA spacecraft orbiting Saturn have revealed a view any retro-gamer would love: a second moon with a heat tattoo of the 1980s video game icon Pac-Man. The photos show Saturn’s Pac-Man moons Tethys and Mimas. [Full Story]

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Biggest Black Hole Blast Ever Could Solve Cosmological Mystery

Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

The European Southern Observatory has picked up the most powerful blast of matter from a black hole to date, with energy in it is equivalent to 2 trillion times the output of the sun. [Full Story]

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Huge Saturn Vortex Swirls in Stunning NASA Photos

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI

An amazing new photo from NASA's Cassini probe orbiting Saturn has sighted a monster storm raging on the ringed planet's north pole. [Full Story]

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Dazzling Jupiter Rises Over Himalayan Telescope

Credit: Ajay Talwar / The World at Night

-- A stunning new night sky photo shows the glowing planet Jupiter rising over the Himalayas. [Full Story]

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'Born-Again' Nebula Foreshadows Death of Our Sun

Credit: Main image: X-ray: ESA/XMM-Newton; optical: NSF/NOAO/KPNO; inset: NASA/CXC/IAA-CSIC/M. Guerrero et al; optical: NASA/STScI

New images of the "born-again" planetary nebula Abell 30 give a glimpse of what our sun might look like in 5 billion years. [Full Story]

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Mile-Wide Asteroid's Many Faces Revealed in NASA Photos

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA has unveiled astonishingly detailed radar views of a mile-wide asteroid that zipped safely by Earth this month — its closest approach to our planet until the year 2488. [Full Story]

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Lunar Eclipse Photos Show Earth's Shadow on Moon

Credit: David Matthews

The moon dipped through only part of Earth's shadow Wednesday (Nov. 28) in a penumbral lunar eclipse. See stargazers' photos of the minor lunar eclipse. [Full Story]

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Amazing Total Solar Eclipse View Over Australia

Credit: Tunc Tezel / The World at Night

A total solar eclipse appears with beautiful halo in this stunning sky photo by photographer Tunc Tezel. Tenzel took this photo from Australia during the total solar eclipse of Nov. 14, 2012. [Full Story]

Best Space Pictures of the Week - Dec. 1, 2012