Best Space Photos of the Week - Jan. 20, 2013

Celestial Wonder Looks Uncannily Like a Manatee

NRAO/AUI/NSF, K. Golap, M. Goss; NASA’s Wide Field Survey Explorer (WISE)

Scientists have renamed a cosmic nebula after the sea creature it strongly resembles. [Full Story]

How NASA's 2017 Orion Capsule Deep-Space Test Works (Photos)

NASA

Animation of the Orion spacecraft’s Exploration Mission-1 in 2017 shows the launch vehicle's booster rockets jettisoned. Video released Jan. 16, 2013. [Full Photo Gallery]

Break, Eject, Eject, Eject

NASA/Hubble

Planetary nebula NGC 5189 consists of a dying star the size of our sun surrounded by material it has ejected from its outer envelope. The radiation of the stellar remnant heats the material, causing it to radiate, forming glowing clouds of gas in complex structures. In this case, NGC 5189 has created two structures expanding from the center in different directions. (The term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer. Early astronomers mistook the celestial objects for planets, but no planets are involved.) Image released Dec. 20, 2012. [See More Images]

Amazing NASA Sun Photos Outshine Ultra HDTVs

NASA / SDO

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has plenty of ultra-HD photos thanks to the advanced camera system aboard the craft. [Full Story]

Astronomy Teacher Finds Hubble Telescope's Hidden Treasure

ASA, ESA. Acknowledgement: Josh Lake

Connecticut astronomy teacher Josh Lake uncovered a dazzling view of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to the Milky Ways while exploring the "hidden treasures" of the Hubble Space Telescope. [Full Story]

Space Station and Full Moon Glow in Yosemite Night Sky (Photo)

Scott McGuire | Photography | www.ScottMcGuirePhotography.com

The International Space Station shoots across the sky as the full moon shines over Half Dome at Yosemite National Park in this beautiful image. Scott McGuire took this photo on Oct. 28, 2012 from Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park, Calif. [Full Story]

Mars Rover Curiosity's Tracks Seen From Space

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

A new photo from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the Curiosity rover’s Red Planet tracks in sharp detail. [Full Story]

Space Station's Expedition 35 Mission in Photos

NASA

The International Space Station’s Expedition 35 mission in pictures. [Full Photo Gallery]

Photos: NYC Museum's Space Shuttle Enterprise Exhibit

Clara Moskowitz/SPACE.com

Photos of the new shuttle Enterprise exhibit at the Intrepid Museum. [Full Photo Gallery]

NASA Unveils Last Moon Video by Doomed Spacecraft

NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/ASU

A NASA probe recorded a spectacular flyover video of the moon's far side shortly before intentionally slamming into a lunar mountain last month. Now, NASA has unveiled the Ebb Grail probe’s video. [Full Story]

'Garden Sprinkler' Star Fires Jet at Near Light Speed

X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Toronto/M.Durant et al; Optical: DSS/Davide De Martin

NASA's space-based Chandra X-ray Observatory has captured a movie of a collapsed star that's spinning more than 11 times each second and belching charged particles at 70 percent of light-speed. [Full Story]

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Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.