Best Space Photos of the Week - Jan. 26, 2013

Astronauts See Obama Inauguration Site from Space

NASA

Even astronauts in space are turning their attention to President Barack Obama's inauguration today (Jan. 21), snapping photos of the U.S. capital from high above Earth. [Full Story]

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]

Jupiter and the Moon: Dazzling Stargazer Photos of Jan. 21, 2013

Greg Diesel Walck/facebook.com/GregDieselPhotography

Photographer Greg Diesel Walck captured this photo of Jupiter near the moon from the coasts of North Carolina on Jan. 21, 2013 during an extreme close encounter. [Full Photo Gallery]

Photos of Comet ISON: A Potentially Great Comet

Science@NASA

This still from a NASA video identifies comet C/2012 S1 (ISON), better known as Comet ISON, in a telescope image. [Full Photo Gallery]

Deep Space Industries

This illustration depicts Deep Space Industries' small Firefly class Archimedes spacecraft for asteroid exploration. The small, nimble probes are designed for one-way trips to investigate asteroid targets. [Full Photo Gallery]

The Sun's Different Light: How Scientists Study Our Closest Star

NASA/SDO/Goddard Space Flight Center

Though the sun appears yellow to the naked eye, it actually emits light in all colors, which scientists can see using specialized telescopes designed to observe wavelengths beyond the visible range. [Full Story]

Stunning Photo Captures Reflective Cloud in Orion Constellation

ESO / APEX

A telescope in South America has captured a spectacular new view of an intricate cloud of interstellar dust in the famed Orion constellation. [Full Story]

Wow! Dung Beetles Navigate by the Stars

Emily Baird

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has captured its first nighttime view of the Red Planet using a camera and ultraviolet light on its robotic arm. [Full Story]

Curiosity Rover Snaps 1st Photos of Mars at Night

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has captured its first nighttime view of the Red Planet using a camera and ultraviolet light on its robotic arm. [Full Story]

Night-Sensitive Satellite Spots Elusive Clouds

NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using VIIRS Day-Night Band data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership

The nighttime viewing capabilities of the Suomi NPP satellite are giving earth scientists new views of the planet's surface once the sun goes down. [Full Story]

When You Get Caught Between the Moon and New York City

David Rodgers

David Rodgers sent in his photo of the moon and Jupiter as he saw them in New York City on Jan 22, 2013. He wrote: “What makes the occasion so very special, truly once in a lifetime, is that the George Washington Bridge is only lit up on occasional holidays, perhaps 3 times a year. In this case, the conjunction took place on Monday, January 21, which also had the impossibly rare coincidence of being not only the Martin Luther King Day holiday, but also the Inauguration Day for President Obama's second term, hence the lighting being turned on. Usually the towers are dark!... [The picture was] taken from northern Manhattan, looking west over the Hudson River toward Ft. Lee, New Jersey. The George Washington Bridge is to the left, 12 blocks to the south. Time was between 2:50 and 3:00 AM on Tuesday morning, January 22. By this time, the moon had moved noticeably away from its closest point, when I first observed around 11:30 PM.... Jupiter is to the right of the moon. The bright star to the left of the moon is Aldebaran, in Taurus.... The constellation Orion is visible over the bridge on the left.” [See More Images]

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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.