Best Space Photos of the Week - Jan. 18, 2014

Hubble Telescope Captures Spectacular Views of Spidery Tarantula Nebula (Photos)

NASA, ESA, E. Sabbi (STScI)

A new photo shows a spooky looking nebula shining in never-before-seen detail. The nebula is known as the Tarantula Nebula and is located about 160,000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way. [Read the Full Story]

Moons of Mars: Amazing Photos of Phobos and Deimos

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took this image of the larger of Mars' two moons, Phobos, from a distance of about 6,800 km (about 4,200 miles). [See More Photos Here]

Images: Metal Asteroid Psyche, NASA Mission Concept

JPL/Corby Waste

Artist's concept of a spacecraft studying the huge metal asteroid Psyche from orbit. Scientists are considering a potential mission to study the asteroid Psyche because of the space rock's strange properties. It is magnetic and may be made of metal, sparking some theories that it is the remnant core of a protoplanet destroyed eons ago. [See More Photos Here]

Alien Planet Around Solar Twin Found in Distant Star Cluster, a First (Video)

ESO/L. Calçada

Scientists using a telescope in Chile have spotted the first planet orbiting a “solar twin” in the star cluster Messier 67. [See the Video Here]

Hubble Telescope Sees Star That May Explode Soon (Photo)

Credit ESA/NASA, acknowledgement: Nick Rose

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking new photo of a doomed star poised to explode in a devastating supernova event. The Hubble photo of the star, known as SBW2007 1 (or SBW1 for short) reveals the star surrounded by its own expelled gas to create what appears to be a "lidless purple eye, staring back at us through space.” [Read the Full Story Here]

Proxima Centauri, Nearest Star to Sun, Seen by Hubble Telescope (Photo)

NASA/ESA

Proxima Centauri lies a scant four-light years from Earth, making that star the closest to our own sun. A new Hubble Space Telescope image of Proxima Centauri shows a bright, point-like object, but that appearance deceives — it really remains invisible to the naked eyes of Earth observers. The star possesses a very low average luminosity, and a mass only about an eighth of the sun. [Read the Full Story Here]

Launch Photos: India's Big Rocket Lifts Off with GSAT-14 Satellite

Indian Space Research Organisation

The Indian Space Research Organisation's GSLV-D5 rocket successfully launched GSAT-14 satellite from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota, India on Jan. 5, 2014. [See More Photos Here]

Photos: Europe's Rosetta Comet Mission in Pictures

ESA–C. Carreau/ATG medialab

In August 2014, the ESA's Rosetta Spacecraft will rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and deploy its Philae lander, as seen in this artist's impression. [See More Photos Here]

Europe's Mars Probe Celebrates 10 Years of Amazing Martian Views (Video)

ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Europe's Mars Express team is celebrating 10 years of incredible photos and videos beamed back from the Red Planet by the spacecraft. [See the Video Here]

Giant Planet-Forming Ring Spotted Surprisingly Far from Young Star

ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), NAOJ, Fukagawa et al.

Astronomers observing a baby star found evidence that planets might be forming in a ring of cosmic dust far from the solar system's center. In fact, the scientists say they have never before seen alien worlds spawning this far away from their parent star. [Read the Full Story Here]

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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.