Best Space Photos of the Week - May 10, 2014

NASA Spots Square-Shaped 'Hole' in the Sun (Video)

Solar Dynamics Observatory/NASA

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has spotted a square-shaped 'hole' in the sun's upper atmosphere. See a video of the square 'coronal hole' here. [See the video here.]

Wow! NASA Spacecraft Sees Earthrise from the Moon (Photo)

NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University

The Earth rises spectacularly as a tiny blue dot above the moon in a new photo that hints at the vastness of space and the fragility of humanity. [Read the full story here. ]

Magnetic 'Fingerprints' of Milky Way Galaxy Revealed in New Map (Image)

ESA and the Planck Collaboration

Scientists using a European space telescope have created the best map yet of our Milky Way galaxy's magnetic field. See how it may reveal star formation secrets. [Read the full story here. ]

NASA

On March 29, 2014, an X-class flare erupted from the right side of the sun and vaulted into history as the best-observed flare of all time. See the photos here. HERE: This combined image shows the March 29, 2014, X-class flare as seen through the eyes of different observatories. SDO is on the bottom/left, which helps show the position of the flare on the sun. The darker orange square is IRIS data. The red rectangular inset is from Sacramento Peak. The violet spots show the flare's footpoints from RHESSI. [See more photos here. ]

NASA Now Streaming Live HD Camera Views of Earth from Space (Video)

NASA (via Twitter as @NASA)

HD cameras aboard the International Space Station are live-streaming beautiful views of Earth for the whole world to see. [See the video here. ]

Illustris Collaboration

A new simulation showing the evolution of the universe traces the formation of the cosmic web of galaxies scientists see today. The simulation - called Illustris - covers about 13 billion years of the universe's evolution starting about 12 million years after the Big Bang. This new simulation of the evolution of the universe lets scientists see the dark matter density field, gas temperatures and gas metallicity in a cube that measures about 350 million light-years on each side. Image released May 7, 2014. [See more photos here.]

Video Tour of Alien Planets Shows How Time Flies on Strange New Worlds

Tom Hands

A new video gives viewers a crash course in exoplanet science, showing the huge diversity of alien solar systems in just over a minute. [See the video here.]

'Interstellar' Teaser Poster Revealed (Photo)

©2014 Paramount Pictures. All Right Reserved.

The first teaser poster for Christopher Nolan's space epic "Interstellar" launched online Tuesday (May 6), with the clock ticking down toward the film's November 7 premiere. [Read the full story.]

Amateur Astronomers Team Up with NASA to Photograph Galaxy Quartet (Image)

X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Detlef Hartmann; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Two amateur photographers received invites from NASA to combine their work with that of the space agency – producing spectacular images of four galaxies. [Read the full story.]

Brilliant Daytime Fireball Streaks Over Canada, New York (Video)

David Narciso

A fireball streaks through the daytime sky over Toronto in an amazing new video. A well-placed dashcam captured the light of the bright meteor, which could be seen from parts of Canada and New York on May 4. [Read the full story here. ]

How Cosmic Lenses Reveal the Depths of Deep Space (Video)

NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz, M. Mountain, A. Koekemoer, and the HFF Team (STScI)

See how cosmic lenses and the powerful Hubble Space Telescope team up to reveal the deepest of deep-space views of the universe in this NASA video. [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.