Best Space Photos of the Week - Feb. 25, 2012

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Comet Garradd & Star Cluster M92

Conrad Jung/Chabot Space & Science Center

A comet and a sparkly star cluster shined bright together this month in a space rendezvous captured by an astronomer in California.

The cosmic close encounter featured the comet Garradd and bright globular star cluster M92. It was photographed by astronomer Conrad Jung with the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, Calif. [Full Story]

Markarian Chain

Larry Van Vleet

This stunning image by skywatcher Larry Van Vleet is of Markarian's Chain, a stretch of galaxies in the Virgo cluster. [Full Story]

The galaxies are said to be in a smooth, curved line making them appear to be connected in a chain. Located about 70 million light-years away, the Virgo cluster is a large collection of some 2,000 galaxies that dominate our part of the universe. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).

Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
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