Best Space Photos of the Week - Aug. 10, 2013

A Village in Orbit: Inside NASA's Space Colony Concepts (Infographic)

by Karl Tate, Infographics Artist

In the 1970s, with the Apollo moon landing program completed and the space shuttle program under development, space planners realized that huge space colonies were feasible. [Read the infographic]

Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Galaxy Messier 94 (also known as NGC 4736) appeared historically to possess two quite different rings: a brilliant, compact band around the galaxy's core, and a faint, broad swath of stars outside its main disk. Astronomers recently discovered that the outer ring, seen here in a deep blue glow of starlight, might actually be an optical illusion. A new, more complete picture of Messier 94 indicates that two separate spiral arms, from our perspective, take on the appearance of a single, unbroken ring. [See More Images]

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