Best Space Photos of the Week - Aug. 31, 2013

'Space Slinky' Erupts from Giant Black Hole (Video)

NASA, ESA, E. Meyer, W. Sparks, J. Biretta, J. Anderson, S.T. Sohn, and R. van der Marel (STScI), C. Norman (Johns Hopkins University), and M. Nakamura (Academia Sinica)

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have spotted a true space oddity: a monster black hole unleashing a spiraling jet of super-hot plasma that looks surprisingly like a cosmic slinky toy moving through outer space. [Read the Full Story]

Curiosity Rover Snaps Best Mars Solar Eclipse Photos Ever

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/Texas A&M Univ.

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has captured the sharpest-ever images of a solar eclipse as seen from the Red Planet. [Read the Full Story]

Scientists Spark Auroras In a Bottle for Traveling Northern Lights Show

Guillaume Gronoff

NASA is putting the ingredients for the northern lights into a device called Planeterrella and studying the result. [Read the Full Story]

Third Mirror Cast for Giant Magellan Telescope: Photos

Mike Wall/SPACE.com

The Giant Magellan Telescope's finished first mirror and in-progress second mirror sit side-by-side at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory Mirror Lab on Aug. 24, 2013. [See more images]

NASA Satellites Track California's Rim Wildfire from Space

NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team

NASA satellites in orbit high above the surface of the Earth are keeping close tabs on the massive wildfire currently raging in California. [Read the Full Story]

Ford Studies Space Robots to Boost Car Communication

Ford Motor Company

The Ford Motor Company is beginning a three year project to understand communications systems between robots on the International Space Station and with Earth. They hope to use the information gathered to create more effective vehicle communications systems. [Read the Full Story]

Artist to Recreate Astronaut's Amazing Space Photos as Body Art

Erin Percival

- A local artist recently received a $962 ($1,000 Canadian) grant to recreate astronaut Chris Hadfield's images in body art. When completed, each model's skin will blend into poster-sized images of the astronaut's space shots during his five-month mission, which finished in May. [Read the Full Story]

Launch Photos: Huge Delta 4-Heavy Rocket Soars with Secret NROL-65 Satellite

Pat Corkery/United Launch Alliance

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta 4 Heavy rocket carrying a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) lifted off from Space Launch Complex-6 here at 11:03 a.m. PDT today. Designated NROL-65, the mission is in support of national defense. This is ULA’s eighth launch in 2013, the 24th Delta 4 mission and the second Delta 4 Heavy launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base. [See more images]

Copyright Planet Labs, Inc.

A close-up of Planet Labs' Dove 2 Earth-imaging cubesat, which launched to orbit in April 2013. [See more images]

Blow, Winds

Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/Coelum

The Cone Nebula (NGC 2264) consists of a glowing cloud of ionized gas excited by the surrounding hot, massive young blue stars. Strong winds of particles blow from these stars, shaping the residual gas left from a spent star formation region, creating these structures with striking appearances. [See More Images]

Brighter Than a Thousand Thousand Suns

NASA/JPL-Caltech

This new view shows the Carina nebula as seen in a new image made by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. At the center of the nebula lies Eta Carinae, one of the most massive stars in the galaxy. Its blinding glare sculpts and destroys the surrounding nebula. Eta Carinae represents a true giant of a star. It contains 100 times the mass of our sun, and burns its nuclear fuel so quickly that it blazes at least one million times brighter than the sun. It has brightened and faded over the years, and some astronomers think it could explode as a supernova in the not-too-distant future. [See More Images]

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

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.