Between a history-making cosmic encounter, a glitch with a rover on Mars and the discovery of the fastest star in the Milky Way, it has been a busy week for space news. Here are our picks for the biggest cosmic space stories of the week:
A powerful digital camera spots a comet
The Dark Energy Camera — the most powerful digital camera in the world — took an amazing image of Comet Lovejoy. The comet made its closest approach with the sun about one month ago. [Full Story: Amazing Photo of Green Comet Lovejoy Captured by Dark Energy Camera]
NASA's Mars Curiosity rover experienced an electrical issue last week, and mission managers are attempted to figure out what exactly happened to the rover on the Red Planet. [Full Story: NASA's Curiosity Rover on Mars Sidelined By 'Short Circuit' Glitch]
New maps of the Martian atmosphere have shown that the Red Planet may have once had enough water to cover one-fifth of Mars. [Full Story: Wet Mars: Red Planet Lost Ocean's Worth of Water, New Maps Reveal]
Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity celebrates its 100-year anniversary this year, but mysteries remain. Scientists still aren't sure what dark matter and dark energy are. [Full Story: General Relativity at 100: Einstein's Famous Theory Has Aged Well]
NASA's Dawn probe orbits Ceres
NASA's Dawn spacecraft made it into orbit around Ceres this week, marking the first time a human-made craft has ever orbited a dwarf planet. [Full Story: NASA Dawn Probe Enters Orbit Around Dwarf Planet Ceres, a Historic First]
