Best Space Photos of the Week – Feb. 27, 2016

By Space.com Staff
published

Leap Day: The Story Behind This Quirky Calendar Event

NASA/NOAA

Monday is Feb. 29 — the bissextle or "leap day," an artifact that dates back to the year 46 B.C. Read more.

Wolf–Rayet Star WR 31a

ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

Wolf–Rayet star WR 31a lies about 30,000 light-years away in the constellation of Carina (The Keel). Image released Feb. 22, 2016. Read more.

Stargazer Sees Milky Way and 5 Planets Dance in the Night Sky

Matt Smith

The Milky Way and five planets in one stunning image took some patience, but paid off handsomely for skywatcher Matt Smith. Read more.

Star Trails and a Green Auroras Shine in Astrophotographer Photo

Deepanshu Arora | PhotosByDeepanshu

Starry trails and a green aurora shine in this stunning image taken by astrophotographer Deepanshu Arora at Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park. Read more.

Bluish Hued Supermoon Dazzles Over Italy

Giuseppe Petricca

A turquoise light tints the blood moon in this stunning skywatcher shot from Pisa, Italy. Astrophotographer Giuseppe Petricca took this image about two minutes prior to the start of the full totality phase of the supermoon total lunar eclipse on Sept. 27, 2015. Read more.

Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic's new SpaceShipTwo space plane, the VSS Unity, was unveiled to the public on Feb. 19, 2016. Read more.

Virgin Galactic

In a post on Instagram, Virgin Galactic says, "The new SpaceShipTwo looks a little different than her predecessor. But with the same basic design—and a few key improvements—we’ll be able to build on extensive test data generated over many years of hard work.” Read more.

Mike Wall/Space.com

Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson rode in on the SUV pulling the company's new SpaceShipTwo space plane on Feb. 19, 2016. Read more.

Monster Cyclone Winston Seen from Space

NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team/Jeff Schmaltz

Satellite photos give a bird's-eye view of Tropical Cyclone Winston, the powerful storm that battered the Pacific Island nation of Fiji. Read more.

Incredible New View of the Milky Way Revealed

ESO/APEX/ATLASGAL consortium/NASA/GLIMPSE consortium/ESA/Planck

An incredible new picture of the Milky Way shows our home galaxy glowing eerily in wavelengths that are invisible to the human eye, revealing zones of hidden star birth. Read more.

Photos: Hunting Meteorites from Florida Fireball in Osceola

Mike Hankey

Four Osceola meteorites found during the hunt for meteorites that fell to Earth in Florida on Jan. 24, 2016. Read more.

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Space.com Staff
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.