Space Image of the Day Gallery (February 2018)

Image of the Day Archives

For older Image of the Day pictures, please visit the Image of the Day archives. Pictured: NGC 2467.

Total Lunar Eclipse Over NASA

Thursday, February 1, 2018: The Super Blue Blood Moon sets over NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California in this time-lapse composite by NASA photographer Ken Ulbrich. — Hanneke Weitering

Liftoff!

Friday, February 2, 2018: SpaceX launched another used Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday (Jan. 31). The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 4:25 p.m. EST (2125 GMT) and delivered the GovSat-1 communications satellite into orbit. — Hanneke Weitering

'Atoms for Peace'

Monday, February 5, 2018: This pinwheel-shaped galaxy, officially named NGC 7252, earned its nickname "Atoms for Peace" because of its superficial resemblance to an atomic nucleus surrounded by a cloud of orbiting electrons. "Atoms for Peace" was also the title of a speech President Eisenhower gave in 1953, in which he promoted the use of nuclear power for peaceful purposes rather than nuclear weapons. This image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and processed by citizen scientist Judy Schmidt. — Hanneke Weitering

Ready for Launch

Tuesday, February 6, 2018: SpaceX's new Falcon Heavy rocket stands ready for its first test launch on historic Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The megarocket is scheduled to lift off today at 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT). You can watch a live webcast of the launch here on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX. — Hanneke Weitering

Falcon Heavy's Route to Space

Wednesday, February 7, 2018: A long-exposure photo of the Falcon Heavy rocket's first test launch yesterday shows the rocket's curved trajectory as it lifts off from Kennedy Space Center and heads toward low-Earth orbit. — Hanneke Weitering

Juno Flies by Jupiter

Thursday, February 8, 2018: NASA's Juno spacecraft took this photo of Jupiter's southern hemisphere during its ninth close flyby of the planet on Dec. 16, 2017. Juno scientists released the image yesterday (Feb. 7) as the spacecraft was completing its tenth such flyby. The spacecraft captured this image from 19,244 miles (30,970 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops, and citizen scientist Gerald Eichstädt processed the raw data from the JunoCam imager to create this color-enhanced view. — Hanneke Weitering

'Ship Tracks' Spotted from Space

Friday, February 9, 2018: Circling the Earth at an altitude of about 500 miles (800 km), the European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite spotted a cluster of ship tracks in the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Portugal. But these tracks aren't left behind in the ship's wake; they're actually condensation trails or "contrails" in the atmosphere just like the trails that airplanes create. These ship tracks are created when water vapor condenses in a ship's exhaust fumes. — Hanneke Weitering

Super Blue Blood Moon Over Myanmar

Monday, February 12, 2018: During the Super Blue Blood Moon on Jan. 31, astrophotographer Nay Saw Aung captured this view of the partially eclipsed moon setting over the Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar. — Hanneke Weitering

Russia's Record-Breaking Spacewalk

Tuesday, February 13, 2018: A Russian cosmonaut works outside of the International Space Station's Zvezda module during a record-breaking spacewalk on Feb. 2. Clad in their Russian Orlan spacesuits, cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Anton Shkaplerov spent 8 hours and 13 minutes installing a new electronics box for a high-gain antenna and broke the record for the longest Russian spacewalk in history. — Hanneke Weitering

The Heart Nebula

Wednesday, February 14, 2018: The star-speckled Heart Nebula glows red with hydrogen gas in this deep-space image by astrophotographer Miguel Claro. At the cusp of its heart-shaped outline is another cloud of dust and gas known as the Fishhead Nebula. — Hanneke Weitering