NASA ESA Hubble Telescope Photo of Mars with a Comet C/2103 A1

A NASA Hubble Space Telescope composite image shows the positions of comet Siding Spring and Mars as the comet streaked by the red planet, at 2:28 p.m. EDT on Oct. 19, 2014. 

Credit: NASA, ESA, PSI, JHU/APL, STScI/AURA

The famed Hubble Space Telscope has captured a jaw-dropping view of a comet making an incredibly close flyby of Mars.

The space telescope snapped the amazing image when Comet Siding Spring (also called C/2013 A1) was hurtling through space near the Red Planet on Oct. 18 and Oct. 19.

During its closest approach on Oct. 19, the comet passed about 86,000 miles (138,000 kilometers) from Mars, just one-third of the distance between Earth and the moon.

Mars and the comet shine in Hubble's new image. The planet glows red, and Comet Siding Spring's bright nucleus and diffuse tail stand out against a host of background stars glimmering behind the two cosmic bodies.

The photo was created by combining separate images of the comet and Mars taken over the weekend.

"The Mars and comet images have been added together to create a single picture to illustrate the angular separation, or distance, between the comet and Mars at closest approach," NASA officials said in a statement.

NASA Astronaut Steve Swanson Beams First Instagram Photo from Space

This Instagram image from the International Space Station was posted on April 9 with the caption: "Blood, sweat, but hopefully no tears."

Credit: International Space Station consortium

An astronaut on the International Space Station recently made a giant leap into the social media world with the first Instagram photo beamed down from space.

NASA astronaut Steve Swanson posted a selfie taken in the station's cupola, a large, multi-sided window that faces Earth, as the first Instagram photo sent from space.

The photo posted to the station's Instagram account (ISS) on April 7, and since then, it has garnered nearly 4,000 "likes."

"Back on the ISS, life is good," Swanson wrote in an image caption. The veteran astronaut flew to space before during two previous space shuttle missions.

In the photo, Swanson is wearing a shirt featuring a spaceship from one of his favorite TV shows, "Firefly," a short-lived show about a crew of space cowboys that traverse the universe looking for smuggling work where they can get it.

Swanson brought a box set of "Firefly" DVDs up to the station during one of his previous space shuttle missions.

NASA Cassini Image: Saturn, Earth Shine

The Cassini spacecraft's onboard cameras acquired a panoramic mosaic of Saturn that allows scientists to see details in the rings as they are backlit by the sun. 

This image spans about 404,880 miles (651,591 kilometers) across.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI

A NASA spacecraft has revealed an unprecedented view of Saturn from space, showing the entire gas giant backlit by the sun with several of its moons and all but one of its rings, as Earth, Venus and Mars all appear as pinpricks light in the background.

The spectacular image, unveiled Tuesday (Nov. 12), is actually a mosaic of 141 wide-angle images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft taken in natural colour, which mimics how human eyes might see the ringed planet.

Stretching 404,880 miles (651,591 kilometers) across, the panorama captures all of Saturn's rings up to the ethereal E ring, the second outermost one.

The pictures that make up the mosaic were snapped on July 19, 2013 — the same day that Cassini took advantage of a rare opportunity to photograph Earth without interference from the sun, which was totally eclipsed by Saturn at the time.

From its far-flung perch millions of miles away, Cassini captured amazing portraits of Earth as a pale blue dot as thousands of people on the ground waved in honour of the global picture day.

Carolyn Porco

"In this one magnificent view, Cassini has delivered to us a universe of marvels," Carolyn Porco, who leads Cassini's imaging team at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., said of the new image in a statement from NASA.

"And it did so on a day people all over the world, in unison, smiled in celebration at the sheer joy of being alive on a pale blue dot."

Earth can be spotted as a blue dot to the lower right of Saturn, while Venus shines to the upper left of the gas giant. Mars, visible as a faint red dot, sits above and to the left of Venus.

Beyond inspiring wonder, this new view of Saturn also promises to help scientists study the planet's rings, which are best observed when light shines behind them, Cassini researchers say.

“This mosaic provides a remarkable amount of high-quality data on Saturn's diffuse rings, revealing all sorts of intriguing structures we are currently trying to understand," Matt Hedman, a Cassini participating scientist at the University of Idaho in Moscow, said in a statement.

NASA Astronaut Chris Cassidy Takes a Photo during EVA

Astronaut Chris Cassidy Takes a Photo

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, Expedition 36 flight engineer, uses a digital still camera during a session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as work continues on the International Space Station. 

A little more than one hour into the spacewalk on July 16, 2013, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano (out of frame) reported water floating behind his head inside his helmet. 

The water was not an immediate health hazard for Parmitano, but Mission Control decided to end the spacewalk early.

Image Credit: NASA

NGC 1977: 'Running Man' - Spectacular Nebula Photo

Bernard Miller took this photo of NGC 1977, the Running Man Nebula, Nov. 12, 2012

The Running Man Nebula sprints into focus in this beautiful night sky photo.

Astrophotographer Bernard Miller captured the image between Nov. 12, 2012 and Feb. 4, 2013, from Rancho Hidalgo, N.M.

This reflection nebula, also known as NGC 1977, is located in the constellation of Orion about 1,500 light years from Earth.

A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers). A reflection nebula doesn't emit any visible light on its own; instead it's illuminated by light from nearby stars.

Miller used a TEC-140 (F7) telescope, an AP900 GTO mount and a SBIG ST-8300M camera to take the photos for this image.

NASA MARS Curiosity: 'Mars Flower' Photo

This photo from the Mars rover Curiosity is a close-up of a transparent rock feature that some have dubbed a "flower." 

Researchers say that its origins are not biological. 

CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

An odd flower-like feature spotted on Mars by NASA's Curiosity rover continues to perplex researchers, who nevertheless stress that its origins are not biological.

The object garnered a lot of attention after Curiosity photographed it last month, with many Internet users quickly dubbing it the "Mars flower."

The feature is actually a rounded, light-colored pebble slightly larger than a grain of sand, but determining its precise mineralogical makeup would require more information, researchers said.

"It could be a lot of things, but without some chemical information to back me up, I'd really hesitate to say what it is," Aileen Yingst, of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz., told reporters today (Jan. 15).

"I'm not trying to be cagey," added Yingst, the deputy principal investigator for Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI. "I'm just trying to be clear that a light grain could be a lot of different things."



The so-called Mars flower juts from a rock near an outcrop mission scientists have named "John Klein," in honor of a former Curiosity deputy project manager who died in 2011.

The car-size rover is preparing to use its drill for the first time in the area, boring into a John Klein rock over the next two weeks or so.

The outcrop and its environs show many signs of long-ago exposure to liquid water, including water-deposited mineral veins that fill fissures in the rock. John Klein is thus a suitable drilling target for Curiosity, whose main goal is to determine if Mars has ever been capable of supporting microbial life.

The Mars flower is not a sign of life, but it does add to the site's intrigue, researchers said.

"It does indicate that you have, you know, a relatively diverse set of grains just in this one sample," Yingst said.