FAVORITE IMAGES OF THE WEEK - 11

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/PSI

Vesta's Many Colors

This shot, from a video taken by NASA's Dawn mission, shows Vesta, the giant asteroid, in a new light. It's not really those colors, of course. It's just colored that way to show elevation. Still pretty though. Read more here.

Martin Pugh

Sagitriplet

This gorgeous shot from Martin Pugh shows the Sagittarius constellation with three of its nebulae, named (not so interestingly) M8, M20, and MGC 6559. Read more here.

U.S. Navy/Jarod Hodge

Bursting Through

This is what it looks like when an F/A 18F Super Hornet bursts through the sound barrier. Read more here.

NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and W. Keel (University of Alabama)

Overlapping Galaxies

These two galaxies look like they're colliding, but it's actually just an illusion based on our perspective from Earth--they're actually tens of millions of light-years apart. Read more here.

Ron Miller

Titan's Beach

According to NASA's Cassini spacecraft, Saturn's moon Titan has methane oceans, raising the possibility of life existing there. It may look tropical, but that's only by the standards of the outer reaches of the solar system--temperatures are around −290 °F. Read more here.

Courtesy NIWA

Crown Jellyfish

Nobody's quite sure what this jellyfish is, yet. It was found in a canyon 5,000 feet below the surface, and is colored so prettily because the deep red would be invisible that far underwater. Read more here.

T. Rector (U. Alaska Anchorage), & N.S. van der Bliek (NOAO/AURA/NSF)

Thackeray's Globules

Heading toward the Centaurus constellation, you'll find these huge, opaque clouds of dust and gas. Discovered by A.D. Thackeray in 1950, they're commonly referred to as Thackeray's globules. Read more here.