Gallery: Space Photos of the Week: Saturn, You So Pretty
<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia21328/short-shadow">NASA</a>01SPoW-May18-05.jpg
In the latest from the Cassini mission, Saturn’s shadow on its rings shrinks as the planet tilts and orbits the sun, moving towards the planet’s solstice.
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The bright shape in this high-resolution photo, taken by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), is a newborn star covered in dust, only 40,000 years old. Similar low-mass stars live for an average of 100 billion years.
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Hubble archival images, taken a year apart, reveal a moon orbiting 2007 OR10, the third-largest dwarf planet in our solar system. Located in the Kuiper Belt, such moons formed long ago when the region was more crowded and celestial bodies collided.
<a href="http://m.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2017/05/Proba-V_images_Mokpo_in_South_Korea">ESA</a>04SPoW-May19-06.jpg
This false-color image, captured by ESA’s Earth-observing Proba-V mini satellite, shows Mokpo, a port city in South Korea, and the nearby islands. The mini-satellite maps land cover and vegetation across the planet every two days.
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A pair of shoebox-sized CubeSat satellites are ejected from a satellite deployer outside the International Space Station. More than a dozen satellites were ejected over Earth this week, and will study its upper atmosphere and interstellar radiation from the Big Bang.
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This enhanced color image shows Jupiter’s cloud tops, including a white whirling counterclockwise storm in the planet’s southern hemisphere.
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This image, taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a landslide and rocky deposit in Simud Valles, a channel on Mars shaped by ancient floods.
Astronomers Discover a Possible New Dwarf Planet in Our Solar System
Lying beyond Pluto, 2026 ED138 could be as large as 1,500 kilometers in diameter. Astronomers are still working to confirm whether it meets the criteria for a dwarf planet.
Jorge Garay
Astronomers Confirm Discovery of the Youngest Known Exoplanet Ever
Under 1 million years old, “Elias 2-24b” is now the youngest exoplanet ever observed, and it may force researchers to reevaluate theories about how planets are formed.
Teruyuki Hayakawa
Japan Is Attempting an Audacious Mission to Sample a Martian Moon
JAXA is leading an international mission to reach Mars’ Phobos moon and bring soil back to Earth. If successful, it could unlock new clues about the history of the solar system.
Jenna Ahart
NASA Just Made Nearly 1 TB of Artemis II Data Available to the Public
The data drop includes photographs, audio, video, and astronauts’ notes that will be used to study the moon and prepare for future human missions.
Jorge Garay
How to See the Orionid Meteor Shower and Other Upcoming Astronomical Events
Made up of small fragments left behind by Halley’s Comet, these meteors are known for being especially bright and speedy.
Ritsuko Kawai
NASA’s Oldest Martian Spacecraft Have Been Running for Decades. Here’s How
Two orbiters have long outlasted their expected lifespans and completely reshaped our understanding of the Red Planet, all while operating 140 million miles from Earth.
Meghan Bartels
Artemis III Scientist Shares What to Expect From NASA’s Next Lunar Mission
Though scaled back from initial plans of landing, the voyage will serve as a dress rehearsal for when humans return to the moon’s surface.
Jorge Garay
The ‘Exotic Physics’ Behind a Mysterious 1,000-Mile Cloud on Mars
The cloud has baffled astronomers since its discovery in 2018. Now, a new study offers a possible cause for its appearance.
Tereza Ondráčková
What to Know About China’s Top-Secret Spaceplane
This week, the Pentagon released a full-resolution image of the vehicle, the capabilities of which remain rather mysterious.
Stephen Clark, Ars Technica
Humans Watched This Supernova Explode Nearly a Millennium Ago. Now You Can See It in High Definition
The new image isn’t just stunning—it may also provide clues about how this star survived its own explosion.
Jorge Garay
Inside the Supermassive Debate Over the James Webb Telescope’s ‘Little Red Dots’
The Webb telescope sees tiny red dots everywhere. Astronomers can’t agree on what they are, but some believe they may be enormous stars with black holes inside.
Charlie Wood
These Are the Best Deals on Our Favorite Art TVs
Samsung’s Frame and Frame Pro are both on sale, as well as some of our other favorite art TVs.
Luke Larsen