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Crystal Mysteries and Galactic Twins: Space Photos of the Week

A close-up look at the universe’s many wonders, from nearby planets to faraway galaxies.
  • Photo: NASA
    01
    This photo of the Wishing Well open galactic star cluster was taken a record-breaking 3.79 billion miles away from Earth by NASA’s Pluto-grazing New Horizons spacecraft. (The runner-up, by Voyager, was taken a paltry 3.75 billion miles away.)
  • Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech
    02
    Jupiter’s odd zigzagged storms are on full display here. In case you need some scale: The small white cyclone visible on the surface is size of an entire continent on Earth. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
  • Photo: ESA/Hubble/NASA
    03
    This Hubble image looks like an artfully crafted watercolor painting, but it’s a real photograph of galaxy NGC 7331, our own Milky Way’s galactic sibling—each is roughly the same size and hosts upwards of 100,000 million stars.
  • Photo: NASA/ESA
    04
    Hubble at it again\! This wispy galaxy is officially named NGC 7252, but its nickname is Atoms for Peace, inspired by a 1953 Dwight Eisenhower speech that called for a peaceful resolution to nuclear power.
  • Photo: NASA/JPL
    05
    Don’t worry—no one spilled paint on Mars. This naturally occurring feature is caused by dust flowing downhill, and the contrast in color can be attributed to the differences in composition between the two types of dust.
  • Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech
    06
    NASA’s Curiosity rover sent back this image of a Martian rock. On its surface, geologists identified star- and swallowtail-shaped crystals; back home on Earth, such shapes are found in gypsum after salt water evaporates. The water mystery continues….

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