NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S SPACE PICTURES THIS WEEK XXXVII

Space Pictures This Week: Space "Horse," Mars Rover, More
By National Geographic News, 26 November 2012.

1. High Horse

The Horsehead Nebula rears its pretty head in a November 17 photograph submitted to National Geographic's Your Shot photo community.

Taken from the New Forest Observatory in the United Kingdom, the image shows how the nebula's horse head is part of a larger cloud of dust. Situated about 1,500 light-years away, the Horsehead Nebula is visible only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against another, brighter nebula, according to NASA.

(See "'Soccer Ball' Nebula Discovered by Amateur Astronomer.")

2. Touchdown

The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft is seen shortly after landing near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, on November 19.

Expedition 33 Commander Sunita Williams of NASA and flight engineers Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency returned from four months on-board the International Space Station.

(See "Space Station Arm 'Tames' Dragon Capsule-SpaceX Docking Is a First.")

3. Green Lit

Green curtains of aurora stretch over the sky in the Alaska Arctic in a picture submitted to National Geographic's My Shot on November 17.

"The constantly changing kaleidoscope of colours are reminiscent of a fireworks display - but without sound," photographer Jeremy La Zelle wrote with his submission.

"All we hear is the quiet peaceful sounds of a freezing Alaska night."

(See "Aurora Pictures: Best Fall Photos of Northern Lights.")

4. Martian Vista

NASA's Curiosity rover snapped this picture after moving 83 feet (25 meters) eastward on November 18 - the 102nd Martian day, or sol, of its mission to study whether life once existed on Mars.

The view shows Yellowknife Bay, part of the Glenelg area of the Gale Crater, which is located near the base of a three-mile-high (five-kilometre-high) mountain rich with layered sediment deposits laid down over hundreds of millions of years.

(Read more about the Gale Crater.)

5. Gilded Mountains

The sands of the Sahara appear like golden brush strokes around the Tibesti Mountains in a March 2012 satellite image recently released by the European Space Agency.

Located in Chad and Libya, the mountains' highest peak is Emi Koussi, pictured above as a circular structure in the lower-right portion of the dark area.

Lava flows can be seen extending from the westernmost volcano, Toussidé.

(See volcano pictures.)

[Source: National Geographic News. Edited.]