NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S SPACE PICTURES THIS WEEK LXXXIV

Best New Space Pictures: Distant Stars, Saturn's Bars, and a Trip to Mars
By Dan Vergano, National Geographic News, 23 November 2013.

A supernova's ghost, Saturn's unearthly rings, and the next Mars mission's send-off round out the week's best space pictures.

1. Cassiopeia's Ghost

Light from the explosive end of the star Cassiopeia A must have first reached our solar system three centuries ago, although intervening galactic dust is thought to have dimmed earthly views of the fireworks.

Now all that remains of the supernova are wispy remnants seen spanning some ten light-years across space and glimpsed here by NASA's Chandra X-ray Space Observatory.

A unique three-dimensional model of the explosion, which blasted debris across the sky traveling at millions of miles per hour, has been constructed by the space agency for the upcoming Smithsonian X 3D project.

2. Fractures Fill Floor of Gleaming Martian Canyon

Water once coursed through Echus Chasma, a canyon incised across a Martian plateau. Here we see fractures meeting on the floor of the canyon.

Lava from a more recent eruption partially covers the blue bottoms of the fractures, captured here by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

3. Stars Wheel Over Southern Utah

Photograph by Jonathan Duncan, National Geographic Your Shot

Stars' tracks shine brightly above a Utah campsite in this October 26 photograph submitted to National Geographic's Your Shot.

The stars were captured in a 20-minute exposure on a clear night in Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument.

4. Sunlight Glimpsed From Above Saturn's Rings

Sunlight just reaching Saturn is seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft as it peeks over the shoulder of the ringed planet.

In orbit around Saturn since 2004, Cassini took this picture at a distance of 994,000 miles (1.6 million kilometres) from the planet.

5. Comet ISON Starts to Feel the Burn

Photograph by Babak Tafreshi, TWAN

Comet ISON is starting to feel the heat as it journeys toward the sun, to which it will come closest at the end of the month.

Seen here in the morning skies above southern Kenya, the comet has grown brighter in the last few weeks.

6. MAVEN Makes Move to Mars

Mars awaits a visit by NASA's next orbiter, seen here successfully launching on November 18.

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft will be on its way for the next ten months, headed for an orbit high above the red planet.

The mission aims to solve the mystery of the mostly missing atmosphere of Mars, thought to have thinned away billions of years ago.

[Source: National Geographic News. Edited.]