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Saturday, 6 August 2016

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S BEST SPACE PICTURES THIS WEEK CXIX


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See Brilliant Stars Light Up the World's Driest Place
By Michael Greshko,
National Geographic News, 5 August 2016.

This week, Hubble turns its gaze to an ancient star cluster, NASA's Curiosity rover inspects Martian bedrock, and satellite images reveal the carnage from a major wildfire.

1. You Spin Me Right Round

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Taken in Chile's Atacama Desert by a European Southern Observatory staff photographer, this long-exposure picture shows the stars seeming to revolve around the celestial south pole.

2. Ferocious Flames

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NASA's Terra satellite surveyed the damage wrought by the Sand fire, which has burned 39,000 acres (15,700 hectares) in the mountains near Los Angeles, California. Vegetation is displayed in red, while burned areas look dark gray.

3. Boundless Curiosity

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NASA's Curiosity rover investigates a target called Marimba in the bedrock on Mars' Mount Sharp. Curiosity landed on the red planet on August 5 using the dramatic sky crane maneuver.

4. Old and Bold

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The globular cluster NGC 4833 is a tightly packed group of stars some 22,000 light-years away in the constellation Musca. It's thought to contain some of the oldest stars in our galaxy.

5. Howdy, Neighbours

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A portable setup at the European Southern Observatory captured this stunning exposure of the southern sky. The blue blobs are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way.

[Source: National Geographic News. Edited. Some links added.]

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