Land Of Rainbows

Different Worlds

Although Tethys and Janus both orbit Saturn and are both made of more or less the same materials, they are very different worlds.

Hubble's Blue Bubble

The distinctive blue bubble appearing to encircle WR 31a is a Wolf–Rayet nebula — an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other gases. Created when speedy stellar winds interact with the outer layers of hydrogen ejected by Wolf–Rayet stars, these nebulae are frequently ring-shaped or spherical.

Earthrise

Mathematician Katherine Johnson at Work

NASA research mathematician Katherine Johnson is photographed at her desk at Langley Research Center in 1966. Johnson made critical technical contributions during her career of 33 years, which included calculating the trajectory of the 1961 flight of Alan Shepard. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Nov. 24, 2015.

Purple District

Flying Through the Aurora's Green Fog

Expedition 46 crew member Tim Peake of the European Space Agency (ESA) shared a stunning image of a glowing aurora taken on Feb. 23, 2016, from the International Space Station. Peake wrote, "The @Space_Station just passed straight through a thick green fog of #aurora…eerie but very beautiful. #Principia"

Timeless Bond

Sunrise of Baishi Mountain

The Ice Fields of Patagonia

This image, acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, shows the glaciers of Sierra de Sangra on Jan. 14, 2015. Snow and ice are blue in these false-color images, which use different wavelengths to better differentiate areas of ice, rock, and vegetation.

Three Times the Fun

Three of Saturn's moons -- Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas -- are captured in this group photo from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Jarosite in the Noctis Labyrinthus Region of Mars

This image, acquired on Nov. 24, 2015 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the western side of an elongated pit depression in the eastern Noctis Labyrinthus region of Mars. Along the pit's upper wall is a light-toned layered deposit.

Piazza San Marco - Acqua Alta

Looking Back: Astronaut Mae Jemison Suits Up For Launch

On Sept. 12, 1992, launch day of the STS-47 Spacelab-J mission on space shuttle Endeavour, NASA astronaut Mae Jemison waits as her suit technician, Sharon McDougle, performs a unpressurized and pressurized leak check on her spacesuit at the O&C Building at Kennedy Space Center. Dr. Jemison was the first African-American woman to fly in space.

Commercial Crew Partner Boeing Tests Starliner Spacecraft

Engineers from NASA’s Langley Research Center and Boeing dropped a full-scale test article of the company’s CST-100 Starliner into Langley’s 20-foot-deep Hydro Impact Basin. Although the spacecraft is designed to land on land, Boeing is testing the Starliner’s systems in water to ensure astronaut safety in the unlikely event of an emergency.

Flowers Harvested on the Ground and in Space for Deep-Space Food Crop Research

Zinnia plants from the Veggie ground control experiment at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida were harvested Feb. 11 in the same way that crew member Scott Kelly will harvest the zinnias growing in the Veggie system aboard the International Space Station on Feb. 14—Valentine’s Day.

Crashing in Kauai

Manly Sunrise

The Helix Nebula's Iridescent Glory

Hubble Watches the Icy Blue Wings of Hen 2-437

In this cosmic snapshot, the spectacularly symmetrical wings of planetary nebula Hen 2-437 show up in a magnificent icy blue hue.

Astronaut Peggy Whitson Trains For a Spacewalk

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson trains underwater for a spacewalk at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Whitson is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in late 2016 as part of Expedition 50/51.

Tanjung Aru Sunset

Sea Ice and Cloud Streets in the Sea of Okhotsk

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of cloud streets and sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk on Feb. 8, 2016. Cloud streets are long parallel bands of cumulus clouds that form when cold air blows over warmer waters and a warmer air layer rests over the top of both.

Clear Skies with a Chance of Proton bombardment

Colorful Masterpiece

Feb. 9, 1995, Bernard Harris and Michael Foale Ready For a Spacewalk

STS-63 astronauts Bernard A. Harris, Jr., payload commander (right), and C. Michael Foale, mission specialist (left), are ready to exit space shuttle Discovery's airlock for a spacewalk on Feb. 9, 1995. On this extravehicular activity (EVA), which lasted 4 hours and 38 minutes, Bernard Harris became the first African-American to walk in space.

Space Station Flyover of Super Bowl 50

On the evening of Feb. 7, 2016, Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly snapped this photo of Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. from the International Space Station, writing, "Got to see the #SuperBowl in person after all! But at 17,500MPH, it didn't last long. #YearInSpace"

Rainforest Trail

Jet in Carina

Hubble Views Merging Galaxies in Eridanus

This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a peculiar galaxy known as NGC 1487, lying about 30 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Eridanus.

New Perspective on Old Clock Tower

Floating Hills on Pluto's Sputnik Planum

The nitrogen ice glaciers on Pluto appear to carry an intriguing cargo: numerous, isolated hills that may be fragments of water ice from Pluto’s surrounding uplands. These hills individually measure one to several miles or kilometers across, according to images and data from NASA’s New Horizons mission.

Feb. 3, 1995, Astronaut Eileen Collins at the Pilot's Station on Shuttle Discovery

In this Feb. 3, 1995, image taken onboard space shuttle Discovery on flight day one of the STS-63 mission, astronaut Eileen M. Collins -- the first woman to pilot the shuttle -- is at the pilot's station during a "hotfiring" procedure prior to rendezvous with the Russian Mir Space Station.

Successful Deployment of University Satellites From Space Station

Expedition 46 flight engineer Tim Peake of ESA captured this photo on Jan. 29, 2016 from the International Space Station, as the robotic arm in Japan's Kibo laboratory successfully deployed two combined satellites: AggieSat4 built by Texas A&M University students, and BEVO-2 built by University of Texas students.

Super Guppy Ready to Transport the Orion Spacecraft

NASA's Super Guppy aircraft readies to transport an Orion spacecraft from the Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.