<p>Water flows from the heart-shaped northern lobe of the Aral Sea in Central Asia, as seen in a recently released picture taken by the <a id="uvmu" title="ESA/NASA Landsat 5 satellite" href="http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/">ESA/NASA Landsat 5 satellite</a>. Once the world's fourth-largest inland body of water, the Aral Sea has been shrinking over the past 50 years as water has been diverted for irrigation.</p><p>The whitish area surrounding the lake is a vast salt plain, now called the Aralkum Desert, left behind by the evaporating sea.</p>

Bleeding Heart

Water flows from the heart-shaped northern lobe of the Aral Sea in Central Asia, as seen in a recently released picture taken by the ESA/NASA Landsat 5 satellite. Once the world's fourth-largest inland body of water, the Aral Sea has been shrinking over the past 50 years as water has been diverted for irrigation.

The whitish area surrounding the lake is a vast salt plain, now called the Aralkum Desert, left behind by the evaporating sea.

Image courtesy ESA

Space Photos This Week: Leaky "Heart," Sun Devil, More

A heart-shaped sea ebbs, plasma dances on the sun, galaxies collide, and more in the week's best space pictures.

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