Week's Best Space Pictures: Mars Dunes, Saturn Storms, and Sicily Shakes
Carina's young stars kick off views of Mars, Saturn, and the skies of Chile, seen in the week's best space pictures.
Young stars burst from a crescent-shaped cradle in the constellation Carina, revealed in the above February 12 Your Shot image.
The stellar nursery called NGC3324 hangs more than 6,500 light-years away, in the northwestern corner of the Carina Nebula. There, the eruptions of young stars compress a surrounding veil of gas, birthing more stellar infants.
Our own sun likely started its life in a similar starry blaze.
Below and to the right lies the cobalt, ruby, and diamond-colored sparklers of the Gem Cluster, a collection of young stars further along in their cosmic lifetimes.
High above Earth, here come the CubeSats. The small, stackable satellites drop away from the International Space Station in this February 11 photograph.
Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata
