Best Space Photos of the Week - May 25, 2013

Hubble Telescope Reveals True 3D Shape of Ring Nebula (Photos)

NASA, ESA, C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University), and D. Thompson (Large Binocular Telescope Observatory)

The iconic Ring Nebula may seem like just a stunning circle of wispy interstellar gas, but new images from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal it to be more like a deep-space jelly doughnut, scientists say. [Full Story]

Alien Big Apple: Artist Envisions NYC on Other Planets

Nickolay Lamm of www.storagefront.com

A digital artist has illustrated what the Big Apple would look like as seen through the air of the solar system’s other planets. [Full Story]

Self Portrait With Milky Way

ESO/A. Fitzsimmons

Astronomer Alan Fitzsimmons took a shot of himself with the galactic center in the background at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla facility in the Atacama Desert of Chile. The center of the Milky Way, our home galaxy, glows majestically overhead in the photo. [See our gallery of skywatching photos.]

Aurora Borealis Over Maine Pond

Mike Taylor Photography

An aurora glows over Unity Pond in Unity, Maine. Image taken by astrophotographer Mike Taylor on May 18, 2013. [See our gallery of skywatching photos.]

Majestic Milky Way Shines Over Acadia National Park (Photo)

Christopher Georgia / www.CMGFoto.com / www.facebook.com/CMGFoto

This stunning night sky photo is a panorama of the Milky Way taken from Hunter's Head in Acadia National Park in Maine. Christopher Georgia took this image using a Nikon D3s camera with a Nikon 14-24 mm at 18 mm lens, 20-second exposure, ISO 2500 and F/2.8. The photo is a nine-shot panorama taken in portrait position and released to SPACE.com on May 11. [Full Story]

Lost Apollo 11 Moon Dust Found in Storage

Berkeley Lab - Roy Kaltschmidt

Vials of moon dust brought back to Earth by the first men on the moon have been found inside a lab warehouse in California after sitting in storage unnoticed for more than 40 years. [Full Story]

Stargazer Snaps Amazing Photo of Deep Space Oasis

Jeff Johnson

Dwarf barred irregular galaxy, NGC 4214, appears like a dazzling pool of water in deep space in this beautiful night sky photo. Astrophotographer Jeffrey O. Johnson took this photo between Feb. 13 and March 14, from Las Cruces, New Mexico. [Full Story]

Storms That Spawned Deadly Oklahoma Tornadoes Seen from Space (Video)

NASA/GSFC/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Team

The GOES-13 and MODIS weather satellites captured images and video of the storm systems that gave rise to a tornado outbreak in the Midwest on Monday (May 20), including a tornado that ravaged Moore, Okla. [Watch the video]

Amazon CEO's Moon Rocket Engines Being Conserved in Kansas

collectSPACE.com/Robert Z. Pearlman

Parts from at least two F-1 rocket engines, used to power the Saturn V booster that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon, were recovered from the ocean floor and are being conserved at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center. [Full Story]

Rare View of Ancient Galaxy Crash Revealed

ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech/UC Irvine/STScI/Keck/NRAO/SAO

Astronomers have discovered a rare sight in deep space, two galaxies caught in the act of merging to create a single elliptical galaxy. [Full Story]

Telescope Photographs Inky 'Strawberry Cocktail' Nebula for 15th Birthday

ESO

An amazing photo of a stellar nursery located 6,500 light-years away from Earth marks the 15-year cosmic anniversary of a telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. [Full Story]

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Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.