This image from the Solar Dynamics Observatory’s Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) shows in great detail a solar prominence taken from a March 30, 2010 eruption. The twisting motion of the material is the most noticeable feature.
The Hayabusa probe was launched by Japan in 2003.
A bubble floats as people blow bubbles during a flash mob at Piazza del Popolo in central Rome on March 21 to welcome spring.
A Japanese asteroid probe is a step closer to returning home after changing its path to stay on course for a planned June 13 landing.
Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft is scheduled to touch down in Australia on June 13. The probe might be carrying a little piece of asteroid.
The Japanese space probe Akatsuki will travel to Venus in an attempt to learn more about the planet's structure.
Japan is scheduled to launch the IKAROS spacecraft this week, which will be powered by wafer-thin solar sails. The craft is headed for Venus, making it the first to attempt interplanetary travel using only solar power.
The first solar-powered sail craft will embark on an ambitious journey to Venus.
The Hubble Telescope was launched on April 24, 1990. NASA says the best is yet to come.
A plume of volcanic ash rises into the atmosphere from a crater under about 656 feet of ice at the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland on April 14. After the volcano's second eruption in less than a month, northern Europe turned into a no-fly zone on Thursday, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers due to the huge amounts of ash.