Best Space Photos of the Week – March 5, 2016

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Scott Kelly Tweets Final Sunrise as Sun Sets on One-Year Space Mission

Scott Kelly (via Twitter as @StationCDRKelly)

Astronaut Scott Kelly bid farewell to Twitter at the end of his yearlong mission this morning, with a sequence of five sunrises before he leaves the space station. Read more.

Pluto's North Pole Carved Up by Long Canyons (Photo)

NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

A new image of Pluto's icy north pole from the New Horizons spacecraft shows many geological features pointing to historical events on the dwarf planet, according to NASA. Read more.

Mars Rover Opportunity Climbs Red Planet Ridge

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.

NASA's Opportunity Mars rover is tackling some of the toughest terrain the robot has encountered in its twelve years on the Red Planet. Read more.

Smithsonian's Moon Photo Exhibit Shows Off Stunning Views from NASA Probe

NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University

The moon will shine in high-definition imagery in a new exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Read more.

'Buried Giants' in Space Set Crimson Space Clouds Aglow

European Southern Observatory

A telescope with the European Southern Observatory has captured a huge new image of crimson gas lit up by rare, massive stars. The stars themselves are young, yet mysterious, scientists say. Read more.

Stargazer Spies Star Clusters of the Gemini Constellation

Ron Brecher

Brilliant star clusters in the cosmic twins that make up the constellation Gemini take center stage in this photo by an avid astrophotographer.The image was taken by Ron Brecher from Guelph, Ontario in January 2012. Read more.

'Hen's Wings' Glow Blue in Enchanting Hubble Telescope Image

ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

The glowing, symmetrical wings of Hen 2-437 shine in luminescent blue in a new image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope. Read more.

Approaching Neptune

Voyager 2, NASA

Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Neptune in 1989, and two hours before the robot spacecraft gathered the first images of the soft, elongated cirrus-type clouds over the planet. Read more.

Eerie Light

Jack Suman

Astrophotographer Jack Suman captured the zodiacal light in Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona, on Feb. 27, 2016. Read more.

Trio

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Saturn's moons Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas appear together in this NASA's Cassini spacecraft image. Read more.

Shiny and New

Virgin Galactic

VSS Unity, the new SpaceShipTwo space plane by Virgin Galactic, was unveiled at an event in Mojave, California, on Feb. 19, 2016. Read more.

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Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

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.