Full Buck Moon
Monday, August 15, 2016: The July full moon — also called the Full Buck Moon — shines bright in the night sky. This photo was taken in Gilroy, California, by photographer Brian Filice on July 19. The full moon of July is known as the buck moon because it symbolizes the time of year when male deer, known as bucks, start to grow their new antlers. Check out our Full Moon Calendar here. — Samantha Mathewson
Koosah Falls Star Trail
Tuesday, August 16, 2016: Star trails swirl over Koosah Falls in Oregon. Taken by photographer Justin Hartney, this image captures the soft flow of water cascading over the rock cliffs. The moonlight illuminates the surrounding trees, giving them a bright green glow. — Samantha Mathewson
Stellar Dancers Of the Pleiades Cluster
Wednesday, August 17, 2016: Bright yellow and green wisps of gas and dust emitted by stars of the Pleiades cluster are captured in this beautiful photo from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Located 445 light-years from Earth, the Pleiades star cluster is one of the closest and most easily seen star clusters. Stars in this cluster spin and twirl at varying speeds like cosmic dancers. — Samantha Mathewson
Astronauts Prepare for Spacewalk
Thursday, August 18, 2016: Astronauts Kate Rubins and Jeff Williams are all set to venture outside the International Space Station (ISS) tomorrow (Aug. 19) to install the first International Docking Adapter. This addition to the ISS will allow future private space vehicles to hook up to the station. — Samantha Mathewson
HiRISE Spies on Martian Surface
Friday, August 19, 2016: NASA's HiRISE camera, operated by the University of Arizona, has taken more than a thousand new images of Mars' surface. This image (taken on Aug. 3) captures the rugged surface and steep wall slopes of the Martian canyon Melas Chasma, which is the widest segment of the planet's Valles Marineris canyon system. See more new HiRISE images of Mars here. — Samantha Mathewson
Gold Medal Views
Monday, August 22, 2016: With the closing of the Summer Olympics last night (Aug. 21), here is one last look of Rio, Brazil, from space. This image was captured by UrtheCast's Deimos-2 satellite. In the upper left-hand side of the image you can see the Maracanã Stadium, which housed the opening and closing ceremonies. In first place for total medal count, the U.S. will return home with a haul of 121 medals (46 gold, 37 silver and 38 bronze). — Samantha Mathewson
Starry Hubble View
Tuesday, August 23, 2016: A globular cluster called NGC 4833 houses hundreds of thousands of stars that are tightly packed together. This particular star cluster is located 22,000 light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Musca (The Fly). This image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, captures NGC 4833 in all its stellar glory. — Samantha Mathewson
New World Record
Wednesday, August 24, 2016: NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia has set a new Guinness World Record for the most rocket engines fired on a single flight. On Sept. 16, 2015, the facility's sounding rocket team launched a mission that included the firing of 44 rocket engines. — Samantha Mathewson
SpaceX Dragon Heads Home
Thursday, August 25, 2016: SpaceX’s Commercial Resupply Service-9 mission arrived at the International Space Station on July 20 with supplies, equipment and the first International Docking Adapter in tow. The cargo spacecraft is set to detach from the space station and head back down to Earth tomorrow (Aug. 26). You can watch the event live at Space.com — Samantha Mathewson
National Parks from Space
Friday, August 26, 2016: NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, commander of Expedition 48, captured stunning images of America’s National Parks from space. Being on board the International Space Station gives Williams a unique vantage point of Earth from low orbit. Williams released his photos to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service yesterday (Aug. 25). This photo is of Katmai National Park in Alaska. Check out the full national park gallery here. — Samantha Mathewson
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