Space Image of the Day Gallery (August 2016)

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Oh My! The Weightless Frontier

Al Powers

Monday, August 29, 2016: In celebration of "Star Trek's" 50th anniversary, George Takei — who played the original "Star Trek" crewmember Hikaru Sulu — took a Zero-G flight on Aug. 17. Takei was joined by "Star Trek" fans, his husband, Brad Altman, and Rod Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment and the son of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry. Read our full story about the flight here and see more photos here. — Samantha Mathewson

Red Rectangle Encompasses Star

ESA/Hubble and NASA

Tuesday, August 30, 2016: A Red Rectangle, also known as a proto-planetary nebula, surrounds the star HD 44179. This Hubble image captures an extraordinary view this unique cosmic structure and its apparent X-shaped structure, in addition to the glowing gas surrounding the star. This photo was released by NASA on April 8, 2016. — Samantha Mathewson

Island of Stars

ESA/Hubble & NASA

Wednesday, August 31, 2016: This image from the Hubble Space Telescope captures a dwarf galaxy known as NGC 5264. This galaxy lies just over 15 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Hydra (The Sea Serpent). NGC 5264 is an irregular galaxy, which means that it lacks a defined shape. — Samantha Mathewson

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Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
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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.