Just 15 minutes after its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft looked back toward the sun and captured this near-sunset view of the rugged, icy mountains and flat ice plains extending to Pluto’s horizon. via NASA http://ift.tt/1MsTWKJ

Lockheed Martin engineers at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, perform the first weld on the Orion spacecraft pressure vessel for Exploration Mission-1 on Sept. 5, 2015. This is the third pressure Orion pressure vessel built. via NASA http://ift.tt/1FMZ4Sg

On Sept. 13, 2015, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory – a joint project of the European Space Agency and NASA — discovered its 3,000th comet, cementing its standing as the greatest comet finder of all time. Prior to the 1995 launch of the observatory, commonly known as SOHO, only a dozen or so comets had ever even been discovered from space. via NASA http://ift.tt/1LeIwbW

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly shared this photograph on social media, taken from the International Space Station on Sept. 10, 2015. Kelly wrote, “#GoodMorning Texas! Great view of you, the #moon , and #Venus this morning. #YearInSpace” via NASA http://ift.tt/1F9IeBX

The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower. via NASA http://ift.tt/1OGmfTq

Why does Saturn look like it’s been painted with a dark brush in this infrared image, but Dione looks untouched? via NASA http://ift.tt/1MeaeqV

This image, made using images taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, shows Occator crater on Ceres, home to a collection of intriguing bright spots. via NASA http://ift.tt/1EUXNNK

This composite image made from five frames shows the International Space Station, with a crew of nine onboard, in silhouette as it transits the sun at roughly 5 miles per second, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015. via NASA http://ift.tt/1JQU3vL

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows Messier 96, a spiral galaxy just over 35 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo (The Lion). It is the nearest group containing both bright spirals and a bright elliptical galaxy (Messier 105). via NASA http://ift.tt/1i0WuDh

​This rocky panoramic scene is the second picture of the Martian surface that was taken by Viking Lander 2 shortly after touchdown on Sept. 3, 1976 at 3:58 p.m. PDT (Earth received time). via NASA http://ift.tt/1Vz1YDo