NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory came across an oddity that the spacecraft has rarely observed before: a dark filament encircling an active region (Oct. 29-31, 2017). Solar filaments are clouds of charged particles that float above the sun, tethered to it by magnetic forces. via NASA http://ift.tt/2yhGPrr

Expedition 53 Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency (ESA) photographed cloudy skies over Sudan during an International Space Station flyover on Oct. 22, 2017. Nespoli shared the image with his followers on social media on Nov. 6, writing, “#EarthFromSpace means also… Lots of clouds! How do they look from below?” via NASA http://ift.tt/2AhQv5K

As Cassini hurtled toward its fatal encounter with Saturn, the spacecraft turned to catch this final look at Saturn’s moon Pandora next to the thin line of the F ring. via NASA http://ift.tt/2AdCOF7

NASA is performing a series of tests to evaluate how astronauts and ground crew involved in final preparations before Orion missions will quickly get out of the spacecraft, if an emergency were to occur on the pad prior to launch. via NASA http://ift.tt/2zhQOR2

This false-color image demonstrates how use of special filters available on the Curiosity Mars rover’s Mast Camera (Mastcam) can reveal the presence of certain minerals in target rocks. T via NASA http://ift.tt/2ioVgTK

This sequence of images shows the Sun from its surface to its upper atmosphere all taken at about the same time on Oct. 27, 2017. via NASA http://ift.tt/2iURKVn

Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen is suspended over a mock-up of the International Space Station during a microgravity simulation. via NASA http://ift.tt/2xGWGjb

Flying hundreds miles above, astronauts aboard the International Space Station photographed Lake Hazlett and Lake Willis in Western Australia’s Great Sandy Desert. Hundreds of ephemeral salt lakes are peppered throughout the arid Australian Outback. via NASA http://ift.tt/2luBT0C

This Hubble infrared image is part of an observing program that imaged 41 massive galaxy clusters to find the brightest distant galaxies for theJames Webb Space Telescope to study. via NASA http://ift.tt/2zIrErL

At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, organisms in a Petri plate are exposed to blue excitation lighting in a Spectrum prototype unit. NASA scientists and engineers are developing experiments to determine how different organisms, such as plants, microbes or worms, develop under conditions of microgravity. via NASA http://ift.tt/2ySUIzn