Stunning views of space captured by NASA

The Moon and Sun Two or three times a year, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory observes the moon traveling across the sun, blocking its view. While this obscures solar observations for a short while, it offers the chance for an interesting view of the shadow of the moon. The moon's crisp horizon can be seen up against the sun, because the moon does not have an atmosphere.

Sun's Quiet Corona This image taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument at 171 Angstrom shows the current conditions of the quiet corona and upper transition region of the Sun.

At the centre of spiral galaxy M81 is a supermassive black hole which is about 70 million times bigger than Sun. This black hole in M81 feeds just like stellar mass black holes, with masses of only about ten times that of the Sun.

Hubble Space Telescope finds source of Magellanic Stream Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have solved a 40 year mystery on the origin of the Magellanic Stream, a long ribbon of gas stretching nearly halfway around our Milky Way galaxy.

In this picture, called a coronagraph, the bright light of the Sun itself is blocked so the structures around it are visible. The comet ISON is seen in the lower right a giant cloud of solar material, called a coronal mass ejection or CME, is seen billowing out under the sun.

Astronomers have used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to photograph the iconic Horsehead Nebula in a new, infrared light to mark the 23rd anniversary of the famous observatory's launch aboard the space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990.

Egyptian Dust Plume, Red Sea This astronaut photograph acquired on June 22, 2013 provides a panoramic view of most of the length of the Red Sea. The northernmost end, the Gulf of Suez, is just visible at the top centre of the image and is fully 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) in ground distance from the ISS.

Soyuz Spacecraft Approaches International Space Station The Soyuz TMA 10M spacecraft approaches the International Space Station, carrying Expedition 37 Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov, NASA Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins and Russian Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy.