Awesome images from space
Dawn is leaving the giant asteroid Vesta, shown in an artist’s rendering, and heading toward another object, a dwarf planet named Ceres.
More: NASA sets its sights on a new asteroid and wants to bring a piece home (NASA / Associated Press)
An image taken by Voyager 1 shows a volcanic plume on the Jupiter moon Io. Launched in 1977, Voyagers 1 and 2 were nearing the edge of our solar system in 2012, poised to cross into interstellar space.
More: Voyager 1 set to burst the plasma bubble (NASA / Associated Press)
Craters resembling the shape of Mickey Mouse’s head are seen on the surface of Mercury.
More: Messenger sends back myriad images; we like the one of Mickey (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)