This infrared photograph was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. “The region pictured here is immense, with a horizontal span of 890 light-years and a vertical span of 640 light-years. Earth is located 26,000 light-years away, out in one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms. Though most of the objects seen in this image are located at the galactic center, the features above and below the galactic plane tend to lie closer to Earth.” – Click to enlarge, or click here for a super high resolution version (29MB).

Yes, this is actually a photograph of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. This was taken on May 12th, 24 hours after the launch of Atlantis, and it’s half way to the Hubble Telescope. Amazing.
The photo below is also of Atlantis, but take a closer look. There are two objects. One, Atlantis, the second is the Hubble Telescope. This photo was taken just minutes before Atlantis finally caught up with Hubble.
Both of these photos were taken from the Kennedy Space Center, by Thierry Legault. Check out the full photos, in all of their glory, over at Nasa’s flickr page.

Here’s a high resolution photo taken during the repair spacewalk. These photos are instantly classic, and are definitely some of the most exciting and interesting space photos I’ve seen. Click on it to check out the full photo over at nasa.gov.

Click to enlarge.
…Continue reading Map of the Entire Star Trek Universe!
Flick user toastforbrekkie shows us what the inside of a NASA cockpit looks like. Click on his name to see more details about the photo.

New research reveals there is hope for Mars yet. The first definitive detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars indicates the planet is still alive, in either a biologic or geologic sense, according to a team of NASA and university scientists.
So NASA found ice and water on Mars back when the Phoenix Lander was still alive, now they find out that Mars has methane. I think it can only be a matter of time before some sort of life is discovered. I assume there is at least a microbe or a bacteria or something very small in the ice, water, or ground, and that would be considered life. I wonder if the government would actually tell the public if life was found on Mars. I doubt it. I mean, we only elect and pay the salary of all government officials, why should they tell us anything?
Read the whole story at NASA.gov