Month in Space: April 2012
NASA/JPL/Univ. of ArizonaElephant face on MarsA lava flow in Mars' Elysium Planitia region takes on the appearance of an elephant in this picture from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, captured on March 19 and released April 4.
NASA/SDO/AIA
Blast from the sunThis image provided by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the sun releasing a M1.7 class flare associated with a prominence eruption on April 16. This visually spectacular explosion occurred on the sun's northeastern limb and was not directed at Earth.
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Whirlwind on MarsA dust devil the size of a terrestrial tornado towers above the Martian surface on a springtime afternoon in Amazonis Planitia. The picture was captured on March 14 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and released by the space agency on April 4.
ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/NASA/ESA
Zeroing in on alien planetsAn image from the European Southern Observatory's Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, or ALMA, shows the dust ring around the bright star Fomalhaut in orange. The underlying blue picture is an earlier view obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope. The new ALMA image, released on April 12,has led astronomers to conclude that the dust ring is held in place by two exoplanets. One planet is within the ring, and the other is outside the ring. Astronomers think the planets are bigger than Mars but no larger than several times the size of Earth.
ESA/NASA
Cosmic EggThe Hubble Space Telescope has been at the cutting edge of research into what happens to stars like our sun at the ends of their lives. One stage that stars pass through as they run out of nuclear fuel is the preplanetary nebula. This Hubble image of the Egg Nebula, released April 23, shows one of the best views to date of this brief but dramatic phase in a star’s life.
Digitalglobe via EPA
North Korea's launch padA March 28 satellite image from DigitalGlobe shows the North Korean launch site at Tongchang-ri. North Korea launched its Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite on April 13, but the rocket fell apart within minutes, bringing the controversial mission to a premature end.
India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C-19 blasts off on April 26, lofting the country's first radar imaging satellite RISAT-1 into orbit from the Satish Dhawan space center at Sriharikota, north of the southern Indian city of Chennai. The remote sensing satellite is equipped with a synthetic aperture radar that can look through clouds and capture Earth imagery day and night.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Tracking DiscoverySixth-graders visiting the U.S. Capitol from the Stratford Academy in Macon, Ga., watch the final voyage of the space shuttle Discovery as it soars above Washington on April 17. Discovery, the world's most traveled spaceship, was retired from service last year and is now an attraction at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., next to Dulles International Airport.
Paul J. Richards / AFP - Getty Images
Last landingThe space shuttle Discovery makes its final landing on the back of a modified Boeing 747 jet at Washington's Dulles International Airport on April 17. After landing, Discovery was towed to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, next to the airport.
Carolyn Russo / Smithsonian Institution
Nose to noseThe space shuttles Enterprise, left, and Discovery sit nose-to-nose at the beginning of a transfer ceremony at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on April 19. Enterprise, which had been on exhibit for years at the museum in Virginia, was replaced by Discovery.
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