Best Space Photos of the Month: May 2014

Scientist Lucie Poulet (right) from the DLR German Aerospace Center takes part in a simulated mission to Mars run by the University of Hawaii at Manoa in an image released on May 14, 2014.R. Lockwood/NASA

This vista of the Endeavour Crater rim taken by Opportunity Rover combines several exposures taken by the rover's panoramic camera (Pancam) on the 3,637th Martian day, or sol, of the mission on April 18, 2014 and was released on May 19, 2014. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.

NGC 2024, found in the center of the Flame Nebula which is about 1,400 light years from Earth is shown in this composite image released on May 7, 2014.X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/K.Getman, E.Feigelson, M.Kuhn & the MYStIX team; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A star formation region, informally named 'The Coyote Head Nebula', which was recently spotted by one of Spitzer's Twitter followers searching through the GLIMPSE360 panorama of the Milky Way galaxy.

A star formation region which was discovered by one of Spitzer's Twitter followers searching through the GLIMPSE360 panorama of the Milky Way galaxy. This image, released on May 15, 2014, is a tiny portion of the vast 20 gigapixel GLIMPSE360 panorama. NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Eagle Nebula, also known as as Messier 16 or M16, and the 'Pillars of Creation' in the constellation Serpens in May 2014.Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

NASA's Morpheus prototype lander and Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, successfully completes a test landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 28, 2014.Mike Chambers—NASA/EPA

An Orthodox priest blesses the Russian Soyuz TMA-13M rocket booster on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on May 27, 2014.Sergei Ilnitsky—EPA

The Russian Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-13M space ship carrying the Expedition 40 crew to the International Space Station launches from the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on May 29, 2014.Dmitry Lovetsky—AP

An optical image of a large field centered on the Flame Nebula released on May 7, 2014.Digitized Sky Survey/Chandra Telescope/NASA

NASA's #GlobalSelfie Earth mosaic, released on May 22, 2014 is made up of more than 36,000 'selfies' that were posted around the world on Earth Day, April 22, 2014.

NASA's #GlobalSelfie Earth mosaic, released on May 22, 2014 is made up of more than 36,000 'selfies' posted around the world on Earth Day, April 22, 2014. NASA invited people around the world to step outside to take a "selfie" and share it on social media. See if you can find yourself in NASA's #GlobalSelfie using this interactive viewer.NASA/AFP/Getty Images

NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson looks out from ESA's Cupola observatory on the International Space Station on May 8, 2014.ESA/NASA

Increasing solar illumination brings increased phytoplankton growth to the Gulf of Alaska every spring, as shown in this image which was collected on May 2, 2014 from several orbits of Aqua-MODIS.NASA/Goddard/OceanColor/MODIS

Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Kirobo, a talking humanoid robot, talk at each other on board the International Space Station in this still from a video released on May 13, 2014.AP

SpaceX's Dragon unmanned space capsule disconnects from the International Space Station to return to Earth on May 19, 2014. The Dragon is bringing back nearly 2 tons of science experiments and equipment for NASA after carrying supplies to the station.Alamy Live News

The star cluster Westerlund 1, which appears as a dense orange clump at center, in the constellation of Ara (The Altar) is shown in this image released on May 13, 2014. ESO/Digitized SKy Survey/AFP/Getty Images

A huge cosmic cloud of gas and dust which will likely evolve into one of the most massive young clusters of stars in our galaxy is shown in an image obtained on May 22, 2014. The densest clumps will blossom into the cluster's biggest, most powerful stars, called O-type stars, the formation of which have long puzzled scientists.NASA/AFP/Getty Images

NGC 7000, also known as the North America Nebula, in the Cygnus Constellation, captured on May 21, 2014.

NGC 7000, also known as the North America Nebula - The Gulf of Mexico region, in the Cygnus Constellation, captured on May 21, 2014.Dennis Roscoe, Ph. D.

The freshwater Lake Constance in Central Europe captured by the Sentinel-1A satellite on May 10, 2014. Formed by the Rhine Glacier during the last Ice Age, it covers an area of about 540 sq km and is an important source of drinking water for southwestern Germany.ESA

Title A peppering of craters at the Moon’s south poleReleased 26/05/2014 11:00 amCopyright ESA/SMART-1/AMIE camera team; image mosaic: M. Ellouzi/B. FoingDescriptionThe dark and shadowed regions of the Moon fascinate astronomers and Pink Floyd fans alike. Our Moon’s rotation axis has a tilt of 1.5º, meaning that some parts of its polar regions never see sunlight – the bottoms of certain craters, for example, are always in shadow.Imaged during summertime in the Moon’s southern hemisphere by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment on ESA’s SMART-1 spacecraft, this mosaic shows a crater-riddled region spanning the lunar south pole. It is made up of around 40 individual images taken between December 2005 and March 2006, and covers an area of about 500 x 150 km.The craters visible here include (from right to left, starting with the largest round shape visible in the frame) the Amundsen, Faustini, Shoemaker, Shackleton and de Gerlache craters. Click here for an annotated map.Amundsen is the largest of the bunch at 105 km across, followed by Shoemaker (50 km), Faustini (39 km), de Gerlache (32 km) and Shackleton (19 km). This group of craters all look different, see varying levels of sunlight and display a range of interesting properties.Shackleton crater, the small circle visible to the left of centre, contains the south pole within its rim. By using SMART-1 images to explore the number of small impact craters scattered on the smooth, dark surface surrounding Shackleton, scientists have found this crater to be older than the Apollo 15 landing site (3.3 billion years), but younger than the Apollo 14 site (3.85 billion years).Shoemaker crater, visible to the upper left of centre, is notable because of the 1999 Lunar Prospector mission, which deliberately crashed into the crater in an attempt to create a detectable plume of water vapour by heating any water ice that may have been present. No vapour was spotted. However, all is not lost; some permanently

Imaged during summertime in the Moon’s southern hemisphere by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment on ESA’s SMART-1 spacecraft, this mosaic shows a crater-riddled region spanning the lunar south pole. It is made up of around 40 individual images taken between December 2005 and March 2006, and was released on May 26, 2014. ESA/SMART-1/AMIE camera team; image mosaic: M. Ellouzi/B. Foing

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