![Orion Nebula seen from the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope The Orion Nebula, an immense stellar nursery located some 1,500 light-year from Earth, is captured in this image released on Jan. 16. 2014. The picture measures about 40-light-years across and was taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/orion-nebula-nasa-spitzer.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
By TIME Staff
![A storm of stars is brewing in the Trifid nebula, in this view from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, released on Jan. 29, 2014. The stellar nursery, where baby stars are bursting into being, is the yellow-and-orange object dominating the picture.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/trifid-nebula-nasa-wise.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Orion Nebula seen from the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope The Orion Nebula, an immense stellar nursery located some 1,500 light-year from Earth, is captured in this image released on Jan. 16. 2014. The picture measures about 40-light-years across and was taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/orion-nebula-nasa-spitzer.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![More than 100 asteroids were captured in this view from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, released on Jan. 23, 2014, during its primary all-sky survey. The asteroid at center left is called (2415) Ganesa. Clusters of stars can also be seen.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/asteroids-wise-nasa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![This composite image taken by the ground-based telescope at the Palomar Observatory and released on Jan. 27, 2014 contains three distinct feature](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/ngc-6946-nasa-nrao.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of the moon crossing in front of ithe sun on Jan. 30, 2014, at 10:30 a.m. EST.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/sun-moon-sdo-nasa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Infrared Image of Saturn's Rings This image of Saturn's rings was taken by a camera on the Cassini spacecraft fitted with a filter that will admit only light polarized in one direction, and was released on Jan. 21, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/saturn-rings-nasa-cassini.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Bazman volcano is located in a remote region of southern Iran.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/bazman-volcano-iran-nasa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![SPACE-NEPAL-EVEREST This NASA Earth Observatory satellite image obtained Jan. 3, 2014 shows one of fourteen mountain peaks on Earth that stand taller than 26,247 ft. (8,000 m).](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/mount-everest-nasa-earth-observatory.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Numerous dark shapes and bright spots on a sand dune in the Northern polar regions of Mars are visible in this image released on Jan. 22, 2014. The bright spots are carbon dioxide frost.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/mars-dune-nasa-hirise.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![SPACE-US-MARS-SEDIMENT An east-facing slope in Mars's Tithonium Chasma, obtained Jan. 10, 2014, showing sediment layers of near-uniform thickness.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/mars-tithonium-chasma-nasa-hirise.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![SPACE-MARS-FISSURE A fissure near Mars's Cerberus Fossae is captured in this image released on Jan. 15, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/mars-cerberus-fossae-nasa-hirise.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![SPACE-MAURITANIA-ISS-CLOUD BANDS This NASA photograph of cloud bands over southern Mauritania was obtained Jan. 28, 2014, and taken by the crew of the International Space Station.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/sahara-desert-nasa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![SPACE-MARS-OPPORTUNITY NASA's Mars rover Opportunity took this self-portrait, a mosaic of images, about three weeks before completing a decade of work on Mars in January 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/mars-opportunity-rover-nasa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![An Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket is seen on launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Jan. 6, 2014, in advance of its launch.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/antares-rocket-preparation-wallops-nasa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A 5-percent scale model of NASA's planned heavy-lift rocket, which will be used for launching astronauts, is ignited for five seconds to measure the effects noise and pressure have on the vehicle at liftoff, on Jan. 28, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/space-launch-system-nasa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Antares Rocket Prepares For Launch An Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket launches from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility Jan. 9, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/antares-rocket-wallops-nasa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Phytoplankton bloom in the Great Australian Bight in this image captured by the Aqua satellite. The bight is a large open bay off Australia's central and western coastline.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/phytoplankton-australia-nasa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Earth-orbiting International Space Station (ISS) The sun shines through a radiator and a solar array panel on the International Space Station (ISS) in this photograph taken by a crew member on Jan. 2, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/international-space-station-nasa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![This long-exposure Hubble Space Telescope image of massive galaxy cluster Abell 2744 is the deepest ever made of any cluster of galaxies.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/abell-2744-hubble-nasa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![The barred spiral galaxy M83, also known as the Southern Pinwheel, is seen in a NASA Hubble Space Telescope mosaic released Jan. 9, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/spiral-galaxy-m83-hubble-nasa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![This new Hubble image shows the Tarantula Nebula in infrared light. This region is full of star clusters, glowing gas, and thick dust.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/tarantula-nebula-hubble-nasa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
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