Recently in Cool Pictures Category

Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Don Pettit took photos of star trails, terrestrial lights, airglow and auroras while aboard the International Space Station.

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Karymsky Volcano has erupted regularly for more than ten years.

This natural-color satellite image shows the volcano's typical low-level activity. A white gas plume rises above Karmymsky's summit, and fresh volcanic material coats the eastern slopes.

Last week, the Cassini spacecraft swooped past Saturdn's moon of Enceladus - and came within 74 kilometers (46 miles) of its fractured, jet-spewing surface.

This was the last flyby of the moon until 2015. Click to embiggen.

Scientists study the skeleton of a Stone Age hunter-gatherer unearthed on the island of Gotland, Sweden.

Mediterranean migrants introduced agriculture to northern Europe 5,000 years ago, genetic evidence from four stone age skeletons suggests.

Before their arrival, northern Europeans were nomadic hunter gatherers who lived off wild plants and animals.

This stunning image of Mercury taken by the Messenger probe reveals the planet to be a lot more colourful than you'd imagine.

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NASA mounted space shuttle Discovery on a jumbo jet yesterday in preparation for the retired orbiter's delivery to the Smithsonian.

The paired air- and spacecraft are expected to depart Florida for Washington DC tomorrow morning.

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The East African Rift is one of the great tectonic features of Africa, caused by fracturing of the Earth's crust.

This astronaut photograph of the Eastern Branch of the Rift (near Kenya's southern border) highlights the classical geologic structures associated with a tectonic rift valley.

The East African rift system is marked by substantial volcanic activity, including lavas erupted from fissures along the rift in the region. Much of the faulting observed in this image cuts through such lavas.

Aogashima is a volcanic Japanese island in the Philippine Sea, administered by Tokyo and located approximately 358 kilometres south of Tokyo and 64 kilometres (40 mi) south of Hachijō-jima.

It is the southernmost and most isolated inhabited island of the Izu archipelago.

It's also a wicked cool James Bond baddie hideout island.

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Crazy skydiver Felix Baumgartner of Austria prepares to jump from 13 miles up during the first manned test flight for Red Bull Stratos in Roswell, New Mexico.

This amazing image of a Martian dust devil in action was caught by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Dust devils are wind vortices, like tornadoes, but generally not as strong.

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