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SpaceX made a picture perfect return to flight, distant Cassini snaps an amazing close-up of Saturn's tiny ring moon Daphnis, and a vibrant new colour map of Pluto is now at our fingertips. It's Science Pics of the Week!
OUT OF THIS WORLD | Science Pics of the Week - a weekly collection of the best images from science, space and beyond

SpaceX return to flight captured in amazing pictures


Scott Sutherland
Meteorologist/Science Writer

Friday, January 20, 2017, 3:30 PM - SpaceX made a picture perfect return to flight, distant Cassini snaps an amazing close-up of Saturn's tiny ring moon Daphnis, and a vibrant new colour map of Pluto is now at our fingertips. It's Science Pics of the Week!

A photogenic Falcon

SpaceX successfully deployed a batch of 10 satellites into orbit last weekend, in their first launch since one of their Falcon 9 rockets exploded on the launch pad, back on September 1, 2016.

Afterward, images from the launch and subsequent landing at sea popped up on SpaceX's Flickr account, and the results - from the "Belt of Venus" that graced the launch site the night before, to the liftoff and "foggy" landing - are beautiful!


The Belt of Venus stretches across the horizon behind the launch pad on Jan 13, 2017. Credit: SpaceX


The Falcon 9 booster comes in for touchdown on droneship "Just Follow the Instructions", on Jan 14, 2017. Credit: SpaceX


The booster rocket looking "stately" as it comes back into port on Jan 17, 2017. Credit: SpaceX

Tiny Daphnis in closeup

As the Cassini spacecraft continues on its ring-grazing orbits of Saturn, it snapped the closest picture we have so far of the planet's tiny moon, Daphnis.

At just 8 kilometres across, Daphnis carves out a thin gap near the edge of Saturn's A-ring, known as the Keeler Gap, while causing ripples and waves at the gap's edges in its wake. Cassini's latest images show off not only the moon but also these waves and ripples.


Daphnis and its effects on the Keeler Gap, taken by Cassini on Jan 16, 2017. Credit: NASA/S. Sutherland

Note the thin line of particles that wraps around the backside of Daphnis' gravity well! Beautiful!

The best map of Pluto yet

It's been awhile since July 2015 and we've seen plenty of imagery of Pluto from the New Horizons flyby, but NASA has just gifted us with an amazing new map of the distant dwarf planet, in full colour and stunning detail.


Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Don't just settle for this view, though. Tap or click the image to take you to the full resolution map, then zoom in and pan around. You won't regret it!

Sources: SpaceX | NASA JPL | NASA

Watch Below: What would it be like to land on Pluto? NASA shows us!

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