The Most Amazing Science Images of 2013

The Clearest Photo of a Sunspot Ever Taken

The unprecedented view was released in August by scientists at Big Bear Solar Observatory in the mountains of East L.A. Imaged by the New Solar Telescope (aka the "NST"), the photograph is 

among the first to be captured by the NST's newly equipped Visible Imaging Spectrometer (VIS).

Cassini Captures a Rare Overhead View of Saturn

On October 10th, the spacecraft's wide-angle camera captured a set of 12 RGB "footprints" (36 photos total, acquired with red, green and blue filters which, when combined, approximate true color) of Saturn and its rings, as seen from above. Software developer and "amateur" planetary image processor Gordan Ugarkovic converted the photos into the composite you see here.Hands down one of our all-time favorite images of the Ringed Planet.

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Completes its First Rocket-Powered Test Flights

Virgin Galactic's air-launched space plane blew us away this year with a series of picturesque (and – more importantly – successful) drop tests and rocket-powered test-flights. Back in May, Richard Branson announced that the first public flight of his company's sub-orbital space plane was scheduled for Christmas Day, and that he would be aboard. With another rocket-powered test launch scheduled for this month, it's unlikely that he'll deliver – but you never know.

The Planck Telescope Discovers Extra Dark Matter in the Universe

In March, the Planck Satellite team announced major findings from over a year of observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (the radioactive sludge that lingers in our universe from the beginning of time, right after the Big Bang), and released the map pictured above, which depicts the oldest light in the Universe with unprecedented precision.