Although there are no seasons in space, this cosmic vista invokes thoughts of a frosty winter landscape. It is, in fact, a region called NGC 6357 where radiation from hot, young stars is energizing the cooler gas in the cloud that surrounds them. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/ngc6357.jpg

This composite image, made from ten frames, shows the International Space Station, with a crew of six onboard, in silhouette as it transits the sun at roughly five miles per second, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016, from Newbury Park, California. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/30903636564_0127bfba48_o.jpg

This week in 1968, Apollo 8, the first crewed Apollo mission, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 21, 1968. Here, the S-IC stage is being erected for final assembly of the Saturn V launch vehicle in Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/6761894-orig.jpg

This week in 1968, Apollo 8, the first crewed Saturn V launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 21, 1968. Here, the S-IC stage is being erected for final assembly of the Saturn V launch vehicle in Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/6761894-orig.jpg

This image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft is one of the highest-resolution views ever taken of Saturn's moon Pandora. Pandora (84 kilometers, or 52 miles across) orbits Saturn just outside the narrow F ring. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21055-1041.jpg

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 50 Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson of NASA sent holiday greetings and festive imagery from the cupola on Dec. 18. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/iss050e017211.jpg

Just hours after the winter solstice, a mass of energetic particles from the Sun smashed into the magnetic field around Earth. The strong solar wind stream stirred up a display of northern lights over northern Canada. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/aurora_vir_2016357_lrg.jpg

Sunlight truly has come to Saturn's north pole. The whole northern region is bathed in sunlight in this view from late 2016, feeble though the light may be at Saturn's distant domain in the solar system. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia20513_0.jpg

This galaxy acts as an astronomical laser, beaming out microwave emission rather than visible light. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/potw1652a.jpg

A satellite is ejected from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Small Satellite Orbital Deployer on the International Space Station on Dec. 19, 2016. The satellite is actually two small satellites that, once at a safe distance from the station, separated from each other, but were still connected by a 100-meter-long Kevlar tether. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/iss050e017076.jpg

Floating high above the hydrocarbon lakes, wispy clouds have finally started to return to Titan's northern latitudes. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia20516-1041.jpg

Impact craters expose the subsurface materials on the steep slopes of Mars. However, these slopes often experience rockfalls and debris avalanches that keep the surface clean of dust, revealing a variety of hues, like in this enhanced-color image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, representing different rock types. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia14454.jpg

Astronomers have discovered what happens when the eruption from a supermassive black hole is swept up by the collision and merger of two galaxy clusters. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/a3411.jpg

Here is a view of Earth and its moon, as seen from Mars. It combines two images acquired on Nov. 20, 2016, by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, with brightness adjusted separately for Earth and the moon to show details on both bodies. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21260.jpg

In an effort to improve fuel efficiency, NASA and the aircraft industry are rethinking aircraft design. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/bli_grc.jpg

NASA Astronaut Peggy Whitson's 7th Spacewalk http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/peggyw_spacewalk.jpg

This image of a crescent Jupiter and the iconic Great Red Spot was created by a citizen scientist (Roman Tkachenko) using data from Juno's JunoCam instrument. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/crescent_jupiter-1041.jpg

This image of a well-preserved unnamed elliptical crater in Terra Sabaea, is illustrative of the complexity of ejecta deposits forming as a by-product of the impact process that shapes much of the surface of Mars. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia13078.jpg

This image of a crescent Jupiter and the iconic Great Red Spot was created by a citizen scientist (Roman Tkachenko) using data from Juno's JunoCam instrument. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21376d.jpg

Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA at work outside the International Space Station on Jan. 13, 2017, in a photo taken by fellow spacewalker Thomas Pesquet of ESA. The two astronauts successfully installed three new adapter plates and hooked up electrical connections for three of the six new lithium-ion batteries on the station. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/32260740536_2866cf4065_o.jpg