The brilliant core of NGC 1569, one of the most active star-making galaxies in our local neighborhood as photographed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The core is 5,000 light-years wide. A new analysis shows that it is one-and-a-half times farther from Earth than astronomers previously thought. Gravitational interactions among the group's galaxies may be compressing gas and igniting the star-birthing frenzy.
Desert Daylight
Children play near a waste oil pit at sunset Friday, Nov. 21, 2008, in the desert oil fields at Sakhir, Bahrain, where Bahrainis are setting up tents amidst the pipelines and oil wells for the popular winter camping season.
Safe Prayer
A Pakistani police officer stands guard as worshipers pray in a street in Lahore, Pakistan, on Friday, Nov. 21, 2008. Police said a bomb killed eight mourners at the funeral of a Shiite cleric in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, stoking sectarian tension in a region already beset by militant violence. Nuclear-armed Pakistan is already undergoing a wave of Islamist violence that risks destabilizing the country.
In The Tank
A diver in a Santa costume feeds moray and spotted eagle rays as part of a Christmas event at Sunshine International Aquarium in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, Nov. 21, 2008.
Rounding Into Form
Kirill Kourlaev, as Drosselmeyer, stands with both feet on the ground as he holds Karina Sarkissova, as Barbie, during a dress rehearsal for the ballet "The Nutcracker" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, on Friday, Nov. 21, 2008, at Vienna's Volksoper. The premiere performance is on Sunday, Nov. 23.
Breaking Ranks
Peruvian honor guard soldiers wait for the welcoming ceremony for South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak, not seen, at the presidential palace in Lima, Friday, Nov. 21, 2008. Lee Myung-bak is in Peru to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit along with many other world leaders, including President Bush.
Bath Time
Children of Tibetan exiles are silhouetted as they bathe outside their dormitory at the Tibetan Children's Village in Dharmsala, India, Friday, Nov. 21, 2008.
In The Spin Of Things
Jeremy Abbott, of the United States, performs his men's short program at the Cup of Russia figure skating ISU Grand Prix event in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Nov. 21, 2008.
Bee Happy
A bee collects nectar from a flower in sunflower village of Amman, Jordan, Friday, Nov. 21, 2008.