On Thursday NASA officials released this still image of the sun that was taken from a movie imaged by its new sun observing space telescope the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS. The movie/image was taken 21 hours after IRIS first opened its telescope door on July 17, 2013. (NASA/IRIS)

This still image of the sun was captured from video taken on July 17, 2013, by IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph), NASA’s new sun observing space telescope. (NASA)

No it's not a UFO but it is a 50 foot-wide electromagnet that was transported in one piece some 5,150 km from the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island to its Fermilab near Chicago. It took a little over a month to make its long and careful journey. The gigantic magnet will be used in a new experiment called Muon g-2 that will study the properties of subatomic particles called muons that live only 2.2 millionths of a second. (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

This looks like a UFO, but it’s actually a 50-foot-wide electromagnet that was transported about 5,150 km from the US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island and arrived at its Fermilab near Chicago on July 26, 2013, after about a month on the road. (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

This image taken by the wide-angle camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft, on July 19, 2013, has captured Saturn's rings and our planet Earth (arrow) and its moon in the same frame. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

This image, taken from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on July 19, 2013, captures Saturn’s rings, Earth (arrow) and Earth’s moon in the same frame. (NASA)

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite took this true-color image of a large phytoplankton bloom in the Norwegian Sea, off of Iceland. The range of colors from milky blue to green suggests that a range of different species make up this bloom. (NASA/Jeff Schmaltz)

This image, taken from NASA’s Aqua satellite, captures the true colors of a large phytoplankton bloom in the Norwegian Sea off Iceland. The range of colors, from milky blue to green, suggests the bloom is made up of a variety of  different species. (NASA)

A team of engineers, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has developed a three-dimensional substance that will help scientists who study brain cancer since it more closely mimics conditions in the brain. The substance called hydrogel is used for growing glioma - brain cancer - cells in a laboratory. This image shows brain cancer cells that were grown in the new hydrogel. The green fluorescent dye reflects the cytoskeletons of the cells. (Brendan Harley)

This three-dimensional substance, developed by a team of engineers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will help scientists study brain cancer since it closely mimics conditions in the brain. The substance is called hydrogel and it’s used to grow brain cancer  cells in a laboratory. (Brendan Harley)

This is the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) where a team of astrophyscicists led by Dartmouth University recently discovered the extent to which quasars and their black holes can influence their galaxies. The researchers documented the immense power of quasar radiation, reaching out for many thousands of light years to the limits of the quasar's galaxy. The SALT the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere and among the largest in the world. (Janus Brink, Southern African Large Telescope)

The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere. SALT helped a team of astrophyscicists led by Dartmouth University, discover the extent to which quasars and their black holes can influence their galaxies.  (Janus Brink, Southern African Large Telescope)

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the planetary nebula IC 289, located in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia. Formerly a star like our sun, it is now just a cloud of ionized gas being pushed out into space by the remnants of the star’s core, visible as a small bright dot in the middle of the cloud. (European Space Agency)

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the planetary nebula IC 289, located in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia. Formerly a star like our sun, it is now just a cloud of ionized gas being pushed out into space by remnants of the star’s core, visible as a small bright dot in the middle of the cloud. (European Space Agency)

A rare glimpse of the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), also known as the corpse flower or stinky plant as it bloomed this week at the United States Botanic Garden Conservatory in Washington. The photo shows the plant as it began to open on Sunday, July 21. It started to close on Monday evening, July 22; and collapsed Wednesday evening, July 24. The flower, which requiresd very special conditions, doesn't bloom annually. In fact, the time between flowering is unpredictable, which can span from a few years to a few decades. (AP)

A rare glimpse of the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), also known as the corpse flower or stinky plant, as it bloomed this week at the United States Botanic Garden Conservatory in Washington on July 21. The flower requires very special conditions and doesn’t bloom annually. In fact, the time between flowering can span from a few years to a few decades. (AP)