amazing science images you must see

Ceraunius Tholus and Uranius Tholus, two Martian volcanoes, take on unearthly hues in this elevation model made with images captured by the European SpaceAgencys Mars Express spacecraft. The larger volcano, Ceraunius Tholus, rises 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) above its surroundings.

A flock of gentoo penguins at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga puts on a show. At heights of almost 3 feet (1 meter), gentoos are the third largestpenguin species in the world. Gentoos build nests out of round, smooth stones, which are highly prized by females. To curry favor with a potential mate, male gentoos sometimes present gifts of these coveted rocks.

As the sun sinks into the Pacific, its last light seems to glow green. This green flash, caused by light refracting in the atmosphere, is rarely seen. But Nigella Hillgarth, the director of the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, got lucky one night. I often work late and have developed the habit of taking photos of the incredible sunsets over the Pacific from the Aquarium, Hillgarth told LiveScience. One evening, I was snapping away and caught the green flash as it appeared. I was hoping for a green flash, but was very excited when one actually happened and I caught it!

The satanic leaf tailed gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus) is the smallest of 12 species of bizarre looking leaf tailed geckos. The nocturnal creature has extremely cryptic camouflage so it can hide out in forests in Madagascar. This group of geckos is found only in primary, undisturbed forests, so their populations are very sensitive to habitat destruction. Large Uroplatus species have more teeth than any other living terrestrial vertebrate species. The gecko species was discovered in Mantadia Zahamena corridor of Madagascar in 1998 during one of the Conservation International (CI) Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) surveys. The animal snagged a spot on CIs Top 20 list of animals discovered during these expeditions, which began 20 years ago today, April 14, 2011.

Kathryn Hansen/NASA/ICESCAPE

Here a close up shot of a loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) in the Gulf of Mexicos Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, which is about 100 miles (179 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast. Two new studies are showing the turtles are being contaminated with so called persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which include banned substances such as DDT and toxaphenes, once used as pesticides; polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), once used as insulating fluids; and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), once used as flame retardants. The studies showed the turtles accumulate more of the contaminant chemicals the farther they travel up the Atlantic coast, suggesting their northern feeding grounds in Florida have higher POP levels. The turtles likely consume the POPs when they eat contaminated prey such as crabs, the researchers said. One of the studies was published online April 20, 2011 in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, and the other will be published in a forthcoming issue of that journal.

Its not hard to imagine where these moon jellies got their name. As delicate as they look, jellies are tough: Theyve been around for 600 million years, predating sharks and surviving multiple mass extinctions, including the one that killed the dinosaurs. What makes jellies such survivors? Unlike fish, theyre able to absorb oxygen directly through their bodies, storing it in their tissues so they can hunt in deep waters. Baby jellies can develop from swimming larvae directly into adults, but they often settle down and turn into polyps. Polyps can go dormant if conditions get bad, survive months without food, and even clone themselves.

If you think gestating one baby is tough, try 3,000. The squid Gonatus onyx carries around her brood of 2,000 to 3,000 eggs for up to nine months. The squid moms have their arms full: While carrying their eggs, theyre stuck swimming with their fins and mantle instead of their much more effective arms. So why would G. onyx take such care of its thousands of offspring? According to a 2005 study published in the journal Nature, the squid carry their eggs to deep water, where predators are rare. The deep sea offspring are also larger and more capable of survival than shallow water squid thanks, mom!

Not all emperor penguins sport black and white tuxedoes. Scripps reseacher Gerald Kooyman spotted this unique all white emperor chick, dubbed Snowflake, during a penguin survey on the ice shelf of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, in December 1997. Its white feathers blended in so well with the icy background that Kooyman said he almost missed the chick emperor penguin chicks are usually covered in a grayish down coat, with dark tail feathers and dark bills and feet. Scientists dont think Snowflake is an albino, however, as it didnt have the characteristic pink eyes associated with albinism.

NASAs space shuttle Endeavour blasted into the sky Monday at 8:56 a.m. EDT (1256 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Centers seaside Launch Pad 39Ain Cape Canaveral, Fla., for its final mission. The six person crew, led by Mark Kelly, will deliver spare supplies and an ambitious astrophysics experiment to the International Space Station. The mission is planned to last 16 days.