Top 10 space photos of 2018: Nasa images that will take you beyond stars

Here are the best photos of 2018 captured by Nasa's spacecraft and telescope

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Nasa's mission Touching the moon. For the first time, a NASA spacecraft will swoop in and touch the sun. The Parker Solar Probe will make 24 orbits of the star before swooping into the outermost part of the solar atmosphere, known as the corona, to study the sun up close and personal

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This image of the horizon was seen from the cockpit of NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s F/A-18 research aircraft during a flight in support of the Quiet Supersonic Flights 2018 research series, or QSF18.

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Nasa's New Horizon space probe will sweep past the icy edge of Ultima Thule New Horizons will gather a swathe of images and other data over the course of just a few hours leading up to and beyond the closest approach

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NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope presents a festive holiday greeting. The bipolar star-forming region, called Sharpless 2-106, looks like a soaring, celestial snow angel. The outstretched “wings” of the nebula record the contrasting imprint of heat and motion against the backdrop of a colder medium

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Astronomers are calling this colorful nebula a "winter wonderland." With that frosty blue hue and flurries of stars speckled across cosmic clouds, this wintry nebula is a sight to behold.

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On December 21, it was the 16th science pass of Jupiter and marked the solar-powered spacecraft Juno's halfway point in data collection during its prime mission.

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Jupiter's fifth moon, Io, is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. The surface of Io is splotched with lava lakes and floodplains of liquid rock.

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The solar system is just one specific planetary system—a star with planets orbiting around it. Our planetary system is the only one officially called “solar system,” but astronomers have discovered more than 2,500 other stars with planets orbiting them in our galaxy. That’s just how many we’ve found so far. There are likely to be many more planetary systems out there waiting to be discovered!

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The Helix Nebula is one of the most familiar nebulae in astronomy, and it’s been nicknamed the “Eye of God”. The Helix Nebula is one of the closest examples of a planetary nebula. Astronomers have estimated its distance to only be 700 light-years away. Fun Fact: Nebulae exist in the space between stars—also known as interstellar space.

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Behold, Moon rise! The full Moon is seen as the orbiting outpost was 252 miles above the Indian Ocean about 1,000 kilometers due south of India