Slideshow: Month in Space: February 2013

Get a look at the moon's glories, interplanetary vistas and other outer-space highlights from February 2013.

Launch slideshow

Anytime is a great time to gaze at the moon, but if you keep a close watch on Thursday night, you might actually see the moon move in its orbit.

The moon passes through the sky from east to west every night, of course, but its orbital motion takes it from west to east against the background stars.

You can notice that change from night to night, as the moon progresses from its new phase to the full moon. Thursday's night sky, however, provides a way to track the west-to-east movement during a shorter time frame: Starting at around 9:30 p.m. local time, the moon will creep past the bright star Spica in the constellation Virgo. Look closely, and you can watch the moon creep.

Space.com's Joe Rao provides all the details about the encounter between the moon and Spica.

Even if you miss the Spica spectacular, there will be plenty of opportunities for moongazing ahead. Earlier this week, folks in chilly northern regions snapped some great pictures of moon halos, which are caused by ice crystals high up in the atmosphere.

"The angled faces of the six-sided crystals bend moonlight into circles 22 degrees in radius. ... Generally, the brighter the moon, the better the halo," SpaceWeather.com explains.

We're featuring Norwegian photographer Steve Nilsen's spotlight shot of a moon halo in our Month in Space Pictures slideshow, and I'm also passing along Sebastien Saarloos' moon-halo picture from Alaska's Lower Miller Creek.

For more marvelous pictures of the moon and Alaska's northern lights, check out Saarloos' Facebook page.

Sebastian Saarloos

Moonlight illuminates the scene at Lower Miller Creek in Alaska on Jan. 17. Ice crystals in the atmosphere refract the light to create a shining halo.

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

John Moore / Getty Images

John Moore / Getty Images

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement security contractor carries chains for Honduran immigration detainees before their deportation flight to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on Thursday.

A security contractor hired by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), checks the mouth of a Honduran immigration detainee before a deportation flight to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on Feb. 28, 2013, in Mesa, Ariz. ICE operates four to five flights per week from Mesa to Central America, deporting hundreds of undocumented immigrants detained in Western states of the U.S. With the possibility of federal budget sequestration, ICE released 303 immigration detainees in the past week from detention centers throughout Arizona. More than 2,000 immigration detainees remain in ICE custody in the state. Most detainees remain in custody for several weeks before they are deported to their home country, while others remain for longer periods while their immigration cases work through the courts.  Read the full story.

John Moore / Getty Images

Immigrant detainees walk through the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility on Thursday.

Chris Hadfield / CSA via Twitter

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield snapped this photo of Italy's Mount Etna from the International Space Station.

By Becky Oskin
Our Amazing Planet

Astronaut Chris Hadfield, the planet's most popular space shutterbug, snapped a spectacular photo of Italy's Mount Etna volcano streaming ash toward the sea early Thursday.

The volcano experienced the latest in a series of strong paroxysms, or short violent bursts, on Wednesday. For the first time, explosions and ash spewed into the air from Mount Etna's Voragine crater, while webcams trained on the fiery summit showed activity at Bocca Nuova crater as well.

Mount Etna's current eruption started with a stunning dawn lava fountain on Feb. 19, caught on video, followed in quick succession by three more paroxysms over the next two days. Then, on Feb. 23, lava fountains shot out from Bocca Nuova crater to a height of more than 2,600 feet (800 meters).

Ash cloaks the volcano's snow-covered slopes, but not enough to deter skiers. Small lava flows have also emerged from the most active craters. The volcano has four distinct craters at its summit: the two central craters, Bocca Nuova and Voragine; the northeast crater; and a new southeast crater.

Hadfield, an astronaut for the Canadian Space Agency, is aboard the International Space Station. He regularly posts amazing images of Earth on his Twitter feed.

Slideshow: Month in Space: February 2013

See more of astronaut Chris Hadfield's photos from the International Space Station, plus lots of other cosmic views, in the Month in Space Pictures slideshow for February.

Launch slideshow

Reach Becky Oskin at boskin@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @beckyoskin. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter @OAPlanet. We're also on Facebook and Google+.

• Astronaut's Amazing Photos of Earth From Space
• Image Gallery: Volcanoes from Space
• 50 Amazing Volcano Facts

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

Village women stand in a queue to get themselves enrolled for the Unique Identification (UID) database system at Merta district in the desert Indian state of Rajasthan on February 22. In a more ambitious version of programmes that have slashed poverty in Brazil and Mexico, the Indian government has begun to use the UID database, known as Aadhaar, to make direct cash transfers to the poor, in an attempt to cut out frauds who siphon billions of dollars from welfare schemes.

Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

A villager goes through the process of eye scanning for Unique Identification (UID) database system at an enrolment centre.

Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

A villager goes through the process of a fingerprint scanner for the Unique Identification (UID) database system.

Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

A general view of an enrolment centre for the Unique Identification (UID) database system is pictured at Merta district in the desert Indian state of Rajasthan.

Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

Ghewar Ram (R), 55, and his wife Champa Devi, 54, display their Unique Identification (UID) cards outside their hut in Rajasthan.

See more images from India in PhotoBlog.

Hussein Malla / AP

Sami, 32, steps into an underground Roman tomb used for shelter from Syrian government forces shelling and airstrikes, at Jabal al-Zaweya, in Idlib province, Syria on Feb. 28.

Hussein Malla / AP

Nihal, 9, puts olive tree branches inside a wooden stove in an underground Roman tomb which she shares with her family as a shelter from Syrian government forces shelling and airstrikes.

Hussein Malla / AP

Sami speaks with his children at an underground Roman tomb which he uses with his family as shelter.

By Associated Press
Across northern Syria, rebels, soldiers, and civilians are making use of the country's wealth of ancient and medieval antiquities to protect themselves from Syria's two-year-old war. They are built of thick stone that has already withstood centuries, and are often located in strategic locations overlooking towns and roads.

Related links:

• Syrian violence threatens ancient treasures
  
• See more photos of the Syrian conflict in PhotoBlog
• Follow @NBCNewsPictures on Twitter

Slideshow: Syria uprising

/

A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.

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Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A mural in the Bogside area of Derry depicts Operation Motorman, a 1972 British army operation aimed at reclaiming "no-go areas" in the city from the IRA.

The story of Northern Ireland's troubled history has long been told in painted murals on the walls of its cities, towns and villages. But as Cathal McNaughton explains in a post on Reuters' Photographers Blog, the images commemorating ancient battles and honoring paramilitary groups are now being joined by paintings celebrating sporting successes and cultural achievements.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A mural in the Bogside area of Derry depicts a petrol bomber during the Battle of the Bogside which took place in 1969 between residents of the area and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A mural in the Bogside area of Derry commemorates the beginning of the struggle for democratic rights.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

People walk past a Loyalist paramilitary mural in the Shankill Road area of West Belfast.

By Cathal McNaughton, Reuters

A 15-foot-high mural of a gunman dressed in army fatigues and a balaclava clutching an AK-47 is painted on the wall of a house in a residential street. People walk by and don't even notice it.

In other parts of the UK and Ireland there would probably be outrage, but not in Northern Ireland, where young children happily play on streets in front of a backdrop of politically-charged street art commemorating the violence and bloodshed of 'The Troubles'.

These murals have become street wallpaper for the people living in this small corner of Europe, who appear to barely bat an eyelid at a gory depiction of a skeleton crawling over dead bodies that adorns the end wall of a house on their street.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A man checks his cellphone beside a loyalist paramilitary mural in the Waterside area of Derry.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

Pigeons fly past a mural in the Shankill Road area of West Belfast depicting a Gaelic myth about the claiming of Ulster.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A mural shows tributes to Britain's Queen Elizabeth on the Shankill Road in West Belfast.

Most of the murals promote either Republican or Loyalist political beliefs. They often glorify paramilitary groups such as the IRA or the Ulster Volunteer Force with a roll call of the dead written large "lest we forget".

However since the paramilitary ceasefires of the 1990s, this distinctively Northern Irish artwork has seen a shift in tone. New murals have sprung up depicting local heroes like golfer Rory McIlroy, who represent the changing face of the province's political landscape.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

Golfer Rory McIlroy, who hails from County Down, is pictured on a wall in the Holylands area of Belfast.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A mural in the village of Cushendall in north Antrim commemorates 100 years of the local Gaelic Athletic Club.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A mural features Irish boxer Michael Conlan winning a bronze medal in the flyweight division at the 2012 Summer Olympics on a wall in the Falls Road area of West Belfast.

It would be nice to think that one day there will be no need to paint any more murals to commemorate new victims of Northern Ireland's troubled history. But with the annual marching season fast approaching, and following the most sustained period of rioting for years, I think there may well be a few more turns in this journey yet — and fresh paint on the wall.

Read more at Reuters' Photographers Blog.

Editor's note: Images taken between Feb. 19 and Feb. 23, 2013 and made available to NBC News today.

Related:

Belfast 'Peace Wall' still separates Catholics, Protestants

A historic handshake, a historic image in Northern Ireland's peace process

Outside the Frame: Journalists under fire in Belfast riot

Tacoma News Tribune / Getty Images Contributor

Dr. Edmund Kwan performs a root canal as Dr. Tom Sullivan removed a growth from the eye lid of Boris, a Pt. Defiance Zoo & Aquarium Polar bear on Feb. 23 at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium's animal health care hospital in Tacoma, Wash.

Dean J. Koepfler / Tacoma News Tribune

Head veterinarian, Dr. Karen Wolf, clips the massive claws of Boris the Polar bear during a physical at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Wash.

Dean J. Koepfler / Tacoma News Tribune

Carson Reed, 6, hugs his stuffed polar bear, Poley, after a physical for Boris the real Polar Bear is performed by his dad, Dr. Jim Reed, and other team members.

Dean J. Koepfler / Tacoma News Tribune

A pair of gloved hands are dwarfed by the furry paws of Boris the Polar Bear at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium's animal health care hospital in Tacoma, Wash.

A sleeping giant, Boris the Polar bear underwent a full physical Saturday, at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium's animal hospital in Tacoma, Wash., as a team of veterinarians, technicians and staff also performed a root canal and some minor eye surgery on the 27-year-old polar bear. Continue reading 'Root canal, eye work for Point Defiance polar bear' on The News Tribune.

Editor's note: Images shot by Tacoma News Tribune's Dean J. Koepfler on Feb. 23, but made available to NBC News today.

Related links:

• More polar bears pictures on PhotoBlog
• Slideshow: Animal Tracks
• Follow @NBCNewsPictures on Twitter

Vadim Ghirda / AP

A bear chews the bars of a cage at the estate of Ion Balint, known to Romanians as Nutzu the Pawnbroker, a notorious gangster, in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. Authorities along with specialists of the animal welfare charity Vier Pfoten removed four lions and two bears that were illegally kept on the estate of one of Romania’s most notorious underworld figures who reportedly used them to threaten his victims. Balint was arrested on Feb. 22, with dozens of others on charges of attempted murder, depriving people of their freedom, blackmail and illegally holding arms. Read the full story.

Vadim Ghirda / AP

A sedated lion is positioned in a transport cage, at the estate of Ion Balint.

Patrick Semansky / AP

University of Maryland engineering student Colin Gore performs a test flight in Baltimore on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, in a one-man, human-powered helicopter that he and fellow students designed and built. The team of undergraduate and graduate students hope to claim the $250,000 American Helicopter Society Sikorsky Prize, which has remained out of reach since it was first offered in 1980. In order to win, a helicopter must fly under human power for at least 60 seconds and momentarily reach an altitude of 3 meters while remaining within a square that is 10 meters by 10 meters.

Patrick Semansky / AP

University of Maryland engineering student Colin Gore prepares for a test flight in Baltimore on Wednesday.

Patrick Semansky / AP

Related story: Human-powered helicopter breaks record with 50-second flight

Oliver Douliery / Pool via EPA

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, left to right, President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner attend the unveiling of a statue of Rosa Parks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 27, 2013. Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a city bus in segregated Montgomery, Ala., on Dec. 1, 1955. Parks' act of defiance and the subsequent Montgomery Bus Boycott became important symbols of the modern civil rights movement.

NBC News reports:

More than half a century after she refused to give up her seat on an Alabama city bus, Rosa Parks has an immovable place in the U.S. Capitol — the first black woman to be honored with a statue there.

President Barack Obama and congressional leaders from both parties said at an unveiling Wednesday that the depiction was fitting.

“Rosa Parks’ singular act of disobedience launched a movement,” Obama said. “The tired feet of those who walked the dusty roads of Montgomery helped a nation see that to which it had once been blind.”

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A.M. Ahad / AP

A man center, reacts as Bangladeshi firefighters and volunteers work to douse a fire at the Kallyanpur Natun Bazar slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Feb. 27.

A fire swept through a slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Wednesday. According to police, at least 300 shanties were gutted. No casualties were reported.

--The Associated Press

A.M. Ahad / AP

Bangladeshi firefighters and volunteers search the debris of a congested slum after a fire swept through it in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Feb. 27.

Abir Abdullah / EPA

Family members react after a fire broke out in a slum at Kallayanpur in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Feb. 27. The cause of the fire is not yet known and no casualties have been reported.

A.M. Ahad / AP

Smoke rises from a slum after a fire swept through it in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Feb. 27.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Survivors of Bangladesh factory fire tell their story
• Chaotic scene as civilians work to put out another garment-factory fire in Bangladesh
• More than 100 killed in Bangladesh factory fire

Alessandro Di Meo / EPA

The Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo, Pope's summer residence, on the outskirts of Rome. Pope Benedict XVI will officially step down on Feb. 28. On the last day of his pontificate, the Pope is due to take a helicopter to Castel Gandolfo where he will stay during the conclave.

Alessandro Di Meo / EPA

Gardens at Castel Gandolfo

By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

Pope Benedict will leave his residence inside the Vatican and travel by helicopter to his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, about 15 miles south-east of Rome at about 4.55 p.m. local time (10:55 a.m. ET) Thursday. His papacy will officially end at 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET).

After stepping down, the pope will keep his name, His Holiness Benedict XVI, but get a new official title, "Emeritus Pope." The Vatican on Tuesday said he would wear a simple white cassock and swap his traditional red shoes for a pair of brown leather loafers he was given on his trip to Leon in Mexico last year. Continue reading.

Editor's note: These pictures were taken on Feb. 20 and 21.

Gregorio Borgia / AP

A grotto

Alessandro Di Meo / EPA

The Chinese Room

Alessandro Di Meo / EPA

A light switch bears the Papal seal.

Alessandro Di Meo / EPA

Details of a chair inside the Chinese Room

Max Rossi / Reuters

A view of Castel Gandolfo lake is seen from inside the summer residence of Pope Benedict XVI in Castel Gandolfo.

Franco Origlia / Getty Images

The Apostolic Palace and the Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo on Lake Albano will be Pope Benedict XVI's residence during the next Conclave, in Rome, Italy.

Related content:

• 'It seemed like the Lord was sleeping': In final speech, pope tells of 'choppy seas'
• Pope asks enthusiastic Vatican crowd to pray for him as well as successor
• Pope surprises the world, says that he will step down

Slideshow: Pope Benedict XVI's departure

Gabriel Bouys / AFP - Getty Images

The pope delivers his final audience in St. Peter's Square as he prepares to stand down.

Launch slideshow

Brian Blanco / Reuters

Supporters hold a candlelight vigil at the exact moment when teenager Trayvon Martin was shot one year ago by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida Feb. 26, 2013. The fatal encounter between Martin and Zimmerman has thrown the spotlight on gun control and Florida's much criticized "Stand Your Ground" statute, also known as a "shoot first" law, which was signed into law by former Governor Jeb Bush in 2005. The attendees symbolically wore hooded sweatshirts as Martin was wearing one at the time of his death. Read the full story.

Keith Bedford / Reuters

Stephen Knapp, center left, is comforted by Charles Maikish, former World Trade Center director, as mourners and family members of victims participate in a 20th anniversary memorial for victims of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York on Feb. 26.

Justin Lane / EPA

Flowers are seen next to the North Tower Reflecting Pool.

A moment of silence was observed at 12:18 p.m., the time when a truck bomb was detonated below the north tower on Feb. 26, 1993. The victims' names were read by family members before bagpipers played "Amazing Grace."

More than 1,000 people were injured in the 1993 blast in an underground garage below one of the towers. It was the first dramatic demonstration that "terrorism is theater and New York is the biggest stage," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said last week.

Verena Dobnik, The Associated Press

Read the full story.

Brian Bohannon / AP

Buddy Dumeyera, the Louisville deputy coroner who runs the indigent burial program, places a flag on 48-year-old Francisco Carmona's casket as students from the St. Joseph of Arimathea Society at Trinity High School prepare to perform their duties on Feb. 6, at Meadow View Cemetery in Louisville, Ky. The students are, from left, Paul Adams, 18, senior, Jeremy Gaines, 16, junior, Nolan Riley, 14, freshman, Greg Atchison, 17, senior, Sean Dageforde, 17, Jake Eddy, 18, senior, school principal Dan Zoeller and social studies teacher Chad Waggoner.

By Brett Barrouquere, The Associated Press

Kate Hopkins didn't know the man in the casket, never met him or his family. Yet, Hopkins stood watch over 48-year-old Francisco Carmona's funeral on a gray, cold day at a county-owned cemetery in south Louisville.

Hopkins joined a group of high school students, a few county employees and a deputy coroner on Feb. 6 to ensure that Carmona, who died in January in a Louisville hospital with no family or friends, had a service — the 91st service for the poor in Louisville since Nov. 1.

Counties across Kentucky, like much of the country, are seeing more cases of unclaimed bodies and families who can't afford to bury or cremate a loved one. Every situation is unique, but coroners and local government officials tell a similar story: The economic downturn has left many people without the money to pay for funeral services that can cost thousands of dollars, and it's falling on cities and states to cover the bills. Continue reading.

Editor's note: The Associated Press made these images available to NBC News on Feb. 26.

Brian Bohannon / AP

Students read the opening prayer from a program for the indigent burial of 48-year-old Francisco Carmona, who died in January with no family or friends, yet had a service on Feb. 6, at Meadow View Cemetery in Louisville, Ky. Carmona's funeral was the 91st service for the poor in Louisville since Nov. 1.

Brian Bohannon / AP

Workers prepare to bury Francisco Carmona on Feb. 6, as graves await the indigent at Meadow View Cemetery, Louisville's current Potter's Field.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Residents struggle for food in Camden, N.J.
• Remote Area Medical offers free healthcare to impoverished Appalachia
• Mobile food pantry serves fresh groceries to families in need
• Homeless mothers and children find a lifeline at Hope Gardens
• South Dakota's Badlands are rich in culture, rife with poverty