Yes, it's that time of year again when everyone struggles with what gifts to buy their family and friends for their holiday-of-choice. Whether you are hoping to foster a love of space and science in a young child, or want to surprise that special adult "Super Space Nerd," we here at Universe Today are here to help our readers out with ideas and recommendations to fit virtually any budget, experience level, and area of interest, including telescopes, books, and other items that the "space/science geek" in your life would love to receive!

Plummeting to Earth during a fiery atmospheric reentry within the cramped confines of their Russian Soyuz capsule, an international trio of space flyers returned safely to the Home Planet today, Dec. 11

If seeing the Northern or Southern Lights hasn't been crossed off your bucket list yet, this video is the next best thing to seeing the aurora live. Astrophotographer extraordinaire Thierry Legault has captured spectacular views of the Aurora Borealis from Norway, filmed in real time.

A grand finale meteor shower graces the skies of the Earth this weekend, as the December Geminid meteors reach their peak early Sunday morning into Monday.

This might be a silly question, but what is the official name of that bright ball in the sky? You know, that thing we call the Moon? You might be surprised to know that the official name of the Moon is... the Moon. And this becomes all the more confusing when there are other moons orbiting other planets, and even asteroids.

Volcanoes are one of the most impressive and powerful forces of nature, consisting of many different parts that serve different functions

Every scientist has a story. Though not all have a specific moment they can point to that 'got them into science', they all have people or places or moments which inspired them, or gave them some critical insight, or just kept them going through difficult or tedious times. "We Are All Stardust" is about those scientists, and about those stories.

The New Horizons spacecraft has been slowly sending back all the images and data it gathered during its July flyby of the Pluto system. The latest batch of images to arrive here on Earth contains some of the highest resolution views yet that it captured of Pluto's surface, taken during the spacecraft's closest approach.

Mars is the 4th planet from Sun, and the place that holds our imagination because of the possibility that there might be life there. There are some similarities to Earth, like its day length, solid ground and polar caps, but there are many differences as well, like its much smaller size, mass and gravity. And don't forget about the extremely cold temperatures. Let's learn about Mars compared to Earth.

After its disaster last year, Orbital ATK is ready to visit the International Space station again with its Cygnus resupply ship. Its next launch is set for Sunday at 4:44 PM EST. Here's more information on the launch, and how you can watch it live.

This week's Carnival of Space is hosted by Brian Wang at his Next Big Future blog.