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Valentine's Day. Is it a romantic day or one invented by greeting card companies and sellers of luxury goods? It certainly isn't an astronomical holiday, but whatever your view of the day, you can enjoy this selection of cosmic valentines.

Click to read about Astronomical Valentines.

Everybody's favorite dwarf planet used to be just a blur in photographs. But it turns out to be very interesting. Now that New Horizons has made a quick visit, we know that Pluto even has a heart!

NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg photographed these heart-shaped clouds from the International Space Station two years ago.

It's not too late if you want a valentine for an astronomer (or general geek). The European Space Agency (ESA) offers a selection of Valentine e-cards. No cost, no stamp.

Loved them; thanks for the link.

On Valentine's Day 2000, the space probe NEAR Shoemaker went into orbit around asteroid Eros. Eros was the Greek god of love - Cupid was his Roman equivalent. Interestingly, as the probe approached the asteroid there seemed to be a heart shape on Eros. But it turned out to be a trick of the light on a triangle of craters around the rim of a shallow depression.

Here is a precious and unique Valentine, though I know it doesn't look like much. What is it? Voyager 1's last look back at the planets of the Solar System, including its home planet, on Valentine's Day 1990. We see Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. So the middle top image is Earth, christened "the pale blue dot" by Carl Sagan.

Voyager 1 is in interstellar space now. Still in touch, but it's signals take about 19 hours to travel here now.