Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster

Galaxy NGC 5584

The brilliant, blue glow of young stars traces the graceful spiral arms of galaxy NGC 5584. Thin, dark dust lanes appear to be flowing from the yellowish core, where older stars reside.

"I don't see any god up here. But from here the Earth is beautiful, without borders or divisions."

The first words of a human in space.

Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, April 12, 1961.

Thanks to Clara Statello

Female Astronauts in History:

Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to go to space in 1963.

She orbited the Earth 48 times, spent almost three days in space, is the only woman to have been on a solo space mission and is the last surviving Vostok programme cosmonaut.

Feel small now? Yup, we said the same thing! This is the comparison

Hilariously funny that the guy known for wandering off without warning to look at birds was allowed to do this

The Medusa Nebula

The Boogeyman Nebula and Tarantula Nebula

Flight Commander John Young reviewing checklists aboard Space Shuttle Columbia, STS-1

Huge 500,000-mile-wide hole opens in Sun

A vast 500,000-mile-wide coronal hole has opened in the Sun's atmosphere. The area measures over 62 times the diameter of Earth and is now shooting high-speed solar wind toward Earth. When such solar activity is directed at Earth, the resulting geomagnetic storms can potentially disrupt satellite operations, power grids, navigation systems, and radio communications. There may also be spectacular displays of aurora caused as the Earth's magnetosphere is disturbed by the solar wind. According to spaceweather.com, this wind is estimated to hit Earth by Friday (Jan. 31), resulting in G1 geomagnetic storm conditions.

While G1 storms are considered the mildest category, they can still have noticeable effects, particularly in terms of aurora visibility at higher latitudes.