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5 Most Outstanding Pictures From Space

Space is really, really, really big (and I mean REALLY big). With so much space around (pardon the pun), there is a lot of room for cool things to pop up. The universe has not disappointed us when it comes to providing amazing spectacles, so let's take a look at 5 that are, in my opinion, some of the best.

5.The Rose Galaxy


While it's actual name is ARP 273, we just couldn;t help but give it a prettier name. In a ridiculous stroke of luck (coupled with our sense of imagination), this galaxy resembles a rose, right down to the pedal. The swoosh of the tail is graceful, the stars twinkling at the edges of the rose are beautiful and the colours are soft and perfect for the picture. Forget chocolates and flowers, I think a picture of the Rose Galaxy is very appropriate for that special person in your life on Valentine's Day! 


4. The Eagle Nebula 


Ladies and gentleman, this is where stars are born. No, I'm not talking about Hollywood - I'm talking about the Eagle Nebula! You see, nebulae are enormous clusters of dust and gas and they are actually where stars are born - a star factory basically! If you look carefully enough, you can see some infants beginning to emerge and some older fellows closer to the edge. This picture is almost heavenly and considering these are the enormous structures that eventually give rise to life, I think it deserves the adjective "heavenly". 



3. Just A Big Red Bubble Floating Around...


Breathtakingly beautiful? Maybe not. Funny as heck? Yes! This is just so weird at first glance, I don;t even know what to think of it. It looks like Zeus blew some giant bubble out of Kool Aid or something. Kidding aside, it is actually the remnants of a supernova, which is a massive explosion that a star undergoes when it comes to the end of its life. It looks funny until you realize the fact that this thing is over 20 light years wide....and expanding at a rate of about 11 million miles per hour! In short, don't even try to pop this bad boy. 


2. It's Watching You...


This is the Helix Nebula (don't look it in they eye though). Just another reminder that we are always being watched. Whether it be your parents, school teachers or giant clusters of dust and stars.


1. A Pale Blue Dot...


This one's a personal favourite of mine. It doesn't look like anything at first glance, but that's the beauty of it. It's what this picture represents that is so special. This is a photo taken by the spacecraft Voyager I from Saturn looking back on Earth. The picture was taken at just the right moment and caught the Earth suspended in a sun beam, looking like nothing more than a speck. It's just so...you know what, I think I'll let the legendary Carl Sagan take it away: 

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

Do you have goosebumps yet?

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