Well, last week I stumbled upon so many pretty pictures that I had to make some tough choices. Life is hard.
And, like the week before, there were some pretty important anniversaries, mostly related to space exploration and travel, one of my most favouritest topics ever ever. I mean, when at the pub I’d be more than happy to talk about just that, and I’m perfectly capable of doing it without mentioning anything even remotely related to maths, which takes some skill considering the topic.
Anyway, last week it was Hubbles’s 21st birthday (Hubble the telescope, not the astronomer).
As a present, NASA’s astronomers released a shot of two rose shaped galaxies (that is, ARP 273). Happy birthday Mr. Hubble.

Last week also saw the Solar Space Telescope’s first birthday. It has been sending some pretty stunning images to earth for more than a year, and it’s supposed to do so for another four.
In the picture below there’s a flare that took place in December 2010. It stretched across 435,000 miles, the entire radius of the Sun (as usual, the images link to the original websites).

Now, some of the most beautiful pictures of Earth I’ve ever seen.
Below are some shots taken by ISS astronauts. I mean, thanks for sharing.

The 32 pictures linked to the following image left me speechless, I couldn’t decide which one to post. Then I decided for the one below, I think it’s almost moving. It’s a man, alone, floating in the void, over a blue planet. I think it’s as powerful an image as the famous one of the Earth seen from the edge of the solar system, one of those things that makes you think “wow, this is what Men are” and feel proud.
Also, now I fucking want a jet pack.

This is the winner of the Nikon’s Small World Competition

The image below, instead, links to Wired’s “35 Years of the World’s Best Microscope Photography”. Some Pretty pictures there (this one is a bunch of fluorescent actin protein filaments).

The last one is a set of pictures of abandoned soviet monuments.
I posted it because I love the russian bold, futuristic sense of aesthetics, as odd as it is.
As a concept artist I would never dare using that kind of shapes, they wouldn’t be believable, not even in a sci-fi game.

BONUS CONTENT:
An image that would ruin your childhood memories:

and one I simply couldn’t help posting.