Portal:Outer space

The Outer Space Portal

Introduction

Because of the hazards of a vacuum, astronauts must wear a pressurized space suit while off-Earth and outside their spacecraft.

Outer space, or simply space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth's atmosphere and between celestial bodies. It contains ultra-low levels of particle densities, constituting a near-perfect vacuum of predominantly hydrogen and helium plasma, permeated by electromagnetic radiation, cosmic rays, neutrinos, magnetic fields and dust. The baseline temperature of outer space, as set by the background radiation from the Big Bang, is 2.7 kelvins (−270 °C; −455 °F).

The plasma between galaxies is thought to account for about half of the baryonic (ordinary) matter in the universe, having a number density of less than one hydrogen atom per cubic metre and a kinetic temperature of millions of kelvins. Local concentrations of matter have condensed into stars and galaxies. Intergalactic space takes up most of the volume of the universe, but even galaxies and star systems consist almost entirely of empty space. Most of the remaining mass-energy in the observable universe is made up of an unknown form, dubbed dark matter and dark energy.

Outer space does not begin at a definite altitude above Earth's surface. The Kármán line, an altitude of 100 km (62 mi) above sea level, is conventionally used as the start of outer space in space treaties and for aerospace records keeping. Certain portions of the upper stratosphere and the mesosphere are sometimes referred to as "near space". The framework for international space law was established by the Outer Space Treaty, which entered into force on 10 October 1967. This treaty precludes any claims of national sovereignty and permits all states to freely explore outer space. Despite the drafting of UN resolutions for the peaceful uses of outer space, anti-satellite weapons have been tested in Earth orbit.

The concept that the space between the Earth and the Moon must be a vacuum was first proposed in the 17th century after scientists discovered that air pressure decreased with altitude. The immense scale of outer space was grasped in the 20th century when the distance to the Andromeda Galaxy was first measured. Humans began the physical exploration of space later in the same century with the advent of high-altitude balloon flights. This was followed by crewed rocket flights and, then, crewed Earth orbit, first achieved by Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union in 1961. The economic cost of putting objects, including humans, into space is very high, limiting human spaceflight to low Earth orbit and the Moon. On the other hand, uncrewed spacecraft have reached all of the known planets in the Solar System. Outer space represents a challenging environment for human exploration because of the hazards of vacuum and radiation. Microgravity has a negative effect on human physiology that causes both muscle atrophy and bone loss. (Full article...)

Selected article

The Jupiter Trojans are a large group of objects that share the orbit of the planet Jupiter around the Sun. Relative to Jupiter, each Trojan librates around one of the planet's two Lagrangian points of stability, L₄ and L₅, that respectively lie 60° ahead of and behind the planet in its orbit. Trojan asteroids are distributed in two elongated, curved regions around these Lagrangian points with an average semi-major axis of about 5.2 AU. The first Trojan, 588 Achilles, was discovered in 1906 by the German astronomer Max Wolf. A total of 2,909 Jupiter Trojans have been found as of January 2009. The name "Trojans" derives from the fact that, by convention, they each are named after a mythological figure from the Trojan War. The total number of Jupiter Trojans larger than 1 km is believed to be about 1 million, approximately equal to the number of asteroids larger than 1 km in the main asteroid belt. Like main belt asteroids, Trojans form families. Jupiter Trojans are dark bodies with reddish, featureless spectra. No firm evidence of the presence of water, organic matter or other chemical compounds has been obtained. The Trojans' densities (as measured by studying binaries or rotational lightcurves) vary from 0.8 to 2.5 g·cm⁻³. Trojans are thought to have been captured into their orbits during the early stages of the Solar System's formation or slightly later, during the migration of giant planets.

Selected picture

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  Color-composite image of the Pleiades from the Digitized Sky Survey

  Pleiades (star cluster)

  Credit: NASA, ESA, AURA/Caltech, Palomar Observatory

  The Pleiades (also known as M45 or the Seven Sisters) is an open cluster in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest to the Earth of all open clusters, probably the best known and certainly the most striking to the naked eye.

  
  
  
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  Adaptive optics

  Photo: Yuri Beletsky, ESO

  A laser shoots towards the centre of the Milky Way from the Very Large Telescope facility in Chile, to provide a laser guide star, a reference point in the sky for the telescope's adaptive optics (AO) system. AO technology improves the performance of optical systems by reducing the effect of atmospheric distortion. AO was first envisioned by Horace W. Babcock in 1953, but did not come into common usage until advances in computer technology during the 1990s made the technique practical.
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  Needle Galaxy

  Photograph: Ken Crawford

  NGC 4565 (also known as the Needle Galaxy) is an edge-on spiral galaxy about 30 to 50 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. NGC 4565 is a giant spiral galaxy more luminous than the Andromeda Galaxy, and has a population of roughly 240 globular clusters, more than the Milky Way.
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  Geology of Venus

  Image credit: NASA

  A radar image of the surface of Venus, centered at 180 degrees east longitude. This composite image was created from mapping by the Magellan probe, supplemented by data gathered by the Pioneer orbiter, with simulated hues based on color images recorded by Venera 13 and 14. No probe has been able to survive more than a few hours on Venus's surface, which is completely obscured by clouds, because the atmospheric pressure is some 90 times that of the Earth's, and its surface temperature is around 450 °C (842 °F).
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  Pale Blue Dot

  Photo credit: NASA/JPL

  Pale Blue Dot is the name given to this 1990 photo of Earth taken from Voyager 1 when its vantage point reached the edge of the Solar System, a distance of roughly 3.7 billion miles (6 billion kilometres). Earth can be seen as a blueish-white speck approximately halfway down the brown band to the right. The light band over Earth is an artifact of sunlight scattering in the camera's lens, resulting from the small angle between Earth and the Sun. Carl Sagan came up with the idea of turning the spacecraft around to take a composite image of the Solar System. Six years later, he reflected, "All of human history has happened on that tiny pixel, which is our only home."
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  Space Shuttle Endeavour

  Photo: NASA/Crew of Expedition 22

  Space Shuttle Endeavour in a photograph taken from the International Space Station, in which the shuttle appears to straddle the stratosphere and mesosphere. During this mission, STS-130, the shuttle's primary payloads were the Tranquility module and the Cupola, a robotic control station which provides a 360-degree view around the station.
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  Astronaut Steve Robinson on a spacewalk, August 2005

  Extra-vehicular activity

  Credit: NASA

  Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth and outside of his or her spacecraft. EVAs may be made outside a craft orbiting Earth (a spacewalk) or on the surface of the Moon (a moonwalk). Shown here is Steve Robinson on the first EVA to perform an in-flight repair of the Space Shuttle (August 3 2005).
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  Astronaut Bruce McCandless using a Manned Maneuvering Unit

  Manned Maneuvering Unit

  Credit: NASA

  A Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) is a jet pack (propulsion backpack that snaps onto the back of the space suit) which has been used on untethered spacewalks from NASA's Space Shuttle, allowing an astronaut to move independently from the shuttle. The MMU was used on three Shuttle missions in 1984. It was first tested on February 7 during mission STS-41-B by astronauts Bruce McCandless II (seen here) and Robert L. Stewart.

  
  
  
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  STS-116

  Photo credit: NASA

  NASA astronaut Robert Curbeam (left) and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Christer Fuglesang participate in STS-116's first of three planned sessions of extra-vehicular activity (EVA) as construction resumes on the International Space Station. The landmasses depicted in the background are the South Island (left) and North Island (right) of New Zealand.
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  Mercury (planet)

  Photograph: NASA/APL/CIS; edit: Jjron

  Mercury is the smallest and closest to the Sun of the eight planets in the Solar System. It has no known natural satellites. The planet is named after the Roman deity Mercury, the messenger to the gods.
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  Pioneer plaque

  Pioneer plaque

  Credit: Carl Sagan, Frank Drake, Linda Salzman Sagan

  The Pioneer plaque, which was included on both Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 unmanned spacecraft, the first man-made objects to leave the Solar System. Made from gold-anodised aluminium, the plaque shows the figures of a man and a woman along with several symbols that are designed to provide information about the origin of the spacecraft. However, the mean time for the spacecraft to come within 30 astronomical units of a star is longer than the current age of our galaxy.
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  Orion Nebula

  Orion Nebula

  Credit: Hubble Space Telescope

  A composite photo of the Orion Nebula, the closest region of star formation to Earth. It is composed of 520 separate images and NASA calls it "one of the most detailed astronomical images ever produced". The nebula is located below Orion's Belt and is visible to the naked eye at night. It is one of the most scrutinized and photographed objects in the night sky, and is among the most intensely-studied celestial features.
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  Neptune

  Photograph credit: NASA / JPL

  Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun in the Solar System. In the Solar System, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter, the third-most-massive planet and the densest giant planet. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth, slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus. Neptune is denser and physically smaller than Uranus because its greater mass causes more gravitational compression of its atmosphere. Neptune orbits the Sun once every 164.8 years at an average distance of 30.1 au (4.5 billion km; 2.8 billion mi). It is named after the Roman god of the sea and has the astronomical symbol ♆, a stylised version of the god Neptune's trident.
  
  This picture of Neptune was taken by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989, at a range of 4.4 million miles (7.1 million kilometres) from the planet, approximately four days before closest approach. The photograph shows the Great Dark Spot, a storm about the size of Earth, in the centre, while the fast-moving bright feature nicknamed the "Scooter" and the Small Dark Spot can be seen on the western limb. These clouds were seen to persist for as long as the spacecraft's cameras could resolve them.
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  NGC 6357

  Photograph credit: NASA

  NGC 6357 is a diffuse nebula in the constellation Scorpius. This composite image of the nebula contains X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the ROSAT telescope (purple), infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope (orange), and optical data from the SuperCosmos Sky Survey (blue). Radiation from hot, young stars is energizing the cooler gas in the clouds that surround them. Often known as the Lobster Nebula, the astronomical object has also been termed the Madokami Nebula by fans of the anime Madoka Magica due to its supposed resemblance to the main character. Scientists at the Midcourse Space Experiment prefer the name War and Peace Nebula, because the bright, western part resembles a dove, while the eastern part looks like a skull in infrared images.
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  Eagle Nebula

  Photo credit: NASA

  The Eagle Nebula (also known as Messier Object 16, M16 or NGC 6611) is a young open cluster of stars. The nebula is an active region of star formation. Light from the bright, hot, young stars near the centre of the cluster illuminate the clouds of hydrogen gas and dust still collapsing to form new stars.
  
  As projected on the sky, the Eagle Nebula lies in the constellation of Serpens Cauda. In three dimensions, it is relatively close to the Solar System being some 7,000 light years away on the edge of the Sagittarius Arm, the next nearest spiral arm towards the centre of the Milky Way.
  
  In fact, when the picture is not coloured, is only red colored, the "Eagle" can be seen as a dark spot in the center of the nebula.
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  Uranus

  Photo: NASA/JPL/Voyager 2 mission

  Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and the fourth most massive in the Solar System. In this photograph from 1986 the planet appears almost featureless, but recent terrestrial observations have found seasonal changes to be occurring.
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  Solar flare

  Photo: Goddard Space Flight Center

  A solar flare, a sudden flash of brightness observed over the Sun's surface or the solar limb which is interpreted as a large energy release, recorded on August 31, 2012. Such flares are often, but not always, followed by a colossal coronal mass ejection; in this instance, the ejection traveled at over 900 miles (1,400 km) per second.
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  Planet Mars

  Mars (planet)

  Credit: NASA

  Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, is named after the Roman god of war because of its blood red color. Mars has two small, oddly-shaped moons, Phobos and Deimos, named after the sons of the Greek god Ares. At some point in the future Phobos will be broken up by gravitational forces. The atmosphere on Mars is 95% carbon dioxide. In 2003 methane was also discovered in the atmosphere. Since methane is an unstable gas, this indicates that there must be (or have been within the last few hundred years) a source of the gas on the planet.
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  Planum Boreum

  Photo credit: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

  False-color Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a side of the Chasma Boreale, a canyon in the polar ice cap of the Planum Boreum (north pole of Mars). Light browns are layers of surface dust, greys and blues are layers of water and carbon dioxide ice. Regular geometric cracking is indicative of higher concentrations of water ice.
  
  The Planum Boreum's permanent ice cap has a maximum depth of 3 km (1.9 mi). It is roughly 1200 km (750 mi) in diameter, an area equivalent to about 1½ times the size of Texas. The Chasma Boreale is up to 100 km (62.5 mi) wide and features scarps up to 2 km (1.25 mi) high. For a comparison, the Grand Canyon is approximately 1.6 km (1 mi) deep in some places and 446 km (279 mi) long but only up to 24 km (15 mi) wide.
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  Milky Way

  Photo credit: Spitzer Space Telescope

  This infrared image shows hundreds of thousands of stars crowded into the swirling core of our spiral Milky Way galaxy. In visible-light pictures, this region cannot be seen at all because cosmic dust lying between Earth and the galactic center blocks our view.
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  Pillars of Creation

  Photograph: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team

  The Pillars of Creation, a series of elephant trunks of interstellar gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula, are the subject of a famous Hubble Space Telescope photograph taken in 1995. They are so named because the depicted gas and dust, while being eroded by the light from nearby stars, are in the process of creating new stars. Shown here is a 2014 rephotograph, which was unveiled in 2015 as part of the telescope's 25th anniversary celebrations.
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  Sombrero Galaxy

  Sombrero Galaxy M104

  Credit: NASA / STScI

  The Sombrero Galaxy is a spiral galaxy in the Virgo constellation. It was discovered in the late 1700s. It is about 28 million light years away and is just faint enough to be invisible to the naked eye but easily visible with small telescopes. In our sky, it is about one-fifth the diameter of the full moon. M104 is moving away from Earth at about 1,000 kilometers per second.

  
  
  

Space-related portals

General images

The following are images from various outer space-related articles on Wikipedia.

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  Voyager 1 is the first artificial object to reach the interstellar medium. (from Interstellar medium)
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  Gabbard diagram of debris from the disintegration of the third stage of a Chinese Long March 4 booster (from Space debris)
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  A V-2 Rocket in the Peenemünde Museum in Germany (from Space exploration)
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  Debris density in low Earth orbit (from Space debris)
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  Zodiacal light caused by cosmic dust. (from Cosmic dust)
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  Smooth chondrite interplanetary dust particle. (from Cosmic dust)
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  Atmospheric attenuation in dB/km as a function of frequency over the EHF band. Peaks in absorption at specific frequencies are a problem, due to atmosphere constituents such as water vapor (H₂O) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). (from Interstellar medium)
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  Delta-v's in km/s for various orbital maneuvers (from Space exploration)
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  Concept for a space-based solar power system to beam energy down to Earth (from Outer space)
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  The original Magdeburg hemispheres (left) used to demonstrate Otto von Guericke's vacuum pump (right)
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  Map showing the Sun located near the edge of the Local Interstellar Cloud and Alpha Centauri about 4 light-years away in the neighboring G-Cloud complex (from Interstellar medium)
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  Debris impacts on Mir's solar panels degraded their performance. The damage is most noticeable on the panel on the right, which is facing the camera with a high degree of contrast. Extensive damage to the smaller panel below is due to impact with a Progress spacecraft rather than space debris. (from Space debris)
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  Space Shuttle Endeavour had a major impact on its radiator during STS-118. The entry hole is about 5.5 mm (0.22 in), and the exit hole is twice as large. (from Space debris)
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  Self-portrait of Curiosity rover on Mars's surface (from Space exploration)
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  Perseverance's backshell sitting upright on the surface of Jezero Crater (from Space debris)
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  Three-dimensional structure in Pillars of Creation. (from Interstellar medium)
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  A MESSENGER image from 18,000 km showing a region about 500 km across (2008) (from Space exploration)
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  Saudi officials inspect a crashed PAM-D module in January 2001. (from Space debris)
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  Collision on Launch Avoidance lead to delayed spacecraft launches to avoid potential conjunctions/collisions during launch. Seen here is a Collision Avoidance analysis that mandated a four-minute delay for the launch of SPADEX in 2024. (from Space debris)
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  Tupan Patera on Jupiter's moon Io (from Space exploration)
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  Cosmic dust of the Andromeda Galaxy as revealed in infrared light by the Spitzer Space Telescope. (from Cosmic dust)
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  Because of the hazards of a vacuum, astronauts must wear a pressurized space suit while outside their spacecraft.
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  Spatial density of space debris by altitude according to ESA MASTER-2001, without debris from the Chinese ASAT and 2009 collision events (from Space debris)
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  Spatial density of LEO space debris by altitude, according to 2011 a NASA report to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (from Space debris)
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  Illustration of Earth's atmosphere gradual transition into outer space (from Outer space)
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  Porous chondrite dust particle (from Cosmic dust)
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  Asteroid 4 Vesta, imaged by the Dawn spacecraft (2011) (from Space exploration)
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  The sparse plasma (blue) and dust (white) in the tail of comet Hale–Bopp are being shaped by pressure from solar radiation and the solar wind, respectively.
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  A computer-generated animation by the European Space Agency representing space debris in low earth orbit at the current rate of growth compared to mitigation measures being taken (from Space debris)
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  NASA computer-generated image of growth of space debris (from Space debris)
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  A dusty trail from the early Solar System to carbonaceous dust today. (from Cosmic dust)
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  Comet 103P/Hartley (2010) (from Space exploration)
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  Objects in Earth orbit including fragmentation debris, November 2020, NASA: ODPO (from Space debris)
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  Vanguard 1 is expected to remain in orbit until at least the year 2250. (from Space debris)
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  Apollo Command Service Module in lunar orbit (from Space exploration)
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  For the first time, the NASA / ESA / Canadian Space Agency / James Webb Space Telescope has observed the chemical signature of carbon-rich dust grains at redshift z ≈ 7, which is roughly equivalent to one billion years after the birth of the Universe, this observation suggests exciting avenues of investigation into both the production of cosmic dust and the earliest stellar populations in our Universe. (from Cosmic dust)
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  Surface of Mars by the Spirit rover (2004) (from Space exploration)
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  Apollo 16 LEM Orion, the Lunar Roving Vehicle and astronaut John Young (1972) (from Space exploration)
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  Artistic image of a rocket lifting from a Saturn moon (from Space exploration)
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  The diversity found in the different types and scales of astronomical objects make the field of study increasingly specialized. (from Outline of space science)
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  After reentry, Delta 2 second stage pieces were found in South Africa. (from Space debris)
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  Astronaut Piers Sellers during the third spacewalk of STS-121, a demonstration of orbiter heat shield repair techniques (from Outline of space science)
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  Buzz Aldrin taking a core sample of the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission (from Space exploration)
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  Newton's cannonball, an illustration of how objects can "fall" in a curve around the planet (from Outer space)
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  A proposed timeline of the origin of space, from physical cosmology (from Outline of space science)
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  Artist's impression of dust formation around a supernova explosion. (from Cosmic dust)
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  Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to image the warm dust around a nearby young star, Fomalhaut, to study the first asteroid belt ever seen outside the Solar System in infrared light. (from Cosmic dust)
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  Infographic showing the space debris situation in different kinds of orbits around Earth (from Space debris)
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  Major elements of 200 stratospheric interplanetary dust particles. (from Cosmic dust)
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  Herbig–Haro object HH 110 ejects gas through interstellar space. (from Interstellar medium)
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  Crew quarters on Zvezda, the base ISS crew module (from Space exploration)
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  Illustration of a satellite breaking up into multiple pieces at higher altitudes (from Space debris)
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  Baker–Nunn cameras were widely used to study space debris. (from Space debris)
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  First television image of Earth from space, taken by TIROS-1 (1960) (from Space exploration)
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  The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) is an important source of information on small-particle space debris. (from Space debris)
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  Space debris identified as WT1190F, burning up in a fireball over Sri Lanka (from Space debris)
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  Cosmic dust of the Horsehead Nebula as revealed by the Hubble Space Telescope. (from Cosmic dust)
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  Growth of tracked objects in orbit and related events; efforts to manage outer space global commons have so far not reduced the total amount of debris or the growth of objects in orbit. (from Space debris)
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  Timeline of the expansion of the universe, where space is represented schematically at each time by circular sections. On the left, the dramatic expansion of inflation; at the center, the expansion accelerates (artist's concept; neither time nor size are to scale) (from Outer space)
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  South is up in the first image of Earth taken by a person, probably by Bill Anders (during the 1968 Apollo 8 mission) (from Outer space)
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  Bow shock formed by the magnetosphere of the young star LL Orionis (center) as it collides with the Orion Nebula flow
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  A drifting thermal blanket photographed in 1998 during STS-88 (from Space debris)
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  View from International Space Station, showing the yellow-green airglow of Earth's ionosphere with the Milky Way in the background. (from Outer space)
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  Interstellar medium and astrosphere meeting (from Interstellar medium)
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  Astronaut Buzz Aldrin had a personal Communion service when he first arrived on the surface of the Moon. (from Space exploration)
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  The distribution of ionized hydrogen (known by astronomers as H II from old spectroscopic terminology) in the parts of the Galactic interstellar medium visible from the Earth's northern hemisphere as observed with the Wisconsin Hα Mapper (Haffner et al. 2003). (from Interstellar medium)
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  A wide field view of outer space as seen from Earth's surface at night. The interplanetary dust cloud is visible as the horizontal band of zodiacal light, including the false dawn (edges) and gegenschein (center), which is visually crossed by the Milky Way (from Outer space)
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  Reconstruction of solar activity over 11,400 years. Period of equally high activity over 8,000 years ago marked. (from Space climate)
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  A computer-generated map of objects orbiting Earth, as of 2005. About 95% are debris, not working artificial satellites (from Outer space)
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  Spent upper stage of a Delta II rocket, photographed by the XSS 10 satellite (from Space debris)
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  A laser-guided observation of the Milky Way Galaxy at the Paranal Observatory in Chile in 2010 (from Outline of space science)
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  Gabbard diagram of almost 300 pieces of debris from the disintegration of the five-month-old third stage of the Chinese Long March 4 booster on 11 March 2000 (from Space debris)
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  Structure of galactic space of the Milky Way, as viewed from the Solar System, with dark nebulas (white text) and star clouds (black text) labeled (from Outer space)
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  Earth and the Moon as seen from cislunar space on the 2022 Artemis 1 mission (from Outer space)
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  Known orbit planes of Fengyun-1C debris one month after the weather satellite's disintegration by the Chinese ASAT (from Space debris)
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  Near-Earth space showing the low-Earth (blue), medium Earth (green), and high Earth (red) orbits. The last extends beyond the radius of geosynchronous orbits (from Outer space)
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  View of an orbital debris hole made in the panel of the Solar Max satellite (from Space debris)
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  Concept art for a NASA Vision mission (from Space exploration)
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  Distribution of Matter in a cubic section of the universe. The blue fiber-like structures represent matter, while the empty regions show the cosmic voids (from Outer space)
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  Model of a Russian Vostok spacecraft (from Space exploration)
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  Conventional anti-satellite weapons such as the SM-3 missile remain legal under the law of armed conflict, even though they create hazardous space debris (from Outer space)
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  The famous Earthrise photo, the first of its kind taken by a human (from Outer space)
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  A micrometeoroid left this crater on the surface of Space Shuttle Challenger's front window on STS-7. (from Space debris)
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  This light-year-long knot of interstellar gas and dust resembles a caterpillar. (from Interstellar medium)

Did you know (auto-generated)

• ... that, for the Space 220 Restaurant, Disney reached out to NASA engineers to understand what a space elevator might look like?
• ... that some severe environmental impacts of the invasion of Ukraine can be seen from space?
• ... that the space industry of India has supported the launch of more than 100 domestic satellites and more than 300 foreign satellites?
• ... that Nature's Fynd, producer of microbe-based meat substitutes, is working with NASA to develop a bioreactor for use in space travel?
• ... that Louis W. Roberts was among the highest ranking African-American space program staff at NASA while the Apollo program was underway?

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