outer space

The world's largest solar observatory just released the sharpest ever image of a sunspot, and it's confirmed that we definitely don't want to travel to the Sun anytime soon. Let's head to the Moon instead.

A surprising number of astronauts smuggle booze into space. 

When you think of dogs, it's normal to think of them as loveable and goofy pets, not as scientists. But many dogs have made priceless contributions to science. Without these good boys and girls, we may not have many of the things today we take for granted. Keep on reading to learn about the dogs that have saved lives, gone to space and more! 

If you're stuck in the same routine day after day, it's no surprise when life starts to seem boring. But let me remind you that this is not the case. The world is full of natural and man-made wonders that will blow your mind. Have a look at the latest photos and videos from r/InterestingAsFuck and prepare to have a renewed interest in life, because there are some insanely interesting things in the world. And here's last week's collection for even more interesting content. 

Don't have time to watch or fast-forward through 6 hours of filler coverage? We've grabbed the perfect shots from SpaceX and NASA's joint spacecraft launch of the Crew Dragon. This is the first commercial spacecraft in history to bring astronauts into space, and was designed by the tech giant Elon Musk with his SpaceX commercial space program. With the launch a complete success, and the window narrowing after inclement weather, the successful launch was a massive achievement for commercial space travel, and the potential is massive for scaling this to even greater heights. Next stop, Mars.

The Boeing Starliner capsule, which is planning to transport people to and from the International Space Station in the near future, successfully completed an abort mission - although one of it's three parachutes failed to deploy. At the time, few photos or videos were taken of the capsule's short flight. New video footage has just emerged, and we've made some sweet GIFs so you can view it's journey in GIF form. If you want to know more about the Boeing Starliner capsule, read our comprehensive article about it. Otherwise, enjoy the GIFs!

For the first time in history, astronomers have observed galactic winds. This is a peek into the early stages of the formation of a very, very big galaxy, and it's looking like scientists might be able to observe and record this incredible celestial phenomena like never before. 

Plans are already underway for the Von Braun space hotel, a rotating space station that will orbit the Earth and house tourists and researchers. The Gateway Foundation says that it will be up and running by 2025, but we have serious doubts about that. We think you're going to have to keep your holidays Earth-bound for now. 

This story was originally told on Space. 

Voyager 2 has been in space longer than millennials have been alive. Launched into space in 1977, and still functioning today, the space probe has gone further into the universe than any object or person has before. Here's it's story, in photos. 

The astronauts up at the International Space Station are getting it all: cookies, radiation vests, and now, a cask of red wine. Unfortunately, the wine isn't for drinking: a French startup (of course it's French) called Space Cargo Unlimited wanted to see how wine ages differently in space. The wine will be sent back to Earth in a year, when experts will be able to taste the space (or not) in the red wine. Maybe space-aged wine will become a delicacy. What's next? Space cookies? 

As you might know, NASA's Curiosity Rover, a car-sized robot that snaps super cute selfies, has been roaming around Mars for seven years. It's purpose is to find life on the Red Planet, but in the meantime it's been taking chemical samples of the earth (is that what we call it?) on Mars and sending us back some cool photos. In the most recent installment of Mars photography, Curiosity took some black and white photos that are desolate, lonely and a little creepy. But what else could we expect from a planet that is devoid of any life (until we find it)? Check out Curiosity's latest photos below. 

Boeing's Starliner capsule has just completed an abort test when a test dummy inside the capsule parachuted to Earth from almost a mile high. Although only two of three parachutes were deployed, NASA said that the test was successful. This is another step closer to getting more people in space and on other planets. And that's exciting. 

In the latest update of random things being sent to the International Space Station, the six astronauts living in the International Space Station (ISS) have been sent a cookie oven (which must be a lot more exciting than that time when they were sent cement). For the first time, astronauts will be able to bake cookies in space. I'm betting the prospect of eating fresh cookies is pretty exciting for them after months of eating packaged space food. 

Jupiter, the giant in our solar system, has fascinated humans since we first looked up to the skies. We got our first glimpse of Jupiter 45 years ago, and since then, astronomers haven't been able to get enough of the giant planet. Unfortunately, Jupiter is not easy to travel to: at 338 times Earth's mass, Jupiter has the largest magnetic field in the solar system, meaning that anything that gets close (by close we mean millions of miles) will get fried by radiation, including life-saving electronics for humans. For now, we'll have to be satisfied with observing it from afar - and with the advancements in space travel technology and camera technology, we've got pretty incredible photos to feast our eyes on. 

In 2012, the Voyager 1 probe left our solar system. In 2018, Voyager 2 followed suit, and with it's instruments in better shape than Voyager 1's, scientists were able to track the probe's transition into interstellar space. Now, Voyager 2 has sent back it's first message from interstellar space. This is big. 

When scientists found what looked like a landslide on Mars, they thought they stumbled upon evidence that water, and therefore life, might have existed on Mars in the past. However, recent studies show that this probably isn't the case. It looks like we're not any closer to extraterrestrial life yet (but there's still hope).