Awesome Space

Want to feel small? This size comparison from Global Data shows just how tiny we are in the grand scheme of things. The video starts with sub-atomic particles and gradually scales up to chemicals, microorganisms, household items, animals, buildings, cities, asteroids, planets, black holes, galaxies, and superclusters.

NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes have captured some of the most incredible images of space ever. If you’ve ever wondered how these marvels work, check out this video from animator Jared Owen. You’ll enjoy an in-depth explanation of space telescopes, including how they’re built, deployed into space. and how they record images.

The ESA’s Euclid mission was designed to explore and map the dark universe observing galaxies up to 10 billion light-years away. This video teases the first images captured by the probe, combined into a 208-megapixel mosaic that retains detail even when zoomed 600x. Incredibly, this represents just 1% of the total area the mission aims to document.

Xi Chengzhuo’s animated film for GOBELINS Paris animation school takes us on a lonely journey through space as a rookie astronaut realizes there’s no coming home from a spacewalk. The artful character designs and backgrounds are as hauntingly beautiful, and we love how it was made to appear as a continuous take without edits.

It’s 1962, and NASA has just sent a monkey into space. But just as Beppo the Astro-monkey is about to return to Earth, he gets some bad news. This hilarious short turned up on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live with host John Mulaney as the mission’s flight director. From writer Dan Bulla, the warped mind behind 2022’s Meatballs sketch.

We think Earth is just the right size. It’s big enough to hold billions of people and other creatures, and if you’re dedicated enough, you can visit most of it in a lifetime. But what if we lived on a bigger planet? What If created an animated visualization that shows how big other planets are by stuffing them full of Earth-sized planets.

Ever wondered what it smells like in outer space? Wonder no more. The Smell of Space is selling a “fragrance” that NASA supposedly made to acclimate astronauts to the scent of outer space. Unfortunately, if it’s the real deal, it’s going to smell like burnt metal. The shop has a similar scent for the Moon, but it’s pretty much the same: burnt gunpowder.

We all know that our home planet is shaped like a sphere. What If pokes fun at flat earthers, imagining what Earth would be like if it was not only flat, it was shaped like a slice of pizza. Even if it was physically possible for such a planet to exist, it sounds like a terrible place to live, especially near the crust.

Scientists recently discovered what appears to be water deep in the outer crust of Mars. xkcd’s What If? imagines what might happen if we gave the red planet a leg up in the moisture department and dumped all of Earth’s water on its surface. While most of it would probably freeze, there’s a chance it could cause temperatures to rise and stay liquid.

Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne, and Tomer Capone (Frenchy from The Boys) star in this science fiction thriller about a group of astronauts on a lengthy mission to visit Saturn’s moon, Titan. But as they reach the most dangerous part of their mission, one of the crew starts to have a break with reality. Or, as Ren and Stimpy once called it, SPACE MADNESS!

PC builder AK Mod made this badass rig for RAM and SSD company Klevv. The Sentinel Cypher’s amazing exterior makes it look like it was salvaged from a spaceship wreck. Large cables and futuristic fonts and logos accent its distressed beige panels. Its monitor lifts up to reveal the motherboard, while its huge exhaust fan and GPU fans are exposed on either side.

Half-Asleep Chris thought it would be fun to put a LEGO rollercoaster into space. So he and his pal Dan designed a custom rollercoaster that could withstand the flight and teamed up with Sent Into Space to launch it into the stratosphere. Once in space, the brave Minifigure astronauts got the thrill ride of their lives.

Nubeo’s unique watches feature an astronomical design inspired by NASA’s vintage Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO) satellites. Each has a nine-part, hand-assembled stainless steel case with a layered dial that sits beneath a domed sapphire lens. Each color scheme is limited to just 500 pieces – and sadly, the Alien Green is already sold out.

Kurzgesagt recaps some of the scientific speculations about black holes. They then explore a few thought experiments about these mysterious cosmic locations, leading up to a mind-blowing possibility. If physicists are correct and a black hole creates a universe inside it, then we could be inside a black hole, that’s inside a universe, that’s inside a…

LEGO adds another awesome kit to its NASA collection with this Lunar Rover Vehicle (LRV) model inspired by the one carried by Apollo 17. The 1913-piece Technic set is packed with details, including three mini equipment sets based on experiments the LRV toted on the moon. The finished rover measures 5.5″ H x 15″ L x 10″ W and folds up like the real thing.

These space-themed playing cards are noteworthy for their starfield background and inverted images, suits, and numbers. Their backs feature a blue and purple figure-8 galaxy design, and they come packed in a sparkly tuck box with silver foil. Like all Bicycle cards, they’re printed on premium cardstock with an air-cushion finish for smooth shuffling.