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space

Our home, from space.

Sixty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to make it into space and probably the first to experience what scientists now call the "overview effect." This change occurs when people see the world from far above and notice that it’s a place where “borders are invisible, where racial, religious and economic strife are nowhere to be seen.”

The overview effect makes man’s squabbles with one another seem incredibly petty and presents the planet as it truly is, one interconnected organism.

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Photo by History in HD on Unsplash

Houston, no problems. Just chillin'.

Matt Payne, of Kent, England, and his 8-year-old daughter Isabella Payne share two distinct passions—outer space and amateur radio.

On Aug. 8, the daddy-daughter duo got to combine the two interests. The result was, dare I say, out of this world.


girl calls nasa, ham radio issIsabella, seen in space.Twitter

Using Matt’s ham radio, under the station name M0LMK, Isabella was able to place a call to another amateur radio station … one that just so happened to be onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Talk about a long-distance call.

On the other end of the line was astronaut Kjell Lindgren, commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4, who was more than happy to chat.
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Webb telescope images come with wonderfully detailed alt text descriptions.

When the first images of space came back from the high-powered James Webb Space Telescope on July 12, 2022, it felt like the whole world stopped for a moment to marvel. Never before have we seen such an intricate look at what's out there, and the detail was stunning. Since then, we've seen a steady stream of visual wonders far beyond our solar system, delighting our eyes and tickling our imaginations.

But what about those who aren't able to see them? Do people who are visually impaired simply miss out on the joy of "seeing" these gorgeous glimpses of our universe?

Nope. NASA has made sure that these images are accessible to all and has done a stellar job of it. The alt text descriptions of the Webb telescope images are truly wonderful, giving not only visual descriptions but additional details that all of us can benefit from.

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Two celestial events collided last night and people around the world did their best to capture the cool phenomena on film.

The "super flower blood moon" was one of the few supermoons this year, when the moon appears to be much larger and brighter in the sky due to its position closer to Earth. The "flower" part of the moniker is simply because it's a full moon happening in the month of May. The "blood" part comes from the reddish hue cast over the moon due to a total lunar eclipse that happened to coincide with the supermoon. (The total eclipse was only visible in some regions, including the Western U.S.)

In other words, the moon was a huge red ball in the sky last night, creating a natural show for us earthlings.

If you missed it in real life, these photos of the super flower blood moon are the next best thing.

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