We’re hovering above Earth and then traveling billions of light years away this week. First, let’s consider our home planet’s life-sustaining atmosphere. Crew members aboard the International Space Station zoom above us at almost 18,000 miles per hour, and from there they take some spectacular photos of Earth. In their unscheduled time, astronauts can hang out at a window or in the cupola, where they get to capture the Earth and our moon from a rather exclusive vantage point.
Leaving our neck of the solar system, let’s pop by Mars to check out some (sing it with me now) bluuue duuuuunes! The dunes aren't exactly blue, since the color is enhanced (basically the saturation is cranked up to a jillion), but they sure are interesting. Mars, along with parts of Earth, is covered in what are called barchan dunes—features shaped into crescents by wind activity and their positions in a valley or a crater.
Next, why don’t we swing by Jupiter and get lost in its dizzying storms, then hit warp speed and head out to a black hole in deep space? It’s not like you’ll miss anything that important back home.
If you have more unscheduled time than our astronaut friends, check out WIRED’s full collection of space photos here.
