[OT] The Final Frontier: The Epic Thread of Space.

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Credit: ESA/NASA
The icy landscape of northern Canada takes center stage in this Jan. 11, 2011 image taken by Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli.

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Credit: ESA/NASAFrom Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli: "It was sleeping under the blanket, and now the giant is awakened! Sicily and Mount Etna, seen from ISS,14 Jan 11, 09:40 CET."

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Credit: ESA/NASA Photo taken Jan. 9, 2011.
Lightning as seen from space, somewhere over Brazil.

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Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/CIW

This view is one of the first from the MESSENGER probe's Oct. 6, 2008 flyby of Mercury.

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Credit: Njål Gulbrandsen Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The Kjell Henriksen Observatory, which is operated by the University Center of Svalbard, provides downrange support for many sounding rocket missions launched from the Andøya Rocket Range, including the recent RENU project launched to study the auroras.

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Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen/NASA/GSFC Distributed Active Archive Center

Tuesday, December 21, 2010. Temperatures plunged during the first week of December in much of Europe and parts of the United States. This image shows the temperature of the land surface for December 3-10, 2010, compared to the average temperature for the same period between 2002 and 2009 (blue=colder; red=warmer). A climate pattern known as the Arctic Oscillation caused the temperatures to fall. The unusual cold brought heavy snow to Northern Europe, stopping flights and trains early in December.

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