Vulbus Incognita Magazine

Night time photo featuring the bright lights of Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt on the Mediterranean coast shot from the ISS

.

This photograph, taken by one of the Expedition 30 crew members on New Year’s Day of 2012, from onboard the International Space Station flying at a point above the Bahamas, shows most of the peninsular part of Florida.

The scene includes Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center near frame center.

The Gulf of Mexico is in the top portion of the photo.

With hardware from the Earth-orbiting International Space Station appearing in the near foreground, a night time European panorama reveals city lights from Belgium and the Netherlands at bottom center, the British Isles partially obscured by solar array panels at left, the North Sea at left center, and Scandinavia at right center beneath the end effector of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System or Canadarm2.

Cleaning the Camera for "Space Junk 3D" MovieCredit: ©2011. All rights reserved. Space Junk 3D, LLC. Courtesy Calvin Hall PhotographyCleaning lenses during 40 mph winds at Meteor Crater in Arizona

Garbage Collector SpaceshipCredit: Space Junk 3D, LLCAn illustration imagines a spaceship collecting space "garbage" in the movie "Space Junk 3D."

Clean-up Solution: Solar SailCredit: Space Junk 3D, LLCOne possible clean-up solution: a solar sail, as seen in the movie "Space Junk 3D."

Space Junk Problem DetailedCredit: NASA/Orbital Debris Program Office.

Each dot represents a bit of known space junk that's at least 4 inches (10 cm) in low-Earth orbit, where the space station and shuttles roam.

In total, some 19,000 manmade objects this size or bigger orbit Earth as of July 2009; most are in low-Earth orbit.

Countless smaller objects are also circling the planet.

Illustration of a Space Debris FieldCredit: Space Junk 3D, LLCIllustration of a space debris field as depicted in the film "Space Junk 3D."

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has found a piece of NASA history, and he's bringing it home.

Parts of Europe and Africa are very easily recognizable in this night time image shot from the ISS.

.

With parts of two Russian spacecraft docked to the International Space Station in the foreground, this image from the orbital outpost shows the Gulf of Mexico and parts of Texas and Mexico. One of the Expedition 30 crew members took the photograph on Dec. 29, 2011. The two spacecraft are a Soyuz in the foreground, and a Progress, partially visible at top right

On Jan. 11, 2012, astronomers announced the discovery of a miniature solar system made up of three tiny planets - all of them smaller than Earth - in orbit around the red dwarf star KOI-961 about 130 light-years from Earth.

The planets are the smallest alien worlds yet discovered and were found using NASA's Kepler space observatory.

See how the small alien planets stack up to our own solar system and Jupiter in the SPACE.com infographic above.

Mixing Sound for Space Junk 3D MovieCredit: ©2011. All rights reserved. Space Junk 3D, LLC.Mixing 6.0 surround sound at Technicolor Toronto in the making of Space Junk 3D

Retired Head of NASA's Orbital Debris Don KesslerCredit: Space Junk 3D, LLCRetired head of NASA’s Orbital Debris, scientist Don Kessler beneath a starry night.

Recycling Station AnimationCredit: Space Junk 3D, LLCRecycling station animation as seen in the movie "Space Junk 3D."

US Space Surveillance Animation: Wide ShotCredit: Space Junk 3D, LLCUS space surveillance animation as seen in the movie "Space Junk 3D."

Rockets Launching IllustrationCredit: Space Junk 3D, LLCAn illustration suggests the many rocket launches that have caused space debris, from the movie "Space Junk 3D."