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johnzanussi:

The International Space Station and the Docked Space Shuttle Endeavour

This image of the International Space Station and the docked space shuttle Endeavour, flying at an altitude of approximately 220 miles, was taken by Expedition 27 crew member Paolo Nespoli from the Soyuz TMA-20 following its undocking on May 23, 2011 (USA time). It is the first-ever image of a space shuttle docked to the International Space Station. 

(via NASA)

Using the Space Shuttle for scale, this shot really gives you an idea of how large the ISS has become. Click through for the high-res version.

(via magicrob)

The recent pixel art post reminded me of something I did a while back.  I was listening to an astronomy podcast, and wanted a way to visualise the size/distance relationships in the solar system.  

This image shows the size of the Earth and Sun and the average distance between them, to scale for once.  (The Earth is the single blue pixel to the right.)  

It’s still hard to get it, if you ask me.