Under the milky way tonight. Loops of wispy clouds rise like smoke rings against a background of stars—the products of a NASA rocket launch early Tuesday morning designed to study the upper-level jet stream.

Photos: NASA Rockets Make Weird Clouds Near Edge of Space | NatGeo

The Most Astounding Fact | Dr. Neil DeGrasse

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson shares the most astounding fact about the Universe to the soothing sounds of The Cinematic Orchestra.

This Thursday evening, look to the western skies as Jupiter and Venus—the two brightest planets to the unaided eye—stage a close encounter over the Northern Hemisphere. [natgeo]

January 31, 1961: A little fellow named Ham (for Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, his place of training) hitches a ride on the Mercury-Redstone 2 rocket to become the first chimp in outer space. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to follow Ham’s lead, did so just two and a half months later. [wired]

Solar-Storm-Fueled Auroras Make for Awesome Backyard Photography | Wired

EAGLE LIGHTS — “The central light ribbon in this image resembles the head and beak of a bird, flanked by a radiant wingspan. The photo was taken in Grøtfjord, close to Tromsø in northern Norway.”

Rare Pictures From the Dawn of NASA Spaceflight | National Geographic