FAVORITE IMAGES OF THE WEEK - 9

Gerardo Aizpuru

Jewel Caterpillar

The Jewel Caterpillar--probably, though it hasn't been formally confirmed, an Acraga coa, belonging to a family of moths known as Alceridae--is sometimes known as a "slug caterpillar" due to gooeyness. This one was photographed near Cancun, Mexico. [via BoingBoing]

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Super Earth

This artist's concept of a so-called "super Earth" is a representation of a first-of-its-kind view that NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope caught this week. For the first time, we've seen direct light from a super Earth, "using its sensitive heat-seeking infrared vision." The planet is incredibly close to the star it orbits, and probably has a rocky core surrounded by both liquid and gaseous water. Read more here.

Wikimedia Commons

London Rooftop Missiles

We learned last week that, to protect the games or possibly just freak us the hell out, some London residents will play host to rooftop missiles during the Olympics. Here's what that missile will look like: a Starstreak High Velocity Missile. Read more here.

Tony LaCasse/New England Aquarium

Calico Lobster

This is a calico lobster. Caught off the coast of Maine, it was originally going to be eaten, because obviously, lobsters are delicious, that's what you do with them. But it's weird coloration (only 1 in 30 million are colored this way) led it to the New England Aquarium instead. Read more here.

Reuters/Darley Shen

DIY Double-Seater Sub

Zhang Wuyi, a farmer, created this double-seater sub--one of six. To see more photojournalism like this, head over to American Photo Mag.

USGS

Earth as Art

The U.S. Geological Survey occasionally exhibits some of the amazing satellite imagery taken of our planet--even though the satellite is for scientific purposes, sometimes it produces just stunningly beautiful images. Read more here.

BIG

Skyscraper

A Danish architecture firm called BIG have designed an apartment building, or group of buildings, or something, that is/are shaped like a hashtag. #Unlikely but #supercool. Read more here.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Black Hole Revs Up

This artist's concept of the galaxy Arp 220 is based on data picked up by the Hubble Space Telescope. It's meant to show how a black hole that's revving up in power can suppress a galaxy's ability to birth new stars. Read more here.

Wenceslao T. Medina, Andre ́s A. de la Llera, Juan L. Condori, and Jose ́ M. Aguilera

Cereal Science

In one of our favorite stories of the week, a team of scientists sought to answer a question that has plagued absolutely nobody for absolutely no time: why does cereal taste better with milk than with water? Included in the article (which had amazing quotes) were these precise/hilarious magnified shots of soggy breakfast cereal.