Starry night: brushstrokes of dust in the Milky Way

2015-01-30 - The flowing textures and vivid colours in this striking image call to mind Van Gogh's most famous painting. In spite of its impressionistic beauty, though, this is not an artist's illustration—it is actually a snapshot of shimmering dust in a small patch of the southern sky captured by the Planck Space Telescope. (Credit: ESA)