Outer space

thumb|upright=1.4|Being essentially empty, outer space allows the earliest (redder) galaxies to be viewed without obstruction, as in the [[Webb's First Deep Field image.]]

Outer space, or simply space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth's atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Interplanetary space extends out to the heliopause at 110 to 160 AU, well beyond the orbit of the outermost planet Neptune. The culture of the exterrestrial is the subject of cultural astronomy, with its related fields of archaeoastronomy, history of astrology, ethnoastronomy and history of astronomy. The presence of humans in space has been studied by astrosociology and space archaeology.

The speculation about the possibility of spaceflight and the advent of the space age, has been intertwined with the thought of utopianism and colonialism, informing space exploration and the ideas about extraterrestrial life, the other having been understood as "extraterrestrially" alien or otherworldly, not merely extraterritorial or peripherial, creating a condition of extraterrestrialness. One of the first associations of colonialism with outer space is documented from 1638, when John Wilkins suggested in A Discourse Concerning a New Planet that future adventurers like Francis Drake and Christopher Columbus might reach the Moon, and people to live there.

Spaceflight in return has impacted the perception of the world, particularly through Earth observation. This has given rise to the overview effect, and Moon joy when leaving Earth. It has been acknowledged that the environmental movement has been particularly inspired by Earth observation and images like the Blue Marble.

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