We went back and forth on whether this would be relevant to your interests, but it’s about the universe and the Earth is in the universe, right? I think that’s a non-controversial scientific statement even Rick Santorum would agree with. (Maybe. Does Rick Santorum believe in the galaxy?) Anyway, astronomers have found the exact color the Milky Way galaxy would appear if you were standing outside it, and it turns out it is a color that can only be expressed in poetry.

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“The best description I can give would be that if you looked at new spring snow, which has a fine grain size, about an hour after dawn or an hour before sunset, you’d see the same spectrum of light that an alien astronomer in another galaxy would see looking at the Milky Way,” Prof Newman told BBC News.

It’s the color of new spring snow! New spring snow an hour after dawn. Guys, I think I liked this scientific discovery better when it was Jewel lyrics.

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No, actually, I am completely delighted with this and very much looking forward to what I assume will be a protracted scientific dispute over whether the color is more like new spring snow an hour after dawn or new spring snow an hour before sunset. Further research will uncover evidence that it’s actually the color of a wedding dress viewed through a haze of whiskey and regret, which will then be retracted in favor of new data showing that a miscalculation was made and it’s the color of hope.