This quarter-inch diameter chip was photographed by British astronaut Tim Peake from inside the Cupola module of the International Space Station. Alarmingly, it’s actually in one of the windows.


Caused by a space debris impact, it’s not a big crack nor could it do any harm to the multi-layered station window—but it’s still not a nice thing to see when you’re in orbit. It was probably caused by “a paint flake or a small metal fragment no bigger than a few thousandths of a millimeter across,” according to the European Space Agency.

It’s amazing that a tiny speck of debris, one you cannot even notice on Earth, can do such damage at orbital speeds. This also indicates that the threat of space debris is something that cannot be ignored. The ESA emphasizes: