When we think of the natural world are first instinct is probably to imagine a lush forest or a verdant meadow. If we're thinking outside of the box we might imagine a frozen tundra or semi-arid savannah instead. But the Earth is only just one part of the natural world and a small part at that. That's right: for Earthy Thursday this week we take a look outside of Earth, at the many worlds of our universe beyond! Read about China's plans to visit the Moon, the geography of mars, and the New Horizons mission to Pluto in the distant reaches of our solar system. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

It's been more than forty years since American astronauts last visited the moon (Apollo 17 was in 1972) and there's little indication we're planning to revisit it any time soon. But could another country be headed there? Over at the Flight Club sub-blog of vehicle enthusiast website Jalopnik author Jason Torchinsky takes a look at how China, the most recent country to send humans into orbit, could shoot for the Moon.

What did Manhattan look like a century ago? How about two hundred years ago? Four hundred? Pagan website Gods & Radicals discusses the Welikia Project, an effort by the Wildlife Conservation Society to catalog ecology of New York before its colonization. Learn more about the project after the link.

What's it like to walk around on Mars? If you were imagining one big dead red desert you're not entirely wrong, but it's not the full picture either. Over at NASA we've got a look at the geography of Mars, which is a lot more varied than you might imagine.

Are vaccines harmful? The science overwhelmingly says no but that hasn't stopped high-profile celebrities like Jim Carrey from saying they are. Over at Slate Phil Plait examines Carrey's opposition and how the comedian got the facts so wrong.

Smaller than the Moon and colder than Antarctica, Pluto is something of the black sheep of the solar system; astronomers can't even agree on whether it should be a planet or not. But regardless of its classification, Pluto's a fascinating world to visit, as NASA's probe New Horizons has recently discovered. Over at The Guardian you can check out more information about what the long-distance probe has uncovered about the frozen world, located more than five light hours from the Earth.

Top image by primefac