Well, the crack didn’t really just appear in space; it’s an image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope from several years ago. It was notable at the time for looking like a snake slithering across the Milky Way, but the crack is actually a “core of a thick, sooty cloud large enough to swallow dozens of solar systems.”

But then last week an astronomy blog posted the image as its picture of the day, again finding it interesting for being a “ghost snake.” However, some Doctor Who fans saw the image and were reminded of something else: a crack (warning: spoilers!) in the fabric of time and space that’s been a focal point of the new season of the show.

Luckily the snake/crack/solar-system-swallowing cloud is 11,000 light years away, in the constellation Sagittarius. So we’re probably safe.

[Image Sources: NASA; TARDIS wiki (screencap)]