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aamukherjee A Slice of Entropie -
alchymista Alchymista -
crownedrose Fading Like A Dead Star -
expose-the-light Quarks to Quasars -
ikenbot CWL -
abluegirl A Blue Girl -
perscientiamlibertas A Matter of the Most Pleasant Fraternal Confidence
Summer is slowly coming to Saturn’s northern hemisphere. The north pole, which was in the midst of a 7-year-long winter when Cassini arrived in 2004, is now seen basking in the sunlight of mid-spring. Cassini is taking full advantage of the sunlight to capture these amazing views of the north polar hexagon and the myriad of storms, large and small, that comprise the weather systems in the polar region.
This view is centered on terrain at 75 degrees north latitude, 322 degrees west longitude. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Feb. 26, 2013 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers.
The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 383,000 miles (616,000 kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 48 degrees. Image scale is 21 miles (33 kilometers) per pixel.
ikenbot
Shot Through the Heart
Credit: ESO/Yuri Beletsky
Three of the four 8.2-m telescopes forming ESO’s VLT are seen dimly, with a laser beaming out from Yepun, Unit Telescope number 4. The laser points at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way, our galaxy. The bright object at center is Jupiter, while the other is Antares.
expose-the-light
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on April 24, 1990. Since then, it has provided us with some amazing images of stars, nebulae, galaxies and other objects. It is expected to function until 2014, when it will be replaced by the James Webb Telescope.
To celebrate the launch date of the HST, here are some Hubble facts, via space.com:
Hubble facts
The Hubble Space Telescope is a joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency. Here are some basic facts about the telescope and the mission, courtesy the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which operates Hubble for NASA:
Telescope size
- Length: 43.5 ft (13.2 m)
- Weight: 24,500 lb (11,110 kg)
- Maximum Diameter: 14 ft (4.2 m)
Mission facts
- Launch: April 24, 1990 from space shuttle Discovery (STS-31)
- Deployment: April 25, 1990
- Servicing Mission 1: December 1993
- Servicing Mission 2: February 1997
- Servicing Mission 3A: December 1999
- Servicing Mission 3B: February 2002
- Servicing Mission 4: May 2009
Spaceflight stats
- Orbit: Average altitude of 307 nautical miles (569 km, or 353 miles), inclined 28.5 degrees to the equator.
- Time to Complete one orbit: 97 minutes
- Speed: 17,500 mph (28,000 kph)
Data data
Hubble transmits about 120 gigabytes of science data every week. That would be roughly 3,600 feet (1,097 meters) of books on a shelf. The collection of pictures and data is stored on magneto-optical disks.
Power
- Energy Source: The Sun
- Mechanism: Two 25-foot solar panels
- Power usage: 2,800 watts
- Batteries: 6 nickel-hydrogen (NiH), with a storage capacity equal to 20 car batteries
Optics
- Primary Mirror Diameter: 94.5 in (2.4 m)
- Primary Mirror Weight: 1,825 lb (828 kg)
- Secondary Mirror Diameter: 12 in (0.3 m)
- Secondary Mirror Weight: 27.4 lb (12.3 kg)
abluegirlAn Incredibly Hostile Universe
Astronomer Steve Vogt describes his search for extrasolar and Earth-like planets at the Lick Observatory.
“The first habitable planet that we’ve found, Gliese 581G, is right dead-on inhabitable on orbit. It’s a place of refuge from the — the unbelievable harshness of the universe. A place where you could stand and not, you know, fly off into space, where there would be gases to breath, water that would pool in liquid form, maybe oceans. Whether there’s something living there or not, we don’t know.”
ucresearchDay in the Life of a Living Mars
An animation showing a day on a living Mars.
Generated using data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter aboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft and satellite imagery from the Blue Marble Next Generation project.
Sea level was set non-scientifically, but such that it would flood much of Valles Marineris as well as provide shoreline near the top of the cliffs on the outer edges of Olympus Mons. The clouds are straight from NASA’s Blue Marble NG project and height mapped (rather arbitrarily, but looks good) by relative opacity (The more opaque a point, the higher up in the atmosphere I put it).
The main texture was “painted” in GIMP over a two dimensional DEM I had done using MOLA elevation data from the Mars Global Surveyor. This was rendered using a digital elevation modeling program I am writing, jDem846, with some extras baked in through it’s scripting interface, and encoded to video with ffmpeg. — Kevin Gill
Multicolored Sun
Image courtesy SDO/NASA
The sun is more than meets the eye, and researchers should know. They’ve equipped telescopes on Earth and in space with instruments that view the sun in at least ten different wavelengths of light, some of which are represented in this collage compiled by NASA and released January 22. (See more pictures of the sun.)
By viewing the different wavelengths of light given off by the sun, researchers can monitor its surface and atmosphere, picking up on activity that can create space weather.
If directed towards Earth, that weather can disrupt satellite communications and electronics—and result in spectacular auroras. (Read an article on solar storms in National Geographic magazine.)
The surface of the sun contains material at about 10,000°F (5,700°C), which gives off yellow-green light. Atoms at 11 million°F (6.3 million°C) gives off ultraviolet light, which scientists use to observe solar flares in the sun’s corona. There are even instruments that image wavelengths of light highlighting the sun’s magnetic field lines.
NGC 1999
Image Credit: Z. Levay (STScI/AURA/NASA), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (NOAO/AURA/NSF)
This wide-field panorama of star formation was captured with the National Science Foundation’s Mayall 4-meter telescope on Kitt Peak. Located in the constellation of Orion (the Hunter), the image show a portion of one of Orion’s giant molecular clouds (known as “Orion A”) where new stars are forming.
![electricspacekoolaid:
Structure of Mauritania
Astronaut Chris Hadfield tweeted this photo, of the Richat Structure of Mauritania, from space. And he’s right when he tweeted it’s “[u]ndoubtedly one of the coolest space sights on Earth.”](http://25.media.tumblr.com/3033d4a65b9714a926604d897e34be50/tumblr_mgwgcc9oFW1qjgsy3o1_500.jpg)
Structure of Mauritania
Astronaut Chris Hadfield tweeted this photo, of the Richat Structure of Mauritania, from space. And he’s right when he tweeted it’s “[u]ndoubtedly one of the coolest space sights on Earth.”
Finding life in Europa’s Ocean.
Ahh, if only. Would be so cool if it were actually like this. We won’t know if we don’t go.
What Will First Photos of Black Holes Look Like?
“A giant black hole is thought to lurk at the center of the Milky Way, but it has never been directly seen. Now astronomers have predicted what the first pictures of this black hole will look like when taken with technology soon to be available.
In particular, researchers have found that pictures of a black hole ― or, more precisely, the boundaries around them ― will take a crescent form, rather than the blobby shape that is often predicted.
By modeling what these pictures will look like, scientists say they are preparing to interpret the photos that will become available from telescopes currently under construction.
No one has been able to image a black hole,” said University of California, Berkeley student Ayman Bin Kamruddin, who presented a poster on the research last week in Long Beach, Calif., at the 221st meeting of the American Astronomical Society. “So far it’s been impossible because they’re too small in the sky. Right now we’re just getting some details about the structure, but we don’t have an image yet.”
Black holes themselves are invisible, of course, as not even light can escape their gravitational clutches. However, the boundary of a black hole — the point of no return called the event horizon — should be visible from the radiation emitted by matter falling into the black hole. “
At an average distance of 2.8 billion miles from the sun, Neptune generates more heat itself than it absorbs from sun. That heat creates massive storms and winds going up to 900 miles an hour.
“Every Galaxy Has Counterparts in Other Universes” - David Deutsch
Legendary Oxford physicist David Deutsch is best known for his contributions to quantum physics, quantum computing, and a leading proponent of the multiverse (or “many worlds”) interpretation of quantum theory — the astounding idea that our universe is constantly spawning countless numbers of worlds.
In his book The Fabric of Reality, Deutsch laid the groundwork for an all-encompassing Theory of Everything by tying together four mutually supporting strands of reality: First: Hugh Everett’s many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics, “the first and most important of the four strands”; second: Karl Popper’s epistemology, especially its requiring a realist interpretation of scientific theories, and its emphasis on being falsifiable; third: Alan Turing’s theory of computation, replaced by Deutsch’s universal quantum computer; and fourth: Richard Dawkins’neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory and the modern evolutionary synthesis.
“The quantum theory of parallel universes is not the problem, it is the solution. It is not some troublesome, optional interpretation emerging from arcane theoretical considerations,” says David Deutsch. “It is the explanation, the only one that is tenable, of a remarkable and counter-intuitive reality. Everything in our universe — including you and me, every atom and every galaxy — has counterparts in these other universes.”
“Our best theories are not only truer than common sense, they make more sense than common sense,” Deutsch wrote about the most mind-bending aspects of particle physics, including the tendency of matter to exist in more than one place at a time.
In the TED Conference video filmed at Oxford University, Deutsch will force you to reconsider your place in the world, and about our species’ significance in the universe. Far from being simply “chemical scum,” quoting Stephen Hawking, we have the ability to gain knowledge, the importance of which, he says, is that we are always equipped to solve problems (including global warming). The brain contains the tools we need: knowledge, reason and creativity. It’s a thrilling, and much needed, profoundly optimistic argument.
Biggest Thing in Universe Found—Defies Scientific Theory
Quasar cluster is “challenge to our current understanding,” astronomer says
In the image: A quasar jets energy in an illustration. A newfound quasar cluster is the universe’s biggest known object.
