"I want to be alone, and I want people to notice me — both at the same time." Thom Yorke
Posts tagged space.
The Known Universe/The Amazing Journey
The American Museum of Natural History takes you on a trip from the here and the now, to a time and place beyond the distant edge of the universe, a view existing only in the eye of the mind of a single species on a speck of illuminated dust playing the role of anchor in this cosmic journey of scale.
This is a four-dimensional experience, and your soundtrack is Hans Zimmer, remixed. This journey through time and space is best experienced in full-screen 1080p and with those headphones cranked.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be in the corner with my happy science tears.
(fantastic work by stormeindustries)
The ceaselessly talented Debbie Millman remembers pioneering astronaut Sally Ride, who passed away earlier this year, in this beautiful visual essay for The New York Times. The artwork is made of felt letters painstakingly hand-stitched on felt fabric.
Cosmic Sans
A collaboration between 26 designers to create 26 space and sci-fi themed letters for Constellation & Co. (Etsy). Out of this world.
A Star Makes Waves
I don’t usually post completely random starporn, because I like to explain things, but this stunning image has such a cool story … so I will give in. Behold a stellar wind cutting through cosmic dust like a ship’s bow through the waves!
The bright star at the center, Zeta Ophluchi, is hurtling through space to the image’s left at 24 kilometers per second. Its stellar wind, the result of charged particles being released from the active star’s surface (just like our Sun does), pushes that wind like an energized battering ram, slamming into the dusty clouds in its way and creating beautiful ripples visible in the infrared range of light, here falsely colored red and green.
Or, to put it another way: WOW.
(more details at NASA’s website)
Earth as Art – fantastic new free 160-page ebook and iPad app of satellite and aerial photography from NASA.
A map of the universe by René Descartes from Principia philosophiae, 1644, one of many fascinating depictions in this visual history of mapping the cosmos
After Symphony of Science, John Boswell is back with the story of the world in one minute – another wonderful music mashup.
Check out My Galaxies, a fun little website from the Galaxy Zoo folks that lets you write a message in the stars.
You know … literally. It’s a galaxy font!
Together, we can stitch the stars together into a blanket, lay upon it, and sleep among the heavens.
You. Will. Not. Believe … how good the rest of Thomas Allen’s cut paper art is. Check it all out. Stunned with wonder. Stunder.
(via Colossal)
An Interactive Simulation to Count Alien Worlds
Enrico Fermi famously asked, in his paradoxical analysis of the likely existence of extraterrestrial life, “Where is everybody?” If there are a certain (large) number of planets in the universe that are habitable, then a subset of these (also a large number) should be inhabited. Any civilization that formed, given enough time, could develop the means for interstellar communication or travel.
So yeah, “Where is everybody?”
Years later, Frank Drake developed a precise equation to calculate the likely number of inhabitable worlds within range of observation or communication from Earth. Well, it’s as precise as you define it, anyway, given that the variables that go in are just that - variable. Things like how long it would take a civilization to develop communication, how long said civilization would last, how many stars and planets are estimated to exist … just the basics.
It’s called the Drake Equation, and thanks to the stupendous folks over at BBC Future, you can go tweak the equation with an interactive tool! Click here to start defining your galaxial parameters and see how many civilizations you think should exist.
I’m getting some pretty big numbers . . !
(via BBC, tip o’ the SETI dish to Russ Creech)
Congress’s Science Committee Doesn’t Get Science
I’m not in the business of injecting unnecessary political controversy into the science world, but let this serve as a reminder that entrusting the future of science to people with no understanding of science can lead us nowhere but backwards.
It’s in your hands. Envision a future full of wonder, created by science, and then demand that it comes to pass.
Are we curious humans or fearful ostriches?
Martian Sol 2: Curiosity Panorama
One of the newly-released panoramic images from the Mars Curiosity rover was stitched together into an interactive version by Andrew Bodrov. Check out the interactive version here, and go hang out in Gale Crater for a while. Full screen is quite a pleasing experience.
You guys check out OMG Cats In Space yet? Better than Cat Scientists of the 1960’s? Maybe not. But close.
Meteorite Hunter Discovers New Mineral Older Than Earth!
Geologist Chi Ma has discovered nine new minerals within a meteorite that fell to Earth in 1969. Most people would count that as a pretty big check in the “win” column. But that wasn’t enough. Turns out that one of them, panguite, is older than Earth itself!
The mineral, whose chemical formula is (Ti4+,Sc,Al,Mg,Zr,Ca)1.8O3, formed in the early days of our solar system. It contains common elements like oxygen, but zirconium? That’s a weird one. The name is in reference to the Chinese mythological giant Pangu, who split yin and yang with a huge axe to create Earth.
Remember that California meteorite from a couple months ago? I wonder what they’ll find in that one?
Previously: In the early days of Earth, these space missiles were a regular occurrence, and bombardments of meteors from the early Solar System made our Moon look like it does today.
(via Wired Science)
