Aug
Check out these incredible launch photos from photojournalist Dan Winters
To witness a space shuttle launch is something that very few of us are (were) able to witness first-hand. Nevertheless, it’s comforting to know that photographers like Dan Winters were there to capture the vast beauty and immensity of lift-off for the rest of us.
From Time:
Dan Winters, who grew up during the golden age—the Cronkite Age—of space reporting, is one of the photographers who has mastered the craft best. His pictures can practically singe your eyebrows and set you squinting with their brilliance, while at the same time capturing the black smoke and deep clouds that are often the counterpoint to the fires of liftoff.
These three photographs are just three of many that are included in the upcoming compilation, Last Launch, by Dan Winters.
Aug
A reminder of our relative insignificance on the cosmic stage
Our pale blue dot is microscopic in comparison.
Aug
What lightning looks like from space
Did you know that every 50 seconds there is a lightning strike somewhere in the world? In Focus have a nice collection of photographs capturing this frequently stunning phenomenon from several vantage points around the world, including the one above from Space.
As noted by In Focus,
An elusive “red sprite” flash, photographed by Expedition 31 astronauts aboard the International Space Station on April 30, 2012. The sprite (upper right) appears high above a lightning strike (bright spot in the clouds). Red sprites only last for a few milliseconds, sending pulses of electrical energy up toward the edge of space—the electrically charged layer known as the ionosphere—instead of down to Earth’s surface.
(via Twisted Sifter)
Aug
Blowing Up Asteroids, with Neil deGrasse Tyson
If there was ever an ongoing series that I wish existed, it would be this one.
Aug
Ganymede: The largest moon in our Solar System
From Wired:
What does the largest moon in the Solar System look like? Ganymede, larger than even Mercury and Pluto, has a surface speckled with bright young craters overlying a mixture of older, darker, more cratered terrain laced with grooves and ridges. Like Earth’s Moon, Ganymede keeps the same face towards its central planet, in this case Jupiter. In this historic and detailed image mosaic taken by the Galileo spacecraft that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, the colors of this planet-sized moon have been enhanced to increase surface contrasts. The violet shades extending from the top and bottom are likely due to frost particles in Ganymede’s polar regions. Possible future missions to Jupiter are being proposed that can search Europa and Ganymede for deep oceans that may harbor elements thought important for supporting life.
Aug
Space Driving: How far have we come?
Aug
Beat that, Olympics!
Aug
Aug
Incoming: Curiosity’s landing mechanism
Curiosity will attempt to land on Mars in a daring and unprecedented series of steps involving pyrotechnics, a parachute, and a skycrane to give the rover a soft landing.
Aug
Carl Sagan: The choral suite
What do you get when you combine Carl Sagan’s iconic voice, a choir, and spectacular space footage?
According to Brain Pickings: cosmic goosebumps. Agreed.
Thanks to Kenley Kristofferson for creating this awesomeness.
Aug
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
About Me
Hi there, I'm Jim: PhD student in the biological sciences, enthusiast, friendly neighbour, Australian.
