BBC Horizon is an educational program known for its stunning visuals and easy-to-understand presentation of complex topics. This week we find ourselves with another amazing episode on the topic of black holes, theoretical physics and the mathematics of the creation of the cosmos. If you’re in the UK you can watch for yourself by clicking through. Otherwise you can watch it on MegaVideo while it lasts. I really encourage you to take the time to watch this program.
The above picture is a screenshot depicting the rotation of the stars nearest to the galactic center.
The University of Arizona’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, catches a dust devil blowing across the Martian surface east of the Hellas impact basin and south of Reull Vallis. The diameter of this dust devil is about 200 meters, but at the surface it is probably much smaller. Based on the length of the shadow in this image, the dust devil is on the order of 500 meters tall. (Photo: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona via the Boston Globe)
I’ve been busy the past few days. I feel bad. Have some Symphony of Science: “We Are All Connected” (ft. Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Neil deGrasse Tyson & Bill Nye)
I’d like to make a correction about this Sunday’s meeting of the Tumblr Cosmic Coalition. I erroneously stated we’d be watching “The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean” when we will, in fact, be watching “One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue”. The episode deals with evolution and theoretical biology. That is, theories on the universality of evolution and speculation on the nature of life elsewhere. It’s a hot button issue, so make your voice heard! Check back Sunday for the chat room password. In the mean time, go pre-order the vinyl copy of “A Glorious Dawn”.
For some reason, someone decided to mess with the filters on a picture of the sun and inverted the colors to result in Blue Sun. Why? No idea. But it’s awesome.
The Orion Nebula, a diffuse nebula located near Orion’s belt. A diffuse nebula is an umbrella term for emission- and reflection-type nebulae. Emission nebulae emit light energy from atoms excited by nearby stars, whereas reflection nebulae reflect the light from nearby stars. Orion’s appearance is the result of both processes.
The North America Nebula, an emission nebula of unknown distance somewhere in the direction of the constellation Cygnus. Emission nebulae are clouds of gas which emit light because the particles are being ionized by a nearby star. Ionization occurs when an energy source excites the charged particles in an atom, causing the atom to release energy.
