• What Would It Be Like To Travel Into A Black Hole?

    Updated: 2012-03-31 22:24:49
    Home Blog Articles Videos About Contact What Would It Be Like to Travel Into a Black Hole Download this video mov 1280x720 472.34MB Black holes are among the simplest objects in the universe . They are simpler than stars , much simpler than planets , and vastly simpler than human beings . Black holes are what is created when matter is compressed into a very small place . They are General Relativity's most extreme prediction . They are commonly created from the violent deaths of stars many times the size of our sun , usually forming from the collapsed core of a supergiant star after it explodes . At the heart of a black hole is a singularity . An infinitesimal point in space where the pull of gravity is infinitely strong and spacetime infinitely curved . At the singularity , space and time

  • Mars' mystery cloud explained

    Updated: 2012-03-31 00:11:33
    A week ago, amateur astronomers were marveling over a curious cloud that they spotted on the Mars — and now the professionals are focusing in on an explanation. The cloud was intriguing because it was most noticeable along the very edge of the Martian disk, and seemed to p hellip;

  • Desktop Project Part 5: The mighty, mighty Dragonfish

    Updated: 2012-03-30 14:00:58
    : , Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Hear the Sun’s roar Rosetta : mission to land on a comet Desktop Project Part 5 : The mighty , mighty Dragonfish Over the past few weeks , I've collected a metric ton of cool pictures to post , but somehow have never gotten around to actually posting them . Sometimes I was too busy , sometimes too lazy , sometimes they just fell by the wayside . but I decided my computer's desktop was getting cluttered , and I'll never clean it up without some sort of incentive . I've therefore made a pact with myself to post one of the pictures with an abbreviated description every day

  • Hear the Sun’s roar

    Updated: 2012-03-29 18:00:53
    Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Desktop Project Part 4 : Underwater volcano in teal Desktop Project Part 5 : The mighty , mighty Dragonfish Hear the Sun’s roar I love it when people take electromagnetic phenomena like aurorae and convert them to sounds . Light and sound are very similar from a physics standpoint both are waves , though very different kinds of waves . Still , if you take the wavelength color and amplitude intensity of light , you can convert them mathematically to pitch and volume of sound . It’s not telling you anything physical or real , but it might give you insight into some phenomena or

  • A billion stars

    Updated: 2012-03-29 10:06:40
    Funny old day yesterday at NAM2012. I gave an emergency talk (filling in for a cancellation), picked up my share of the RAS Group Award for UKIDSS, sloped off to the pub with co-conspirators Nige Hambly, Mike Irwin, and Steve Warren, and then went to the RAS Dining Club for only the second time ever, [...]

  • Cassini’s Latest: Flight by Three Moons

    Updated: 2012-03-29 05:45:22
    More news from ‘THE’ ringed planet. –Ben Cassini’s Latest: Flight by Three Moons March 28, 2011 Dear Friends and Colleagues, Yesterday and early this morning, Cassini completed, in rapid succession, flybys of three Saturnian moons: a very close encounter with Enceladus, and reasonably close flybys of one of the co-orbital moons, Janus, and its medium-sized [...]

  • Desktop Project Part 3: The massive massiveness of M54

    Updated: 2012-03-28 14:00:09
    : Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Rekindled flame January’s aurorae from way far north Desktop Project Part 3 : The massive massiveness of M54 Over the past few weeks , I've collected a metric ton of cool pictures to post , but somehow have never gotten around to actually posting them . Sometimes I was too busy , sometimes too lazy , sometimes they just fell by the wayside . but I decided my computer's desktop was getting cluttered , and I'll never clean it up without some sort of incentive . I've therefore made a pact with myself to post one of the pictures with an abbreviated description every day until

  • Rekindled flame

    Updated: 2012-03-27 21:33:35
    Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Flushing out an equatorial fraud Desktop Project Part 3 : The massive massiveness of M54 Rekindled flame Brad Goldpaint is a professional photographer who takes devastating photos of the sky like the amazing one of the Milky Way over the Venus Jupiter conjunction and he specializes in putting amazing foreground objects in his shots . I saw this particular picture on his Google+ page and asked him if I could post it here . He said : yes This photo , Rekindled Flame was shot on May 3, 2011 at Balanced Rock in Arches National Park . I asked Brad about the glow on the horizon , and

  • NASA launches five rockets in five minutes!

    Updated: 2012-03-27 15:53:42
    Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Desktop Project Part 2 : Unicorn , rainbow soot Flushing out an equatorial fraud NASA launches five rockets in five minutes Last night , off the coast of Virginia , NASA launched five small rockets in in five minutes to test the winds of the upper atmosphere . The rockets flew up to a height of about 100 km 60 miles and released a chemical that was blown by those winds , forming an amazing , milky , ghostly : scene The mission was called ATREX , for Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment The winds at this height above the Earth’s surface aren’t terribly well understood . This is

  • Two glittering planets meet the Earthshine lit Moon

    Updated: 2012-03-26 20:50:55
    Venus, Jupiter & the crescent Moon. (Click for full-size version) Credit: Will Gater Jupiter, Venus and the crescent Moon are putting on a wonderful show in the west after sunset at the moment. The picture above shows the view last night with Jupiter and the Moon separated by roughly 3 degrees. A close-up of the [...]

  • The Red Planet, the Barred Spiral, and the Supernova

    Updated: 2012-03-26 20:30:19
    , , Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Go look at Mars Desktop Project Part 2 : Unicorn , rainbow soot The Red Planet , the Barred Spiral , and the Supernova Speaking of Mars I got a note from amateur astronomer Bill Longo recently . On March 19, he went out in the early evening to try to get a picture of a satellite that happened to be passing near Mars in the sky . He took the image below The satellite isn’t in this shot , but he did get more than he bargained for : he saw Mars , the galaxy M95, and the new supernova Click to supernovenate . That’s a happy coincidence . He didn’t even know the supernova had

  • Runaway Planets

    Updated: 2012-03-26 18:29:12
      There are runaway suns so it just makes sense there would also be runaway planets.  “Makes sense” is only relative, first you have to wrap your head around how something as large as a planet let alone a sun … Continue reading →

  • Go look at Mars!

    Updated: 2012-03-26 18:00:27
    Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Desktop Project Part 1 : A weird Moon crater The Red Planet , the Barred Spiral , and the Supernova Go look at Mars These past few days the Moon , Venus , and Jupiter have been showboating in the west right after sunset . They’re so bright they’re mesmerizing , but you’re missing something if you literally don’t turn around . Sitting in the belly of Leo the Lion is the next planet out from the Sun : Mars . Click to enaresenate , and also see a way cool animation of Mars rotating . That’s the view seen by frequent BABlog contributor Emil Kraaikamp , who takes pretty amazing

  • The Amaz!ng Meeting 10: July 12-15, 2012

    Updated: 2012-03-25 21:42:07
    : Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS 2012 International Earth and Sky Photo Contest Desktop Project Part 1 : A weird Moon crater The Amaz ng Meeting 10 : July 12-15, 2012 The tenth annual Woodstock of skepticism , The Amaz ng Meeting was just announced for 2012 It’ll be July 12-15 at the Southpoint Hotel in Las Vegas , . Nevada The guest list as always , is impressive , featuring a lot of familiar faces and a few I don’t know that well . But that’s the point have some people who are old hands at this , and then bring in new blood to mix it up as well . I’m really glad to see the list changing up every year , so

  • The Stars from the ISS

    Updated: 2012-03-25 18:13:41
    A look at the stars as they appear to the ISS. Hat tip to Don.  Thanks Don! Source  

  • 2012 International Earth and Sky Photo Contest

    Updated: 2012-03-25 14:00:36
    Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Celestial PhotoOp : The Moon slides in between Jupiter and Venus The Amaz ng Meeting 10 : July 12-15, 2012 2012 International Earth and Sky Photo Contest Fancy yourself a photographer Then you might want to enter the 2012 International Earth and Sky Photo Contest which is being held to promote the importance of dark skies . It’s being organized by three groups of which I highly approve The World at Night Global Astronomy Month part of Astronomers Without Borders and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory As they say on the site , the idea : is Submitted photographs must be

  • Celestial PhotoOp: The Moon slides in between Jupiter and Venus

    Updated: 2012-03-24 22:10:39
    : Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS The cloudy impact of Sikhote Alin 2012 International Earth and Sky Photo Contest Celestial PhotoOp : The Moon slides in between Jupiter and Venus Over the next couple of nights , especially Sunday and Monday March 25 and 26 a very thin crescent Moon will move in between the incredibly bright beacons of Venus and Jupiter in the west right after . sunset Here’s a map of what it’ll look like on March 25 around 9:00 p.m . local : time The green line along the bottom is the horizon . Jupiter will be about 15° above the horizon at that time though the exact orientation will depend

  • The cloudy impact of Sikhote Alin

    Updated: 2012-03-24 13:00:56
    Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS The Sun decided to blow off a little steam today . . Twice Celestial PhotoOp : The Moon slides in between Jupiter and Venus The cloudy impact of Sikhote Alin As soon as I read the caption of this lovely , if frigid , picture I knew I was going to like it : it’s an Envisat image of clouds forming east of the Russian Sikhote Alin : mountains Sure , it’s pretty and all , but what’s so special about it In 1947, a rain of iron fell on this mountain range . A metallic asteroid the size of a school bus came in from space and exploded over Russia , showering the area with iron

  • The Sun decided to blow off a little steam today. Twice.

    Updated: 2012-03-23 22:20:01
    . . Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS More M95 supernova news : progenitor found The cloudy impact of Sikhote Alin The Sun decided to blow off a little steam today . . Twice Today , the Sun had two relatively minor but quite cool-looking events . One was a prominence eruption where a loop of ionized gas is lifted from the Sun’s surface and is ejected into space , and the other an M1 class flare on the Sun’s edge . Neither will affect us here on Earth , but are interesting to . watch Camilla Corona SDO the Solar Dynamics Observatory’s unofficial official mascot posted a nice video of the two eruptions The

  • More M95 supernova news: progenitor found!

    Updated: 2012-03-23 16:41:59
    : Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS An ultradeep image that’s full of galaxies The Sun decided to blow off a little steam today . . Twice More M95 supernova news : progenitor found This is very exciting : the star that blew up to form Supernova 2012aw may have been seen in an older Hubble image First , here’s a lovely shot of the galaxy and : supernova Click to galactinate . This is not from Hubble It’s from Adam Block , a frequent contributor of stunning pictures to this blog , who took it using the 0.8 meter 32 Schulman Telescope at Mt . Lemmon on March 20. The supernova is the bright bluish star sitting on a

  • Leda 074886 – A Rectangular Galaxy?

    Updated: 2012-03-22 18:49:04
      This is different: a rectangular galaxy. Galaxies usually fall within certain types, a rectangular is not one of them. Alright, so this is a rectangular “looking”, close enough for me.  The strange galaxy was found while the researchers were … Continue reading →

  • Astronomer, moi ?

    Updated: 2012-03-16 00:53:40
    There is a rather fun new website called I, Astronomer, run by Prasanth, who also has a geeky blog. The idea is that astronomers answer a standard questionnaire about how they work and which software they use etc. I got invited to join in, and so indeed here I am. I think I just doubled [...]

  • Listening to Solar Storms

    Updated: 2012-03-15 17:10:43
    Interesting data sonification. –Ben ========================== This sonification of the recent solar storm activity turns data from two spacecraft into sound. It uses measurements from the NASA SOHO spacecraft and the University of Michigan’s Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) on NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft at Mercury. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-saaAyaW0c

  • Virtual Sky 0.3.8

    Updated: 2012-03-10 01:45:00
    Astronomy Blog You are : in Astronomy Blog archive Virtual Sky 0.3.8 An astronomy blog usually but not always based in the UK . Pondering questions such as What is in an exoplanet name Virtual Sky 0.3.8 I wanted to share a quick update on Virtual Sky I created it as part of my work at LCOGT where it was , initially , an experiment in using some of the latest web techniques . However it became clear that , as well as being useful for parts of the LCOGT website , it could allow others to embed a view of the night sky in their webpages too . I like it when I can make things that are . useful This week I released a couple of updates to Virtual Sky . The updates should have solved some issues with older versions of Internet Explorer 7 8 fixed issues if the part of a page containing Virtual Sky

  • Hubble Reveals a New Class of Extrasolar Planet

    Updated: 2012-02-22 20:29:32
    Now that’s hot and steamy… –Ben ======================== NASA’s Hubble Reveals a New Class of Extrasolar Planet Observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have come up with a new class of planet, a waterworld enshrouded by a thick, steamy atmosphere. It’s smaller than Uranus but larger than Earth. Zachory Berta of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics [...]

  • WFIRST Cold Wave

    Updated: 2012-02-15 06:53:34
    Saluton Mondo. Awfully sorry about the gap in service. Busy and all that. Anyway. So here I am in Sunny Pasadena. Last time I was here it was, like, a hundred degrees or something. This time its overcast and cold ! The locals are apologising and wearing double jumpers. But it seems appropriate because I [...]

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