Just Elizabeth.

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Sun, 19 May 2013 19:05:29 -0400

we-are-star-stuff: Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant...

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:09:19 -0400

Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion

If you were looking up at the Moon on March 17, 2013 at 03:50:55 UTC, you might have seen one of the brightest “lunar flashes” ever witnessed. And it would have been visible with just the naked eye.

“On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium,” says Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office. “It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we’ve ever seen before.”

The scientists estimate that the flash came from a 40 kg meteoroid measuring 0.3 to 0.4 meters wide hitting the Moon, likely traveling about 90,000 km/hr (56,000 mph.) The resulting explosion packed as much punch as 5 tons of TNT.

Lunar meteors hit the ground with so much kinetic energy that they don’t require an oxygen atmosphere to create a visible explosion. The flash of light comes not from combustion but rather from the thermal glow of molten rock and hot vapors at the impact site.

When researchers looked back at their records from March, they found that the moon meteor might not have been an isolated event.

“On the night of March 17, NASA and University of Western Ontario all-sky cameras picked up an unusual number of deep-penetrating meteors right here on Earth” said Cooke. “These fireballs were traveling along nearly identical orbits between Earth and the asteroid belt.”

Though Earth’s atmosphere protected our planet’s surface from being hit by these meteors, the moon has no such luck. Its lack of an atmosphere exposes it to all incoming space rocks, and the NASA monitoring program has spotted more than 300 meteor strikes that reached its surface since 2005.

Part of the motivation for the program is NASA’s eventual intent to send astronauts back to the moon. When they arrive, they’ll need to know how often meteors impact the surface, and whether certain parts of the year, coinciding with the moon’s passage through crowded bits of the solar system, pose special dangers.

“We’ll be keeping an eye out for signs of a repeat performance next year when the Earth-Moon system passes through the same region of space,” Cooke said. “Meanwhile, our analysis of the March 17th event continues.”

The scientists also hope to use NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to photograph the impact site to learn more about how the crash occurred.

we-are-star-stuff: Butterflies can’t see their wings. They...

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:08:51 -0400

we-are-star-stuff:

Butterflies can’t see their wings. They can’t see how truly beautiful they are, but everyone else can. People are like that as well.

Butterflies have excellent vision. Similar to birds, butterflies are able to see in the ultraviolet spectrum; unlike birds, butterflies have the broadest spectrum of color vision known to exist in the animal kingdom. A compound eye is located on each side of the butterflies’ head and is made up of many little eyes pressed together into one. The tiny individual eyes are called facets, and are made up of six sides. Thousands of facets make up the two compound eyes. Unlike human vision, where we see one image, butterflies see thousands of small images at a time. Underneath the facets is a crystal cone that extends inwardly and forms a transparent rod. When light enters this rod, it has already been reversed twice, making its’ rays parallel so that light enters the rod in a straight line. Compound eyes aid in seeing into the UV, detecting movement, and seeing varied colors. The side location of their eyes enables them to see in different directions at one time, useful in detecting predators. However, butterflies cannot see detail from a distance and can only recognize the fine patterns of other butterflies from a few feet away. This would mean they are capable of seeing their own wings.

So basically this is one of those supposedly profound quotes that tries to make a point while being based on really shitty information and thus falls apart. Surely they could have found an analogy that doesn’t fly in the face of basic scientific observation if they wanted to send the “you’re more beautiful than you think” message..

“butterflies cannot see detail from a distance and can only recognize the fine patterns of other butterflies from a few feet away” - so they can’t really see how beautiful they are then huh?

the-absolute-best-posts: instagram: The World’s Most Beautiful...

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:05:50 -0400

instagram.com/p/XB-NNzFrYL/#hausel12

instagram.com/p/YDLh4SvyzX/#sher_lock82

instagram.com/p/XpF49rCDpp/#ikeuri

instagram.com/p/UEUGONJIAY/#brunogac

instagram.com/p/VOyz71BRP1/#christinewk

instagram.com/p/W4tRy7vkSZ/#hello_steph

instagram.com/p/XBdyF8PRJM/#anhelo69

instagram.com/p/YGRvxQJiOn/#mrelastane

the-absolute-best-posts:

instagram:

The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries

“Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future.” -Ray Bradbury

For centuries, books have housed the collective knowledge of the world and formed the foundations of educational institutions. Given that these objects that contain such value, it only makes sense that throughout history people have constructed beautiful buildings to house them.

We put together a list of some of the most beautiful libraries as captured by Instagrammers around the world. For more photos from these architectural wonders, check out their linked location pages below.

Stuttgart City Library, Stuttgart, Germany

Trinity College Library, Dublin, Ireland

Library of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt

Real Gabinete Português de Leitura, Rio de Janiero, Brazil

The Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen, Denmark

George Peabody Library, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Kanazawa Umimirai Library, Kanazawa City, Japan

New York Public Library, New York City, NY

This post has been featured on a 1000notes.com blog.

skeptv: Neil deGrasse Tyson: How the Moon May Have Formed How...

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:01:47 -0400

skeptv:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: How the Moon May Have Formed

How was the Moon formed, and why doesn’t it have more iron or heavy metals? Neil deGrasse Tyson explains to Eugene Mirman how a collision with a Mars-sized object during the formation of the Earth may have led to the creation of the Moon. Enjoy this “Behind the Scenes video” from StarTalk Radio.

via Star Talk Radio.
newsletter: http://bit.ly/VppKWL
iTunes Podcasts - http://bit.ly/SOHDg6
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Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/startalk/

skeptv: Sick Science! - Exploding Bubbles The term “burst your...

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:01:29 -0400

skeptv:

Sick Science! - Exploding Bubbles

The term “burst your bubble” takes on a whole new meaning when our science guy, Steve Spangler, is invited to the play date. It’s probably safe to bet that these are no ordinary bubbles, but it’s also no ordinary problem that we’re facing with rising carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere.

via Spangler Science TV.

jtotheizzoe: We never sit here under the weight of all this...

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:00:59 -0400

jtotheizzoe:

We never sit here under the weight of all this air, the 5 x 10^18 kg of atmosphere that sits above everyone on Earth, and say “Gosh, that sure is heavy!”

You don’t realize just how powerful that 1 bar (~100 kPa) of pressure is until a train car is filled with steam, allowed to cool, and then implodes ohmygod did that just happen?

For more implosion goodness, check out this awesome video from Veritasium.

Photo

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:00:22 -0400

skeptv: How to book your first gig! Brian tells you all the...

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:59:20 -0400

skeptv:

How to book your first gig!

Brian tells you all the secrets of his success so you can steal all his awesome ideas.

via Scam School.
http://twitter.com/scamschool
http://twitter.com/shwood
http://facebook.com/shwood
http://google.com/+shwood

cleophatrajones: yannickbrouwer: This little company from...

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:58:45 -0400

cleophatrajones:

yannickbrouwer:

This little company from Kenya makes toys from slippers that wash up on the beach. Pictures by Ben Curtis

How glorious is this?! Upcycling at its finest…

smokeporch: Drama-Free

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:57:06 -0400

smokeporch:

Drama-Free

When residents first move in

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:52:35 -0400

itsanraslifeforme:

and they’re like…

kimberlytehcool: did-you-kno: Source Breathe. Relax. Life...

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:52:15 -0400

kimberlytehcool:

did-you-kno:

Source

Breathe. Relax. Life could be worse.

"You know the typical crowd, “Wow, it’s Friday night, what are you going to do? Just sit there?”..."

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:07:52 -0400

“You know the typical crowd, “Wow, it’s Friday night, what are you going to do? Just sit there?” Well, yeah. Because there’s nothing out there. It’s stupidity. Stupid people mingling with stupid people. Let them stupidify themselves.”

- Charles Bukowski (via galaxyclusters)

nikolawashere: NY under water. The eye-catching swimming pool...

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:35:04 -0400

nikolawashere:

NY under water.

The eye-catching swimming pool in Mumbai, India, has been built to raise awareness about the threat of sea level rises as a result of global warming.

It was constructed by attaching a giant aerial photograph of the New York City skyline to the floor of the pool.

When I put on my field clothes and realize I look like a man

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:27:35 -0400

whatisgeology:

On that note— I’m off to do some field work for a week, so updates will be on a brief hiatus.

There will be much geology to share upon my return!

Photo

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:22:23 -0400

forebidden: MOM? this will always be my favorite post this...

Wed, 15 May 2013 01:17:19 -0400

forebidden:

MOM?

this will always be my favorite post

this is me everywhere I go

When you finally leave the hall for the summer

Sat, 11 May 2013 18:21:12 -0400

itsanraslifeforme:

infinite-paradox: Learning …

Sat, 11 May 2013 05:24:56 -0400

infinite-paradox:

Learning …