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myampgoesto11: Stargazing At The Elqui Domos Hotel In Chile |...

Mon, 20 May 2013 03:40:49 -0400

Stargazing At The Elqui Domos Hotel In Chile | Designed by RDM Arquitectura | Photos by James Florio

In the heart of the mythical Elqui Valley in Pisco, surrounded by the Andes Mountains, 500km north of Santiago in central Chile, lies a magical place that allows for star-spangled dreams beneath the clear pure sky. Combining stargazing and specialized astronomic tours with night-time horseback riding, meditation and even tarot readings, Elqui Domos is a hotel quite like no other.

It was completed in 2005 to fulfil its owners’ desire to observe and enjoy the grandeur of the one of the world’s most star-filled skies. It is one of only seven astronomic hotels around the world and the only one in the Southern Hemisphere, offering breathtaking views of the magic skies draped over the Elqui Valley (the valley is renowned for its sharp, clear skies, as it happens to sit under one of the clearest atmospheres in the world). The lack of rain and pleasant weather all year round set the perfect conditions for astronomic tourism, where guests can gather to enjoy a unique chance to liaise with the stars.

(via Yatzer)

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Tue, 14 May 2013 06:58:15 -0400

kickthegun: Walther PK380 by ~Spreewerke

Tue, 14 May 2013 06:49:28 -0400

kickthegun:

Walther PK380 by ~Spreewerke

ikenbot: Solar prominence in CaK light (Calcium II K) I...

Tue, 14 May 2013 06:39:26 -0400

ikenbot:

Solar prominence in CaK light (Calcium II K)

I present more awesome solarphotography and calcium filters from my friend Kokehtz / Álvaro for you to marvel at :)

Light from singly-ionized calcium ions in the Sun’s upper photosphere and chromosphere (up to 2000 km altitude). Because the blue Calcium K Line (393.3 nm) is sensitive to magnetic fields, magnetically active structures show up in high contrast against the surrounding chromosphere. Places where moderate magnetic fields exist show up bright whereas images of high magnetic fields are dark.

Image Copyright: Álvaro Ibáñez Pérez

In this CaK image, you typically see brightness along the edges of large convection cells called supergranules and in areas called plages. Dark sunspots are also visible.

Spots on the sun are areas of high magnetic field which appear dark to their surroundings (5,800K) due to their cooler temperature of around 3000-3500K. Spots consist of a dark central region (umbra) and are surrounded by an annular region of dark and bright filaments called the penumbra. Within a developing active region (sunspot group) tiny spots form initially without a developed penumbra and are called pores. These are usually relatively short lived or can develop a penumbra and become a fully developed spot.

The chromosphere is a place of high solar activity. In the course of a few minutes we can observe changes in the ejecta and prominences, in the path of the filaments, and as matter flows following very characteristic arches. Chromosphere is also visible in the light emitted by the ionized calcium, in the violet part of the solar spectrum in a wavelength of 393.4 nm. This light comes from calcium atoms that have lost an electron.

odditiesoflife: The Magical World of Living Light This is the...

Tue, 14 May 2013 06:34:49 -0400

odditiesoflife:

The Magical World of Living Light

This is the mysterious spectacle of bioluminescence. Its hard not to revel in the beauty of this remarkable natural phenomenon. These glowing creatures are primarily a product of the ocean. They are the primary source of light in the largest and darkest area of habitable land on Earth, the deep sea. On land, they are most commonly seen as glowing fungus on wood (foxfire) or in the few families of luminous insects (fireflies).

Pomengranate ring by Sergey Zhiboedov | Winged Lion

Tue, 14 May 2013 05:39:50 -0400

Pomengranate ring by Sergey Zhiboedov | Winged Lion

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Tue, 14 May 2013 05:32:17 -0400

vurtual: Tunnel cliff (by Stefan Mutch)

Mon, 13 May 2013 05:54:56 -0400

vurtual:

Tunnel cliff (by Stefan Mutch)

加山又造月 1983Kayama Matazo moon

Mon, 13 May 2013 03:52:49 -0400

加山又造月 1983
Kayama Matazo moon

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Mon, 13 May 2013 03:24:09 -0400

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Mon, 13 May 2013 03:23:53 -0400

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:13:29 -0400

sagansense: “Nature, deaf to our entreaties, will not alter or...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:11:05 -0400

sagansense:

“Nature, deaf to our entreaties, will not alter or change the course of her effects; and those things that we are here trying to investigate have not just occurred once and then vanished, but have always proceeded and will always proceed in the same style. This should be a great restraint upon us, and ought to render us very circumspect about pronouncing on such things. We cannot take care that no passion - either toward others or ourselves - bends us away from our aim of pure truth.”

Galileo Galilei (1611)

ikenbot: Big Dipper and Magic Telescope Stars of the...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:27:15 -0400

ikenbot:

Big Dipper and Magic Telescope

Stars of the constellation Ursa Major (the Big bear) form the familiar dipper-like asterism in the northern sky as photographed from the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the Canary island of La Palma.

The starry night sky is reflected from one of a pair of 17 meter diameter, multi-mirrored MAGIC telescopes. The MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov) telescope is intended to observe gamma rays indirectly by detecting brief flashes of optical light, called -Cherenkov light. — Babak Tafreshi

spaceplasma: NASA Probe Gets Close Views of Large Saturn...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:23:11 -0400

The spinning vortex of Saturn's north polar storm (false-color image)

False-color image of Saturn's north pole.

spaceplasma:

NASA Probe Gets Close Views of Large Saturn Hurricane

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn’s north pole.

In high-resolution pictures and video, scientists see the hurricane’s eye is about 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) wide, 20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth. Thin, bright clouds at the outer edge of the hurricane are traveling 330 mph(150 meters per second). The hurricane swirls inside a large, mysterious, six-sided weather pattern known as the hexagon.

“We did a double take when we saw this vortex because it looks so much like a hurricane on Earth,” said Andrew Ingersoll, a Cassini imaging team member at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. “But there it is at Saturn, on a much larger scale, and it is somehow getting by on the small amounts of water vapor in Saturn’s hydrogen atmosphere.”

Scientists will be studying the hurricane to gain insight into hurricanes on Earth, which feed off warm ocean water. Although there is no body of water close to these clouds high in Saturn’s atmosphere, learning how these Saturnian storms use water vapor could tell scientists more about how terrestrial hurricanes are generated and sustained.

Both a terrestrial hurricane and Saturn’s north polar vortex have a central eye with no clouds or very low clouds. Other similar features include high clouds forming an eye wall, other high clouds spiraling around the eye, and a counter-clockwise spin in the northern hemisphere.

A major difference between the hurricanes is that the one on Saturn is much bigger than its counterparts on Earth and spins surprisingly fast. At Saturn, the wind in the eye wall blows more than four times faster than hurricane-force winds on Earth. Unlike terrestrial hurricanes, which tend to move, the Saturnian hurricane is locked onto the planet’s north pole. On Earth, hurricanes tend to drift northward because of the forces acting on the fast swirls of wind as the planet rotates. The one on Saturn does not drift and is already as far north as it can be.

“The polar hurricane has nowhere else to go, and that’s likely why it’s stuck at the pole,” said Kunio Sayanagi, a Cassini imaging team associate at Hampton University in Hampton, Va.

Scientists believe the massive storm has been churning for years. When Cassini arrived in the Saturn system in 2004, Saturn’s north pole was dark because the planet was in the middle of its north polar winter. During that time, the Cassini spacecraft’s composite infrared spectrometer and visual and infrared mapping spectrometer detected a great vortex, but a visible-light view had to wait for the passing of the equinox in August 2009. Only then did sunlight begin flooding Saturn’s northern hemisphere. The view required a change in the angle of Cassini’s orbits around Saturn so the spacecraft could see the poles.

“Such a stunning and mesmerizing view of the hurricane-like storm at the north pole is only possible because Cassini is on a sportier course, with orbits tilted to loop the spacecraft above and below Saturn’s equatorial plane,” said Scott Edgington, Cassini deputy project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “You cannot see the polar regions very well from an equatorial orbit. Observing the planet from different vantage points reveals more about the cloud layers that cover the entirety of the planet.”

Cassini changes its orbital inclination for such an observing campaign only once every few years. Because the spacecraft uses flybys of Saturn’s moon Titan to change the angle of its orbit, the inclined trajectories require attentive oversight from navigators. The path requires careful planning years in advance and sticking very precisely to the planned itinerary to ensure enough propellant is available for the spacecraft to reach future planned orbits and encounters.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI

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Sun, 28 Apr 2013 04:41:11 -0400

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Sun, 28 Apr 2013 03:03:37 -0400

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:01:56 -0400

ikenbot: A Changing Fan: Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula The Universe...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 23:37:26 -0400

ikenbot:

A Changing Fan: Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula

The Universe is rarely static, although the timescales involved can be very long. Since modern astronomical observations began we have been observing the birthplaces of new stars and planets, searching for and studying the subtle changes that help us to figure out what is happening within.

The bright spot located at the edge of the bluish fan-shaped structure in this Hubble image is a young star called V* PV Cephei, or PV Cep. It is a favourite target for amateur astronomers because the fan-shaped nebulosity, known as GM 1-29 or Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula, changes over a timescale of months. The brightness of the star has also varied over time.

Images of PV Cep taken in 1952 showed a nebulous streak, similar to a comet’s tail. However, these had vanished when new images of the star were obtained some twenty-five years later. Instead, the blue fan-shaped nebula had appeared. Twenty-five years is a very short period on cosmic timescales, so astronomers think that the mysterious streak may have been a temporary phenomenon, such as the remnants of a massive stellar flare — similar to the solar flares we are used to seeing in the Solar System.

At the same time as this was happening, the star itself was brightening. This provided the light to illuminate the newly formed fan-shaped nebula. This brightening might be related to the start of the hydrogen-burning phase of the star, which would mean that it was reaching maturity.

n-a-s-a: SAC B8 Credit: Matthew T. Russell

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:39:36 -0400

n-a-s-a:

SAC B8

Credit: Matthew T. Russell

WELCOME

myampgoesto11: Stargazing At The Elqui Domos Hotel In Chile |...

Photo

kickthegun: Walther PK380 by ~Spreewerke

ikenbot: Solar prominence in CaK light (Calcium II K) I...

odditiesoflife: The Magical World of Living Light This is the...

Pomengranate ring by Sergey Zhiboedov | Winged Lion

Photo

vurtual: Tunnel cliff (by Stefan Mutch)

加山又造 月 1983Kayama Matazo moon

Photo

Photo

sagansense: “Nature, deaf to our entreaties, will not alter or...

ikenbot: Big Dipper and Magic Telescope Stars of the...

spaceplasma: NASA Probe Gets Close Views of Large Saturn...

NASA Probe Gets Close Views of Large Saturn Hurricane

Photo

Photo

ikenbot: A Changing Fan: Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula The Universe...

n-a-s-a: SAC B8 Credit: Matthew T. Russell

加山又造月 1983Kayama Matazo moon