Showing posts tagged space

smithsonianmag:

Never-Before-Seen Photos From the Early Days of Space Exploration

The Gemini astronauts also took some of the most memorable photos in NASA history. You’d think we would have seen them all by now. But with Nasa’s help and funding, a team of researchers at Arizona State University led by lunar scientist Mark Robinson has retrieved from the archives dozens of outtakes that never made it into wide circulation.

Photos: NASA

Ed note: Check out our friends at Air & Space for more stunning photos from the Gemini mission.

(Reblogged from npr)
futurejournalismproject: NASA Has a Data Problem, And a Contest to Solve It NASA has about 100 terabytes of information gathered from its various space missions. The data sits in various databases created over the years and is difficult to get to and manipulate. So its Tournament Lab is holding a contest make the data more accessible to both scientists and the public. Via the NASA Tournament Lab: [W]hile rich in depth and breath, the [Planetary Data System] databases have developed in a disparate fashion over the years with different architectures and formats for different scientific needs; thereby making acquisition of data problematic! So, NASA is holding a series of Challenges to generate some simply awesome ideas for mobile or web based applications that will appeal to general users, to search and display compelling facts about the data. Instead of just scientists, our audience will be the millions of school age students, their teachers and parents, game designers and general civilians of the world. We want to deliver this incredible data to users in a way that excites them – and thus, to help them understand the value and potential of this data. Contest prizes are up to $10,000 and you can learn about it here. If you want to jump right into the data, you can do so here. Image: Moscow at Night, captured March 28 by the International Space Station. Via NASA. View high resolution

futurejournalismproject:

NASA Has a Data Problem, And a Contest to Solve It

NASA has about 100 terabytes of information gathered from its various space missions. The data sits in various databases created over the years and is difficult to get to and manipulate.

So its Tournament Lab is holding a contest make the data more accessible to both scientists and the public.

Via the NASA Tournament Lab:

[W]hile rich in depth and breath, the [Planetary Data System] databases have developed in a disparate fashion over the years with different architectures and formats for different scientific needs; thereby making acquisition of data problematic!

So, NASA is holding a series of Challenges to generate some simply awesome ideas for mobile or web based applications that will appeal to general users, to search and display compelling facts about the data. Instead of just scientists, our audience will be the millions of school age students, their teachers and parents, game designers and general civilians of the world. We want to deliver this incredible data to users in a way that excites them – and thus, to help them understand the value and potential of this data.

Contest prizes are up to $10,000 and you can learn about it here. If you want to jump right into the data, you can do so here.

Image: Moscow at Night, captured March 28 by the International Space Station. Via NASA.

(Reblogged from futurejournalismproject)

crookedindifference:

Graphical timeline of the Universe

This more than twenty billion years timeline of our universe shows the best estimates of the occurrence of events since its beginning, up until anticipated events in the near future. Zero of the scale is the present day. A large step on the scale is one billion years, a small step one hundred million years. The past time have a minus sign, e.g. the oldest rock on Earth was formed about four billion years ago and this is marked at -4e+09 years. The “Big Bang” event happened 13.7 billion years ago.

(Reblogged from spytap)

the-star-stuff:

Rock Star Cosmic Pioneers By MeganLee

These awesome prints are available at her shop, meganlee.etsy.com. Check out her blog too, Megan Lee.

(Reblogged from the-star-stuff)
“
Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar”, every “supreme leader”, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.
Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot (via itsfullofstars)
(Reblogged from crookedindifference)
kqedscience: The International Space Station’s humanoid robot helper, Robonaut 2, reaches out to touch a gloved astronaut hand in a photo that pays tribute to Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling painting. CREDIT: NASA  View high resolution

kqedscience:

The International Space Station’s humanoid robot helper, Robonaut 2, reaches out to touch a gloved astronaut hand in a photo that pays tribute to Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling painting.


CREDIT: NASA 

(Reblogged from npr)
the-star-stuff: Flag Designs for Earth & The Solar System in 2020 and Beyond Redittor thefrek has designed a kick-ass series of flags for the Solar System and its planets. But flags, as we all know, change over time. So he’s also created possible revisions for those flags reaching as far as 800 years into the future. Here you’ll find thefrek’s concept designs for “Earth/Solar flags throughout the future,” but we highly recommend checking out the banners he envisioned for each individual planet, and especially this batch of future-flags from a Martian Revolution, when the Red Planet “declares itself to be the dominant force in the Solar System, and claims all other planets as part of its empire.” Earth’s flag 2020: Humanity is only present on Earth and the Moon. 2044: Humans have settlements on Earth, the Moon, Mars and its moons, and Ceres. 2087:Two more objects in the Asteroid Belt have been colonized as well as Europa and Venus. 2204: Humans have settled on every large body in the Solar System. Terraforming is well underway on most planets, and interstellar voyages are beginning. 2355: Another star system is incorporated into the Solar Federation. 2412: Another system has been conquered. 2484: The Solar Federation now has too many systems to show them on the flag - Each circle represents one star system, with the Solar System in the centre. 2514: Yet more systems are being settled. 2544: Expansion is occurring at a breakneck pace. 2639: Several different alien races now exist within the Solar Federation, co-existing peacefully with humanity. 2812: 800 years into the future, the Solar Federation is the leading force in the galaxy, with all denizens of our galaxy being given equal representation. Humanity has taken the responsibility to ensure peace and prosperity everywhere in the Milky Way. Check out more examples of thefrek’s futuristic flag work over on reddit. View high resolution

the-star-stuff:

Flag Designs for Earth & The Solar System in 2020 and Beyond

Redittor thefrek has designed a kick-ass series of flags for the Solar System and its planets. But flags, as we all know, change over time. So he’s also created possible revisions for those flags reaching as far as 800 years into the future.

Here you’ll find thefrek’s concept designs for “Earth/Solar flags throughout the future,” but we highly recommend checking out the banners he envisioned for each individual planet, and especially this batch of future-flags from a Martian Revolution, when the Red Planet “declares itself to be the dominant force in the Solar System, and claims all other planets as part of its empire.”

Earth’s flag

2020: Humanity is only present on Earth and the Moon.

2044: Humans have settlements on Earth, the Moon, Mars and its moons, and Ceres.

2087:Two more objects in the Asteroid Belt have been colonized as well as Europa and Venus.

2204: Humans have settled on every large body in the Solar System. Terraforming is well underway on most planets, and interstellar voyages are beginning.

2355: Another star system is incorporated into the Solar Federation.

2412: Another system has been conquered.

2484: The Solar Federation now has too many systems to show them on the flag - Each circle represents one star system, with the Solar System in the centre.

2514: Yet more systems are being settled.

2544: Expansion is occurring at a breakneck pace.

2639: Several different alien races now exist within the Solar Federation, co-existing peacefully with humanity.

2812: 800 years into the future, the Solar Federation is the leading force in the galaxy, with all denizens of our galaxy being given equal representation. Humanity has taken the responsibility to ensure peace and prosperity everywhere in the Milky Way.

Check out more examples of thefrek’s futuristic flag work over on reddit.

(Reblogged from bradleywarshauer)
npr: Dark Matter, Dark Energy And The Shadow Universe Many folks have heard of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Most folks, however, can’t tell you anything about them. They’re dark. They’re lurking out there. That’s about it. They’re too important to leave it at that. So, let’s look at the “whys” and “wherefores” of the Dark Duo. With today’s post, I’m going to begin this exploration with a simple fact and its cosmic (literally) interpretation. Let’s start with a very important distinction. Dark Matter and Dark Energy have nothing (as far as we know) to do with each other. The only thing they have in common is that evocative adjective “dark,” which, for astrophysicists, simply means we can see an effect but we can’t see the cause. -Adam Frank

npr:

Dark Matter, Dark Energy And The Shadow Universe

Many folks have heard of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Most folks, however, can’t tell you anything about them. They’re dark. They’re lurking out there. That’s about it.

They’re too important to leave it at that. So, let’s look at the “whys” and “wherefores” of the Dark Duo. With today’s post, I’m going to begin this exploration with a simple fact and its cosmic (literally) interpretation.

Let’s start with a very important distinction. Dark Matter and Dark Energy have nothing (as far as we know) to do with each other. The only thing they have in common is that evocative adjective “dark,” which, for astrophysicists, simply means we can see an effect but we can’t see the cause. -Adam Frank

(Reblogged from npr)

kqedscience:

I Spy With My Satellite Eye: Freezing seas, flooding lakes and a dramatic photo of London from space were among the images captured by European Space Agency and Nasa satellites last month

(Reblogged from npr)

A Tiny Apartment Transforms Into 24 Rooms