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Cassini Flyby Shows Enceladus Venting

carella211 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:15:43 MST

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Cassini Flyby Shows Enceladus Venting - enceladus12_cassini.jpg

Cassini Flyby Shows Enceladus Venting Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI; Mosaic: Emily Lakdawalla Explanation: What's happening on the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus? Enormous ice jets are erupting. Giant plumes of ice have been photographed in dramatic fashion by the robotic Cassini spacecraft during this past weekend's flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus. Pictured above, numerous plumes are seen rising from long tiger-stripe canyons across Enceladus' craggy surface. Several ice jets are even visible in the shadowed region of crescent Enceladus as they reach high enough to scatter sunlight. Other plumes, near the top of the above image, appear visible just over the moon's sunlit edge. That Enceladus vents fountains of ice was first discovered on Cassini images in 2005, and has been under close study ever since. Continued study of the ice plumes may yield further clues as to whether underground oceans, candidates for containing life, exist on this distant ice world.

Nembrotha kubaryana

carella211 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:13:42 MST

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Nembrotha kubaryana - nembrotha-kubaryana-615.jpg

Nudibranch. Latin for nudis (naked). Greek for brankhia (gills). The name is accurate because they breathe with organs on their backs that act as external gills. Essentially, they are aquatic snails without a shell. They are poisonous, armed with stinging cells and toxic secretions. Most announce their poisonous capabilities with their strong colors. Some make their own poison, but some take them from the animals they eat. Yeah, they are carnivores. So, they slime across the ocean floor to find food; if they eat a poisonous sponge, they store the poison and excrete it from their skin. They'll even eat other nudibranchs. These bad boys/girls cannibals are found at all depths of the ocean. I say boys/girl because nudibranchs are hermaphroditic, so they have male and female reproductive organs. (They rarely impregnate themselves.) They vary in size from 1 to 24 inches (2 to 60cm) in length. There are over 3,000 species of these guys/girls.

see-through fish

carella211 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:58:15 MST

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see-through fish - translucent-leaf-scorpionfish-newbe.jpg

Lacking any other defense, many larval fish have adapted transparency as a method of camouflage—such as this tiny, see-through larval leaf scorpionfish in Hawaii. Photograph by Chris Newbert/Minden Pictures

Ares 1-X Rocket Lifts Off

carella211 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:11:18 MST

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Ares 1-X Rocket Lifts Off - ares1_duncan.jpg

Ares 1-X Rocket Lifts Off Credit & Copyright: Rory A. Duncan (United Space Alliance) Explanation: Last week, NASA test fired a new rocket. The Ares 1-X was the first non-shuttle rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center since the Saturn launched humans to Earth orbit and the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s. NASA is testing Ares as a prelude to replacing the aging space shuttle fleet. The tremendous thrust of the Ares 1-X can bring the massive rocket from a standing start to a vertical speed of over 100 kilometers per hour in under eight seconds. The test rocket launched last week was longer than a football field and covered with over 700 sensors to record data that will enable engineers to refine details of future Ares rockets. Pictured above, the Ares 1-X blasts into space while the top part of the rocket becomes engulfed in a shock collar of water droplets likely created by the sudden drop of air pressure.

Blue Sun Bristling

carella211 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:27:53 MST

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Blue Sun Bristling - bluesun_friedman.jpg

Credit & Copyright: Alan Friedman (Averted Imagination) Explanation: Our Sun may look like all soft and fluffy, but it's not. Our Sun is an extremely large ball of bubbling hot gas, mostly hydrogen gas. The above picture of our Sun was taken last month in a specific red color of light emitted by hydrogen gas called Hydrogen-alpha and then color inverted to appear blue. In this light, details of the Sun's chromosphere are particularly visible, highlighting numerous thin tubes of magnetically-confined hot gas known as spicules rising from the Sun like bristles from a shag carpet. Our Sun glows because it is hot, but it is not on fire. Fire is the rapid acquisition of oxygen, and there is very little oxygen on the Sun. The energy source of our Sun is the nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium deep within its core. No sunspots or large active regions were visible on the Sun this day, although some solar prominences are visible around the edges.

Stickney Crater

carella211 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:36:03 MST

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Stickney Crater - PSP_007769_9010_IRB_Stickney800.jpg

Stickney Crater Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA Explanation: Stickney Crater, the largest crater on the martian moon Phobos, is named for Chloe Angeline Stickney Hall, mathematician and wife of astronomer Asaph Hall. Asaph Hall discovered both the Red Planet's moons in 1877. Over 9 kilometers across, Stickney is nearly half the diameter of Phobos itself, so large that the impact that blasted out the crater likely came close to shattering the tiny moon. This stunning, enhanced-color image of Stickney and surroundings was recorded by the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as it passed within some six thousand kilometers of Phobos in March of 2008. Even though the surface gravity of asteroid-like Phobos is less than 1/1000th Earth's gravity, streaks suggest loose material has slid down inside the crater walls over time. Light bluish regions near the crater's rim could indicate a relatively freshly exposed surface. The origin of the curious grooves along the surface is mysterious but may be related to the crater-forming impact.

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carella211 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:20:20 MST

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4080024424_1e14d4a683_b.jpg

Nereus Crater on Mars

carella211 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:18:34 MDT

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Nereus Crater on Mars - nereus_opportunity.jpg

Nereus Crater on Mars Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, JPL, NASA; Image Processing: Kenneth Kremer Explanation: It was along the way. The robotic rover Opportunity currently rolling across the Meridiani Plain on Mars has a destination of Endeavour Crater, a large crater over 20 kilometers across which may yield additional clues about the cryptic past of ancient Mars. Besides passing open fields of dark soil and light rock, Opportunity has chanced upon several interesting features. One such feature, pictured above in a digitally stitched and horizontally compressed panorama, is Nereus Crater, a small crater about 10 meters across that is surrounded by jagged rock. Besides Nereus, Opportunity recently also happened upon another unusual rock -- one that appears to be the third large meteorite found on Mars and the second for Opportunity during only this trip. Opportunity has been traveling toward Endeavour Crater for over a year now, and if it can avoid ridged rocks and soft sand along the way, it may reach Endeavour sometime next year.

Scales from butterfly wings radiate from a glass-shelled diatom.

carella211 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:53:34 MDT

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Scales from butterfly wings radiate from a glass-shelled diatom. - diatoms-butterfly-scales-527159-ga.jpg

!st ever Vegetarian Spider

carella211 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:44:14 MDT

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!st ever Vegetarian Spider - 091012-vegetarian-spider_big.jpg

An adult female Bagheera kiplingi, a kind of jumping spider, eats a plant bud from an acacia tree in 2007. The agile spider is the first out of about 40,000 known spider species to be almost entirely vegetarian, an October 2009 study says. Photograph by Robert L. Curry

Meteor Explodes Over the Netherlands

carella211 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:36:24 MDT

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Meteor Explodes Over the Netherlands - 091015-fireball-explodes-netherland.jpg

When amateur photographer Robert Mikaelyan went out to snap an old Dutch sugar factory on Tuesday, he captured a rare treat: a huge exploding fireball in the sky. Hundreds of people in the Netherlands and Germany reported seeing the fireball streak across the twilight skies around 7 p.m. local time on October 13. Mikaelyan managed to capture several shots of the fireball as it swung low over the northern city of Groningen and began to break apart into smaller chunks. "I suddenly saw a light in the sky coming fast … and quickly got the pictures taken," Mikaelyan said via email. A few seconds after the fireball had been sighted, witnesses heard a sonic boom followed by low rumbles that rattled windows—signatures of a high-altitude explosion. (Related: "Giant Meteor Fireball Explodes Over Northwest U.S.") The object was most likely a rogue space rock that disintegrated shortly after hitting Earth's atmosphere, say experts, who speculate that pieces of the meteor may have landed in the North Sea (see map). "Indeed it was a huge event," said Theo Jurriens, of the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute at the University of Groningen. Earth is constantly being bombarded by smaller debris from comets, asteroids, and even other rocky planets in the solar system. But a fireball of this size and brightness is likely seen anywhere in the world only every 20 to 25 years, Jurriens estimates. For photographer Mikaelyan, "it was a very special thing to see, especially the light and the speed." —Victoria Jaggard Photograph by Robert Mikaelyan

Giant Sea "Mucus" Blobs

carella211 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:30:56 MDT

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Giant Sea "Mucus" Blobs - 091008-01-giant-sea-mucus-blobs_big.jpg

Marine biologist Serena Fonda Umani approaches a blob of dead and living organic matter, called a mucilage, in the Adriatic Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean, in 1991 (Adriatic Sea map). Umani, of Italy's University of Trieste, remembers diving about 50 feet (15 meters) down when she got the sensation of a ghost floating over her--"sort of an alien experience." Enormous sheets of such "mucus" occur naturally throughout the Mediterranean, especially in the Adriatic. But in recent years, as sea temperatures have risen, these sea congregations are exploding in number and size--sometimes stretching over hundreds of kilometers, generally near coastlines, according to a study published in September 2009 in the journal PLoS One. More than just unpleasant, the blobs harbor bacteria and viruses, including E. coli, that can be harmful to swimmers, the study said. (Read the full story, and watch video of the mucus-like sea blobs.) --Christine Dell'Amore — Photograph courtesy Nino Caressa

The Great Basin on Saturn's Tethys

carella211 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:12:27 MDT

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The Great Basin on Saturn's Tethys - tethys2_cassini.jpg

The Great Basin on Saturn's Tethys Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA Explanation: Some moons wouldn't survive the collision. Tethys, one of Saturn's larger moons at about 1000 kilometers in diameter, survived the collision, but sports today the expansive impact crater Odysseus. Sometimes called the Great Basin, Odysseus occurs on the leading hemisphere of Tethys and shows its great age by the relative amount of smaller craters that occur inside its towering walls. Another large crater, Melanthius, is visible near the moon's terminator. The density of Tethys is similar to water-ice. The above digitally enhanced image was captured in July by the robot Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn as it swooped past the giant ice ball.

aquatic fly larva

carella211 — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:12:40 MDT

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aquatic fly larva - 31373FEB-B027-9AA3-2B52A4297276A-1.jpg

thale cress

carella211 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:17:30 MDT

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thale cress - 31373FEB-B027-9AA3-2B52A4297276AA82.jpg

Heiti Paves from Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia captured this 20x thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) using a confocal microscope. The little flowering plant has a short genome, making it a common subject of genetic study.

ANDROID ROBOT WITH TECHNICIAN

carella211 — Thu, 8 Oct 2009 16:49:54 MDT

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ANDROID ROBOT WITH TECHNICIAN - T280204-Android_robot_with_a_techni.jpg

FROM SCIENCEPHOTOLIBRARY

Robonaut

carella211 — Thu, 8 Oct 2009 16:45:35 MDT

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Robonaut - T280211-Robonaut_field_testing-SPL.jpg

Robonaut field testing T280/211 Rights Managed Caption: Robonaut field testing. Robonaut (centre), a humanoid robot, carrying samples from the scout rover testbed (right) to an astronaut in a mock way station during a field test of new planetary surface exploration equipment. Robonaut will assist, or take the place of, astronauts during extravehicular activity (EVA) tasks. It is remotely controlled by an astronaut using a telepresence control system. Photographed at Meteor Crater, Arizona, USA in 2006.

Robonaut

carella211 — Thu, 8 Oct 2009 16:42:15 MDT

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Robonaut - T280065-Robot_astronaut-SPL.jpg

Robot astronaut T280/065 Rights Managed Caption: MODEL RELEASED. Robot astronaut. Robonaut, a robot astronaut, standing behind researcher Robert Ambrose. This human-sized android is controlled using a virtual reality headset, which sees through Robonaut's two camera eyes, and a motion- sensitive body suit. In space, Robonaut will be operated by telepresence, mimicking the actions of a controller in a space craft. It will replace humans on risky or long spacewalks. Robonaut's five dextrous fingers can handle the astronaut's specialist tools, and 150 sensors in each of its arms allow it to handle even delicate objects. Robonaut was developed at NASA's Johnson Space Center, USA.

sixthsense, the wearable computer

carella211 — Tue, 6 Oct 2009 19:09:01 MDT

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sixthsense, the wearable computer - C0027794-SixthSense_wearable_comput.jpg

SixthSense wearable computer display C002/7794 Rights Managed Caption: SixthSense wearable computer display. Digital image of a number pad projected onto the palm of a hand from the SixthSense wearable computer. This system, invented by electronic engineer Pranav Mistry, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, allows the wearer to project digital information onto any surface and navigate the screen using hand gestures. It consists of a webcam and LED projector that hangs as a pendant from the neck and a smart mobile phone worn on the hip. Colour coded tags on the fingers allow the webcam to track hand and finger movements. It then sends wireless signals to the smartphone, which contains the SixthSense software, and translates the hand gestures into computer commands. Photographed in 2009.

glowing mushrooms

carella211 — Mon, 5 Oct 2009 16:33:55 MDT

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glowing mushrooms - 091005-06-glowing-mushroom-chloroph.jpg

Photograph courtesy Eiji Nagasawa, Tottori Mycological Institute, Japan Glowing nonstop in the Brazilian rain forest, the newfound mushroom Mycena luxaeterna (pictured both in daylight, top, and in the dark) is indeed a source of eternal light (at least at night), as its Latin name—inspired by verses from Mozart's "Requiem"—implies. The tiny mushroom is one of 7 new species of glow-in-the-dark fungi found around the world, bringing the total known to 71, according to a study that appeared October 5 in the journal Mycologia. San Francisco State University's Dennis Desjardin and colleagues scouted for mushrooms during new moons, in rain forests so dark they often couldn't see their hands in front of their faces, he said. But "when you look down at the ground, it's like looking up at the sky," Desjardin said. "Every little 'star' was a little mushroom—it was just fantastic." M. luxaeterna has a distinctive sticky gel on its stem that probably keeps it moist during the heat of the day. Unwitting insects get trapped in this natural fly paper, said Desjardin, who discovered the fungi with the University of Sao Paulo's Cassius V. Stevani.

water discovered on earth

carella211 — Fri, 2 Oct 2009 15:50:23 MDT

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water discovered on earth - moonwater_isro.jpg

Water Discovered on the Moon Credit: ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS/Brown U. Explanation: Water has been discovered on the surface of the Moon. No lakes have been found, but rather NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper aboard India's new Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter radios back that parts of the Moon's surface absorb a very specific color of light identified previously only with water. Currently, scientists are trying to fit this with other facts about the Moon to figure out how much water is there, and even what form this water takes. Unfortunately, even the dampest scenarios leave our moon dryer than the driest of Earth's deserts. A fascinating clue being debated is whether the water signal rises and falls during a single lunar day. If true, the signal might be explainable by hydrogen flowing out from the Sun and interacting with oxygen in the lunar soil. This could leave an extremely thin monolayer of water, perhaps only a few molecules thick. Some of the resulting water might subsequently evaporate away in bright sunlight. Pictured above, the area near a crater on the far side of the Moon shows a relatively high abundance of water-carrying minerals in false-color blue. Next week, the new LCROSS satellite will release an impactor that will strike a permanently shadowed crater near the lunar south pole to see if any hidden water or ice sprays free there.

To Fly Free in Space

carella211 — Fri, 2 Oct 2009 15:49:24 MDT

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To Fly Free in Space - freeflyer_nasa.jpg

To Fly Free in Space Credit: STS-41B, NASA Explanation: At about 100 meters from the cargo bay of the space shuttle Challenger, Bruce McCandless II was farther out than anyone had ever been before. Guided by a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), astronaut McCandless, pictured above, was floating free in space. McCandless and fellow NASA astronaut Robert Stewart were the first to experience such an "untethered space walk" during Space Shuttle mission 41-B in 1984. The MMU works by shooting jets of nitrogen and has since been used to help deploy and retrieve satellites. With a mass over 140 kilograms, an MMU is heavy on Earth, but, like everything, is weightless when drifting in orbit. The MMU was replaced with the SAFER backpack propulsion unit.

Salmonella typhimurium in Microgravity

carella211 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:16:46 MDT

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Salmonella typhimurium in Microgravity - 7salmonellaweb.jpg

Weightlessness may be doubly dangerous for fending off infection. Space travel seems to weaken the immune system, and it may also make a range of microbes deadlier than they are on Earth. A flight of the space shuttle Atlantis in 2006 showed that the bacterium Salmonella typhimurium (shown here in red) was nearly three times as likely to kill mice. Microgravity also seems to boost the virulence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, an antibiotic-resistant superbug that is a common cause of infection in hospitals. A firm called Astrogenetix is now studying this increased potency to isolate factors responsible for virulence in the hopes of producing vaccines. (Image: NASA)

microgravity

carella211 — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:33:39 MDT

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microgravity - 1surftensionweb.jpg

In the absence of gravity, surface tension dominates the physics of fluids. Here, in an image taken on the International Space Station, it causes water to extend from a metal loop as if it were stirred by an invisible spoon. This stirring effect was created by using a flashlight to unevenly heat the water. The resulting temperature difference induced an imbalance in the surface tension, causing the fluid to rotate. Such surface-tension-triggered movement, called Marangoni convection, is less obvious on Earth, but can be seen in environments such as cooling puddles of molten steel. (Image: NASA)

water on the moon?

carella211 — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:20:16 MDT

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water on the moon? - dn17842-1_300.jpg

Protons carried by the solar wind could be responsible for creating water molecules across the lunar surface (Illustration: University of Maryland/F. Merlin/McREL)

Dark Clouds of the Carina Nebula

carella211 — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:05:50 MDT

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Dark Clouds of the Carina Nebula - carina07_hst.jpg

Dark Clouds of the Carina Nebula Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (U. California, Berkeley) et al., and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Explanation: What dark forms lurk in the mists of the Carina Nebula? These ominous figures are actually molecular clouds, knots of molecular gas and dust so thick they have become opaque. In comparison, however, these clouds are typically much less dense than Earth's atmosphere. Pictured above is part of the most detailed image of the Carina Nebula ever taken, a part where dark molecular clouds are particularly prominent. The entire Carina Nebula spans over 300 light years and lies about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina, is home to massive stars and changing nebula. Eta Carinae, the most energetic star in the nebula, was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s, but then faded dramatically. Wide-field annotated and zoomable versions of the larger image composite are also available.

Ganymede Enhanced

carella211 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:10:08 MDT

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Ganymede Enhanced - ganymedeenhanced_galileo.jpg

Ganymede Enhanced Credit: Galileo Project, DLR, JPL, NASA Explanation: What does the largest moon in the Solar System look like? Ganymede, larger than even Mercury and Pluto, has a surface speckled with bright young craters overlying a mixture of older, darker, more cratered terrain laced with grooves and ridges. Like Earth's Moon, Ganymede keeps the same face towards its central planet, in this case Jupiter. In this historic and detailed image mosaic taken by the Galileo spacecraft that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, the colors of this planet-sized moon have been enhanced to increase surface contrasts. The violet shades extending from the top and bottom are likely due to frost particles in Ganymede's polar regions. Possible future missions to Jupiter are being proposed that can search Europa and Ganymede for deep oceans that may harbor elements thought important for supporting life.

Arecibo

carella211 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:34:08 MDT

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Arecibo - Arecibo_naic_big.gif

Eye of a Tokay Gecko

carella211 — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:59:04 MDT

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Eye of a Tokay Gecko - macro_photo_1.jpg

The Tokay Gecko (Gekko gecko) is a nocturnal arboreal gecko, ranging from northeast India and Bangladesh, throughout Southeast Asia, to Indonesia and western New Guinea. Its native habitat is rainforest trees and cliffs, and it also frequently adapts to rural human habitations, roaming walls and ceilings at night in search of insect prey. Increasing urbanization is reducing its range. In the late 1980's and early 1990's it was introduced into Hawaii, Florida, Texas, Belize, and several Caribbean islands, where it can be considered an invasive species. The Tokay Gecko is also the inspiration of the fictional

The Crescent Nebula

carella211 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:35:16 MDT

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The Crescent Nebula - NGC6888_Lopez900.jpg

NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula Credit & Copyright: Daniel López, IAC Explanation: NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a cosmic bubble about 25 light-years across, blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. This beautiful portrait of the nebula is from the Isaac Newton Telescope at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in the Canary Islands. It combines a composite color image with narrow band data that isolates light from hydrogen and oxygen atoms in the wind-blown nebula. The oxygen atoms produce the blue-green hue that seems to enshroud the detailed folds and filaments. NGC 6888's central star is classified as a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136). The star is shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of the Sun's mass every 10,000 years. The nebula's complex structures are likely the result of this strong wind interacting with material ejected in an earlier phase. Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion. Found in the nebula rich constellation Cygnus, NGC 6888 is about 5,000 light-years away.

obama and sydney crosby

carella211 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:24:57 MDT

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obama and sydney crosby - life_g_obamacrosby_800.jpg

bacteriophages

carella211 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:43:04 MDT

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bacteriophages - phages_wikipedia.jpg

Bacteriophages: The Most Common Life-Like Form on Earth Credit: Wikipedia; Insert: Mike Jones Explanation: There are more bacteriophages on Earth than any other life-like form. These small viruses are not clearly a form of life, since when not attached to bacteria they are completely dormant. Bacteriophages attack and eat bacteria and have likely been doing so for over 3 billion years ago. Although initially discovered early last century, the tremendous abundance of phages was realized more recently when it was found that a single drop of common seawater typically contains millions of them. Extrapolating, phages are likely to be at least a billion billion (sic) times more numerous than humans. Pictured above is an electron micrograph of over a dozen bacteriophages attached to a single bacterium. Phages are very small -- it would take about a million of them laid end-to-end to span even one millimeter. The ability to kill bacteria makes phages a potential ally against bacteria that cause human disease, although bacteriophages are not yet well enough understood to be in wide spread medical use.

morning glory clouds

carella211 — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:11:58 MDT

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morning glory clouds - morninggloryclouds_petroff.jpg

Morning Glory Clouds Over Australia Credit & Licence: Mick Petroff; Tip Thanks: James Holmes (Cairns) Explanation: What causes these long, strange clouds? No one is sure. A rare type of cloud known as a Morning Glory cloud can stretch 1,000 kilometers long and occur at altitudes up to two kilometers high. Although similar roll clouds have been seen at specific places across the world, the ones over Burketown, Queensland Australia occur predictably every spring. Long, horizontal, circulating tubes of air might form when flowing, moist, cooling air encounters an inversion layer, an atmospheric layer where air temperature atypically increases with height. These tubes and surrounding air could cause dangerous turbulence for airplanes when clear. Morning Glory clouds can reportedly achieve an airspeed of 60 kilometers per hour over a surface with little discernible wind. Pictured above, photographer Mick Petroff photographed some Morning Glory clouds from his airplane near the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia.

wpfanscup700.jpg

carella211 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:29:48 MDT

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wpfanscup700.jpg

Supernova Remnant E0102-72

carella211 — Wed, 9 Sep 2009 17:31:09 MDT

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Supernova Remnant E0102-72 - e0102_composite900.jpg

Supernova Remnant E0102-72 Credit: X-ray - NASA / CXC / MIT / D.Dewey et al., NASA / CXC / SAO / J.DePasquale; Optical - NASA / STScI Explanation: The expanding debris cloud from the explosion of a massive star is captured in this multiwavelength composite, combining x-ray and optical images from the Chandra and Hubble telescopes. Identified as E0102-72, the supernova remnant lies about 190,000 light-years away in our neighboring galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud. A strong cosmic source of x-rays, E0102 was imaged by the Chandra X-ray Observatory shortly after its launch in 1999. In celebration of Chandra's 10th anniversary, this colorful view of E0102 and its environs was created, including additional Chandra data. An analysis of all the data indicates that the overall shape of E0102 is most likely a cylinder that is viewed end-on rather than a spherical bubble. The intriguing result implies that the massive star's explosion has produced a shape similar to what is seen in some planetary nebulae associated with lower mass stars. At the distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, this field of view spans about 150 light-years.

seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions

carella211 — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 19:46:16 MDT

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seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions - ss.jpg

seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions

carella211 — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 19:45:50 MDT

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seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions - sounderssalutefans.jpg

seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions

carella211 — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 19:45:05 MDT

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seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions

carella211 — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 19:44:22 MDT

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seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions

carella211 — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 19:43:53 MDT

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seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions - EB24B10E23DB46628141245DF534CEF0.jpg

seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions

carella211 — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 19:42:08 MDT

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seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions - E614C0150FB04F4E82E4BABAD7E382F3.jpg

seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions

carella211 — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 19:41:34 MDT

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seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions - A9B527E317004ED8BBD3D02819BE38E2.jpg

seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions

carella211 — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 19:40:52 MDT

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seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions - 5099BCCDAA0647429CC8FEC56DE49874.jpg

seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions

carella211 — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 19:40:05 MDT

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seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions - 567DB2A5E66A4839A71F624A1E15FBEB.jpg

seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions

carella211 — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 19:39:12 MDT

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seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions - 38EC7F05A5AE418A95A3C47D924A2814.jpg

seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions

carella211 — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 19:37:29 MDT

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seattle sounders fc u.s. open cup 2009 champions - 5FB6E470851C45EABA1EAC41F87DDCDF.jpg

death star galaxy

carella211 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:25:09 MDT

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death star galaxy - 071217-black-holes_big.jpg

A composite image (top) shows a never-before-seen spectacle: a "Death Star" galaxy blasting a nearby neighbor with a powerful jet from a supermassive black hole. The image combines x-ray data from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (purple), optical and ultraviolet data from the Hubble Space Telescope (red and orange), and radio emission data from the Very Large Array and MERLIN array (blue). An artist's illustration (bottom) shows another view of the spectacle. Top image by x-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/D.Evans et al.; optical/UV: NASA/STScI; radio: NSF/VLA/CfA/D.Evans et al., STFC/JBO/MERLIN); bottom image by NASA/CXC/M. Weiss

Galactic "Jellyfish"

carella211 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:19:28 MDT

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Galactic "Jellyfish" - 080820-galaxy-photo_big.jpg

August 20, 2008—Bubbles that burst deep in the heart of the galaxy NGC 1275, seen above, created tentacles of cold gas that have mysteriously lingered in the surrounding heat for up to a hundred million years. Now a team of international researchers thinks it knows why this cosmic "jellyfish" hasn't lost its sting. Andrew Fabian at the U.K.'s University of Cambridge and colleagues analyzed images of the streamers captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and proposed that the galaxy's large but delicate filaments are held together by magnetic fields. When the supermassive black hole at the center of NGC 1275 blasts bubbles of cold gases into space, it forms filaments that can be up to 20,000 light-years long and 280 light-years across. Such ribbons should dissipate into the surrounding hot gases, which are about 70 million degrees Fahrenheit (40 million degrees Celsius). But in a new paper in this week's issue of the journal Nature, Fabian and colleagues suggest that when the filaments shoot outward, they take some of the galaxy's magnetic field with them. Although the strength of the filaments' fields is low—about one ten-thousandth the strength of Earth's magnetic field—it's enough to help them hang together. "The pressure of that magnetic field is comparable to the pressure of the hot gas surrounding it," Fabian said. The field stops the filaments from collapsing under their own gravity and stops hot gas from evaporating the cold streamers. Further understanding of how the streamers stay together could provide a model for studying other distant young galaxies, which often appear to be surrounded by such filaments, Fabian added. —Anne Minard

Diamonds in a Cloudy Sky

carella211 — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:21:47 MDT

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Diamonds in a Cloudy Sky - tse2009_mesonero900.jpg

Diamonds in a Cloudy Sky Credit & Copyright: Óscar Martín Mesonero (OSAE), SAROS Group Explanation: Cloudy skies over Wuhan, China hid the delicate solar corona during July's total eclipse of the Sun. Still, the Moon's silhouette was highlighted by these glistening diamonds as the total eclipse phase ended. Caused by bright sunlight streaming through dips and valleys in the irregular terrain along the Moon's edge, the effect is known as Baily's Beads, named after Francis Baily who called attention to the phenomenon in 1836. The dramatic appearance of the beads at the beginning or end of a total solar eclipse is also known as the Diamond Ring effect. In this remarkable image, a small, pinkish solar prominence can also be seen along the edge, below the diamonds.

Saturn's Iapetus: Painted Moon

carella211 — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:42:32 MDT

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Saturn's Iapetus: Painted Moon - iapetus3_cassini.jpg

Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA Explanation: What has happened to Saturn's moon Iapetus? Vast sections of this strange world are dark as coal, while others are as bright as ice. The composition of the dark material is unknown, but infrared spectra indicate that it possibly contains some dark form of carbon. Iapetus also has an unusual equatorial ridge that makes it appear like a walnut. To help better understand this seemingly painted moon, NASA directed the robotic Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn to swoop within 2,000 kilometers in 2007. Pictured above, from about 75,000 kilometers out, Cassini's trajectory allowed unprecedented imaging of the hemisphere of Iapetus that is always trailing. A huge impact crater seen in the south spans a tremendous 450 kilometers and appears superposed on an older crater of similar size. The dark material is seen increasingly coating the easternmost part of Iapetus, darkening craters and highlands alike. Close inspection indicates that the dark coating typically faces the moon's equator and is less than a meter thick. A leading hypothesis is that the dark material is mostly dirt leftover when relatively warm but dirty ice sublimates. An initial coating of dark material may have been effectively painted on by the accretion of meteor-liberated debris from other moons. This and other images from Cassini's Iapetus flyby are being studied for even greater clues.

Nanobot and Fruit Fly Head

carella211 — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:16:14 MDT

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Nanobot and Fruit Fly Head - microbot.jpg

credit - eth zurich

tigres

carella211 — Fri, 7 Aug 2009 22:24:11 MDT

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tigres - gwBtKUNA.jpg

superliga 2009

the telepathic bot

carella211 — Thu, 6 Aug 2009 19:45:25 MDT

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the telepathic bot - asimo.jpg

The Telepathic Bot Known for: Reading minds Honda's ASIMO humanoid robot can now be controlled with thought alone—and with a little help from brain machine interface technology. BMI tech relies on electroencephalography (EEG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and newly developed information abstraction technology. How it works: EEG and NIRS sensors are placed on a person's head. When the user imagines moving one of four predetermined body part options, ASIMO complies with a corresponding movement. The setup detects changes in brain waves and cerebral blood flow, which is analyzed on a real-time basis to translate what the user imagined. Tests on the process yielded a 90 percent accuracy rate, says Honda. credit - honda

The Fish Bot

carella211 — Wed, 5 Aug 2009 17:59:59 MDT

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The Fish Bot - robo_carp.jpg

The Fish Bot Known for: Fighting pollution A school of robotic carp—equipped with chemical sensors and artificial intelligence—will be unleashed into a Spanish port to search for water pollutants. Developed by British scientists, these five-foot-long robotic fish will monitor oxygen levels and detect potentially hazardous leaks. The fish will communicate with each other using ultrasonics, and information will be wirelessly sent to the "charging hub" (where fish will charge their batteries). The port's authorities can use this data to track the source and scale of the pollution. If this robotic pollution monitoring system is successful, researchers hope to use it globally. image credit - bmt group

SN 1006 Supernova Remnant

carella211 — Mon, 3 Aug 2009 16:38:28 MDT

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SN 1006 Supernova Remnant - sn1006c_c800.jpg

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Zolt Levay (STScI) Explanation: A new star, likely the brightest supernova in recorded human history, lit up planet Earth's sky in the year 1006 AD. The expanding debris cloud from the stellar explosion, found in the southerly constellation of Lupus, still puts on a cosmic light show across the electromagnetic spectrum. In fact, this composite view includes X-ray data in blue from the Chandra Observatory, optical data in yellowish hues, and radio image data in red. Now known as the SN 1006 supernova remnant, the debris cloud appears to be about 60 light-years across and is understood to represent the remains of a white dwarf star. Part of a binary star system, the compact white dwarf gradually captured material from its companion star. The buildup in mass finally triggered a thermonuclear explosion that destroyed the dwarf star. Because the distance to the supernova remnant is about 7,000 light-years, that explosion actually happened 7,000 years before the light reached Earth in 1006. Shockwaves in the remnant accelerate particles to extreme energies and are thought to be a source of the mysterious cosmic rays.

Tardigrades

carella211 — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:58:40 MDT

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Tardigrades - tardigrade_2.jpg

Tardigrades, or "water bears," are microscopic eight-legged critters known to survive extreme temperatures, tons of radiation, and nearly a decade without water on Earth. In September scientists declared they had proven their mettle in one more extreme environment: outer space. The adorable invertebrates technically launched at the end of last year, but only reached fame recently when they were found to have survived in perfect health upon their return to Earth

sea cow

carella211 — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:11:54 MDT

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sea cow - A905D9A4-ABBE-F105-5AABADAE19CB3918.jpg

DIGGING FOR DUGONGS The global population of the dugong, or sea cow (Dugong dugon) remains unknown. But the vulnerable marine mammal roams the coastal areas of nearly 50 countries the tropical areas of the eastern hemisphere, making its status difficult to track. A rare study off Australia's Queensland coast showed that common human threats to the species include agricultural runoff pollution, accidental nettings and food hunting.

gravity lumps

carella211 — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:03:11 MDT

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gravity lumps - grace.jpg

Gravity lumps It's a face we all know, but the portrait is entirely new. The colors in this piece of art represent Earth's gravitational field. Of course, no matter where on Earth your feet are planted, gravity buckles them to the ground. But what you might not know -- or even notice -- is that gravity is nuanced. In some places (shown in red), it is stronger than in others (blue). To measure this variation, a NASA spacecraft trailed another as it zipped around the Earth and through its gravitational field. By measuring subtle changes in the distance between the two spacecrafts, the US-German Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) crafted this map of gravity?s pull. Some hotspots are obvious, such as the Himalayan Mountains that stretch along the border between India and Tibet. But in the oceans, mass shifts constantly and massive formations aren?t so obvious. For this reason, the Grace maps provide scientists a valuable view of the underwater landscape. These shades of gravity will help scientists predict changes in the climate and understand how oceans move. Courtesy NASA

PROBOSCIS MONKEY

carella211 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:16:14 MDT

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PROBOSCIS MONKEY - 3CA45B25-C838-7990-4601BB1B7CE146D7.jpg

Although most mangrove residents are birds and reptiles, some mammals also make their home in the tangled trees, including bats and even a sloth. The distinctive proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) is one of six threatened mammals that are restricted to mangrove habitats. The unusual, endangered primate, whose noses can grow to be up to seven inches (18 centimeters) long, lives in Borneo.

klingler lives!

carella211 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:11:53 MDT

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klingler lives! - Klinger2.jpg

from the mash tv show

Armadillo-like Crocodile Fossil

carella211 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:22:38 MDT

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Armadillo-like Crocodile Fossil - 090708-armadillo-crocodile-brazil_b.jpg

An ancient crocodile with armadillo-like body armor (above, a reconstruction of the fossil in an undated picture) roamed the arid interior of Brazil about 90 million years ago, say researchers who found the fossil in São Paolo state. In addition to its unusual bony shield, the reptile could chew like a mammal, moving its lower jaw forward and backward, researchers said in July 2009. Photograph courtesy Paul Jurgens/FAPERJ

no snobs

carella211 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:12:44 MDT

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no snobs - no_snobs_small.png

pacifier

carella211 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:30:55 MDT

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pacifier - pacifier.jpg

M42: Center of the Orion Nebula

carella211 — Tue, 7 Jul 2009 16:31:28 MDT

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M42: Center of the Orion Nebula - m42.jpg

Credit Line Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona (Board of Regents)

portland timbers suck

carella211 — Thu, 2 Jul 2009 20:21:27 MDT

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portland timbers suck - ew.jpg

seattle sounders always has and always will own portscum. cinder fans just can't help their jealousy of us!

ken riley

carella211 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:26:13 MDT

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ken riley - bilde-1.jpg

Sarychev Peak Eruption, Kuril Islands

carella211 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:51:52 MDT

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Sarychev Peak Eruption, Kuril Islands - ISS020-E-09048.jpg

A fortuitous orbit of the International Space Station allowed the astronauts this striking view of Sarychev Volcano (Kuril Islands, northeast of Japan) in an early stage of eruption on June 12, 2009. Sarychev Peak is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kuril Island chain, and it is located on the northwestern end of Matua Island. Prior to June 12, the last explosive eruption occurred in 1989, with eruptions in 1986, 1976, 1954, and 1946 also producing lava flows. Ash from the multi-day eruption has been detected 2,407 kilometers east-southeast and 926 kilometers west-northwest of the volcano, and commercial airline flights are being diverted away from the region to minimize the danger of engine failures from ash intake. This detailed astronaut photograph is exciting to volcanologists because it captures several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption. The main column is one of a series of plumes that rose above Matua Island on June 12. The plume appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam. The vigorously rising plume gives the steam a bubble-like appearance.** In contrast, the smooth white cloud on top may be water condensation that resulted from rapid rising and cooling of the air mass above the ash column. This cloud, which meteorologists call a pileus cloud, is probably a transient feature: the eruption plume is starting to punch through. The structure also indicates that little to no shearing wind was present at the time to disrupt the plume. (Satellite images acquired 2-3 days after the start of activity illustrate the effect of shearing winds on the spread of the ash plumes across the Pacific Ocean.)

Sarychev Peak Volcano in Stereo

carella211 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:48:46 MDT

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Sarychev Peak Volcano in Stereo - ISS020-E-9050_52ana_public800.jpg

Sarychev Peak Volcano in Stereo Credit: Expedition 20 Crew, Crew Earth Observations Team, NASA Stereo Image: Patrick Vantuyne Explanation: From 400 kilometers above planet Earth, the Expedition 20 Crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS) was able to witness a remarkable event from a remarkable vantage point -- the June 12 eruption of the Sarychev Peak Volcano. The active volcano is located in Russia's Kuril Island chain, stretching to the northeast of Japan. Emphasizing the orbital perspective, this stunning color stereo view was made by combining two images from the ISS and is intended to be viewed with red/blue glasses (red for the left eye). Punching upwards into the atmosphere at an early stage of the eruption, the volcanic plume features a brown column of ash topped with a smooth, bubble-like, white cloud that is likely water condensation. Below, a cloud of denser grey ash slides down the volcanic slope. About 1.5 kilometers of the island coastline is visible at ground level. The evolving ash plume posed no danger to the Expedition 20 crew, but commercial airline flights were diverted away from the region to minimize the danger of engine failures from ash intake.

Fresh Tiger Stripes on Saturn's Enceladus

carella211 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:44:13 MDT

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Fresh Tiger Stripes on Saturn's Enceladus - enceladusstripes_cassini.jpg

Fresh Tiger Stripes on Saturn's Enceladus Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA Explanation: Do underground oceans vent through the tiger stripes on Saturn's moon Enceladus? Long features dubbed tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon's icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon's South Pole and creating Saturn's mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn. Pictured above, a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. The unusual surface features dubbed tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue. Why Enceladus is active remains a mystery, as the neighboring moon Mimas, approximately the same size, appears quite dead. Most recently, an analysis of dust captured by Cassini found evidence for sodium as expected in a deep salty ocean. Conversely however, recent Earth-based observations of ice ejected by Enceladus into Saturn's E-Ring showed no evidence of the expected sodium. Such research is particularly interesting since such an ocean would be a candidate to contain life.

Aurora Borealis From Outer Space

carella211 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:49:18 MDT

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Aurora Borealis From Outer Space - aurora-borealis-07.jpg

Aurora Borealis From Outer Space

carella211 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:48:42 MDT

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Aurora Borealis From Outer Space - aurora-borealis-02.jpg

Aurora Borealis From Outer Space

carella211 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:48:02 MDT

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Aurora Borealis From Outer Space - aurora-borealis-01.jpg

Human skin

carella211 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:34:53 MDT

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Human skin - epidermis-sb3849-sw.jpg

Seen here in a scanning electron micrograph, the epidermis is a tough coating formed from overlapping layers of dead skin cells, which continually slough off and are replaced with cells from the living layers beneath. The epidermis is the outermost of three layers that make up the skin. Photograph by Andrew Syred/Science Photo Library

heart angiogram

carella211 — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:30:42 MDT

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heart angiogram - heart-angiogram-sd3453-ga.jpg

The picture of health, an angiogram of a human heart shows blood vessels in sharp detail. To take an angiogram, or arteriogram x-ray, doctors must first inject the patient with a special opaque dye that allows a clear view of the heart's blood vessels, including the large left and right coronary arteries. Narrowed arteries indicate the presence of coronary artery disease. Blockages of either of the coronary arteries could lead to a heart attack. Such x-rays help doctors determine a course of treatment. Photograph by SPL/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Barbados Threadsnake

carella211 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:22:33 MDT

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Barbados Threadsnake - Species_Image202.jpg

Pennsylvania State University/Copyright S. Blair Hedges At approximately 4.1 inches long, the Barbados Threadsnake is believed to be the world's smallest snake. It was discovered in St. Joseph Parish on the Caribbean island of Barbados. Tags

Milky Way Road

carella211 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:10:43 MDT

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Milky Way Road - milkyroadMan_landolfi.jpg

The Milky Road Credit & Copyright: Larry Landolfi Explanation: Inspired by the night skies of planet Earth in the International Year of Astronomy, photographer Larry Landolfi created this tantalizing fantasy view. The composited image suggests a luminous Milky Way is the heavenly extension of a country road. Of course, the name for our galaxy, the Milky Way (in Latin, Via Lactea), does refer to its appearance as a milky band or path in the sky. In fact, the word galaxy itself derives from the Greek for milk. Visible on moonless nights from dark sky areas, though not so bright or colorful as in this image, the glowing celestial band is due to the collective light of myriad stars along the plane of our galaxy, too faint to be distinguished individually. The diffuse starlight is cut by dark swaths of obscuring galactic dust clouds. Four hundred years ago, Galileo turned his telescope on the Milky Way and announced it to be "... a congeries of innumerable stars ..."

Air-Fueled Battery

carella211 — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:11:56 MDT

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Air-Fueled Battery - wires_medium.jpg

Researchers from the University of St. Andrews have collaborated with partners from Strathclyde and Newcastle to create an innovative air-fueled battery that has ten times the energy of conventional batteries. This increased performance could pave the way for green energy to be applied in electric cars, mobile phones, and laptops. The development, dubbed STAIR (St. Andrews Air), is said to be cheaper than current rechargeable batteries and lithium cobalt oxide batteries since it is made of porous carbon. Credit: University of St. Andrews)

Fogbowl

carella211 — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:44:44 MDT

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Fogbowl - fogbow_zinkova_big.jpg

A Fog Bow Over California Credit & Copyright: Mila Zinkova Explanation: Is that white arch real? What is being seen is a fogbow, a reflection of sunlight by water drops similar to a rainbow but without the colors. The fog itself is not confined to an arch -- the fog is mostly transparent but relatively uniform. The fogbow shape is created by those drops with the best angle to divert sunlight to the observer. The fogbow's relative lack of colors are caused by the relatively smaller water drops. The drops active above are so small that the quantum mechanical wavelength of light becomes important and smears out colors that would be created by larger rainbow water drops acting like small prisms reflecting sunlight. The above striking image of a fogbow was taken last week with the Sun behind the photographer. Close inspection of the far right of the full image will show one of the two suspension towers of the Golden Gate Bridge in California, USA.

A Spherule from the Earth's Moon

carella211 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:47:15 MDT

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A Spherule from the Earth's Moon - spherule_apollo11_big.jpg

A Spherule from the Earth's Moon Credit: Timothy Culler (UCB) et al., Apollo 11 Crew, NASA Explanation: How did this spherule come to be on the Moon? When a meteorite strikes the Moon, the energy of the impact melts some of the splattering rock, a fraction of which might cool into tiny glass beads. Many of these glass beads were present in lunar soil samples returned to Earth by the Apollo missions. Pictured above is one such glass spherule that measures only a quarter of a millimeter across. This spherule is particularly interesting because it has been victim to an even smaller impact. A miniature crater is visible on the upper left, surrounded by a fragmented area caused by the shockwaves of the small impact. By dating many of these impacts, astronomers can estimate the history of cratering on our Moon.

world's biggest offshore windfarm

carella211 — Tue, 9 Jun 2009 16:27:18 MDT

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world's biggest offshore windfarm - ACAA90EA-D072-EA34-69CBA32F1EC4BBF8.jpg

Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm Near Skegness, Lincolnshire, England Visible from the beach of Skegness, England, the 54 3.6-megawatt turbines of the Lynn and Inner Dowsing offshore wind farm collectively can produce up to 194 megawatts of electricity at peak. Each turbine is 353 feet (107 meters) in diameter and turns on a hub that is 265 feet (80 meters) above sea level. Every turbine sits on a pylon that was driven into the shallow seabed by the Resolution, a vessel purposely built for the installation of offshore wind farms. (It extends six legs into the seabed to stabilize itself before installation of the pylon on which each turbine sits.) The total cost of the project was nearly $500 million. By the end of 2009, Lynn and Inner Dowsing will have been superseded by the 209-megawatt Horns Rev 2 wind farm sited in the North Sea between 19 and 25 miles (30 and 40 kilometers) west of the westernmost tip of Denmark, which will cost about $670 million. And the 1,000-megawatt London Array in the outer Thames Estuary is projected to be completed in 2012. credit-Centrica Energy

brokeback bengals

carella211 — Tue, 9 Jun 2009 16:14:38 MDT

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brokeback bengals - carsonandocho_thumb_medium.jpg

Basalt Columns

carella211 — Mon, 8 Jun 2009 16:44:42 MDT

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Basalt Columns - basalt-columns-1033249-sw.jpg

Towering in close symmetry, these basalt columns near Fingal’s Cave form the base of the Scottish island of Staffa. The columns formed when cooling lava flows met bedrock and the region’s cold weather. The island contains three main caves. Photograph by Jim Richardson

IC 2118: The Witch Head Nebula

carella211 — Fri, 5 Jun 2009 17:49:18 MDT

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IC 2118: The Witch Head Nebula - ic2118_dss.jpg

IC 2118: The Witch Head Nebula Image Data: Digitized Sky Survey; Colour Composite: Noel Carboni Explanation: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble -- maybe Macbeth should have consulted the Witch Head Nebula. This suggestively shaped reflection nebula is associated with the bright star Rigel in the constellation Orion. More formally known as IC 2118, the Witch Head Nebula glows primarily by light reflected from bright star Rigel, located just off the upper right edge of the full image. Fine dust in the nebula reflects the light. The blue colour is caused not only by Rigel's blue colour but because the dust grains reflect blue light more efficiently than red. The same physical process causes Earth's daytime sky to appear blue, although the scatterers in Earth's atmosphere are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. The nebula lies about 1000 light-years away.

new cloud type

carella211 — Thu, 4 Jun 2009 16:25:10 MDT

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new cloud type - 090603-01-new-cloud-pictures_big.jpg

These choppy clouds over Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in an undated picture could be examples of the first new type of cloud to be recognized since 1951. Or so hopes Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society. The British cloud enthusiast said he began getting photos of "dramatic" and "weird" clouds (including the above) in 2005 that he didn't know how to define. A few months ago he began preparing to propose the odd formations as a new cloud variety to the UN's World Meteorological Organization, which classifies cloud types. Pretor-Pinney jokingly calls it the "Jacques Cousteau cloud," after its resemblance to a roiling ocean surface seen from below. But the cloud fan has proposed a "formal," Latin name: Undulus asperatusroughly, "a very turbulent, violent, chaotic form of undulation," explained Pretor-Pinney, author of the new Cloud Collector's Handbook. Margaret LeMone, a cloud expert with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said that has taken photos of asperatus clouds intermittently over the past 30 years. It's likely that the cloud will turn out to be a new variety, LeMone said. "Having a group of people enthusiastic about clouds can only help the field of meteorology," she added. Asked how has such a striking cloud type could go unrecognized, Pretor-Pinney cites its rarityand the proliferation and portability of digital cameras. "Technology has allowed us to have this new perspective on the sky." --Christine Dell'Amore —Photograph courtesy Jane Wiggins

asperatus clouds

carella211 — Wed, 3 Jun 2009 16:27:38 MDT

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asperatus clouds - 090603-02-new-type-cloud-sunset_big.jpg

An "asperatus" cloud rolls over New Zealand's South Island in an undated picture. This apparently new class of clouds is still a mystery. But experts suspect asperatus clouds' choppy undersides may be due to strong winds disturbing previously stable layers of warm and cold air. Asperatus clouds may spur the first new classification in the World Meteorological Organization's International Cloud Atlas since the 1950s, Gavin Pretor-Pinney said. Since the last addition to the atlas, the emergence of satellite imagery has pushed meteorologists to take a much broader view on weather and focus less on small-scale cloud formations. But "the tide is turning back again," in part because the humble cloud is seen as a "wild card" in climate-change prediction, Pretor-Pinney said. —Photograph courtesy Merrick Davies

Cy, The Cyclops Kitten

carella211 — Tue, 2 Jun 2009 16:12:45 MDT

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Cy, The Cyclops Kitten - untitleder.jpg

Cyclopia (or synophthalmia) is a birth defect in which a normally two-eyed animal is born with only a single fused eye, generally disproportionately large and centered on the face above the area where the nose would usually appear. Typically in cyclopic births the nose is either absent or present as an appendage located above the single eye. (Eyelids are also generally absent in such births, which explains why the eye of the one-day-old kitten pictured above is open even though cats are usually born with their eyes shut and remain in that condition for the first week or two of their lives.)

Spirit Encounters Soft Ground on Mars

carella211 — Mon, 1 Jun 2009 16:11:55 MDT

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Spirit Encounters Soft Ground on Mars - softsoil_spirit.jpg

Spirit Encounters Soft Ground on Mars Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, JPL, NASA Explanation: Will Spirit be able to free itself from soft ground on Mars? The robotic Spirit rover currently rolling across Mars ran into unexpectedly soft ground last month while exploring the red planet. A worry is that the ground is so soft that Spirit won't be able to free itself, will have to stay put and thereafter study what it can from its current position near an unusual martian land feature named Home Plate. Pictured above, the front left wheel appears to be primarily digging itself in when spun, while on the other side, the front right wheel no longer spins and is dragged by the five year old mechanical explorer. In the distance, rocks and rusty dirt fill the alien landscape in front of the distant Husband Hill. NASA continues to study the situation, and engineers and scientists have not yet run out of ideas of how to use Spirit's six wheels. Far across Mars, Spirit's twin Opportunity continues on its two year trek toward Endeavour crater. Free Lecture: An APOD editor will review great space images this Friday in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Leaf-Tailed Gecko

carella211 — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:45:34 MDT

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Leaf-Tailed Gecko - the-10-most-disturbing-animals-on-e.jpg

The Giant leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus fimbriatus) is endemic to Madagascar and the islands Nosy Bohara and Nosy Mangabe. These geckos live in tropical rain forests and reach a total length of 330 mm. A large nocturnal gecko, by day it plasters it self to a small tree trunk and rests head down. If disturbed it will raise it tail and head, open its mouth and scream… and call his mom.

victoria crater

carella211 — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:16:46 MDT

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victoria crater - 800px-Opportunity_at_Victoria_Crate.jpg

opportunity can be seen here

victoria crater

carella211 — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:07:15 MDT

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victoria crater - mrovictoriacrater.jpg

Opportunity reached Victoria crater recently and has been taking amazing pictures from close up. Sometimes, though, you need an overview, too. Here’s the whole crater as seen by MRO:

victorie crater

carella211 — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:05:27 MDT

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victorie crater - 335527245_5bde136fe3.jpg

This is a very small piece of a HiRISE image of Victoria crater on Mars, showing just one part of the rim. And sitting right there on the edge of the crater is a little metal robot named Opportunity.

EveR-2

carella211 — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:31:54 MDT

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EveR-2 - ever-1-android-female-korean-robot.jpg

korean female android

orion nebula

carella211 — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:51:49 MDT

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orion nebula - hs-2006-01-i-large_web.jpg

Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Saturn's moon Iapetus,

carella211 — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:37:11 MDT

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Saturn's moon Iapetus, - C0012272-Saturns_moon_Iapetus_Cassi.jpg

Saturn's moon Iapetus, Cassini image. False-colour composite image of the bright, trailing hemisphere of Iapetus, the third largest moon of Saturn. It was originally discovered by Giovanni Cassini, the 17th century astronomer, after whom the Cassini spacecraft was named. It is primarily composed of water ice and has a mean diameter of 1436 kilometres. The most prominent feature here is the 450-kilometre-wide impact basin at bottom left. The image was taken from a distance of about 73000 kilometres, on 10th September 2007.

Zombie Ants 2

carella211 — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:39:02 MDT

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Zombie Ants 2 - 090515-04-parasite-hatching-fire-1.jpg

About 40 days after the egg is deposited, the phorid fly larva develops into a pupa that more close resembles an adult phorid fly (shown in a file photo). Although the flies only kill a small fraction of ants this way, the ants seem to be so afraid of the flies that their mere presence prevents the ants from collecting food, said Donald Feener, an ant ecologist at the University of Utah. Such interruptions slowly reduce the rate at which new fire ant colonies form.

Zombie Ants

carella211 — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:33:59 MDT

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Zombie Ants - 090515-01-fire-ant-parasite-attack_.jpg

n South America female phorid flies have developed a bizarre reproductive strategy: They hover over fire ants (pictured in a file photo), then inject their eggs into the ants with a needle-like appendage. The egg grows and the resulting larva generally migrates to the ant's head. The larva lives there for weeks--slurping up the brain and turning the ant into a "zombie," in some cases compelling the ant to march 55 yards (50 meters) away from its colony to avoid attack by other fire ants. Finally the baby fly decapitates its host and hatches, exiting through the ants head, as shown in the pictures in this gallery. Photograph courtesy Sanford Porter

Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone National Park.

carella211 — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:55:16 MDT

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Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone National Park. - LENS_07_web.jpg

The first records of the spring are from early European explorers and surveyors. In 1839, a group of fur trappers from the American Fur Company crossed the Midway Geyser Basin and made note of a "boiling lake", most likely the Grand Prismatic Spring,[2] with a diameter of 300 feet (91 m). In 1870 the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition visited the spring, noting a 50-foot (15-meter) geyser nearby (later named Excelsior).[3][4] [edit] Color The vivid colors in the spring are the result of pigmented bacteria in the microbial mats that grow around the edges of the mineral-rich water. The bacteria produce colors ranging from green to red; the amount of color in the microbial mats depends on the ratio of chlorophyll to carotenoids. In the summer, the mats tend to be orange and red, whereas in the winter the mats are usually dark green.[5] The center of the pool is sterile due to extreme heat. The deep blue color of the water in the center of the pool results from a light-absorbing overtone of the hydroxy stretch of water.[6] Though this effect is responsible for making all large bodies of water blue, it is particularly intense in Grand Prismatic Spring because of the high purity and depth of the water in the middle of the spring.

clap

carella211 — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:58:09 MDT

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clap - clap.gif

white lions

carella211 — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:28:49 MDT

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white lions - untitled2-2.jpg

The White Lions are rare animals found in South Africa. They are not albino lions and the white color is a result of rare color mutation of the Kruger subspecies of lion (Panthera leo krugeri). White lions first came to attention of the world in the 1970s due to Chris McBride's book The White Lions of Timbavati. The white color in these lions is caused by a recessive gene known as chinchilla or color inhibitor. Because the gene is recessive and is masked by the normal tawny colour, white lions remain rare in the wild and only occur when two lions carrying the mutant gene are mated together. The actual population of the white lion is unknown but the most recent count was in 2004 and 300 were alive.They are extinct in the wild and the greatest population of white lions is in zoos where they are deliberately bred for color.

white lion

carella211 — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:28:46 MDT

carella211 posted a photo

white lion - untitled1-3.jpg

The White Lions are rare animals found in South Africa. They are not albino lions and the white color is a result of rare color mutation of the Kruger subspecies of lion (Panthera leo krugeri). White lions first came to attention of the world in the 1970s due to Chris McBride's book The White Lions of Timbavati.The white color in these lions is caused by a recessive gene known as chinchilla or color inhibitor. Because the gene is recessive and is masked by the normal tawny colour, white lions remain rare in the wild and only occur when two lions carrying the mutant gene are mated together. The actual population of the white lion is unknown but the most recent count was in 2004 and 300 were alive.They are extinct in the wild and the greatest population of white lions is in zoos where they are deliberately bred for color.