I Approve This Apocalypse
Finally, an apocalyptic prediction I can get behind. Here’s a better look at the sign: Originally from Sam Tells Stories. via I Approve This Apocalypse | Unreasonable Faith.
Huge Gamma Ray Flares Mystify World’s Astronomers
The Crab Nebula has stunned astronomers by emitting an unprecedented blast of gamma rays, the highest-energy light in the Universe, from a small area of the famous nebula. The cause of the 12 April gamma-ray flare, which lasted for some six days, hitting levels 30 times higher than normal and varying at times from hour [...]
Our Real Universe is 250 Times Bigger than What We Observe
Is our universe infinite or closed? Because the visible Universe is expanding, the most distant visible things are much further away than its estimated 14-billion year age. In fact, the photons in the cosmic microwave background have traveled a cool 45 billion light years to get here. That makes the visible universe some 90 billion [...]
David Christian – Big History – TED 2011
Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 minutes. This is “Big History”: an enlightening, wide-angle look at complexity, life and humanity, set against our slim share of the cosmic timeline. via David Christian – Big History – TED [...]
Reliance on Indirect Evidence Fuels Dark Matter Doubts – Scientific American
Pinning down the universe’s missing mass remains one of cosmology’s biggest challenges By Bruce Dorminey Most of the matter in the universe remains missing in action—at least, that’s long been the standard cosmological paradigm. Now, however, a small but vocal group of cosmologists is challenging the dark matter tenets of the widely accepted cosmological model, [...]
A Saturnian storm larger than worlds – Discover Magazine
By Phil Plait A couple of weeks ago, amateur astronomers discovered a new storm erupting on Saturn. The accomplished astrophotographer Anthony Wesley got pictures of it, and I wondered to myself when Cassini would snap some shots. Turns out, I didn’t have to wait long! The spacecraft took images of the planet on December 24th, [...]
Space rock surprise: Amino acids in meteorite may have unexpected origin
Space rock surprise, Amino acids in meteorite may have unexpected origin By Ron Cowen, sciencenews.org This meteorite fragment of asteroid 2008 TC3 is one of about 600 recovered from Sudan’s Nubian desert. Amino acids found in one fragment suggest that these fragile building blocks of life may be able to form without liquid water and [...]
Timelapse Video of the Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse – TalkingScience
Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.
Herchel Space Telescope Looks Back in Time To See Today’s Stars Bursting Into Life – OnOrbit
A UK-led international team of astronomers have presented the first conclusive evidence for a dramatic surge in star birth in a newly discovered population of massive galaxies in the early Universe. Their measurements confirm the idea that stars formed most rapidly about 11 billion years ago, or about three billion years after the Big Bang, [...]
