Posts
Showing posts from August, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
On August 23, 2018 the identification and distribution of aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere is shown in this dramatic, planet-wide visualization. Produced in real time, the Goddard Earth Observing System Forward Processing (GEOS FP) model relies on a combination of Earth-observing satellite and ground-based data to calculate the presence of types of aerosols, tiny solid particles and liquid droplets, as they circulate above the entire planet. This August 23rd model shows black carbon particles in red from combustion processes, like smoke from the fires in the United States and Canada, spreading across large stretches of North America and Africa. Sea salt aerosols are in blue, swirling above threatening typhoons near South Korea and Japan, and the hurricane looming near Hawaii. Dust shown in purple hues is blowing over African and Asian deserts. The location of cities and towns can be found from the concentrations of lights based on satellite image data of the Earth at night. via ...
rich kid: Word of the day for September 1, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
rich kid , n : (US, informal, somewhat derogatory) A child or young adult from a wealthy family, especially one who flaunts his or her wealth or privilege. The comic character Richie Rich, created by Alfred Harvey and Warren Kremer, first appeared in Little Dot (issue 1) this month 65 years ago in 1953.
Wikipedia article of the day for September 1, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Wikipedia article of the day for September 1, 2018 is Messier 87 . Messier 87 is a supergiant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo. It has about 12,000 globular clusters—compared to the 150 to 200 orbiting the Milky Way—and a jet of energetic plasma that originates at the core and extends at least 4,900 light-years. One of the brightest radio sources in the sky, it is a popular target for both amateur and professional astronomers. The French astronomer Charles Messier discovered the galaxy in 1781, and catalogued it as a nebulous feature while searching for objects that would otherwise confuse comet hunters. About 53.5 million light-years from Earth, M87 is the second brightest galaxy within the northern Virgo Cluster. Unlike disk-shaped spiral galaxies, M87 has no distinctive dust lanes. Instead, it has an almost featureless ellipsoidal shape typical of most giant elliptical galaxies, diminishing in luminosity away from the center. It has a supermassive black hole at its...
NASA Invites Media to View Spacecraft to Study the Frontier of Space
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
NASA is inviting media to view NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) spacecraft Thursday, Oct. 4, ahead of its scheduled launch aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket Saturday, Oct. 6, at 4 a.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. August 31, 2018 from NASA https://ift.tt/2C6285B via IFTTT
New IFTTT service: OOLER
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
OOLER OOLER is water-based, app-controlled cooling sleep system. It actively and automatically cools your mattress surface below 60°F (16°C) to improve your REM and deep sleep by as much as 20% — that’s like one extra hour of sleep a night! Improve your sleep environment tonight. Published August 31, 2018 at 09:04AM View OOLER Applets on IFTTT
NASA Invites Media to Witness Final Orion Parachute Test in Arizona Desert
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
NASA is inviting media to view the final test of the Orion spacecraft’s parachute system on Wednesday, Sept. 12, at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. This test is the last in a series of eight to qualify the parachutes for crewed Orion missions to the Moon and beyond. August 31, 2018 from NASA https://ift.tt/2N1a6RV via IFTTT
Close Mars
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Still bright in evening skies, Mars was just past opposition and closest to Earth on July 31, a mere 57.6 million kilometers away. Captured only a week later, this remarkable image shows the Red Planet's disk near its maximum size in earthbound telescopes, but still less than 1/74th the apparent diameter of a Full Moon. Broad regional surface shadings are starting to reappear in the tantalizing view as the latest planet-wide dust storm subsides. With the bright south polar cap at the bottom, the Valles Marineris extends along the center of the disk. Just below it lies the roughly circular Solis Lacus region sometimes known as the Eye of Mars. In a line, three prominent dark spots left of center are the volcanic Tharsis Montes. via NASA https://ift.tt/2oqFPhw
Wikipedia article of the day for August 31, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 31, 2018 is Bootham Crescent . Bootham Crescent is a sports stadium, the home of the association football club York City and rugby league club York City Knights, in York, North Yorkshire, England. The ground opened on 31 August 1932 with a capacity of 8,256. Improvements added in the early 1980s include a gymnasium, a lounge for officials, and offices. Bootham Crescent hosted football in the Football League from 1932 to 2004 and from 2012 to 2016. It includes four stands: the Main Stand, the Popular Stand, the Grosvenor Road End and the David Longhurst Stand, named after a player who died at the ground in 1990. The ground has hosted a concert, a grand firework display, beer festivals, and American football and rugby league matches. The record attendance of 28,123 was set in March 1938, for an FA Cup match against Huddersfield Town. The teams are expected to move to a community stadium at Monks Cross in Huntington in mid-2019, and the Bootha...
New IFTTT service: Flo
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Flo Protect your entire home from water damage & leaks by using [Flo](https://www.meetflo.com)! A smart home water monitoring and shut-off device that proactively detects issues anywhere in your home water system. From a pipe burst or leaking faucet, to a pinhole leak inside the wall, Flo has you covered 24/7, wherever you are. Published August 30, 2018 at 03:01PM View Flo Applets on IFTTT
NASA Awards Contract for Earth Science Mission Hosting Services
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
NASA Awards Contract to Upgrade Launch Pad Fuel System for World’s Largest Rocket
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Media Invited to News Conference with NASA Astronaut Anne McClain and Space Station Crewmates
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
NASA astronaut Anne McClain, along with her crewmates, David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency and Oleg Kononenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, will discuss their upcoming mission to the International Space Station in a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 6, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. August 30, 2018 from NASA https://ift.tt/2BXXoyM via IFTTT
Wikipedia article of the day for August 30, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 30, 2018 is U.S. Route 45 in Michigan . In Michigan, US Highway 45 (US 45) runs through the Upper Peninsula, from the Wisconsin border near Watersmeet north to Ontonagon. US 45 extends south from Michigan to Mobile, Alabama, on the Gulf Coast. The Michigan segment, part of the state trunkline highway system maintained by the Michigan Department of Transportation, runs for approximately 55 miles (89 km) through the Ottawa National Forest, parallel to the Ontonagon River. In the 1930s, when the highway was extended into Michigan, it replaced sections of M-26 and M-35. An 8-mile (13 km) segment was significantly reconstructed in the late 1950s, and an alignment change in the 1970s moved the routing of US 45 near Rockland before it was reversed soon afterwards. A segment of roadway that formerly carried US 45 is the site of the Paulding Light, an intermittent reflection whose origins were scientifically described in 2010...
sweet spot: Word of the day for August 30, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
sweet spot , n : Any place which is optimum for a certain action to occur. (slang, euphemistic) The clitoris, prostate gland, or other center of sexual pleasure. (physics, slang) The center of percussion. (sports) The optimal place on a bat, racquet, etc., with which to hit a ball, resulting in the latter rebounding with the maximum possible velocity. Today is declared by the National Confectioners Association in the United States to be National Toasted Marshmallow Day.
NASA Awards Electrical Systems Engineering Services Contract
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Underwater Robots Help NASA Plan Future Deep-Space Missions
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
An expedition that will help NASA search for life in deep space launched today – not with a rocket’s roar, but with a gentle splash into the deep Pacific Ocean. The project will use underwater robots to explore the environment around a deep-sea volcano off the coast of Hawaii that has similar conditions to what may exist on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. via NASA https://ift.tt/2LCZDaj
Nearby Cepheid Variable RS Pup
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
In the center is one of the most important stars on the sky. This is partly because, by coincidence, it is surrounded by a dazzling reflection nebula. Pulsating RS Puppis, the brightest star in the image center, is some ten times more massive than our Sun and on average 15,000 times more luminous. In fact, RS Pup is a Cepheid type variable star, a class of stars whose brightness is used to estimate distances to nearby galaxies as one of the first steps in establishing the cosmic distance scale. As RS Pup pulsates over a period of about 40 days, its regular changes in brightness are also seen along the nebula delayed in time, effectively a light echo. Using measurements of the time delay and angular size of the nebula, the known speed of light allows astronomers to geometrically determine the distance to RS Pup to be 6,500 light-years, with a remarkably small error of plus or minus 90 light-years. An impressive achievement for stellar astronomy, the echo-measured distance also more acc...
Wikipedia article of the day for August 29, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 29, 2018 is Typhoon Nabi . Typhoon Nabi was a powerful typhoon that struck southwestern Japan in September 2005. The 14th named storm of the 2005 Pacific typhoon season, Nabi formed on August 29 to the east of the Northern Mariana Islands. On September 1, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center upgraded the storm to super typhoon status, equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale. The Japan Meteorological Agency estimated peak ten-minute winds of 175 km/h (110 mph) on September 2. The typhoon first affected the Northern Marianas, damaging or destroying 114 homes. It weakened while curving to the north, striking the Japanese island of Kyushu on September 6. The western fringe of the storm brushed South Korea, where it killed six people and caused US$115.4 million in damage. The storm then passed over Hokkaido before becoming extratropical on September 8. Across Japan, Nabi kille...
souped-up: Word of the day for August 29, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
souped-up , adj : (horse racing, cant) Of a racehorse: injected with a substance to make it run faster or to change its temperament. (road transport, slang) Of an engine, a motor vehicle, etc.: modified for higher performance. (United States Navy, slang) Drunk, intoxicated. (US (chiefly Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island), slang) Excited.
New IFTTT service: innogy SmartHome
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
innogy SmartHome innogy SmartHome is an easy to use, full featured smart home system. Combine heating, lighting, security and many more devices in which ever way you want. This service will let you use innogy SmartHome States within IFTTT. Please note that innogy SmartHome is currently only available in Germany, Austria and BeNeLux. Published August 28, 2018 at 09:01AM View innogy SmartHome Applets on IFTTT
Sea and Sky Glows over the Oregon Coast
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Every step caused the sand to light up blue. That glow was bioluminescence -- a blue radiance that also lights the surf in this surreal scene captured last month at Meyer's Creek Beach in Oregon, USA. Volcanic stacks dot the foreground sea, while a thin fog layer scatters light on the horizon. The rays of light spreading from the left horizon were created by car headlights on the Oregon Coast Highway (US 101), while the orange light on the right horizon emanates from a fishing boat. Visible far in the distance is the band of our Milky Way Galaxy, appearing to rise from a dark rocky outcrop. Sixteen images were added together to bring up the background Milky Way and to reduce noise. via NASA https://ift.tt/2PadW8M
Wikipedia article of the day for August 28, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 28, 2018 is Sind sparrow . The Sind sparrow (Passer pyrrhonotus) is a bird of the sparrow family, Passeridae, found around the Indus valley region in South Asia. Very similar to the house sparrow, it is smaller and has distinguishing plumage features. This species was long thought to be very closely related to the house sparrow, but its closest evolutionary affinities may lie elsewhere. The male has brighter plumage than female and young birds; it has black markings, a grey crown, and a chestnut stripe running down its head behind the eye. The female has a darker head than other sparrow species do. Its main vocalisations are soft chirping calls that are extended into longer songs. Within its Indus valley breeding range in Pakistan and western India, the Sind sparrow is patchily distributed in riverine and wetland habitats with thorny scrub and tall grass. During the non-breeding season, some birds migrate into western Pakistan and the extre...
NASA Investment in Cholera Forecasts Helps Save Lives in Yemen
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
For the first time ever, measurements from NASA Earth-observing research satellites are being used to help combat a potential outbreak of life-threatening cholera. Humanitarian teams in Yemen are targeting areas identified by a NASA-supported project that precisely forecasts high-risk regions based on environmental conditions observed from space. August 27, 2018 from NASA https://ift.tt/2BRsqs7 via IFTTT
Total Solar Eclipse Shadow from a Balloon
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Where were you during the Great American Eclipse of 2017? A year ago last week, over 100 million of people in North America went outside to see a partial eclipse of the Sun, while over ten million drove across part of the USA to see the Sun completely disappear behind the Moon -- a total solar eclipse. An estimated 88 percent of American adults saw the eclipse either personally or electronically. One of the better photographed events in human history, images from the eclipse included some unusual vistas, such as from balloons floating in the Earth's stratosphere. About fifty such robotic balloons were launched as part of NASA's Eclipse Ballooning project. Featured is a frame taken from a 360-degree panoramic video captured by one such balloon set aloft in Idaho by students from Brazil in conjunction with NASA and Montana State University. Pictured, the dark shadow of the Moon was seen crossing the Earth below. Although the total eclipse lasted less than three minutes, many who...
Wikipedia article of the day for August 27, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 27, 2018 is South Park . "Volcano" is the second episode of the animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States in August 1997. In the episode, Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny go on a hunting trip with Stan's uncle Jimbo and his war buddy Ned, unaware that a nearby volcano is about to erupt. Written by series co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone (pictured), the episode was inspired by the 1997 disaster films Volcano and Dante's Peak, both of which Parker and Stone strongly disliked. "Volcano" received generally positive reviews and was nominated for a 1997 Environmental Media Award. Over one million viewers watched the original broadcast. The episode marked the first of two appearances for Scuzzlebutt, who became a popular minor character and appeared in the video games South Park 10: The Game and South Park Rally. The episode parodied the Duck and Cover education...
Fire on Earth
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Sometimes, regions of planet Earth light up with fire. Since fire is the rapid acquisition of oxygen, and since oxygen is a key indicator of life, fire on any planet would be an indicator of life on that planet. Most of the Earth's land has been scorched by fire at some time in the past. Although causing many a tragedy, for many places on Earth fire is considered part of a natural ecosystem cycle. Large forest fires on Earth are usually caused either by humans or lightning and can be visible from orbit. Featured from the year 2000, stunned elk avoid a fire sweeping through Montana's Bitterroot Valley by standing in a river. via NASA https://ift.tt/2NjMEw0
rakhi: Word of the day for August 26, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
rakhi , n : (chiefly South Asia) An ornamental cotton wristband tied by a girl or woman on to the wrist of her brother, or of one who takes on the responsibilities of a brother, particularly during the Raksha Bandhan festival. The Raksha Bandhan festival takes place today in 2018, the last day of the month of Shraavana in the Hindu calendar.
Wikipedia article of the day for August 26, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 26, 2018 is Ralph Vaughan Williams . Ralph Vaughan Williams (12 October 1872 – 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions, including nine symphonies, written over 60 years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his work marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century. He was musically a late developer, not finding his true voice until his late 30s, when his studies with the French composer Maurice Ravel helped him clarify the textures of his music. His symphonies express a wide range of moods: from stormy and impassioned to tranquil, from mysterious to exuberant. His other concert works include Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910) and The Lark Ascending (1914). His ballet Job: A Masque for Dancing (1930) has been frequently staged. He insisted on the tradit...
Stripping ESO 137-001
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Spiral galaxy ESO 137-001 hurtles through massive galaxy cluster Abell 3627 some 220 million light years away. The distant galaxy is seen in this colorful Hubble/Chandra composite image through a foreground of the Milky Way's stars toward the southern constellation Triangulum Australe. As the spiral speeds along at nearly 7 million kilometers per hour, its gas and dust are stripped away when ram pressure with the cluster's own hot, tenuous intracluster medium overcomes the galaxy's gravity. Evident in Hubble's near visible light data, bright star clusters have formed in the stripped material along the short, trailing blue streaks. Chandra's X-ray data shows off the enormous extent of the heated, stripped gas as diffuse, darker blue trails stretching over 400,000 light-years toward the bottom right. The significant loss of dust and gas will make new star formation difficult for this galaxy. A yellowish elliptical galaxy, lacking in star forming dust and gas, is just...
Wikipedia article of the day for August 25, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 25, 2018 is Tales of Wonder (magazine) . Tales of Wonder was a British science fiction magazine launched in 1937 with Walter Gillings as editor, published by a subsidiary of William Heinemann. Gillings was able to attract some good material, and included many reprints from US science fiction magazines. Arthur C. Clarke (pictured) made his first professional sale to Tales of Wonder, with two science articles. Gillings also published William F. Temple's first story, some early material by John Wyndham, and "The Prr-r-eet" by Eric Frank Russell. American writers who appeared in the magazine included Murray Leinster, Jack Williamson, Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, and S. P. Meek. With the advent of World War II, paper shortages and Gillings's call-up into the army made it increasingly difficult to continue, and the sixteenth issue, dated Spring 1942, was the last. Tales of Wonder was the first British science fiction magazine aimed at ...
Just Another Day on Aerosol Earth
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Even if the air looks clear, it is nearly certain that you will inhale millions of solid particles and liquid droplets. These ubiquitous specks of matter are known as aerosols, and they can be found in the air over oceans, deserts, mountains, forests, ice and every ecosystem in between. via NASA https://ift.tt/2OYs9p0
South Dakota, Texas Students to Speak with Astronauts on International Space Station
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Messier 20 and 21
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The beautiful Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20, is easy to find with a small telescope in the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. About 5,000 light-years away, the colorful study in cosmic contrasts shares this well-composed, nearly 1 degree wide field with open star cluster Messier 21 (bottom right). Trisected by dust lanes the Trifid itself is about 40 light-years across and a mere 300,000 years old. That makes it one of the youngest star forming regions in our sky, with newborn and embryonic stars embedded in its natal dust and gas clouds. Estimates of the distance to open star cluster M21 are similar to M20's, but though they share this gorgeous telescopic skyscape there is no apparent connection between the two. In fact, M21's stars are much older, about 8 million years old. via NASA https://ift.tt/2BI0maN
Wikipedia article of the day for August 24, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 24, 2018 is Phantasmagoria (video game) . Phantasmagoria is a point-and-click adventure game designed by Roberta Williams for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. Released by Sierra On-Line on August 24, 1995, it tells the story of Adrienne Delaney (Victoria Morsell), a writer who moves into a remote mansion and finds herself terrorized by supernatural forces. Made at the peak of popularity for interactive movie games, Phantasmagoria features live-action footage. It was based on Williams's 550-page script, about four times the length of an average Hollywood screenplay, and cost $4.5 million to develop. Peter Maris directed a cast of 25 actors, all performing in front of a blue screen. The musical score includes neo-Gregorian chant performed by a 135-voice choir. Phantasmagoria became one of the best-selling games of 1995. It received mixed reviews, earning praise for its graphics and suspenseful tone, but criticism for its slow pacing and easy...
rain fire and brimstone: Word of the day for August 24, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Comet Heart and Soul
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The greenish coma of comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner stands out at the left of this telephoto skyscape spanning over 10 degrees toward the northern constellations Cassiopeia and Perseus. Captured on August 17, the periodic comet is the known parent body of the upcoming Draconid meteor shower. Predicted to be at its brightest next month, the comet is actually in the foreground of the rich starfield, only about 4 light-minutes from our fair planet. Giacobini-Zinner should remain too faint for your eye to see though, like the colorful Heart and Soul nebulae near the center of the sensitive digital camera's field of view. But the pair of open star clusters at the right, h and Chi Persei, could just be seen by the unaided eye from dark locations. The Heart and Soul nebulae with their own embedded clusters of young stars a million or so years old, are each over 200 light-years across and 6 to 7 thousand light-years away. They are part of a large, active star forming complex sprawling along t...
Wikipedia article of the day for August 23, 2018
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 23, 2018 is The Circular Staircase . The Bat is a three-act comedy-mystery play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood that was first produced by Lincoln Wagenhals and Collin Kemper. The play opened on Broadway on August 23, 1920. At a rented summer home, Cornelia Van Gorder and guests search for stolen money while being stalked by a masked criminal known as "the Bat". The play originated as an adaptation of Rinehart's 1908 mystery novel The Circular Staircase. It was a critical and commercial success, running for 867 performances in New York and 327 in London, with tours by several road companies. It was revived twice on Broadway, in 1937 and 1953. It had several adaptations, including a 1926 novelization credited to Rinehart and Hopwood but ghostwritten by Stephen Vincent Benét. Three film adaptations were produced: The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). The play and its adaptations inspired other c...