1. Earth

  2. The scene-stealer is that detached prominence off to the left. That’s the leftover material ejected from the Sun by an erupting sunspot (you can see other sunspots in the picture as well). The gas is ionized — aplasma — and so it’s affected by magnetic fields. The material follows the magnetic field of the Sun in the explosion, lifting it off the surface and into space. Sometimes it falls back, and sometimes it leaves the Sun entirely. In this case, Alan caught some of the material at what looks like the top of its trajectory. Click here for more info. (It’s well worth your time.)

    The scene-stealer is that detached prominence off to the left. That’s the leftover material ejected from the Sun by an erupting sunspot (you can see other sunspots in the picture as well). The gas is ionized — aplasma — and so it’s affected by magnetic fields. The material follows the magnetic field of the Sun in the explosion, lifting it off the surface and into space. Sometimes it falls back, and sometimes it leaves the Sun entirely. In this case, Alan caught some of the material at what looks like the top of its trajectory.

    Click here for more info. (It’s well worth your time.)

  3. What planets would look like if they were same distance from Earth as the Moon.
    (Be sure to watch in full screen.)

    via

  4. A 3-D Tour of All the Known Galaxies, In 90 Seconds →

  5. fuckyeahspace: NASA Finds New Form of Life NASA astrobiologists have discovered a microorganism in California that is doing something completely novel: substituting arsenic for phosphorus in its chemical makeup. Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur are the six basic building blocks of all known forms of life on Earth. Phosphorus is part of the chemical backbone of DNA and RNA, the structures that carry genetic instructions for life, and is considered an essential element for all living cells. Arsenic, which is chemically similar to phosphorus, is poisonous for most life on Earth. Arsenic disrupts metabolic pathways because chemically it behaves similarly to phosphate. It’s been known for a while that some microbes can metabolise arsenic, but what this organism is doing is building parts of itself out of arsenic, something no other known life forms can do. ”If something here on Earth can do something so unexpected,” asks Felisa Wolfe-Simon, a NASA Astrobiology Research Fellow, “What else can life do that we haven’t seen yet?” This will change the way astrobiologists look for life on other planets, including where they look (arsenic-rich atmospheres were previously considered off-limits) and what the definition of life really is (right now, we only know that life exists the way it does on Earth, so finding out that life can exist very differently and using different chemicals will expand what we think of when we think of “life”). This is the first alternative biology we’ve ever known to exist; previously, the idea of alternative biologies has been mere speculation, more common in the realms of pop-science and science fiction. Source: NASA. Photo via Gizmodo. More info at NASA astrobiology.

    fuckyeahspace:

    NASA Finds New Form of Life

    NASA astrobiologists have discovered a microorganism in California that is doing something completely novel: substituting arsenic for phosphorus in its chemical makeup.

    Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur are the six basic building blocks of all known forms of life on Earth. Phosphorus is part of the chemical backbone of DNA and RNA, the structures that carry genetic instructions for life, and is considered an essential element for all living cells. Arsenic, which is chemically similar to phosphorus, is poisonous for most life on Earth. Arsenic disrupts metabolic pathways because chemically it behaves similarly to phosphate.

    It’s been known for a while that some microbes can metabolise arsenic, but what this organism is doing is building parts of itself out of arsenic, something no other known life forms can do. ”If something here on Earth can do something so unexpected,” asks Felisa Wolfe-Simon, a NASA Astrobiology Research Fellow, “What else can life do that we haven’t seen yet?”

    This will change the way astrobiologists look for life on other planets, including where they look (arsenic-rich atmospheres were previously considered off-limits) and what the definition of life really is (right now, we only know that life exists the way it does on Earth, so finding out that life can exist very differently and using different chemicals will expand what we think of when we think of “life”). This is the first alternative biology we’ve ever known to exist; previously, the idea of alternative biologies has been mere speculation, more common in the realms of pop-science and science fiction.

    Source: NASA. Photo via Gizmodo. More info at NASA astrobiology.

  6. It's Full of Stars: Expanding on a News Story: Fermi Bubbles →

    itsfullofstars:

    Recently, there’s been a lot of buzz in the astronomy community about the recent discovery of gamma-ray bubbles over the center of our galaxy. Above is an illustration from the press release depicting the bubbles, which were discovered by NASA’s Fermi space telescope. [See the original…

  7. via

    via

  8. Can NASA Launch a Rocket with a Laser? →

    I’m pretty sure this works in video games, so I see no reason why we couldn’t pull it off in reality.

  9. cubicle17: I love things like this: [SolarBeat is a] simple ambient musicbox, with sounds generated using the orbital frequencies of our solar system. (via yewknee) I’ve been listening for at least the past ten minutes.

    cubicle17:

    I love things like this:

    [SolarBeat is a] simple ambient musicbox, with sounds generated using the orbital frequencies of our solar system.

    (via yewknee)

    I’ve been listening for at least the past ten minutes.

  10. Matt and I just finished screen printing posters for the upcoming Yeasayer show at the Gargoyle. You should come. And you should buy a poster from us.

    Matt and I just finished screen printing posters for the upcoming Yeasayer show at the Gargoyle.

    You should come. And you should buy a poster from us.