neat!

In this spectacular 360 degree panorama, Mars Rover Opportunity...

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:07:53 -0700

In this spectacular 360 degree panorama, Mars Rover Opportunity photographed the vista surrounding her most recent winter hangout: “Greeley Haven.”

“This tenacious six-wheeled robot has survived five Martian winters since it landed on the Red Planet on Jan. 24th, 2004 — considering its warranty was only 90 days, we’re certainly getting our money’s worth!”

Such a neat picture.

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 09:59:47 -0700

Such a neat picture.

Photo

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 13:01:57 -0700

NASA’s latest “blue marble” photograph of our...

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:27:30 -0700

NASA’s latest “blue marble” photograph of our home planet…

The highest definition photograph ever taken of earth.

mmm.. surf babe. neat.

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:14:19 -0700

mmm.. surf babe.

neat.

Grizzly Bear - Knife From: Yellow House Great tune.

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:13:00 -0700

Grizzly Bear - Knife

From: Yellow House

Great tune.

Stunning picture of Titan’s atmosphere taken by the space...

Fri, 18 May 2012 11:40:00 -0700

Stunning picture of Titan’s atmosphere taken by the space probe Cassini.

“Titan (or Saturn VI) is the largest moon of Saturn. It is the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found.”

“The atmosphere of Titan is largely composed of nitrogen; minor components lead to the formation of methane and ethane clouds and nitrogen-rich organic smog. The climate—including wind and rain—creates surface features similar to those of Earth, such as sand dunes, rivers, lakes and seas (probably of liquid methane and ethane), and deltas, and is dominated by seasonal weather patterns as on Earth. With its liquids (both surface and subsurface) and robust nitrogen atmosphere, Titan’s methane cycle is viewed as ananalog to Earth’s water cycle, although at a much lower temperature.”

So. Fucking. Neat. Could there be life in Titan’s hydrocarbon Lakes!?

Such a neat Jelly.

Fri, 18 May 2012 11:27:00 -0700

Such a neat Jelly.

Berghia coerulescens - A marine Nudibranch species Nudibranchs...

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:09:00 -0700

Berghia coerulescens - A marine Nudibranch species

Nudibranchs are fucking gorgeous, mother nature’s quite the artist.

Golden Poison Dart Frog - Arguably the world’s most...

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:57:00 -0700

Golden Poison Dart Frog - Arguably the world’s most poisonous animal

“The poison of this frog is so toxic that even coming into contact with a paper towel that has touched the frog can be fatal. A single 2-inch-long frog has enough poison to kill 10 adult humans within minutes.”

Neat?

Europa - Jupiter’s neatest moon! “Slightly smaller...

Thu, 10 May 2012 13:03:00 -0700

Europa - Jupiter’s neatest moon!

“Slightly smaller than Earth’s Moon, Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and probably has an iron core. It has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen. Its surface is composed of ice and is one of the smoothest in the Solar System. This surface is striated by cracks and streaks, while craters are relatively infrequent.

The apparent youth and smoothness of the surface have led to the hypothesis that a water ocean exists beneath it, which could conceivably serve as an abode for extraterrestrial life.This hypothesis proposes that heat energy from tidal flexing causes the ocean to remain liquid and drives geological activity similar to plate tectonics, ultimately causing the large striations on the planet’s surface.”

Relative sizes of planets in the solar system and well-known...

Wed, 09 May 2012 12:34:00 -0700

Relative sizes of planets in the solar system and well-known stars..

Now that’s just ridiculous.

Parrotfish smile. “The clownish grin of a bridled...

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:29:35 -0700

Parrotfish smile.

“The clownish grin of a bridled parrotfish reveals its power tools: grinding teeth used to scrape algae from rock. “

Photo

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:20:08 -0700

Portuguese Man o’ War. What a neat little beast..

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:15:30 -0700

Portuguese Man o’ War.

What a neat little beast..

NOM NOM.

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:16:02 -0700

NOM NOM.

I’m obsessed with space.. deal with it. The range of...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:46:00 -0700

I’m obsessed with space.. deal with it.

The range of planet earth’s radio wave signals (about 200 light years in diameter) released into space, compared to the size of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Space is so wicked huge.

Happy Earth Day everyone! My all-time favourite photo.. Carl...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 10:28:00 -0700

Happy Earth Day everyone!

My all-time favourite photo.. Carl Sagan pretty well sums up my take on life here.

The Pale Blue Dot - taken by Voyager 1 upon it’s exit from the Solar System - The furthest picture ever taken of our planet earth, enjoy!

On February 14, 1990, NASA commanded the Voyager 1 spacecraft, having completed its primary mission, to turn around to photograph the planets it had visited. One image Voyager returned was of Earth, 4 billion miles distant, showing up as a tiny dot.

“The spacecraft was a long way from home. I thought it would be a good idea, just after Saturn, to have them take one last glance homeward. From Saturn, the Earth would appear too small for Voyager to make out any detail. Our planet would be just a point of light, a lonely pixel hardly distinguishable from the other points of light Voyager would see: nearby planets, far off suns. But precisely because of the obscurity of our world thus revealed, such a picture might be worth having.”

“It had been well understood by the scientists and philosophers of classical antiquity that the Earth was a mere point in a vast, encompassing cosmos — but no one had ever seen it as such. Here was our first chance, and perhaps also our last.”

“So, here they are: a mosaic of squares laid down on top of the planets in a background smattering of more distant stars. Because of the reflection of sunlight off the spacecraft, the Earth seems to be sitting in a beam of light, as if there were some special significance to this small world; but it’s just an accident of geometry and optics. There is no sign of humans in this picture: not our reworking of the Earth’s surface; not our machines; not ourselves. From this vantage point, our obsession with nationalism is nowhere in evidence. We are too small. On the scale of worlds, humans are inconsequential: a thin film of life on an obscure and solitary lump of rock and metal.”

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

“The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings; how eager they are to kill one another; how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.”

“Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity — in all this vastness — there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.”

“It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. It underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the only home we’ve ever known: the pale blue dot.”

- Carl Sagan

Exile Vilify - The National One of my favourite bands of all...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:12:00 -0700

Exile Vilify - The National

One of my favourite bands of all time.

One of my favourite photographs of all time -...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:37:18 -0700

One of my favourite photographs of all time - “Earthrise” from the Apollo 8 Mission.

You develop an instant global consciousness; a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, “Look at that, you son of a bitch.”

- Edgar Mitchell