Rawsilk

But does a human form display To those who dwell in realms of day.

355 notes

Enormous Crack Found in West Antartica Feb. 1, 2012 — NASA’s Terra Earth-observing satellite captured this image of Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica on Nov. 13, 2011, after a research team discovered a huge 19-mile (30-km) -long crack running across it. Members of the Operation IceBridge mission spotted the crack during a DC-8 flight over Pine Island Glacier (PIG) on Oct. 14, 2011. It’s estimated to be up to 260 feet (80 meters) wide and 195 feet (60 meters) deep. Eventually the crack will shear the glacier off completely, creating an ice island spanning 350 square miles (900 sq. km). crookedindifference:
Enormous Crack Found in West Antartica

Feb. 1, 2012 — NASA’s Terra Earth-observing satellite captured this image of Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica on Nov. 13, 2011, after a research team discovered a huge 19-mile (30-km) -long crack running across it.

Members of the Operation IceBridge mission spotted the crack during a DC-8 flight over Pine Island Glacier (PIG) on Oct. 14, 2011. It’s estimated to be up to 260 feet (80 meters) wide and 195 feet (60 meters) deep.

Eventually the crack will shear the glacier off completely, creating an ice island spanning 350 square miles (900 sq. km).

crookedindifference:

(via parkstepp)

109 notes

unknownskywalker: Spitzer Discovers Largest Ring Around Saturn NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered an enormous ring around Saturn –€” by far the largest of the giant planet’s many rings. The new belt lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system, with an orbit tilted 27 degrees from the main ring plane. The bulk of its material starts about six million kilometers away from the planet and extends outward roughly another 12 million kilometers. One of Saturn’s farthest moons, Phoebe, circles within the newfound ring, and is likely the source of its material. Saturn’s newest halo is thick, too –€” its vertical height is about 20 times the diameter of the planet. It would take about one billion Earths stacked together to fill the ring. The ring itself is tenuous, made up of a thin array of ice and dust particles. Spitzer’s infrared eyes were able to spot the glow of the band’s cool dust. The ring would be difficult to see with visible-light telescopes. Its particles are diffuse and may even extend beyond the bulk of the ring material all the way in to Saturn and all the way out to interplanetary space. The relatively small numbers of particles in the ring wouldn’t reflect much visible light, especially out at Saturn where sunlight is weak. Spitzer was able to sense the glow of the cool dust, which is only about 80 Kelvin (minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit). Cool objects shine with infrared, or thermal radiation; for example, even a cup of ice cream is blazing with infrared light. By focusing on the glow of the ring’s cool dust, Spitzer made it easy to find.

unknownskywalker:

Spitzer Discovers Largest Ring Around Saturn

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered an enormous ring around Saturn –€” by far the largest of the giant planet’s many rings.

The new belt lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system, with an orbit tilted 27 degrees from the main ring plane. The bulk of its material starts about six million kilometers away from the planet and extends outward roughly another 12 million kilometers. One of Saturn’s farthest moons, Phoebe, circles within the newfound ring, and is likely the source of its material.

Saturn’s newest halo is thick, too –€” its vertical height is about 20 times the diameter of the planet. It would take about one billion Earths stacked together to fill the ring. The ring itself is tenuous, made up of a thin array of ice and dust particles. Spitzer’s infrared eyes were able to spot the glow of the band’s cool dust.

The ring would be difficult to see with visible-light telescopes. Its particles are diffuse and may even extend beyond the bulk of the ring material all the way in to Saturn and all the way out to interplanetary space. The relatively small numbers of particles in the ring wouldn’t reflect much visible light, especially out at Saturn where sunlight is weak.

Spitzer was able to sense the glow of the cool dust, which is only about 80 Kelvin (minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit). Cool objects shine with infrared, or thermal radiation; for example, even a cup of ice cream is blazing with infrared light. By focusing on the glow of the ring’s cool dust, Spitzer made it easy to find.

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wildcat2030:

An interview with futurist John Smart, director of the Acceleration Studies Foundation, co-founder of the Evo Devo Universe Research Community, and director of the master’s program in emerging technology at the U. of Advancing Technology.

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unknownskywalker: Dione on a Diagonal Saturn and Dione appear askew in this Cassini view with the north poles rotated to the right, as if they were threaded along on the thin diagonal line of the planet’s rings. The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Dec. 12, 2011 from a distance of approximately 57,000 km from Dione.

unknownskywalker:

Dione on a Diagonal

Saturn and Dione appear askew in this Cassini view with the north poles rotated to the right, as if they were threaded along on the thin diagonal line of the planet’s rings. The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Dec. 12, 2011 from a distance of approximately 57,000 km from Dione.

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i12bent: Today’s spotlight feature on OF is about a favorite writer of mine: Richard Brautigan - Jan 30, 1935 - 1984, suicide… Brautigan was a literary jester, a fellow traveller of the Beats for a while, and then he struck out for unknown territories, staking a claim as one of the first truly post-modern American novelists - one cut from a different cloth than the intellectual postmodernism of Pynchon and Barth. Or as he might have described himself: “He created his own Kool Aid reality and was able to illuminate himself by it.” ― Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America

i12bent:

Today’s spotlight feature on OF is about a favorite writer of mine: Richard Brautigan - Jan 30, 1935 - 1984, suicide…

Brautigan was a literary jester, a fellow traveller of the Beats for a while, and then he struck out for unknown territories, staking a claim as one of the first truly post-modern American novelists - one cut from a different cloth than the intellectual postmodernism of Pynchon and Barth. Or as he might have described himself:

“He created his own Kool Aid reality and was able to illuminate himself by it.” ― Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America

102 notes

unknownskywalker:

Hiriko: collapsible electric city car

Hiriko is a compact electric urban mobility vehicle, capable of folding together when parked. The first working prototype of the device, which is the commercial version of mit media lab’s Citycar concept, has just been presented in brussels, belgium.

The electric two-seater measures just 5-feet long and contains no doors; passengers instead enter through an upswinging windshield. The vehicle’s motor is distributed among its four wheels, each of which contains a drive motor, steering, braking, and suspension.

As a result, the car can be folded together for parking purposes, permitting about three ‘hiriko’ vehicles to fit in the space of a single ordinary parking spot. The wheels also enable a zero-turn radius, capable of spinning completely in place. Watch the video →