Sometimes You Run Into Something That Just Overturns Your Understanding And Builds A New, More Coherent

sometimes you run into something that just overturns your understanding and builds a new, more coherent picture. this is one of them.

they taught us about diffraction theory at uni - Fresnel, Fraunhofer all of that, we did experiments with lasers - but it never occurred to me to analyse lenses in terms of diffraction. it makes so much sense now! i was never entirely satisfied by the ray approximation to light, so seeing what's really going on in the lightfield and how you can use a diffraction plate as a lens, with each ring contributing higher order Fourier terms to the image, is like. crazy cool.

Warm yourself by the fire, NASA style!

Look no further than this cozy and relaxing fireplace – complete with four RS-25 rocket engines to fill your hearth with light. (And 8.8 million pounds of thrust to power your party to the Moon.)

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electrolumen

1 year ago

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An F4 category tornado bears down on storm chaser Tim Samaras, Carsten Peter.

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electrolumen

11 months ago

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electrolumen

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The first simulated image of a black hole was calculated with an IBM 7040 computer using 1960 punch cards and hand-plotted by French astrophysicist Jean-Pierre Luminet in 1978.

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electrolumen

1 year ago

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electrolumen

1 year ago

So happy to finally share this shot with you: a conjunction of the ISS and the moon. This shot required meticulous planning and precise timing to achieve, and the full image (in the second post in the thread) is one of my all-time favorites. CR:AM