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Latest Posts by passkale - Page 3
(via WINNING THE GREEN NEW DEAL Audiobook Excerpt)
Children’s Book Week, U.S. Information Center, Paris, 11/12/1950
Series: Photographs of Information Center Service Activities in Foreign Countries, 1948 - 1954
Record Group 306: Records of the U.S. Information Agency, 1900 - 2003
Image description: A table display in a library, with posters that say “MAKE FRIENDS WITH BOOKS” and sections for “FURRY FRIENDS” “SERIOUS FRIENDS” and “MYSTERIOUS FRIENDS”.
Image 2: A closeup of the poster, which features an animal (could be a fox, could be an anteater?) wearing a fancy tailcoat, cravat, and fur cape. The animal is holding a book titled “CHILDREN STORIES”. At the bottom of the poster is “BOOK WEEK / NOVEMBER 12-18, 1950”.
SOFI TUKKER - Batshit (Official Video) [Ultra Music]
An Addition to our Space Rock Collection
On October 20th, our OSIRIS-REx mission will make its first attempt to collect and retrieve a sample of asteroid Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid. On sample collection day, Bennu will be over 200 million miles away from Earth.
Asteroids are the building blocks of our solar system. A sample of this ancient material can tell us about the history of our planet and the origins of life. Science results published from the mission on October 8th confirm that Bennu contains carbon in a form often found in biology or in compounds associated with biology.
To collect a sample, OSIRIS-REx will attempt a method NASA has never used before – called Touch-And-Go (TAG). First, the spacecraft extends its robotic sampling arm, the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) – from its folded storage position. The spacecraft’s two solar panels then move into a “Y-wing” configuration over the spacecraft’s body, which positions them safely up and away from the asteroid’s surface during touch down. This configuration also places the spacecraft’s center of gravity directly over the TAGSAM collector head, which is the only part of the spacecraft that will contact Bennu’s surface.
Finding a safe sample collection site on Bennu’s rocky landscape was a challenge. During the sampling event, the spacecraft, which is the size of a large van, will attempt to touch down in an area that is only the size of a few parking spaces, and just a few steps away from enormous boulders.
The spacecraft will only make contact with Bennu for a matter of seconds - just long enough to blow nitrogen gas onto the surface to roil up dust and small pebbles, which will then be captured for a return to Earth.
We need to conduct a few tests before we can confirm we collected a large enough sample (about 2 oz). First, OSIRIS-REx will take images of the collector head to see if it contains rocks and dust. Second, the spacecraft will spin with the TAGSAM extended to determine the mass of collected material. If these measures show a successful collection, we will stow the sample for return to Earth. If sufficient sample has not been collected, the spacecraft has onboard nitrogen charges for two more attempts. The next TAG attempt would be made no earlier than January 2021.
Despite the many challenges, the OSIRIS-REx team is ready. They’ve practiced and prepared for this moment.
Join in with #ToBennuAndBack and tune in on October 20th.
Learn more about the OSIRIS-REx countdown to TAG HERE.
Learn more about the OSIRIS-REx mission HERE, or follow the mission on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
https://player.vimeo.com/video/301048107?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&app_id=122963
Untitled (via Vimeo)
Video-Statement zur Festhalteverfügung der Mare Liberum und Sebastian K from Mare Liberum on Vimeo.
https://apps.apple.com/ca/developer/grailr-llc/id556706923
apps.apple.com/ca/developer/grailr-llc/id556706923
View On WordPress
music.apple.com/ca/artist/björk/295015
View On WordPress
This Ultra Modern Tiny House Will Blow Your Mind
Miss Monique for Cloudbeds @ ITB Berlin
(via WINNING THE GREEN NEW DEAL Audiobook Excerpt)
https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fmonsterbrains.blogspot.com%2F2013%2F01%2Fstarblazer.html&t=OWNlMTlhOGQ3ZWM0NTg5MmQ5YTNlY2E4OWM1YjUwODY4MDVlMDAxZCxlbjhTRzlaVw%3D%3D&p=&m=0&ts=1597865251
Starblazer
(via “It Largely Comes Down to Central Bank Policies,” Economist on UK Inflation)
(via Former US Secretary of Defense William Perry in an interview with Radio Sputnik)
Planispheric Astrolabe This is a paper reconstruction of one of the four brass planispheric astrolabe by well known 15th century German astronomer, Georg Hartmann. It was … Planispheric Astrolabe
Bend Your Mind With Special Relativity
Ever dreamed of traveling nearly as fast as light? Zipping across the universe to check out the sights seems like it could be fun. But, not so fast. There are a few things you should know before you jump into your rocket. At near the speed of light, the day-to-day physics we know on Earth need a few modifications. And if you’re thinking Albert Einstein will be entering this equation, you’re right!
We live our daily lives using what scientists call Newtonian physics, as in Isaac Newton, the guy who had the proverbial apple fall on his head. Imagine that you are on a sidewalk, watching your friend walk toward the front of a bus as it drives away. The bus is moving at 30 mph. Your friend walks at 3 mph. To you, your friend is moving at 33 mph — you simply add the two speeds together. (The 30 mph the bus is moving plus 3 mph that your friend is moving inside the bus.) This is a simple example of Newtonian physics.
However, imagine that your friend on the bus turns on a flashlight, and you both measure the speed of its light. You would both measure it to be moving at 670 million mph (or 1 billion kilometers per hour) — this is the speed of light. Even though the flashlight is with your friend on the moving bus, you still both measure the speed of light to be exactly the same. Suddenly you see how Einstein’s physics is different from Newton’s.
This prediction was a key part of Einstein’s special theory of relativity: The speed of light is the same for any observer, no matter their relative speed. This leads to many seemingly weird effects.
Before talking about those surprising effects, it’s good to take a moment to talk about point of view. For the rest of this discussion, we’ll assume that you’re at rest — sitting in one spot in space, not moving. And your friend is on a rocket ship that you measure to be traveling at 90% the speed of light. Neither of you is changing speed or direction. Scientists give this a fancy name — an “inertial frame of reference.”
With the stage set, now we can talk about a couple of super-weird effects of traveling near the speed of light. Relativity messes with simple things like distance and time, doing stuff that might blow your mind!
Let’s say you have a stick that is 36 inches long (91 centimeters). Your friend on the rocket doesn’t know the stick’s length, so they measure it by comparing it to a ruler they have as they zoom past you. They find your stick is just 16 inches (40 centimeters) long — less than half the length you measured! This effect is called length contraction. And if they were moving even faster, your friend would measure your stick to be even shorter. The cool thing about relativity is that both of those measurements are right! We see these effects in particle physics with fast-moving particles.
If your friend was traveling to our nearest neighbor star, Proxima Centauri, how far would they think it was? From Earth, we measure Proxima Centauri to be 4.2 light-years away (where one light-year is the distance light travels in a year, or about 5.8 trillion miles). However, your friend, who is traveling at 90% the speed of light in the rocket, would measure the distance between Earth and Proxima Centauri to be just over 1.8 light-years.
That’s just length … let’s talk about time!
Now let’s say you and your friend on the rocket have identical synchronized clocks. When your friend reaches Proxima Centauri, they send you a signal, telling you how long their trip took them. Their clock says the trip took just over two years. Remember, they measure the distance to be 1.8 light-years. However, you would see that your clock, which stayed at rest with you, says the trip took 4.7 years — more than twice as long!
This effect is called time dilation — time on moving clocks appears to tick slower.
None of this accounts for your friend accelerating their rocket or stopping at Proxima Centauri. All of this math gets more complicated if you and your friend were speeding up, slowing down, or changing directions. For instance, if your friend slowed down to stop at Proxima Centauri, they would have aged less than you on their trip!
Now you’re ready for a few tips on near-light-speed travel! Watch the video below for more.
Now, if you need to relax a bit after this whirlwind, near-light-speed trip, you can grab our coloring pages of scenes from the video. And if you enjoyed the trip, download a postcard to send to a friend. Finally, if you want to explore more of the wonders of the universe, follow NASA Universe on Facebook and Twitter.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
