Visual Representation Of How The Solar System Travels Through The Milky Way

Can you believe this monster snake actually existed?

Titanoboa is an extinct genus of very large snakes that lived in what is now La Guajira in northeastern Colombia. They could grow up to 12.8 m long and reach a weight of 1,135 kg. Fossils of Titanoboa have been found in the Cerrejón Formation, and date to around 58 to 60 million years ago.

Titanoboa skeleton on display at Queensland Art Gallery

Venus and the Pleiades

TOP 10 PREHISTORIC OCEAN PREDATORS

10. ANOMALOCARIS (~ 525 Ma) This one metre long invertebrate surely deserves to be included on the list, being one of the first complex oceanic predators to ever have existed. Anomalocaris stalked the Cambrian oceans, viewing the world with a deadly new evolutionary innovation - eyes. Complex eyes allowed this creature to storm its way to the top of the food chain, and with powerful appendages covered in spines it had no trouble devouring prey with tough carapaces. Whilst Anomalocaris is dwarfed by the other contenders on this list, it was still over 10 times larger than any other animal of its time.

9. KRONOSAURUS (125-99 Ma) Kronosaurus, a Cretaceous mosasaur, is named after the Greek titan, Cronus. Its name is well deserved as this ancient beast was a remarkably powerful being. Kronosaurus could reach up to 10 metres long and had a mouth full of sharp, conical teeth. Unlike most other mosasaurs its tail was relatively short, however, evidence shows that Kronosaurus has immensely powerful fins and a pectoral girdle making it an impressive swimmer and hunter.

8. HELICOPRION (290-250 Ma) Helicoprion has astounded scientists since its discovery over 100 years ago. It is iconic for its bizarre spiral of teeth, there are still debates on where exactly these teeth where on the shark with proposals stating they were inside the mouth, on the tip of the tail, the dorsal fin or hanging under the jaw. The most commonly accepted location of the teeth is inside the lower jaw enabling Helicoprion to cleanly slice its prey into pieces.

7. XIPHACTINUS (~110-70 Ma) Xiphactinus was an extraordinary fish that lived during the Cretaceous. It was an esteemed predator that could reach an incredible 6 metres in length and specimens are renowned for their stunning preservation. One such example was 4 metres long and found with another exceptionally well preserved fish just short of 2 metres inside it implying that this particular Xiphactinus individual died shortly after its last feast. Xiphactinus had immensely sharp, slim teeth and an unmistakable underbite which was a possible aid when snaring creatures from below.

6. TYLOSAURUS (86-75 Ma) Tylosaurus is considered a mosasaur and was a vivacious predator all be it smaller than its relative Mosasaurus. Tylosaurus could reach up to 15 metres in length and was one of the apex predators of its day. Fossilised stomach contents of Tylosaurus contain fish, sharks, turtles and other marine reptiles. Despite having an impressive set of teeth, the frontal areas of the jaws exhibit a large reduction in tooth size as well as a more heavily reinforced snout in comparison to other mosasaurs suggesting that Tylosaurus may have rammed into victims with immense force damaging prey internally.

5. MOSASAURUS (70-66 Ma) The mosasaurs ruled the Cretaceous oceans and Mosasaurus was no exception. It could reach up to 17 metres long, longer than most other mosasaurs. Mosasaurus had a strong jaw packed with numerous conical teeth, bite marks of which have been found in huge prehistoric turtles and ammonites suggesting that Mosasaurus was a formidable hunter capable of catching large prey. Mosasaurus was a profound swimmer with strong paddle-like limbs and a huge tail capable of rapidly accelerating the animal when required.

4. DUNKLEOSTEUS (382-358 Ma) Dunkleosteus terrorised the oceans around 370 million years ago and was part of a dynasty known as the placoderm fish (meaning armoured). Dunkleosteus could reach a whopping 6-10 metres in length and probably weighed over a ton. The skull was made up of huge, solid bony plates giving unrivalled protection allowing them to dominate the oceans. Placoderm fish were some of the first organisms to have a mobile jaw, as can be seen in Dunkleosteus’ impressive shearing plates which were used to slice cleanly through prey. Despite an revolutionary jaw, Dunkleosteus could not chew and several fossilised regurgitated remains of its meals have been found that the giant fish simply could not stomach.  

3. DAKOSAURUS (157-137 Ma) Dakosaurus was the largest of a group of marine reptiles that were distant relatives of crocodiles. Dakosaurus could reach up to 5 metres long and had a streamlined body with large paddle-like fins and a long muscular tail implying that is was a very efficient swimmer. The diet of Dakosaurus consisted mostly of fish. The teeth of Dakosaurus are lateromedially compressed and serrated which is a similar morphology to modern killer whales indicating that Dakosaurus was an apex predator of the Jurassic oceans. Skull fenestrae provides evidence that Dakosaurus had very large adductor muscles (which are responsible for the jaw closing) and so it was certainly capable of a forceful bite.

2. LIOPLEURODON (160-155 Ma) Liopleurodon stormed the Jurassic oceans, its huge 7 metre long frame effortlessly cruised through the water. The skull itself could reach a massive 1.5 metres long with a jaw that was packed with teeth up to 10cm long and was capable of an immense bone-crushing force. Liopleurodon was a remarkable hunter with the ability to swim with its nostrils open and so could use its powerful sense of smell to track prey from afar, much like sharks do. Liopleurodon most likely had good camouflage such as a lighter underside and a darker topside so it would blend in with the water to prey above and below.  

1. MEGALODON (~16-2.6 Ma) Megalodon rightfully deserves the top position of the greatest prehistoric ocean predators, ruling the seas for an incredible 14 million years. Megalodon has been estimated to reach up to 18 metres in length and weighing over 40 tonnes. Megalodon is known for its huge 6 inch teeth which were serrated on both sides for an efficient slicing action. Fossils of Megalodon’s prey have also been found, the shark appeared to have adapted its hunting tactics for different sized prey; for smaller prey they would just use their bone crushing bite to pulverise internal organs, but for larger prey they would bite or rip flippers off of creatures to immobilise them and then go in for the kill. The exact bite force of Megalodon has been estimated at around 110,000 N which was more than enough to shatter even the most robust bones. The hunting methods of Megalodon will unfortunately remain a mystery but it was been hypothesised that they swam at great depths and used short bursts of speed to swim up and tear into their preys vulnerable underbelly. Sharks have existed for over 420 million years and still continue to be some of the most successful predators alive, Megalodon is a perfect example of how deadly they can be.

I tried to draw the moon in 3D @joaovitornart

Tarantula Nebula by NASA Hubble

from Asimov’s ‘Nightfall’

Here’s a great explanation of language usage in sci-fi literature for all those who cannot keep their nit-picking to themselves:

Kalgash is an alien world and it is not our intention to have you think that it is identical to Earth, even though we depict its people as speaking a language that you can understand, and using terms that are familiar to you. Those words should be understood as mere equivalents of alien terms-that is, a conventional set of equivalents of the same sort that a writer of novels uses when he has foreign characters speaking with each other in their own language but nevertheless transcribes their words in the language of the reader. So when the people of Kalgash speak of “miles,” or “hands,” or “cars,” or “computers,” they mean their own units of distance, their own grasping-organs, their own ground-transportation devices, their own information-processing machines, etc. The computers used on Kalgash are not necessarily compatible with the ones used in New York or London or Stockholm, and the “mile” that we use in this book is not necessarily the American unit of 5,280 feet. But it seemed simpler and more desirable to use these familiar terms in describing events on this wholly alien world than it would have been to invent a long series of wholly Kalgashian terms.

In other words, we could have told you that one of our characters paused to strap on his quonglishes before setting out on a walk of seven vorks along the main gleebish of his native znoob, and everything might have seemed ever so much more thoroughly alien. But it would also have been ever so much more difficult to make sense out of what we were saying, and that did not seem useful. The essence of this story doesn’t lie in the quantity of bizarre terms we might have invented; it lies, rather, in the reaction of a group of people somewhat like ourselves, living on a world that is somewhat like ours in all but one highly significant detail, as they react to a challenging situation that is completely different from anything the people of Earth have ever had to deal with. Under the circumstances, it seemed to us better to tell you that someone put on his hiking boots before setting out on a seven-mile walk than to clutter the book with quonglishes, vorks, and gleebishes.

If you prefer, you can imagine that the text reads “vorks” wherever it says “miles,” “gliizbiiz” wherever it says “hours,” and “sleshtraps” where it says “eyes.” Or you can make up your own terms. Vorks or miles, it will make no difference when the Stars come out.

-I.A.

-R.S.

Hyades Star Cluster

The Horsehead Nebula : Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud by chance has assumed this recognizable shape. Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula, it is some 1,500 light-years distant, embedded in the vast Orion cloud complex. About five light-years “tall”, the dark cloud is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is visible only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against the glowing red emission nebula IC 434. Stars are forming within the dark cloud. Contrasting blue reflection nebula NGC 2023, surrounding a hot, young star, is at the lower left of the full image. The featured gorgeous color image combines both narrowband and broadband images recorded using several different telescopes. via NASA

Excuse me everyone i’m gonna go become a minor god of crows now