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Neither Elon Musk Nor Anybody Else Will Ever Colonize Mars | Defector
Neither Elon Musk Nor Anybody Else Will Ever Colonize Mars | Defector

Finding ourselves on this lush, beautiful, abundant planet is not some testament to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of life. Nor is it a coincidence. This is where life could happen; we are here because this is where we could be. Even here, even where things were as comfortably laid out as our brightest minds could ever imagine, it took billions of years, reproductions beyond counting, before any individual life got advanced enough to think something as silly as "Hey, let's go live on Mars."

·defector.com·
Neither Elon Musk Nor Anybody Else Will Ever Colonize Mars | Defector
Rafi Letzter: The Milky Way is probably full of dead civilizations (Space.com)
Rafi Letzter: The Milky Way is probably full of dead civilizations (Space.com)
Most of these other civilizations that still exist in the galaxy today are likely young, due to the probability that intelligent life is fairly likely to eradicate itself over long timescales. Even if the galaxy reached its civilizational peak more than 5 billion years ago, most of the civilizations that were around then have likely self-annihilated, the researchers found. This last bit is the most uncertain variable in the paper; how often do civilizations kill themselves? But it's also the most important in determining how widespread civilization is, the researchers found. Even an extraordinarily low chance of a given civilization wiping itself out in any given century — say, via nuclear holocaust or runaway climate change — would mean that the overwhelming majority of peak Milky Way civilizations are already gone
·space.com·
Rafi Letzter: The Milky Way is probably full of dead civilizations (Space.com)
Flickr: Smithsonian Institution: Chandra X-ray Observatory
Flickr: Smithsonian Institution: Chandra X-ray Observatory
"The Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope."
·flickr.com·
Flickr: Smithsonian Institution: Chandra X-ray Observatory
YTMND: catonakeyboardinspace
YTMND: catonakeyboardinspace
"What you see when you die." (Yeah, so I had a list of YTMNDs on my computer and I decided to put them all in Delicious, but every single one except this one was Captain Jean-Luc Picard singing about cake and drunken ping-pong with Ronald McDonald.)
·whatyouseewhenyoudie.ytmnd.com·
YTMND: catonakeyboardinspace
Matt Webb: Light Cone
Matt Webb: Light Cone
"HR753 is 23.5 light years away and only 5 months from the outer surface of your light cone — your ever-growing sphere of potential causality — which began its expansion from Earth on April 14 1985."
·interconnected.org·
Matt Webb: Light Cone
The Sound of the Big Bang
The Sound of the Big Bang
Using Mathematica to write a program that generates the Big Bang sound. "The simulation lasts 100 seconds representing the first 760 thousand years of evolution of the universe, and varies the sound intensity to match the cosmic microwave..."
·faculty.washington.edu·
The Sound of the Big Bang
Summer Moon Illusion
Summer Moon Illusion
"The lowest-hanging full moon in 18 years" will appear enormous in the sky this week.
·science.nasa.gov·
Summer Moon Illusion
NASA APOD: Water on Mars (April 1, 2005)
NASA APOD: Water on Mars (April 1, 2005)
"Finding water on different regions on Mars has implications for understanding its complex geologic history, the possible existence of past life and the sustenance of potential future astronauts."
·antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov·
NASA APOD: Water on Mars (April 1, 2005)
MSNBC: Asteroid named after ‘Hitchhiker’ humorist
MSNBC: Asteroid named after ‘Hitchhiker’ humorist
"Fittingly, the asteroid carried the provisional designation 2001 DA42, thus commemorating the year of his untimely death, containing his initials, and incorporating the famous answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything."
·msnbc.msn.com·
MSNBC: Asteroid named after ‘Hitchhiker’ humorist
NASA APOD: Titan Surmised
NASA APOD: Titan Surmised
"Saturn is scheduled to release its probe named Huygens that will actually attempt to land on the shrouded moon [Titan] in early January." "Will the truth be stranger than we imagined?"
·antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov·
NASA APOD: Titan Surmised
NASA APOD: 2004 October 29 - Red Moon Triple
NASA APOD: 2004 October 29 - Red Moon Triple
"Sliding through Earth's shadow, the Moon turned haunting shades of red and orange during the eclipse's total phase. The reddish hues are caused by sunlight scattered and refracted by the atmosphere into the Earth's otherwise dark central shadow region."
·antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov·
NASA APOD: 2004 October 29 - Red Moon Triple