The Black Marble NASA has released a jaw-dropping new image collection of the Earth at night, illuminated by constellations of electric humans. These images were collected in 22 days and 312 orbits by the Suomi NPP Earth observing satellite, then stitched together into a continuous, high-resolution image of the planet at night. Take a look at the high-res zoom of the continental U.S. I’m sort of stunned at how orderly the pattern of dots becomes in the Midwest, a tiny town at the crossroads of every county highway from Chicago to Cheyenne. NASA has the full details and some wonderful videos on their site. Download your next desktop wallpaper and check out the rest of the world here. I can’t stop staring!!!
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The Black Marble NASA has released a jaw-dropping new image collection of the Earth at night, illuminated by constellations of electric humans. These images were collected in 22 days and 312 orbits by the Suomi NPP Earth observing satellite, then stitched together into a continuous, high-resolution image of the planet at night. Take a look at the high-res zoom of the continental U.S. I’m sort of stunned at how orderly the pattern of dots becomes in the Midwest, a tiny town at the crossroads of every county highway from Chicago to Cheyenne. NASA has the full details and some wonderful videos on their site. Download your next desktop wallpaper and check out the rest of the world here. I can’t stop staring!!!
Zoom Info
The Black Marble NASA has released a jaw-dropping new image collection of the Earth at night, illuminated by constellations of electric humans. These images were collected in 22 days and 312 orbits by the Suomi NPP Earth observing satellite, then stitched together into a continuous, high-resolution image of the planet at night. Take a look at the high-res zoom of the continental U.S. I’m sort of stunned at how orderly the pattern of dots becomes in the Midwest, a tiny town at the crossroads of every county highway from Chicago to Cheyenne. NASA has the full details and some wonderful videos on their site. Download your next desktop wallpaper and check out the rest of the world here. I can’t stop staring!!!
Zoom Info

The Black Marble

NASA has released a jaw-dropping new image collection of the Earth at night, illuminated by constellations of electric humans. These images were collected in 22 days and 312 orbits by the Suomi NPP Earth observing satellite, then stitched together into a continuous, high-resolution image of the planet at night.

Take a look at the high-res zoom of the continental U.S. I’m sort of stunned at how orderly the pattern of dots becomes in the Midwest, a tiny town at the crossroads of every county highway from Chicago to Cheyenne.

NASA has the full details and some wonderful videos on their site. Download your next desktop wallpaper and check out the rest of the world here.

I can’t stop staring!!!

Re-post to remind you to get out and watch the Perseids this weekend, and all the other events this year! jtotheizzoe: Meteor Showers 2012 A calendar of all the major meteor showers taking place in 2012 that I drew up. Of course, this isn’t all of the meteor events this year. Only the ones with the best chance of being visible. I chose only events with a Zenith Hourly Rate (ZHR, the number of peak events per hour) above 10. You should also consider the moon phase for that date, which I did not include. How to use this:  The date on the left is the early morning after midnight on the day it will peak (so “October 7” is between midnight and sunrise on the morning of the 7th).  The constellation represents the point in the sky that the shower will “originate” from.  Choose someplace dark, away from city lights, and bring a blanket and a friend. Enjoy. To calculate the sunrise/sunset for your area on a specific date, go here. Many more details about each event can be found in this summary from EarthSky. Some events will favor the North or South Hemispheres, but such is life. Feel free to distribute freely! (Link to hi-res version)
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Re-post to remind you to get out and watch the Perseids this weekend, and all the other events this year!

jtotheizzoe:

Meteor Showers 2012

A calendar of all the major meteor showers taking place in 2012 that I drew up.

Of course, this isn’t all of the meteor events this year. Only the ones with the best chance of being visible. I chose only events with a Zenith Hourly Rate (ZHR, the number of peak events per hour) above 10. You should also consider the moon phase for that date, which I did not include.

How to use this: 

  1. The date on the left is the early morning after midnight on the day it will peak (so “October 7” is between midnight and sunrise on the morning of the 7th). 
  2. The constellation represents the point in the sky that the shower will “originate” from. 
  3. Choose someplace dark, away from city lights, and bring a blanket and a friend.
  4. Enjoy.

To calculate the sunrise/sunset for your area on a specific date, go here. Many more details about each event can be found in this summary from EarthSky. Some events will favor the North or South Hemispheres, but such is life.

Feel free to distribute freely!

(Link to hi-res version)

thekidshouldseethis:

A downward lightning negative ground flash captured at 7,207 images per second. A negative stepped leader emerges from the cloud and connects with the ground forming a return stroke.

From ZT Research, who is “trying to figure out how lightning works.”

via Stellar.

ZAP.

Visit the ZT Research video page to see even more lightning captures, including some crazy upward stuff. Until you watch it at this slow speed, you don’t appreciate the random, yet stable path that the ionized gas takes from cloud to ground. Amazing.

Watch the skies tonight! Hey folks! Check your meteor calendars! Tonight marks the next major event of 2012, with the Lyrid meteor shower. Best viewed from the northern hemisphere, look to the northeast after midnight until dawn. The meteors will peak then, radiating off the east side of the bright star in Lyra up there (although you could see them anywhere in the sky). Here’s a complete guide from EarthSky on what to look for tonight. Best of all? No moon to get in the way! jtotheizzoe: Meteor Showers 2012 A calendar of all the major meteor showers taking place in 2012 that I drew up. Of course, this isn’t all of the meteor events this year. Only the ones with the best chance of being visible. I chose only events with a Zenith Hourly Rate (ZHR, the number of peak events per hour) above 10. You should also consider the moon phase for that date, which I did not include. How to use this:  The date on the left is the early morning after midnight on the day it will peak (so “October 7” is between midnight and sunrise on the morning of the 7th).  The constellation represents the point in the sky that the shower will “originate” from.  Choose someplace dark, away from city lights, and bring a blanket and a friend. Enjoy. To calculate the sunrise/sunset for your area on a specific date, go here. Many more details about each event can be found in this summary from EarthSky. Some events will favor the North or South Hemispheres, but such is life. Feel free to distribute freely! (Link to hi-res version)
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Watch the skies tonight!

Hey folks! Check your meteor calendars! Tonight marks the next major event of 2012, with the Lyrid meteor shower. Best viewed from the northern hemisphere, look to the northeast after midnight until dawn. The meteors will peak then, radiating off the east side of the bright star in Lyra up there (although you could see them anywhere in the sky).

Here’s a complete guide from EarthSky on what to look for tonight. Best of all? No moon to get in the way!

jtotheizzoe:

Meteor Showers 2012

A calendar of all the major meteor showers taking place in 2012 that I drew up.

Of course, this isn’t all of the meteor events this year. Only the ones with the best chance of being visible. I chose only events with a Zenith Hourly Rate (ZHR, the number of peak events per hour) above 10. You should also consider the moon phase for that date, which I did not include.

How to use this: 

  1. The date on the left is the early morning after midnight on the day it will peak (so “October 7” is between midnight and sunrise on the morning of the 7th). 
  2. The constellation represents the point in the sky that the shower will “originate” from. 
  3. Choose someplace dark, away from city lights, and bring a blanket and a friend.
  4. Enjoy.

To calculate the sunrise/sunset for your area on a specific date, go here. Many more details about each event can be found in this summary from EarthSky. Some events will favor the North or South Hemispheres, but such is life.

Feel free to distribute freely!

(Link to hi-res version)

staceythinx: A galaxy not so far away: The Daily Mail put together a wonderful gallery of photographs of Wall Street Canyon at Bryce Canyon National Park by photographer Royce Bair. For #Starporn Saturday. We should totally make that a thing.
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staceythinx: A galaxy not so far away: The Daily Mail put together a wonderful gallery of photographs of Wall Street Canyon at Bryce Canyon National Park by photographer Royce Bair. For #Starporn Saturday. We should totally make that a thing.
Zoom Info
staceythinx: A galaxy not so far away: The Daily Mail put together a wonderful gallery of photographs of Wall Street Canyon at Bryce Canyon National Park by photographer Royce Bair. For #Starporn Saturday. We should totally make that a thing.
Zoom Info
staceythinx: A galaxy not so far away: The Daily Mail put together a wonderful gallery of photographs of Wall Street Canyon at Bryce Canyon National Park by photographer Royce Bair. For #Starporn Saturday. We should totally make that a thing.
Zoom Info
staceythinx: A galaxy not so far away: The Daily Mail put together a wonderful gallery of photographs of Wall Street Canyon at Bryce Canyon National Park by photographer Royce Bair. For #Starporn Saturday. We should totally make that a thing.
Zoom Info
staceythinx: A galaxy not so far away: The Daily Mail put together a wonderful gallery of photographs of Wall Street Canyon at Bryce Canyon National Park by photographer Royce Bair. For #Starporn Saturday. We should totally make that a thing.
Zoom Info
staceythinx: A galaxy not so far away: The Daily Mail put together a wonderful gallery of photographs of Wall Street Canyon at Bryce Canyon National Park by photographer Royce Bair. For #Starporn Saturday. We should totally make that a thing.
Zoom Info
staceythinx: A galaxy not so far away: The Daily Mail put together a wonderful gallery of photographs of Wall Street Canyon at Bryce Canyon National Park by photographer Royce Bair. For #Starporn Saturday. We should totally make that a thing.
Zoom Info
staceythinx: A galaxy not so far away: The Daily Mail put together a wonderful gallery of photographs of Wall Street Canyon at Bryce Canyon National Park by photographer Royce Bair. For #Starporn Saturday. We should totally make that a thing.
Zoom Info
staceythinx: A galaxy not so far away: The Daily Mail put together a wonderful gallery of photographs of Wall Street Canyon at Bryce Canyon National Park by photographer Royce Bair. For #Starporn Saturday. We should totally make that a thing.
Zoom Info

staceythinx:

A galaxy not so far away: The Daily Mail put together a wonderful gallery of photographs of Wall Street Canyon at Bryce Canyon National Park by photographer Royce Bair.

For #Starporn Saturday.

We should totally make that a thing.

Meteor Showers 2012 A calendar of all the major meteor showers taking place in 2012 that I drew up. Of course, this isn’t all of the meteor events this year. Only the ones with the best chance of being visible. I chose only events with a Zenith Hourly Rate (ZHR, the number of peak events per hour) above 10. You should also consider the moon phase for that date, which I did not include. How to use this:  The date on the left is the early morning after midnight on the day it will peak (so “October 7” is between midnight and sunrise on the morning of the 7th).  The constellation represents the point in the sky that the shower will “originate” from.  Choose someplace dark, away from city lights, and bring a blanket and a friend. Enjoy. To calculate the sunrise/sunset for your area on a specific date, go here. Many more details about each event can be found in this summary from EarthSky. Some events will favor the North or South Hemispheres, but such is life. Feel free to distribute freely! (Link to hi-res version)
Pop-upView Separately

Meteor Showers 2012

A calendar of all the major meteor showers taking place in 2012 that I drew up.

Of course, this isn’t all of the meteor events this year. Only the ones with the best chance of being visible. I chose only events with a Zenith Hourly Rate (ZHR, the number of peak events per hour) above 10. You should also consider the moon phase for that date, which I did not include.

How to use this: 

  1. The date on the left is the early morning after midnight on the day it will peak (so “October 7” is between midnight and sunrise on the morning of the 7th). 
  2. The constellation represents the point in the sky that the shower will “originate” from. 
  3. Choose someplace dark, away from city lights, and bring a blanket and a friend.
  4. Enjoy.

To calculate the sunrise/sunset for your area on a specific date, go here. Many more details about each event can be found in this summary from EarthSky. Some events will favor the North or South Hemispheres, but such is life.

Feel free to distribute freely!

(Link to hi-res version)

How urban light pollution can affect the biological rhythms of urban nocturnal animals: Not all species of animals are negatively affected by the urban environments. Even humans are not driven to insanity by the urban jungle. Some species are really thriving – rats, mice, squirrels, bats, alligators in sewers, sparrows, pigeons, starlings, crows, house flies, mosquitoes and cockroaches come to mind. Many birds have evolved (or invented) quite nifty adaptations to urban life. Of course, animals we domesticated and keep as pets, like cats and dogs, don’t really care about the city vs. country, as long as they are with us and we take good care of them. But there are definitely negative effects as well. After all, just counts and surveys of species make it obvious that many species are not thriving in dense urban ecosystems. Not all cities are the same either. A large, dense city is likely to be much less hospitable to many species than urban sprawl where much greenery and the original natural habitat are still preserved between the cul-de-sacs. Just watch the wilderness appearing on my back porch: skinks, tree frogs, Luna moths, white-tailed deer, rabbits, opossums, racoons, cicadas, endless species of birds… (via A Blog Around The Clock)
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How urban light pollution can affect the biological rhythms of urban nocturnal animals:

Not all species of animals are negatively affected by the urban environments. Even humans are not driven to insanity by the urban jungle. Some species are really thriving – rats, mice, squirrels, bats, alligators in sewers, sparrows, pigeons, starlings, crows, house flies, mosquitoes and cockroaches come to mind. Many birds have evolved (or invented) quite nifty adaptations to urban life. Of course, animals we domesticated and keep as pets, like cats and dogs, don’t really care about the city vs. country, as long as they are with us and we take good care of them.

But there are definitely negative effects as well. After all, just counts and surveys of species make it obvious that many species are not thriving in dense urban ecosystems. Not all cities are the same either. A large, dense city is likely to be much less hospitable to many species than urban sprawl where much greenery and the original natural habitat are still preserved between the cul-de-sacs. Just watch the wilderness appearing on my back porch: skinks, tree frogs, Luna moths, white-tailed deer, rabbits, opossums, racoons, cicadas, endless species of birds…

(via A Blog Around The Clock)

Source: blogs.scientificamerican.com