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Together, we can stitch the stars together into a blanket, lay upon it, and sleep among the heavens.
You. Will. Not. Believe … how good the rest of Thomas Allen’s cut paper art is. Check it all out. Stunned with wonder. Stunder.
(via Colossal)
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Together, we can stitch the stars together into a blanket, lay upon it, and sleep among the heavens.

You. Will. Not. Believe … how good the rest of Thomas Allen’s cut paper art is. Check it all out. Stunned with wonder. Stunder.

(via Colossal)

Source: thisiscolossal.com

    • #space
    • #art
    • #stars
    • #thomas allen
    • #wow
  • 8 months ago
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The Sound of a Dying Star

The electromagnetic frequencies of a dying Sun-sized star were analyzed and converted to audible tones using advanced software tools. This is what it sounds like for a celestial body to be torn apart by a black hole. Kind of. You know … converted, since sound waves don’t travel in space.

A nice feature, and fantastic explanation, from CNN Radio.

Source: SoundCloud / CNN

    • #science
    • #audio
    • #space
    • #stars
    • #black hole
    • #dying star
  • 9 months ago
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The Largest Ever 3D Map of the Universe

Fly through the latest release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with images of 200 million galaxies. The spectra and motion collected in this ongoing project, which released this latest data this week, are like a lens into the early days of our universe.

Don’t feel small, feel special! That we can know so much about something so immense … that is truly amazing. 

(via The Atlantic)

Source: The Atlantic

    • #science
    • #video
    • #space
    • #stars
    • #sloan sky survey
    • #whoa
  • 9 months ago
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Skylights

Tell ya what … today is just going to be home to a time-lapse trifecta, okay? Especially with all the Jonah Lehrer stress from earlier. I think we all need a chill-out moment. 

NASA’s first images from Mercury and Gemini came this morning, then a gorgeous tour through the night skies as seen from the ISS. Now Knate Myers (who did the ISS video) has just posted this tour through the stars and sights of New Mexico.

Because of its low population density and minimal light pollution, New Mexico is a skywatcher’s paradise. Much of this video was shot at the Very Large Array, a field of radio telescopes in the middle of the state. Close to 6,000 photos went into this collection, and every one of them is a work of art. I especially like the part about halfway through where he turns off the rotation tracking equipment that follows the stars’ paths during the long exposures, and we get to see the trails extend across the heavens in concentric arcs.

HD, full scrizzle, have a great evening y’all!

Source: vimeo.com

    • #science
    • #space
    • #stars
    • #time-lapse
    • #video
    • #skylights
  • 9 months ago
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project-argus:


NPR: Hubble Captures Time-Lapse Videos Of Stars Being Born

(Movies of jets from young stars at HubbleSite: here)

If you’re like me and maybe a little confused as to what you’re looking at, here’s some more detail (Yes, even Joe has to look stuff up sometimes): 
As a star is formed from collapsing dust, ever increasing its density and energy, it begins to form a disk of dust and gas pulled in and rotated by its growing gravity. Perpendicular to this disk, like the tip of a spinning top, some gas is ejected away from the growing star in a high-energy jet. As this collides with interstellar gas, it gives off radiation, which we can observe with telescopes like Hubble.
To see the jets, we have to shift into the infrared and other spectra, as the radiation is outside normal human vision. These movies represent the first time we’ve seen the dynamics of the jets as opposed to still images. More info on protostellar jets here, you star-freaks.
Zoom Info
project-argus:


NPR: Hubble Captures Time-Lapse Videos Of Stars Being Born

(Movies of jets from young stars at HubbleSite: here)

If you’re like me and maybe a little confused as to what you’re looking at, here’s some more detail (Yes, even Joe has to look stuff up sometimes): 
As a star is formed from collapsing dust, ever increasing its density and energy, it begins to form a disk of dust and gas pulled in and rotated by its growing gravity. Perpendicular to this disk, like the tip of a spinning top, some gas is ejected away from the growing star in a high-energy jet. As this collides with interstellar gas, it gives off radiation, which we can observe with telescopes like Hubble.
To see the jets, we have to shift into the infrared and other spectra, as the radiation is outside normal human vision. These movies represent the first time we’ve seen the dynamics of the jets as opposed to still images. More info on protostellar jets here, you star-freaks.
Zoom Info
project-argus:


NPR: Hubble Captures Time-Lapse Videos Of Stars Being Born

(Movies of jets from young stars at HubbleSite: here)

If you’re like me and maybe a little confused as to what you’re looking at, here’s some more detail (Yes, even Joe has to look stuff up sometimes): 
As a star is formed from collapsing dust, ever increasing its density and energy, it begins to form a disk of dust and gas pulled in and rotated by its growing gravity. Perpendicular to this disk, like the tip of a spinning top, some gas is ejected away from the growing star in a high-energy jet. As this collides with interstellar gas, it gives off radiation, which we can observe with telescopes like Hubble.
To see the jets, we have to shift into the infrared and other spectra, as the radiation is outside normal human vision. These movies represent the first time we’ve seen the dynamics of the jets as opposed to still images. More info on protostellar jets here, you star-freaks.
Zoom Info
project-argus:


NPR: Hubble Captures Time-Lapse Videos Of Stars Being Born

(Movies of jets from young stars at HubbleSite: here)

If you’re like me and maybe a little confused as to what you’re looking at, here’s some more detail (Yes, even Joe has to look stuff up sometimes): 
As a star is formed from collapsing dust, ever increasing its density and energy, it begins to form a disk of dust and gas pulled in and rotated by its growing gravity. Perpendicular to this disk, like the tip of a spinning top, some gas is ejected away from the growing star in a high-energy jet. As this collides with interstellar gas, it gives off radiation, which we can observe with telescopes like Hubble.
To see the jets, we have to shift into the infrared and other spectra, as the radiation is outside normal human vision. These movies represent the first time we’ve seen the dynamics of the jets as opposed to still images. More info on protostellar jets here, you star-freaks.
Zoom Info
project-argus:


NPR: Hubble Captures Time-Lapse Videos Of Stars Being Born

(Movies of jets from young stars at HubbleSite: here)

If you’re like me and maybe a little confused as to what you’re looking at, here’s some more detail (Yes, even Joe has to look stuff up sometimes): 
As a star is formed from collapsing dust, ever increasing its density and energy, it begins to form a disk of dust and gas pulled in and rotated by its growing gravity. Perpendicular to this disk, like the tip of a spinning top, some gas is ejected away from the growing star in a high-energy jet. As this collides with interstellar gas, it gives off radiation, which we can observe with telescopes like Hubble.
To see the jets, we have to shift into the infrared and other spectra, as the radiation is outside normal human vision. These movies represent the first time we’ve seen the dynamics of the jets as opposed to still images. More info on protostellar jets here, you star-freaks.
Zoom Info
project-argus:


NPR: Hubble Captures Time-Lapse Videos Of Stars Being Born

(Movies of jets from young stars at HubbleSite: here)

If you’re like me and maybe a little confused as to what you’re looking at, here’s some more detail (Yes, even Joe has to look stuff up sometimes): 
As a star is formed from collapsing dust, ever increasing its density and energy, it begins to form a disk of dust and gas pulled in and rotated by its growing gravity. Perpendicular to this disk, like the tip of a spinning top, some gas is ejected away from the growing star in a high-energy jet. As this collides with interstellar gas, it gives off radiation, which we can observe with telescopes like Hubble.
To see the jets, we have to shift into the infrared and other spectra, as the radiation is outside normal human vision. These movies represent the first time we’ve seen the dynamics of the jets as opposed to still images. More info on protostellar jets here, you star-freaks.
Zoom Info

project-argus:

NPR: Hubble Captures Time-Lapse Videos Of Stars Being Born

(Movies of jets from young stars at HubbleSite: here)

If you’re like me and maybe a little confused as to what you’re looking at, here’s some more detail (Yes, even Joe has to look stuff up sometimes): 

As a star is formed from collapsing dust, ever increasing its density and energy, it begins to form a disk of dust and gas pulled in and rotated by its growing gravity. Perpendicular to this disk, like the tip of a spinning top, some gas is ejected away from the growing star in a high-energy jet. As this collides with interstellar gas, it gives off radiation, which we can observe with telescopes like Hubble.

To see the jets, we have to shift into the infrared and other spectra, as the radiation is outside normal human vision. These movies represent the first time we’ve seen the dynamics of the jets as opposed to still images. More info on protostellar jets here, you star-freaks.

    • #science
    • #nebula
    • #astronomy
    • #stars
    • #gif
    • #hubble
    • #hubble space telescope
    • #nasa
    • #time lapse
    • #time-lapse
  • 10 months ago > project-argus
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Sphere of Stars
A visualization of the constellations in a three dimensional shell
Our place in the universe is nothing special, physically speaking. We’re in the outer realm of an arm of a fairly average galaxy, and thanks to our particular location in space we are given a very particular perspective on all our stellar neighbors.
As we stare into the night sky, the stars above us appear as if painted on a dark canvas, this one next to this one, a little bigger, a little brighter than that one. And like dots on a page, humans have projected images onto those patterns, called constellations. But of course the stars are not painted on a canvas. They are near and far, a spattering of spheres in a three-dimensional web (which we explored a couple weeks ago in this awesome 3-D constellation visualization). If you ever need an argument against astrology, it’s that Earth’s place in the universe is no more special than any other planet’s, likewise with the pattern of dots we see in the sky.
Santiago Ortiz has created the interactive model above of the constellations as if they were painted on a sphere surrounding Earth. I recommend checking it out (can you identify any constellations?). Is this what it would be like if the universe were The Truman Show? Is this what it would be like if there were gods looking in on us?
(via Co.Design)
Zoom Info
Sphere of Stars
A visualization of the constellations in a three dimensional shell
Our place in the universe is nothing special, physically speaking. We’re in the outer realm of an arm of a fairly average galaxy, and thanks to our particular location in space we are given a very particular perspective on all our stellar neighbors.
As we stare into the night sky, the stars above us appear as if painted on a dark canvas, this one next to this one, a little bigger, a little brighter than that one. And like dots on a page, humans have projected images onto those patterns, called constellations. But of course the stars are not painted on a canvas. They are near and far, a spattering of spheres in a three-dimensional web (which we explored a couple weeks ago in this awesome 3-D constellation visualization). If you ever need an argument against astrology, it’s that Earth’s place in the universe is no more special than any other planet’s, likewise with the pattern of dots we see in the sky.
Santiago Ortiz has created the interactive model above of the constellations as if they were painted on a sphere surrounding Earth. I recommend checking it out (can you identify any constellations?). Is this what it would be like if the universe were The Truman Show? Is this what it would be like if there were gods looking in on us?
(via Co.Design)
Zoom Info
Sphere of Stars
A visualization of the constellations in a three dimensional shell
Our place in the universe is nothing special, physically speaking. We’re in the outer realm of an arm of a fairly average galaxy, and thanks to our particular location in space we are given a very particular perspective on all our stellar neighbors.
As we stare into the night sky, the stars above us appear as if painted on a dark canvas, this one next to this one, a little bigger, a little brighter than that one. And like dots on a page, humans have projected images onto those patterns, called constellations. But of course the stars are not painted on a canvas. They are near and far, a spattering of spheres in a three-dimensional web (which we explored a couple weeks ago in this awesome 3-D constellation visualization). If you ever need an argument against astrology, it’s that Earth’s place in the universe is no more special than any other planet’s, likewise with the pattern of dots we see in the sky.
Santiago Ortiz has created the interactive model above of the constellations as if they were painted on a sphere surrounding Earth. I recommend checking it out (can you identify any constellations?). Is this what it would be like if the universe were The Truman Show? Is this what it would be like if there were gods looking in on us?
(via Co.Design)
Zoom Info

Sphere of Stars

A visualization of the constellations in a three dimensional shell

Our place in the universe is nothing special, physically speaking. We’re in the outer realm of an arm of a fairly average galaxy, and thanks to our particular location in space we are given a very particular perspective on all our stellar neighbors.

As we stare into the night sky, the stars above us appear as if painted on a dark canvas, this one next to this one, a little bigger, a little brighter than that one. And like dots on a page, humans have projected images onto those patterns, called constellations. But of course the stars are not painted on a canvas. They are near and far, a spattering of spheres in a three-dimensional web (which we explored a couple weeks ago in this awesome 3-D constellation visualization). If you ever need an argument against astrology, it’s that Earth’s place in the universe is no more special than any other planet’s, likewise with the pattern of dots we see in the sky.

Santiago Ortiz has created the interactive model above of the constellations as if they were painted on a sphere surrounding Earth. I recommend checking it out (can you identify any constellations?). Is this what it would be like if the universe were The Truman Show? Is this what it would be like if there were gods looking in on us?

(via Co.Design)

    • #science
    • #space
    • #stars
    • #constellations
    • #santiago ortiz
    • #astronomy
  • 10 months ago
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Close To Home
Explore the stars of the zodiac constellations, and their neighbors, in an interactive model of near space! Zoom from Earth outward and see the position and distance of those celestial bodies as they reside in three-dimensional space. It’s sort of like flying a spaceship through your web browser.
Of course, it’s the height of humanity’s hubris to assume that our particular perspective on the stars and the shapes we assign to them allow us any particularly special place in the universe. But they sure are pretty to look at :)
Visit the fully interactive version here.
(via Kirstin Butler)
Zoom Info
Close To Home
Explore the stars of the zodiac constellations, and their neighbors, in an interactive model of near space! Zoom from Earth outward and see the position and distance of those celestial bodies as they reside in three-dimensional space. It’s sort of like flying a spaceship through your web browser.
Of course, it’s the height of humanity’s hubris to assume that our particular perspective on the stars and the shapes we assign to them allow us any particularly special place in the universe. But they sure are pretty to look at :)
Visit the fully interactive version here.
(via Kirstin Butler)
Zoom Info

Close To Home

Explore the stars of the zodiac constellations, and their neighbors, in an interactive model of near space! Zoom from Earth outward and see the position and distance of those celestial bodies as they reside in three-dimensional space. It’s sort of like flying a spaceship through your web browser.

Of course, it’s the height of humanity’s hubris to assume that our particular perspective on the stars and the shapes we assign to them allow us any particularly special place in the universe. But they sure are pretty to look at :)

Visit the fully interactive version here.

(via Kirstin Butler)

    • #science
    • #space
    • #zodiac
    • #close to home
    • #stars
    • #interactive
  • 10 months ago
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Night Skies

Oh. My. Goodness.

We know about my weakness for time-lapse videos of beautiful stuff. This is just feeding the beast.

These are some star shots captured on a road trip by a time-lapse production company called T-Recs. I love how they blend views of long, threadlike star trails with detailed (labeled!) shots of pinpoint stars across the cosmic canvas. 

Have you ever seen shooting star paths so dramatic? And the scene with the reflection on the car windshield … that’s one I’ve never seen before. Bravo.

HD, full-screen, speakers up, sense of awe at the ready … you know how we do things.

(by T-Recs)

Source: vimeo.com

    • #science
    • #space
    • #stars
    • #video
    • #wow
    • #time lapse
    • #time-lapse
    • #night skies
  • 11 months ago
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theatlantic:

theatlanticvideo:

A Breathtaking Time-Lapse Portrait of the Sky Over Yosemite

Photographer Shawn Reeder spent two years documenting the natural beauty of the national park for this four-minute escape.

Gorgeous.

I think this will do just fine for our Friday time-lapse relaxation session, don’t you? As always, I recommend setting your “Ooohs and Aaahs” to about 9.6 and engaging full-screen HD.

Source: The Atlantic

    • #science
    • #stars
    • #starporn
    • #time lapse
    • #time-lapse
    • #video
    • #yosemite
    • #nature
  • 1 year ago > theatlanticvideo
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Doodling in Math Class: Stars

Oh Vi, you are wonderful.

The mesmerizing, energetic math behind drawing stars in the margins (or all over) your notebooks. It gets wonderfully complicated, and fast.

Someone get me some notebook paper. We have some stars to draw.

Also, does she ever take a breath?!

(by Vihart)

Source: youtube.com

    • #science
    • #video
    • #math
    • #stars
    • #illustration
    • #education
    • #vihart
  • 1 year ago
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About

I'm Joe Hanson, Ph.D. biologist and host/writer of PBS Digital Studios' It's Okay To Be Smart. Check out my "Episode Extras" here. There's a lot of amazing science out there. Let's go discover it together.

"Everyone's favorite Feynman of the Tumblr era" - Maria Popova

Joe's science book recommendations, from brains to biology to space to art to physics.

This is an indie blog that takes many hours a week to publish. If you'd like to support It's Okay To Be Smart, please consider even a small donation.

One of Time Magazine's 30 Must-See Tumblrs - 2012

Featured in The Best Science Writing Online - 2012

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(Email: itsokaytobesmart at gmail)

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I'm working to change the way science is communicated and restore it to its rightful place.

Want to see more great science-y stuff? Check out my LINKS page for some of my favorites.

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