Friday, December 31, 2010

Lunar Eclipse 2010




Lunar Eclipse on Canary Islands

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Credit: Itahisa N. González

Still compensating for the overcast that arrived exactly when the lunar eclipse started... :-)









Thursday, December 30, 2010

Paradise on Earth




Paradise On Earth



Credit: Zhang Jiangqi

My lucky friend Jiangqi did a field trip to Mt. Kailash in August. Those are Tibetan prayer flags, that frame the super holy mountain Kailash (galase).

Scientist finds new origin of Indus river




Friday, December 24, 2010

Celestial North




Celestial North

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Credit: P-M Hedén

The North Star is more or less in the middle of the star trail cone. An image of the celestial north pole taken from a place close to the terrestrial north pole. Where Santa Claus lives!! Or Nissen as we call him here in the dark end of the world. :-)

Merry Christmas! The Sun has turned! :-)

Stellare




Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Lunar Eclipse 2010




Lunar Eclipse 2010



On the darkest of nights (day before winter solstice) it became even darker. A lunar eclipse took place and I am bitter and grumpy and angry at the weather Gods who decided to throw a few clouds over Norway just before the eclipse started.

Plenty of pictures comfort me a little bit...




Monday, December 20, 2010

Solar Radiation and Climate Change




Solar Radiation and Climate Change





"Some climatologists, including Judith Lean of the United States Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, remain skeptical of the SORCE SIM measurements. "I strongly suspect the SIM trends are instrumental, not solar," said Lean, noting that instrumental drift has been present in every instrument that has tracked ultraviolet wavelengths to date."

Friday, December 17, 2010

Bioluminescent Snail




Snail Light Bulb



Apparently snails are able to emit light - so-called bioluminescent light.

Uber cool, I'd say! :-)




Thursday, December 16, 2010

Blue Map




Blue Map

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Net, net, networking - almost all over the world. What an excellent choice of color to show how we are all connected. Well, almost all..,

Thank you Bumapples - the Blue Bully. ;-)




Thursday, December 9, 2010

The Sun




The Sun



Credit: Nasa

In all its glory!




Saturday, December 4, 2010

Robin




Robin



by Nutmeg




Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Bugs




Bugs



Credit: Nutmeg

White Ermine Moth! Very elegant! A Royal Bug? :-)




Mars Dunes




Mars Dunes Drizzled With Gems

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Credit: NASA


At least, that's how it looks to me. :-)




Jupiter's Belt




Jupiter's Belt



Returns!




Monday, November 29, 2010

Big Cats And The Environment




Not Easy Being A Big Cat



It takes a lot of food to make this cutie pie of a leopard to grow up and become one of these...



Big cats and other big carnivore animals are more vulnerable to environmental change that influence their access to food. They are big and need a lot of energy to be able to catch their prey. If prey become scarce due to environmental changes they might run out of energy before they find food.




Rhea




Rhea



Credit: NASA

Has atmosphere!




Friday, November 26, 2010

Aurora Time




It's Aurora Time






Friday, November 19, 2010

Living Fossil




Living Fossil



A living dead? It's seaweed! :-)




Mars - Chinese Dragon




Mars' 'Chinese Dragon' ?

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Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Nah, just wallrocks and valleys at Melas Chasma.




Monday, November 15, 2010

Blue Jay




Blue Jay



Credit: Jean Vincent

Remember to feed the birds, now! (She told herself...:-)) King Winter has arrived!




Saturday, November 13, 2010

Traces of Dust Devils




The Dust Devil Was Here

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Credit: Nasa

Actually a crowd of dust devils were there - on the Martian surface - leaving an incredible pattern to prove it.




Blue Quasar




Blue Quasar 3c186



Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/A.Siemiginowska et al, Optical: AURA/Gemini Obs.

Gorgeous blue! and the most distant quasar yet observed.




Sunday, November 7, 2010

The Earth's Atmosphere




The Earth's Atmosphere

Cloud carpet




Thin air





Gibbeous Moon




A line of Sun




Thin sunset




Hanging Space Station





Oblique atmosphere








All images are taken from the International Space Station. Courtesy of NASA.




A Star




A Star

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Mirach and Mirach's Ghost (NGC 404 galaxy)
Credit: Anthony Ayiomamitis


Simply a star - with a GHOST! :-)




Friday, November 5, 2010

Comet Hartley 2




Hello Hartley!


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Credit: NASA


Comet Hartley 2, actually! We spy you! And you are radiant. :-)




Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Parenthood A La Fish




Parenthood A La Fish



Fish parents with baby fish. Aren't they adorable? :-) And so human-like....




Sunday, October 31, 2010

Astronomical Halloween




Astronomical Halloween

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IC 2118 or The Witch Head Nebula is my favorite astronomical Halloween object.

Image Data: Digitized Sky Survey; Color Composite: Noel Carboni


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This lunar eclipse looks very much like Pumpkin Moon. Carved pumpkins is one of the characteristics of our Halloween celebrations.

Credit & Copyright: Sebastien Gauthier


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The Perseus Cluster's X-Ray Skull is a heavenly example of another symbol of Halloween namely skulls.

Credit: A. Fabian (IoA Cambridge) et al., NASA





Black Hole




Black Hole



It is that time of year again when the world is getting darker and darker and darker....until we hardly see any daylight at all up here in the High North. So, evidently it is 'black hole' season! Enjoy this piece on black hole duality, folks, and cherish the light as long as you can...:-)




Bugs




Bugs!



Carrying malaria or not - bugs are bugs and this one is uber cool! :-)




Saturday, October 30, 2010

Cute Frog




A Cutie Pie

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Lovely new frog species discovered in the Amazon. Totally charming! :-)




Save Birds




Save Birds



It is the international year of biodiversity. Birds are populating the list of animals that are in danger (red list). I love to watch birds and I hope the international efforts this year can help save some birds at least, as well as other species of course. And stop what appears to be some political battling....

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Cat In Space




Cat in Space



Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/U.Illinois/R.Williams & Y.-H.Chu; Optical: NOAO/CTIO/U.Illinois/R.Williams & MCELS coll.

A super nova remnant CAT, that is. Do you see it? :-)

This cat image is part of NASA goes pink honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October).




Sunday, October 24, 2010

Magnetars




Stellare's Week-end Magnetar



Credit: CXC/M. Weiss

There will be very few of these Week-end Magnetars, so enjoy this rare moment. :-)


PS. A magnetar is a slowly rotating neutron star where the internal magnets go bananas....



Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Rhino Posisiton




The Rhino Position



Is given by GPS, not any particular rhinos personal view....:-)




Thursday, October 14, 2010

Chilean Miners Rescued With Help From Space




Chilean Miners Walking On Planet's Surface



All 33 Chilean miners were rescued with the help of all the best scientific and technological knowledge humans possess. That includes element of space technology as well as medical and psychological experience from our numerous space expeditions.

Congratulations Chile! Congratulations Science!




Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Fossil Day 2010




Fossil Day



Happy National Fossil Day, America! :-)




Staring Contest




Staring Contest

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I'm so glad Bumapple is back on SU. Because he commits literary pearls like this Staring Contest. I was a late bloomer alright and had my staring contest period a wee bit late, but Bumapple devastate my record of immaturity. Just read about his combat with a kid, will you! It is hilarious.




Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Fly Me To The Moon




Fly Me To The Moon



Or at least close by...:-)





Saturday, October 9, 2010

Io




Io, Mio Io!



Credit: NASA

Io, the golden moon of Jupiter. Smashing!




Blue Christmas




Blue Christmas

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A Christmas tree worm (Spirobranchus giganteus) found at Lizard Island.

Credit: John Huisman-Murdoch University




This must be the nicest little worm I've ever seen. It is a marine worm that looks like a blue xmas tree. :-)




Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Soyuz! Combust Me!




Combust Me!

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Credit: NASA

Alright, alright! I know 'combust' isn't really a word. But will you just look at that combustion rocket huge thingy, already! I want one. It is a free world (at least where i live) so... Combust me! :-)

Oh, well, we are talking about Soyuz TMA-01M which is about to get ready to blast off the next shipment into space. On 7th of October 2010 this Russian rocket will take off and dock at the International Space Station.




Thursday, September 30, 2010

Mining Chile




Mining Chile

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Talk about down under. Deep under the surface of the Earth as we see it from space in the satellite image above, resides more than 30 Chilean miners 700 meters under ground. I certainly hope they succeed in getting those brave workers up on the right side of the surface of the Earth again.




Saturday, September 25, 2010

The Equinox Sun




Equinox Set In Iron

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Credit: NASA

Of course I mean more precisely and actually correct 'The Sun as seen by the light emitted from iron'

All the same, it is a lovely picture of our dear Sun on this day of equal duration of day and night...