Paradoxical Paradigms

(Source: mrharristweed, via ahleuchatista)

n-a-s-a:

Saturn’s Hexagon Comes to Light

Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

(via lushlight)

the-star-stuff:

Scientists prepare to capture first-ever picture of a black hole

Tomorrow, astronomers and physicists from around the word will convene in Tucson, Arizona to discuss the Event Horizon Telescope Project — a global network of 50 radio telescopes that together could soon enable us to photograph the black hole at the center of our galaxy.

“What is great about the [black hole] in the center of the Milky Way is that [it is] big enough and close enough,” explains astronomer Dan Marrone, who co-organized the international meeting with astrophysicist Dimitrios Psaltis. “There are bigger ones in other galaxies, and there are closer ones, but they’re smaller. Ours is just the right combination of size and distance.”

Having said that, it’s still going to take just about everything we’ve got to get our black hole in-frame. “To see something that small and that far away, you need a very big telescope, and the biggest telescope you can make on Earth is to turn the whole planet into a telescope,” Marrone said.

[Via NY Daily News + UA News]
Top image is a simulation of swirling plasma, entering the black hole at the center of our galaxy — by Scott Noble/RIT

(via rhamphotheca)

crookedindifference:

Dark Energy and Gravity: Yin and Yang of the Universe

rubyvroom:

jtotheizzoe:

Tomorrow’s his 70th birthday, and it’s a legitimate question. His particular form of the disease is unique, and he’s outlived anyone else on record with ALS. An interesting little Reddit thread to celebrate his survival.

Another treat to celebrate his b-day coming tomorrow! Or if you have access to a wormhole or space-time disruption you can go forward to tomorrow and look at it right now. 

because he is a boss, that’s how

Happy Birthday Stephen Hawking!

christinetheastrophysicist:

The Sun’s rotation creates a spiral pattern in the solar magnetic field in interplanetary space, known as the Parker spiral. The drag produced by the spiraling magnetic field causes angular momentum to be transferred away from the Sun. This diagram shows the heliospheric current sheet that separates the regions of space where the magnetic field points toward or away from the Sun.

(via thejives)

(Source: black-hands, via sicksixsick)

rhamphotheca:

A computer’s graphical representation of multi-dimensional spacetime, which is required by the mathematics of string theory.

(Credit: Jean-Francois Colonna)

(via animagusfidelius)

Earlier I watched a documentary about Saturn with Neil deGrasse Tyson. I mean he’s in it, not chilling with me. I wish.