I have been enjoying watching the transit of Mercury today as I work. It is still happening right now, but if you miss it, you will have to wait until November 11th 2019 for the next one.
Showing posts with label space. Show all posts
Showing posts with label space. Show all posts
The size of the Universe
A collection of videos demonstrating the size of the Universe that you will gain geek experience points for just watching.
The Known Universe by the American Museum of Natural History is the world’s most complete 3D map of the universe, maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the Hayden Planetarium. This video takes us from the Himalayas, beyond Earth, through the Milky Way galaxy and beyond my home planet (Planet X05) to finally bathe in the light of the Big Bang.
The original 1977 Powers of Ten video written and directed by Charles and Ray Eames. Travel from Chicago to the depths of inter-galactic space, then back to Chicago and into the sub-atomic world inside a white blood cell. Each stage of the journey increases or decreases in scale by a power of ten, every ten seconds.
Project Proxima - from Leeds to Proxima Centauri
Intended to demonstrate the vastness of interstellar space, Project Proxima is a hypothetical voyage to the nearest star. At the time of writing, this thought experiment has managed to achieve 12% of its journey.
Some other interesting posts on this blog:
#projectproxima #universe #space #science #lightspeed #leeds
The Known Universe by the American Museum of Natural History is the world’s most complete 3D map of the universe, maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the Hayden Planetarium. This video takes us from the Himalayas, beyond Earth, through the Milky Way galaxy and beyond my home planet (Planet X05) to finally bathe in the light of the Big Bang.
The original 1977 Powers of Ten video written and directed by Charles and Ray Eames. Travel from Chicago to the depths of inter-galactic space, then back to Chicago and into the sub-atomic world inside a white blood cell. Each stage of the journey increases or decreases in scale by a power of ten, every ten seconds.
Project Proxima - from Leeds to Proxima Centauri
Intended to demonstrate the vastness of interstellar space, Project Proxima is a hypothetical voyage to the nearest star. At the time of writing, this thought experiment has managed to achieve 12% of its journey.
Some other interesting posts on this blog:
#projectproxima #universe #space #science #lightspeed #leeds
Cool stuff I found in my #pocket
If you haven't already discovered pocket, then I do suggest you check it out. Pocket is a tool for saving articles and web pages for later. When you stumble across something interesting and you want to remember where it is for later, then just put it in your pocket. There is a useful chrome extension for this and also Windows metro apps like Latermark.
Here are a few cool things I have saved in my pocket.
Interactive Map of Penguins
Pulp-o-mizer
Create your own custom-made pulp magazine covers.
Watch the Moon cross in front of the Earth, as seen from a million miles away
This EPIC gif...
Here are a few cool things I have saved in my pocket.
Interactive Map of Penguins
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| Interactive Penguin World Map. Click on the red regions for information about penguins. Why do polar bears not eat Penguins? They struggle to get the wrappers off. |
Pulp-o-mizer
Create your own custom-made pulp magazine covers.
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| I really like this. There are loads of controls, and loads of presets to choose from.Download your finished image when you are done. |
This character creator generates random backstory for your role playing or fiction-writing needs.
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| Loads of other generators available including Basic Appearance generator, backstory generator and outfit generator. Have fun! |
Watch the Moon cross in front of the Earth, as seen from a million miles away
This EPIC gif...
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| Taken from the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), NASA have released a stunning gif showing the Moon crossing in front of the Earth. That's the seldom-seen 'dark' side of the moon crossing the blue orb of the Earth. |
Launch alert
We are getting ready to go to space!
At 12:00 noon (UK time) on Friday the 1st May, we will launch Proxima, the first web-based, hypothetical, light-speed space voyage. Proxima will travel through the solar system at 300,000,000 m/s visiting the orbits of every planet in the solar system before altering course and making a bee-line for Proxima Centauri.
Even at the speed of light, the voyage will take over four years.
Project Proxima is a teaching tool and time capsule, designed to help explain the vastness of interstellar space. You can follow Proxima using the hashtag #ProjectProxima, or the Twitter profile @proximaspace.
Over the following four years follow Proxima as it crosses the Oort Cloud and clears the Heliopause, then join the celebration as we finally reach the Sun's nearest neighbour.
Project Proxima - from Leeds to Proxima Centauri
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| Click the image to launch. |
At 12:00 noon (UK time) on Friday the 1st May, we will launch Proxima, the first web-based, hypothetical, light-speed space voyage. Proxima will travel through the solar system at 300,000,000 m/s visiting the orbits of every planet in the solar system before altering course and making a bee-line for Proxima Centauri.
Even at the speed of light, the voyage will take over four years.
Project Proxima is a teaching tool and time capsule, designed to help explain the vastness of interstellar space. You can follow Proxima using the hashtag #ProjectProxima, or the Twitter profile @proximaspace.
Over the following four years follow Proxima as it crosses the Oort Cloud and clears the Heliopause, then join the celebration as we finally reach the Sun's nearest neighbour.
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| "The stars, my destination" - Alfred Bester. |
Project Proxima - from Leeds to Proxima Centauri
Create your own solar system
Project Proxima, the hypothetical voyage from Leeds to Proxima Centauri, launches in two weeks today, so we will celebrate with some more space-related posts.
Solar System Builder
A nice and simple solar system simulator. Create planet trajectories by clicking and dragging. Feel the need to hurl Jupiter at the inner solar system to see what happens - no problem!
Planet Families
Planet Families from the Space Science Institute is a sandbox universe for you to simply drop your planets in an watch it go. Planetary collisions are accompanied by satisfactory sound effects.
Solar System Builder - Building the Known Universe
This Solar System Builder from The National geographic is as good as they come. One nice feature is the ability to set the camera to follow any one of your solar system objects.
Solar System Maker
The solar system maker mrnussbaum.com is suitable for children aged 8 to 11. It does not quite have the same sophistication with regards to its Physics, however fun can be had by designing and printing your own solar system.
Solar System builder in Scratch
Here is a solar system simulator built using the excellent MIT Scratch.
I hope you enjoyed these solar system simulators. If you did, then you might like to follow Project Proxima:
From Leeds to Proxima Centauri
Project Proxima is a hypothetical voyage to our nearest stellar neighbour - Proxima Centauri. The spacecraft, Proxima, can travel at the speed of light and is set to launch in 16 days (on the 1st May 2015). #ProjectProxima #Science #Space
Followers can track the progress of Proxima's four year voyage on the website and through Proxima's Twitter page @proximaspace. You can sign-up to become a registered follower to get your name on the website, and receive news via email.
Proxima will travel at the speed of light from Earth to Proxima Centauri taking it on a path that first visits the inner solar system and the sun. It will then continue through the solar system until it is far beyond the outer reaches of the Oort Cloud, the depths of interstellar space and then finally, in four years time, it will reach Proxima Centauri (in 2019).
Here we look at solar system simulators.
As you might expect from PhET, this simulator is pretty good. You can choose from a number of preset conditions including binary stars with planets, slingshots, ellipses etc. Plenty of fun can be had by changing the mass, position and velocity of the preset conditions, or just play God and make your own.
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| The 'Slingshot' chosen from one of many presets. |
Solar System Builder
A nice and simple solar system simulator. Create planet trajectories by clicking and dragging. Feel the need to hurl Jupiter at the inner solar system to see what happens - no problem!
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| Pick up Jupiter and hurl it at the inner solar system. |
Planet Families
Planet Families from the Space Science Institute is a sandbox universe for you to simply drop your planets in an watch it go. Planetary collisions are accompanied by satisfactory sound effects.
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| Drag, drop then watch them crash and burn. Good stuff. |
Solar System Builder - Building the Known Universe
This Solar System Builder from The National geographic is as good as they come. One nice feature is the ability to set the camera to follow any one of your solar system objects.
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| Fully customised planet construction. |
Solar System Maker
The solar system maker mrnussbaum.com is suitable for children aged 8 to 11. It does not quite have the same sophistication with regards to its Physics, however fun can be had by designing and printing your own solar system.
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| Create new planets to your own design and given them a name. |
Solar System builder in Scratch
Here is a solar system simulator built using the excellent MIT Scratch.
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| Solar systems built in Scratch |
I hope you enjoyed these solar system simulators. If you did, then you might like to follow Project Proxima:
From Leeds to Proxima Centauri
Project Proxima is a hypothetical voyage to our nearest stellar neighbour - Proxima Centauri. The spacecraft, Proxima, can travel at the speed of light and is set to launch in 16 days (on the 1st May 2015). #ProjectProxima #Science #Space
Followers can track the progress of Proxima's four year voyage on the website and through Proxima's Twitter page @proximaspace. You can sign-up to become a registered follower to get your name on the website, and receive news via email.
Proxima will travel at the speed of light from Earth to Proxima Centauri taking it on a path that first visits the inner solar system and the sun. It will then continue through the solar system until it is far beyond the outer reaches of the Oort Cloud, the depths of interstellar space and then finally, in four years time, it will reach Proxima Centauri (in 2019).
100,000 stars
Today's countdown to the Project Proxima launch introduces 100,000 Stars, an interactive visualization of the stellar neigbourhood created for the Chrome browser. It shows the real location of over 100,000 nearby stars. Zooming in reveals 87 major named stars and our solar system and Oort cloud. Zooming out reveals an artist's rendition of the whole galaxy.
Launch 100,000 stars now.
From Leeds to Proxima Centauri
Project Proxima is a hypothetical voyage to our nearest stellar neighbour - Proxima Centauri. The spacecraft, Proxima, can travel at the speed of light and is set to launch in 16 days (on the 1st May 2015). #ProjectProxima #Science #Space
Followers can track the progress of Proxima's four year voyage on the website and through Proxima's Twitter page @proximaspace. You can sign-up to become a registered follower to get your name on the website, and receive news via email.
Proxima will travel at the speed of light from Earth to Proxima Centauri taking it on a path that first visits the inner solar system and the sun. It will then continue through the solar system until it is far beyond the outer reaches of the Oort Cloud, the depths of interstellar space and then finally, in four years time, it will reach Proxima Centauri (in 2019).
Time until Launch:
Launch 100,000 stars now.
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| The closest stars to the Sun. Drag, zoom and explore this 3D simulation. |
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| So much to explore. |
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| Our stellar neighbourhood. |
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| An artist's rendition of the galaxy. Rotate through 3 degrees of freedom. |
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| Some of the 87 named closest stars. Clicking zooms in to beautiful close-up detail. |
From Leeds to Proxima Centauri
Project Proxima is a hypothetical voyage to our nearest stellar neighbour - Proxima Centauri. The spacecraft, Proxima, can travel at the speed of light and is set to launch in 16 days (on the 1st May 2015). #ProjectProxima #Science #Space
Followers can track the progress of Proxima's four year voyage on the website and through Proxima's Twitter page @proximaspace. You can sign-up to become a registered follower to get your name on the website, and receive news via email.
Proxima will travel at the speed of light from Earth to Proxima Centauri taking it on a path that first visits the inner solar system and the sun. It will then continue through the solar system until it is far beyond the outer reaches of the Oort Cloud, the depths of interstellar space and then finally, in four years time, it will reach Proxima Centauri (in 2019).
Time until Launch:
Explore the solar system
As the countdown to the launch of Project Proxima, the hypothetical voyage to Proxima Centauri reaches 16 days and 20 hours, we celebrate with some links to useful solar system simulators. #SolarSystem #ProjectProxima #space #science
Astro Tour from gunn.co.nz
Nine Planets solar System Tour
Project Metis
From Leeds to Proxima Centauri
Project Proxima is a hypothetical voyage to our nearest stellar neighbour - Proxima Centauri. The spacecraft, Proxima, can travel at the speed of light and is set to launch in 16 days (on the 1st May 2015).
Followers can track the progress of Proxima's four year voyage on the website and through Proxima's Twitter page @proximaspace. You can sign-up to become a registered follower to get your name on the website, and receive news via email.
Proxima will travel at the speed of light from Earth to Proxima Centauri taking it on a path that first visits the inner solar system and the sun. It will then continue through the solar system until it is far beyond the outer reaches of the Oort Cloud, the depths of interstellar space and then finally, in four years time, it will reach Proxima Centauri (in 2019).
Time until Launch:
Astro Tour from gunn.co.nz
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| Solar system tour from gunn.co.nz - explore the solar system with this fully customizable simulator. |
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| A beautifully imagined solar system simulator. Click on a planet to get more information, or set the planets in motion. |
Project Metis
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| Beautifully rendered planets come alive in this solar system simulation. |
From Leeds to Proxima Centauri
Project Proxima is a hypothetical voyage to our nearest stellar neighbour - Proxima Centauri. The spacecraft, Proxima, can travel at the speed of light and is set to launch in 16 days (on the 1st May 2015).
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| Our goal, the closest star, Proxima Centauri. |
Followers can track the progress of Proxima's four year voyage on the website and through Proxima's Twitter page @proximaspace. You can sign-up to become a registered follower to get your name on the website, and receive news via email.
Proxima will travel at the speed of light from Earth to Proxima Centauri taking it on a path that first visits the inner solar system and the sun. It will then continue through the solar system until it is far beyond the outer reaches of the Oort Cloud, the depths of interstellar space and then finally, in four years time, it will reach Proxima Centauri (in 2019).
Time until Launch:
Traversing the solar system at the Speed of Light
This video was the inspiration for the Project Proxima space mission. As we count down to the launch of Proxima on the 1st May please enjoy this video which shows what it would look like if you could travel at the speed of light away from the Sun (ignoring special relativity, or course).
From Leeds to Proxima Centauri
Journey through the universe beyond the speed of light
As we count down to the launch of Project Proxima the hypothetical voyage to Proxima Centauri, introducing a series of space-related posts. First, a documentary about an imaginary trip through space.
#ProjectProxima
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| Project Proxima - from Leeds to Proxima Centauri |
#ProjectProxima
Countdown to Proxima Launch - from Leeds to Proxima Centauri
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