On Oct. 12-13, 2015, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly took a series of seventeen photographs from the International Space Station during a single flyover of Australia. This first photo of the series was posted with the caption, “#EarthArt in one pass over the #Australian continent. Picture 1 of 17. #YearInSpace”.
Image Credit: NASA
Source…..www.nasa.gov
Scott Kelly recently broke the record for most time spent in space by a US astronaut, logging his 383rd day aboard the International Space Station. He’s also on pace to break another record on October 29th, when he spends his 216th consecutive day orbiting the earth — the most in a row.
For many people, this seems like a dream. The idea of floating up in space, where so few people in the history of the world have ever been, is intoxicating. But it can, of course, get intensely lonely, Kelly says.
“A year really is a long time…a long time to never be able to go outside, or feel the sun on your face, or to see your family through anything besides a computer screen,” he muses.
And one of the ways he stays connected to the world below is through music.
“When living in a place isolated from the rest of the world like here aboard the International Space Station, [music] becomes more significant,” he tells Spotify.
Kelly has created a playlist that reflects his space journey so far. It spans many genres, but there is a contemplative wistfulness that runs through it. It’s not hard to imagine listening to these songs as you stare across the void back at your home planet.
And to be honest, it’s a bit dorky — the kind of earnest emotion unconcerned with looking cool.
Here are the tracks, which Kelly suggests you listen to in order:
Source…..www.businessinsider.com
Natarajan
Thousands of residents from Jiangxi and Foshan in China reported seeing a “floating city” in the sky earlier this month.
The images and grainy video footage appear to show towering skyscrapers poking out of the clouds and looming over the ground below.
Of course, the news has got people’s imaginations turned up to overdrive when trying to figure out what was going on.
Explanations for the event have ranged from a glitch in the matrix, alternate universes opening up and NASA attempting to establish a new world order through a plan called the “Blue Beam Project“.
However, it appears the explanation is actually a rare type of mirage called Fata Morgana. It’s essentially an optical illusion caused by specific weather conditions bending light rays.
As Wired explains, it occurs when the Sun heats up a layer of the atmosphere but the layer of air below it remains cool. When different layers of the atmosphere are different temperatures, a temperature gradient is generated. These different temperatures also mean differing densities between the layers.
When light hits a boundary between two layers of the atmosphere that are different temperatures and thus densities, it is bent, or refracted, and subsequently enters the next layer at a different angle.
Our brain can’t automatically account for this, so when light hits our eyes, our brain assumes that it traveled in a straight path. When it has been refracted, we therefore perceive the object is where it would be if the light had run straight – which is higher than it actually is.
Fata Morganas have been confusing people and messing with minds for centuries. They’re named after Morgan le Fay, a powerful enchantress from the tales of King Arthur.
It’s believed they are the explanation behind the legendary ghost ship the Flying Dutchman and sailor’s stories of floating castles which lured men to their deaths.
So there you have it. Although, we’ve got our eye on you NASA…
Check out footage of this crazy phenomenon on YouTube or below:
Source……
http://www.businessinsider.com
Natarajan
Just before the 15th anniversary of continuous human presence on the International Space Station on Nov. 2, 2015, U.S. astronaut and commander of the current Expedition 45 crew, Scott Kelly, is breaking spaceflight records. On Friday, Oct. 16, Kelly begins his 383rd day living in space, surpassing U.S. astronaut Mike Fincke’s record of 382 cumulative days. Kelly will break another record Oct. 29 on his 216th consecutive day in space, when he will surpass astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria’s record for the single-longest spaceflight by an American. Lopez-Alegria spent 215 days in space as commander of the Expedition 14 crew in 2006.
In this July 12 photograph, Kelly is seen inside the Cupola, a special module which provides a 360-degree viewing of the Earth and the space station. On each additional day he spends in orbit as part of his one-year mission, Kelly will add to his record and to our understanding of the effects of long-duration spaceflight.
Kelly is scheduled to return to Earth on March 3, 2016, by which time he will have compiled 522 total days living in space during four missions.
Image Credit: NASA
Source….www.nasa.gov
Natarajan
In-flight entertainment systems will need to be top quality in the future as ultra-long non-stop routes are becoming all the rage.
Qantas announced a non-stop 19-hour flight between Australia and the UK within two years – and now Singapore Airlines is set to launch a non-stop journey that’s the same, gruelling length.
In a statement this week Singapore Airlines announced that it would resume offering 19-hour flights from Singapore to New York in 2018.
The carrier previously operated the long haul route until 2013.
Singapore Airlines says that due to demand the service will resume with the help of a brand new aircraft.
The plane in question will be Airbus’ new ‘ultra-long range’ version of its A350-900, of which Singapore Airlines will be the launch customer.
The high-tech newly converted planes will have the capability of flying up to 19 hours using the increased fuel capacity of its system from 141,000 litres to 165,000 litres.
Our customers have been asking us to re-start non-stop Singapore-US flights and we are pleased that Airbus was able to offer the right aircraft to do so in a commercially viable manner,’ said Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong.
The airline has placed an order for 67 of the Airbus A350s, and as more of the efficient planes are added to the fleet, the plan is to resume the 19-hour Singapore-LA route in the near future as well.
At the moment, fliers wishing to make the 8,700-nautical-mile journey to the Big Apple from Singapore have to face the delights of a 22-hour journey, with at least one connection.
LA-bound passengers have a slightly shorter ordeal, with the trip currently taking around 17 hours or more, also with a stop.
Battle is on: Qantas also plans to offer 19-hour flights – from Perth to London
The news comes after Qantas revealed plans to offer a non-stop 19-hour flight between Australia and the UK within two years.
If it does launch before Singapore Airlines’ 19-hour route it will briefly give Qantas the crown of operating the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight.
The airline’s chief executive Alan Joyce said they aim to fly between Perth and London using its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner by 2017.
‘This opens up direct service from Australia to Europe for the first time,’ he said.
The potential flight path would need two pairs of pilots, extra cabin crew and a proper rest area for airline staff.
Qantas has already ordered eight Boeing 787-9 planes to replace its 747 fleet.
The new aircraft will have roughly 250 seats and include business class, premium economy and economy.
Qantas already operates the current longest route in the world, from Sydney to Dallas-Fort Worth.
Source…..www.dailymail.co.uk
photo credit: brownpau/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
It turns out it’s even harder to get into a spacesuit than getting into a pair of skinny jeans after a few drinks.
NASA has released a video of astronaut Peggy Whitson putting on her spacesuit before an underwater training session. The video was filmed earlier this summer at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It’s fairly understandable that it’s a bit of a pain to put on when you appreciate the amount of equipment it has to hold. Essentially acting as a one-man spaceship, it has multiple layers of insulation, oxygen supplies, a power supply, communication equipment, and even an emergency propulsion system.
Source….www.iflscience.com
Natarajan
photo credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory awaiting deployment from the Space Shuttle Columbia. NASA
In celebration of American Archive Month, NASA has released six mind-blowing images from the Chandra archive.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched and deployed from Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999. Since then, it has collected data on thousands of cosmic objects such as pulsars, supernovae, interstellar gas clouds, and galaxies. NASA hopes that by releasing these images to the public and scientific community, it will inspire new perspectives and serve as inspiration for future exploration.
The images can take hours, and in some instances days, to capture. They are imaged using a combination of light waves, X-rays, and radio waves.
Below is W44, also known as G34.7-0.4, which is an expanding supernova remnant that is interacting with the dense cosmic material surrounding it.
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Georgia/R.Shelton & NASA/CXC/GSFC/R.Petre; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Next is SN 1987A, the brightest and nearest supernova to Earth in the last century. This image shows the result of the supernova explosion, which occurs when a star runs out of fuel and then hurls layers of itself out into space.
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PUS/E.Helder et al; Optical: NASA/STScI
Below is Kesteven 79, another remnant of a supernova explosion. This one, however, occurred thousands of years ago.
Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/F.Seward et al, Optical: DSS
Next is MS 0735.6+7421, a galaxy cluster where one of the most powerful eruptions ever observed by humanity was seen.
Image credit: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Waterloo/A.Vantyghem et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Radio: NRAO/VLA
Here, we see the galaxy cluster 3C295. The pink area is superheated gas and the yellow regions are individual galaxies. Galaxy clusters like this contain huge amounts of dark matter, which hold the hot gas (pink) and galaxies (yellow) together.
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Cambridge/S.Allen et al; Optical: NASA/STScI
Last but not least is the “Guitar Nebula,” containing a pulsar officially called B2224+65. This pulsar is traveling at an extremely high speed of approximately 800 kilometers (500 miles) per second.
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UMass/S.Johnson et al, Optical: NASA/STScI & Palomar Observatory 5-m Hale Telescope
Check out NASA’s website for more details on each image.
Source….Tom Hale in http://www.iflscience.com and http://www.businessinsider.com.au
natarajan
Venus, moon and more over Qutab Minar on the morning of October 10, 2015 by Abhinav Singhai in India.
Venus and moon, with Jupiter below, on the morning of October 9, by Asthadi Setyawan in Indonesia.
As seen from Australia on the morning of October 9, the moon passed in front of Venus. Colin Legg wrote: “…a 5-hour drive east of Perth to Bremer Bay where Venus would emerge from behind the moon just as it cleared the horizon. Perched on a cliff face, looking east over the southern ocean, I watched the two brightest objects in the night sky slowly drift apart as they climbed into a starry early morning sky.” Read more at Colin’s Facebook page
Source…..www.earthsky.org
Natarajan
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station on Oct. 7, 2015. Sharing with his social media followers, Kelly wrote, “The daily morning dose of #aurora to help wake you up. #GoodMorning from @Space_Station! #YearInSpace”
Image Credit: NASA
Source….www.nasa.gov
natarajan
Bill Clinton (left) shakes hands with President John F. Kennedy at the White House in 1963. Image Source: www.vintag.es
A camel yawns near the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt. Photo by Claire Thomas. Image Source: National Geographic
The Colorado River delta in Mexico as viewed from above. Photo by Edward Burtynsky. Image Source: National Geographic
Image Source: All That Is Interesting
Of the 400 islands that make up the Shengsi archipelago in the mouth of China’s Yangtze River, only 18 are inhabitable. And of those 18, one has recently slipped back into the control of Mother Nature in the most hauntingly beautiful way you could imagine. The houses that dot the hillsides of Goqui Island, once home to fishermen and their families, are now covered in lush, green growth that is truly stunning. See the houses become one with the hills in this photo set.
Image Source: All That Is Interesting
Image Source: All That Is Interesting
By on October 2, 2015 in
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