Art

Message For the Day…” Sweep away all jealousy and anger …”

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Where have your good old human qualities gone? Truth, tolerance, morality, discipline – when would you accept them? Arise, awake! Establish the Kingdom Divine (Rama-Rajya), resplendent with mansions of truth, right conduct, and peace. Remember and learn from the rule of divine personages, and their characteristics. Quench the burning flames of ignorance, peacelessness, injustice, and envy with the waters of love, forbearance, and truth. Love your fellow brethren. Develop the feeling of mutuality. Sweep away all jealousy and anger. All of you must realise your own faults and understand that there is no use in searching for faults in others. It is a mere waste of time; it also breeds quarrels. So give up that trait. If you miss this opportunity, when will you ever do it? Don’t yield to dejection, but put an end to all the unrighteousness activities of your past. Repent sincerely and tread the path of prayer to God and doing good deeds, and develop brotherly love. 

Sathya Sai Baba

 

Image of the Day….Whale Rainbows…!!!

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Whale rainbows

I didn’t know whales could produce their own rainbows, but … they can.

Iridescence above a whale in Monterey Bay. Photo by William Drumm via Oceana

Here’s a collection of photos, and a video, of rainbows made by whales. Atmospheric Optics guru Les Cowley told me:

These are rainbows made by drops from the whale’s blowholes rather than the more usual raindrops.

These are true rainbows, not iridescence like the iridescence you sometimes see in clouds. Les told me:

Iridescence can be anywhere but it is most common close to the sun. The colors are disordered and pastel.

Rainbows (at least the everyday ones!) are opposite the sun. Their colors are always in the order red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

Les Cowley has another whale rainbow photo in his Optics Picture of the Day series.

Also, be sure to check out the video below, which rsean9000 posted on YouTube in 2011, after a whale-watching cruise in Nova Scotia.

Whales’ blowholes, of course – which are their noses – are on the top of their heads. A whale breathes through its blowhole, but, contrary to any whale cartoons you might have seen, whales don’t actually blow water through their blowholes. Instead, they blow out a combination of air (they breathe out carbon dioxide, just as we human mammals do) and mucus. A whale’s out-breath is warm from the whale’s warm body, just as your out-breath is warm. In the colder and lower-pressure air above, water vapor that’s present condenses out above the whale as droplets.

View larger. | Iridescence in the mist of a blue whale - one of our world's most endangered species - off the coast of southern California in 2014. Image via Craig Hayslip/Oregon State University.It’s this spray of fine droplets, known as the blow, that creates the rainbow.

Iridescence in the mist of a blue whale – one of our world’s most endangered species – off the coast of southern California in 2014. Image via Craig Hayslip/Oregon State University.

Source…..www.earthsky.org

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Image of the Day….Astronauts at work on International Space Station…

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Astronauts working on the International Space Station.

This week, the six-member Expedition 43 crew worked a variety of onboard maintenance tasks, ensuring crew safety and the upkeep of the International Space Station’s hardware. In this image, NASA astronauts Scott Kelly (left) and Terry Virts (right) work on a Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) inside the station’s Japanese Experiment Module. The CDRA system works to remove carbon dioxide from the cabin air, allowing for an environmentally safe crew cabin.

The crew also is packing the SpaceX Dragon space freighter readying the vehicle for its return home and splashdown May 21.

Tags:  Expedition 43, Image of the Day, International Space Station, One-Year Crew

Source……www.nasa.gov

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Message for the Day…” Focus Your Efforts towards Acquisition of Spiritual Bless…”

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Every living being starts on food and yearns slowly to reach the peak of spiritual bliss. Let all your efforts and undertakings be directed to the acquisition of spiritual bliss. The Taithiriya Upanishad clearly elucidates spiritual bliss as the urge for birth, growth, decay, and death. It calls out that all are born in spiritual bliss, will live for it, and will die in order to attain it. However how can Brahman be spiritual bliss (ananda)? Scriptures clarify, ‘Om ithyekaaksharam Brahman – Om, the one imperishable letter is Brahman.’ It is also said, Atma(Divine Self in individual) is Brahman (Divine). Therefore the three terms Atma, Brahman, and Omare all indistinguishably the same. The Scriptures(Brahma Sutras) reveal that the outer universe, which has Divine (Brahman) as the base and the inner universe are identical and cannot be differentiated.   

Sathya Sai Baba

 

Joke of the Day…” Why Symphony being played backward …” !!!!

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A tourist in Vienna goes through a graveyard and all of a sudden he hears some music. No one is around, so he starts searching for the source.
He finally locates the origin and finds it is coming from a grave with a headstone that reads: “Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827.”
Then he realizes that the music is the Ninth Symphony, and it is being played backward! Puzzled, he leaves the graveyard and persuades a friend to return with him. By the time they arrive back at the grave, the music has changed. This time it is the Seventh Symphony, but like the previous piece, it is being played backward. Curious, the men agree to consult a music scholar.
When they return with the expert, the Fifth Symphony is playing, again backward. The expert notices that the symphonies are being played in the reverse order in which they were composed, the 9th, then the 7th, then the 5th.
By the next day the word has spread and a throng has gathered around the grave. They are all listening to the Second Symphony being played backward.
Just then the graveyard’s caretaker ambles up to the group. Someone in the group asks him if he has an explanation for the music.
“Don’t you get it?” the caretaker says incredulously. “He’s decomposing.!!!

Source…www.joke a day .com

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Image of the Day….” Record-Setting Space walk on May 13 1992…”

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Three astronauts on a spacewalk maneuver a satellite into space shuttle cargo bay, with Earth visible in background

On May 13, 1992, following the successful capture of the Intelsat VI satellite, three astronauts continue moving the 4.5 ton communications satellite into the space shuttle Endeavour’s cargo bay. A fellow crew member recorded this 70mm still frame from inside Endeavour’s cabin. Left to right, astronauts Richard J. Hieb, Thomas D. Akers and Pierre J. Thuot, cooperate on the effort to attach a specially designed grapple bar underneath the satellite. Thuot stands on the end of the Remote Manipulator System’s (RMS) arm while Hieb and Akers are on Portable Foot Restraints (PFR) affixed to Endeavour’s portside and the Multipurpose Support Structure (MPESS), respectively. The sections of Earth which form the backdrop for the scene are blanketed with thousands of square miles of clouds.

The Intelsat satellite, stranded in an unusable orbit since its launch aboard a Titan vehicle in March 1990, was equipped with a new perigee kick motor. The satellite was subsequently released into orbit and the new motor fired to put the spacecraft into a geosynchronous orbit for operational use. The capture required three spacewalks: a planned one by astronaut Pierre J. Thuot and Richard J. Hieb who were unable to attach a capture bar to the satellite from a position on the RMS; a second unscheduled but identical attempt the following day; and finally an unscheduled but successful hand capture by Pierre J. Thuot and fellow crewmen Richard J. Hieb and Thomas D. Akers as Commander Daniel C. Brandenstein delicately maneuvered the orbiter to within a few feet of the 4.5 ton communications satellite.

The STS-49 mission, the first flight of shuttle Endeavour, set records for the first (and only, to date) spacewalk involving three astronauts; first shuttle mission to feature four spacewalks; first shuttle mission requiring three rendezvous with an orbiting spacecraft; first attachment of a live rocket motor to an orbiting satellite and first use of a drag chute during a shuttle landing.

Image Credit: NASA

Source…….www.nasa.gov

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Image of the Day…Milky Way …

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Milky Way against a bright moon

Even in bright moonlight, astrophotographer Justin Ng captures amazing shots of the Milky Way. Here’s one from May 6, during the peak of a meteor shower.

View larger. | Milky Way against a bright Moon at Mount Bromo during the peak of Eta Aquarid meteor shower, by Justin Ng of Singapore.

Justin Ng wrote to EarthSky, with this photo attached. He captured it on May 6, 2015 at 5:30 a.m. local time in East Java, Indonesia. He wrote:

Just led my first full moon astrophotography expedition to Mount Bromo, one of the active volcanoes in Indonesia. It would have been easier to unveil the Milky Way against the bright moon on our first night there, but the sky was cloudy and we could only do this on our last night, which was more challenging as the bright moon was located nearer to the Milky Way’s galactic center.

The moon and Saturn made a close approach on May 6, passing just within 2° of each other, at around 35° above horizon at 5.30am (GMT +7). It was a cold night, and alsowhen the Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaked. The large and bright waning gibbous moon, with its illumination at 97%, managed to obscure both the Eta Aquarid meteor shower and the spectacular Milky Way. Although I was able to see a few faint Eta Aquarid meteors on that night, I was unable to see the Milky Way with my unaided eye because the bright moon was so close!

Nonetheless, using the method that I have shared in this tutorial, I managed to unveil the Milky Way that’s obscured by the moon.

So it’s still possible to unveil the Milky Way against a large and bright moon! Give it a try.

Justin pointed out that the circular feature in the photo – on the lower left side – was not a real object in the sky over Mount Bromo. It’s an internal reflection from his camera, known as a lens flare, often seen (although usually not so beautifully!) in photos of bright objects like the sun and moon.

Thank you, Justin!

Bottom line: Milky Way in bright moonlight, by Justin Ng of Singapore.

Source…..www.earthsky.org

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” Meet the World’s First Octographer…” !!!

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If you give an octopus a camera

… she’s going to want to take pictures. An octopus at a New Zealand aquarium trains a camera on visiting tourists.

Meet the world’s first octographer. An animal behavior expert at Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium in Auckland City, New Zealand trained an octopus named Rambo to take photos using a Sony Cyber-shot TX30 camera. Octopuses are super intelligent and Rambo learned quickly. Mark Vette is Rambo’s trainer. He said:

When we first tried to get her to take a photo, it only took three attempts for her to understand the process. That’s faster than a dog. Actually it’s faster than a human in some instances.

Rambo charges $2 to take your picture. The small donation goes directly to the aquarium to help offset expenses.

Source….www.earthsky.org

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Image of the Day…” Sea Fog …” !!!

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Sea haar and clouds meet

Here’s a sea fog, called a haar in Scotland. They occur on the east coast of England or Scotland in spring and summer, when warm air passes over the North Sea.

View larger. |

Will Keogh wrote:

Sea haar and clouds meet in perfect harmony. Pic taken from Lyle Hill, Greenock towards Gourock in Scotland. The haar occurs when warm air condenses over the cold river creating a fog.

The ‘haar’ is also known as a ‘sea fret.’ It typically lies at a uniform height above the waterline but it is a moving entity, i.e. by the wind.

However, when the haar collides with, for example, a hillside, the haar is displaced from the horizontal.

Thank you, Will Keogh!

BBC meteorologist Gail Pirie agrees that a fret, haar and sea fog are all the same thing. She says these fogs typically occur between April and September, when warm air passes over the North Sea:

The variation in name simply arises from the locale in which you happen to find yourself when the fog rolls in off the sea. On the east coast of Scotland sea fog is known locally as haar or North Sea Haar, and it is often said to plague local residents during the summer. Likewise, it’s English counterpart – Fret or Sea Fret can make summer days on the East coast of England miserable.

Bottom line: These sorts of sea fogs are called haars on the east coast of Scotland and frets on the east coast of England. They’re usually flat, but this photo by Will Keogh shows a haar that’s been pushed horizontally after colliding with a hillside, so that it rises up toward clouds above.

Source…..www.earthsky.org

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