Time Lapse Images of Earth at Night Taken From the International Space Station

(Source: britneys-unicorn, via robotindisguise)

Rare Pictures From the Dawn of NASA Spaceflight

(via itsfullofstars)

What causes rogue planets to run away from their stars?

We now estimate that every star in the galaxy has at least one planet, but that is leaving aside the potentially billions more planets that were ejected from their solar system and are now hurtling through the universe all alone.

We know that these rogue planets exist - indeed, they could outnumber all the other planets in the galaxy by a factor of two or three to one, and our own solar system possibly once had a fifth gas planet that went walkabout. The question, then, is why all these planets form around stars and then up and leave their home solar systems. The most common explanation had been that their orbits became gravitationally unstable, and while that’s likely still a part of the story, some rather more unusual possibilities are now being considered, thanks to some nifty new computer simulations by researchers at Cambridge and the University of Bordeaux.

Artist’s conception of rogue planet via NASA/JPL.

(via itsfullofstars)

A whole flight day in 8 minutes (mute it)

(Via dvdp)

Newly restored scans of Hasselblad photos shot on Gemini’s 1965-1966 missions.

These galleries include outtakes, underexposures, overexposures, double exposures, light leaks, etc. Even astronauts make photo mistakes.

Read all about the scans.

Newly Restored Hasselblad Scans from Gemini’s Space Missions

Photos: NASA/JSC/Arizona State University; via BoingBoing

Via photojojo

(via itsfullofstars)

(Source: likethesun, via cocknbull)

(Source: clovis-son, via cocknbull)

Make a Lichtenberg Branch

Hit a nail against clear acrylic while its charged with electricity (rubbing a piece of carpet actually creates enough), and you’ll get this beautiful branch of electric charge.

Watch the video in the link above - pretty amazing.

Cosmos Master-Post

From the lives of the stars to creation theories, functions of the human brain, and the ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence, Cosmos asks big questions. When appropriate, Sagan offers big answers, or asks still bigger–and yes, even spiritual–questions at the boundaries of science and religion.

What’s most remarkable about Cosmos is that it remains almost entirely fresh, with few updates needed to the science that Sagan so passionately celebrates. It is no exaggeration to say that Cosmos–for all the debate it may continue to provoke–is a vital document for humanity at a pivotal crossroads of our history.

The complete landmark TV series – 13 one-hour episodes, including:

I: The Shores Of the Cosmos II: One Voice In the Cosmic Fugue III: The Harmony Of the Worlds IV: Heaven and Hell V: Blues For A Red Planet VI: Travellers’ Tales VII: The Backbone of Night VIII: Travels In Space and Time IX: The Lives Of the Stars X: The Edge Of Forever XI: The Persistence Of Memory XII: Encyclopedia Galactica XIII: Who Speaks For Earth?

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I: The Shores Of the Cosmos

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6938FERP

II: One Voice In the Cosmic Fugue

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HMKA1OUU

III: The Harmony Of the Worlds

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=G0ZLTD7S

IV: Heaven and Hell

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V78R0CVE

V: Blues For A Red Planet

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H6Y3QHTJ

VI: Travellers’ Tales

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2V6VCIH0

VII: The Backbone of Night

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6R4SZZ2K

VIII: Travels In Space and Time

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TBMLCCTX

IX: The Lives Of the Stars

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JLJ35C6X

X: The Edge Of Forever

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2QF3TCD7

XI: The Persistence Of Memory

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=61UUP810

XII: Encyclopedia Galactica

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OH383SCZ

XIII: Who Speaks For Earth?

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RLZB7HL9

XIV: A Dialougue Between Carl Sagan & Ted Turner

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=16LG66I0

Via:MegaRelease

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Cosmos eBook

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7KHI378G

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The Music of Cosmos – Collector’s Edition

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8N4YWUG4

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=06XIT86O

(Source: ikenbot, via johnsinger)

Canine Adaptation

Moscow’s stray dogs have begun using the city’s subway system. Zoologist Andrey Poyarkov of the Moscow Ecology and Evolution Institute, who has been studying the city’s 35,000 strays for 30 years, says some dogs scavenge downtown during the day and board trains in the evening to travel to industrial complexes in the suburbs, where they sleep.

“Because the best scavenging for food is in the city center,” Poyarkov told the Sun, “the dogs had to learn how to travel on the subway — to get to the center in the morning, then back home in the evening, just like people.”

This seems to be a sinister trend:

1. In 2006 a Jack Russell terrier named Ratty began taking the Number 10 bus from his farm in Dunnington, North Yorkshire, to a pub five miles away, where regulars would feed him sausages. When barred from one pub he switched to another nearby.
2. In 2007 a cat nicknamed Macavity began boarding the Number 331 bus in Wolverhampton, riding 400 meters, and alighting near a fish-and-chip shop. “He sat at the front of the bus, waited patiently for the next stop and then got off,” passenger Paul Brennan told the Daily Mail. “It was was quite strange at first, but now it just seems normal.”
3. In 2009 the BBC reported that a cat named Casper was boarding buses in Plymouth, Devon, and sitting in a favorite seat for the entire 11-mile trip through the city center. The driver would let him off when they returned to the bus stop opposite his house.
4. This year a ginger cat named Dodger began hopping onto buses near his home in Bridport, Dorset. “I hadn’t seen him all morning until my daughter Emily told me one of her friends had just seen him on the bus at Charmouth,” five miles away, owner Fee Jeanes told the Telegraph. “I couldn’t believe it and panicked. I got into my car to go off and look for him, and then at that moment the bus pulled up near our house, and lo and behold he got off.”

It gets worse: Poyarkov’s graduate student Alexei Vereshchagin says that stray dogs in Moscow have been observed obeying traffic lights.

(via Futility Closet)

(via canisfamiliaris)