Astronomers Unveil a 46-Gigapixel Photo of the Milky Way That Took 5 Years to Make
Last year, NASA released a 20-gigapixel photo of the Milky Way that was made up of over 2 million infrared photos. Back in January, NASA published a 1.5-gigapixel photo of the Andromeda Galaxy. If you thought those were big photos, get this: German astronomers have created the largest astronomical photo ever made: a ridiculously big 46-gigapixel photo of the Milky Way that took 5 years to make.
Uhmm….. wow.
Hollywood Can’t Compete With This Supercut Of NASA Footage. I agree with the original poster, watch this on the biggest screen you can.
Video of unmanned SpaceX rocket self-destructing shortly after takeoff
This past Friday, SpaceX launched an unmanned, reusable Falcon 9R rocket (the successor to the Grasshopper) in McGregor, Texas. The rocket self-destructed shortly into its ascent.
The most fascinating part of the video is a) it’s only 40 seconds long, and knowing what’s going to happen but not when is interesting, and b) it really looks like something out of a movie. Wait, no this is real life, movies look like something out of real life!
Civilians in Abandoned McDonald’s Seize Control of Wandering Space Satellite. Really the title says it all. Geeks + a bit of money + a bit of gear = control of a NASA satellite from 1978.
For the first time in history, an independent crew is taking control of a NASA satellite and running a crowdfunded mission. They’re doing it all from a makeshift mission control center in an abandoned McDonald’s in Mountain View, California, using old radio parts from eBay and a salvaged flat screen TV.
Definitely go through the website, it’s a Chrome Experiment, so it’s super slick and sexy, but also has a lot of decent info and videos about the whole adventure.
A Star Just Exploded ‘Next Door’ And It’s A Huge Deal over on the Discovery blogs.
Big badda-boom…
io9 proclaims that China’s Chang’e-3 rocket launch is one of the sexiest you’ll ever see. And they’re right!
The Chinese National Space Administration has successfully launched its Chang’e-3 lunar probe to the moon. If all goes well from here, it’ll be the first Chinese spacecraft to land on an extraterrestrial body — and the first rover to land on the moon in four decades.
I’m back! Seems appropriate the first post from me after a week away is not only from a Canadian, but something “global”. This is Commander Chris Hadfield’s “Space Oddity” cover from the ISS:
@cmdr_hadfield is scheduled to leave the international space station today after a long time of service and an amazingly human look at life aboard the ISS.
Here’s a storify link with the full details.
Sir we thank you for your service!
More evidence that Voyager has exited the solar system on the Sciguy blog.
I’m not sure which is more weird, that humans have sent something outside the freakin’ solar system, or that only now, and more than 30 years after it’s launch, has something from early only gotten to the edge of the solar system. Either way, the Voyager Program is pretty amazing.
If you’re not viewing this full screen on a huge 27” or large screen you’re missing out: MARS Curiosity Rover first Color 360 Panorama.
Delmar shared this on Facebook and as a fan of Firefly I had to pass it on: Mal's Song. Basically a full version of the Firefly theme song with full lyrics and a well edited video to go along with it. To echo Del's comment, dammit, now I must go out and watch all of Firefly again....
Via Reddit is a neat flash animation of the International Space Station coming together. First of all, I'm amazed that it's been around since 1998, and secondly, I didn't know it had gotten so damn big. Sometimes us humans amaze me....