Leonardo DiCaprio Is Apparently Obsessed With Buying Dinosaur Skulls via Digg https://ift.tt/2EaxsQ2
Astronomy news update from NASA : 
Some night skies are serene and passive -- others shimmer and flash. The later, in the form of auroras and meteors, haunted skies over the island of Kvaløya, near Tromsø Norway on 2009 December 13. This 30 second long exposure records a shimmering auroral glow gently lighting the wintery coastal scene. A study in contrasts, the image also captures the sudden flash of a fireball meteor from the excellent Geminid meteor shower of 2009. Streaking past familiar stars in the handle of the Big Dipper, the trail points back toward the constellation Gemini, off the top of the view. Both auroras and meteors occur in Earth's upper atmosphere at altitudes of 100 kilometers or so, but aurora caused by energetic charged particles from the magnetosphere, while meteors are trails of cosmic dust. Nine years after this photograph was taken, toward the end of this week, the yearly 2018 Geminids meteor shower will peak again, although this time their flashes will compete with the din of a half-lit first-quarter moon during the first half of the night.
from NASA https://ift.tt/2rtRAFs
via IFTTT
Some night skies are serene and passive -- others shimmer and flash. The later, in the form of auroras and meteors, haunted skies over the island of Kvaløya, near Tromsø Norway on 2009 December 13. This 30 second long exposure records a shimmering auroral glow gently lighting the wintery coastal scene. A study in contrasts, the image also captures the sudden flash of a fireball meteor from the excellent Geminid meteor shower of 2009. Streaking past familiar stars in the handle of the Big Dipper, the trail points back toward the constellation Gemini, off the top of the view. Both auroras and meteors occur in Earth's upper atmosphere at altitudes of 100 kilometers or so, but aurora caused by energetic charged particles from the magnetosphere, while meteors are trails of cosmic dust. Nine years after this photograph was taken, toward the end of this week, the yearly 2018 Geminids meteor shower will peak again, although this time their flashes will compete with the din of a half-lit first-quarter moon during the first half of the night.
from NASA https://ift.tt/2rtRAFs
via IFTTT
Our new 'Word Of The Day' article update : dame , n :
(Britain) Usually capitalized as Dame: a title equivalent to Sir for a female knight. (Britain) A matron at a school, especially Eton College. (Britain, theater) In traditional pantomime: a melodramatic female often played by a man in drag. (US, dated, informal, slightly derogatory) A woman. (archaic) A lady, a woman. English actress Dame Judi Dench was born on this day in 1934. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1988.
(Britain) Usually capitalized as Dame: a title equivalent to Sir for a female knight. (Britain) A matron at a school, especially Eton College. (Britain, theater) In traditional pantomime: a melodramatic female often played by a man in drag. (US, dated, informal, slightly derogatory) A woman. (archaic) A lady, a woman. English actress Dame Judi Dench was born on this day in 1934. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1988.
Astronomy news update from NASA : 
You can pack a lot of sky watching into 30 seconds on this tiny planet. Of course, the full spherical image timelapse video was recorded on planet Earth, from Grande Pines Observatory outside Pinehurst, North Carolina. It was shot in early September with a single camera and circular fisheye lens, digitally combining one 24-hour period with camera and lens pointed up with one taken with camera and lens pointed down. The resulting image data is processed and projected onto a flat frame centered on the nadir, the point directly below the camera. Watch as clouds pass, shadows creep, and the sky cycles from day to night when stars swirl around the horizon. Keep watching, though. In a second sequence the projected center is the south celestial pole, planet Earth's axis of rotation below the tiny planet horizon. Holding the stars fixed, the horizon itself rotates as the tiny planet swings around the frame, hiding half the sky through day and night.
from NASA https://ift.tt/2PoHhfe
via IFTTT
You can pack a lot of sky watching into 30 seconds on this tiny planet. Of course, the full spherical image timelapse video was recorded on planet Earth, from Grande Pines Observatory outside Pinehurst, North Carolina. It was shot in early September with a single camera and circular fisheye lens, digitally combining one 24-hour period with camera and lens pointed up with one taken with camera and lens pointed down. The resulting image data is processed and projected onto a flat frame centered on the nadir, the point directly below the camera. Watch as clouds pass, shadows creep, and the sky cycles from day to night when stars swirl around the horizon. Keep watching, though. In a second sequence the projected center is the south celestial pole, planet Earth's axis of rotation below the tiny planet horizon. Holding the stars fixed, the horizon itself rotates as the tiny planet swings around the frame, hiding half the sky through day and night.
from NASA https://ift.tt/2PoHhfe
via IFTTT
Our new 'Word Of The Day' article update : irregardless , adj :
(nonstandard, proscribed, sometimes humorous) Irrespective, regardless.
(nonstandard, proscribed, sometimes humorous) Irrespective, regardless.
