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today technology embraces many fields, sectors. Design, elaborate, build. All simplified, yet the error is always behind the door. This Sanctuary dates back to 1530, built overhanging a mountain corner where it can be reached on foot through tunnels dug out of the rock. All without modern technology but with only the strength of the arms and an extraordinary intellect.
The Sun Voyager is a sculpture by Jón Gunnar Árnason, located next to the Sæbraut road in Reykjavík, Iceland. Sun Voyager is described as a dreamboat, or an ode to the Sun. The artist intended it to convey the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom.
In 1986, the district association of the west part of the city funded a competition for a new outdoor sculpture to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the city of Reykjavík. Jón Gunnar's Sun Voyager won the competition, and the aluminium model was presented to the city for enlargement. The full-sized Sun Voyager was eventually unveiled on Sæbraut on the birthday of the city of Reykjavík, August 18, 1990.
The work is constructed of quality stainless steel and stands on a circle of granite slabs surrounded by so-called “town-hall concrete”. It was constructed in accordance with Jón Gunnar's enlarged full-scale drawing of Sun Voyager and was overseen by Jón Gunnar's assistant, the artist Kristinn E. Hrafnsson. The engineering of the sculpture was supervised by the technologist, Sigurjón Yngvason, in close cooperation with Jón Gunnar himself, the building itself was carried out by Reynir Hjálmtýsson and his assistant.
In an interview published in the newspaper Þjóðviljinn on 11 June 1987, Jón Gunnar describes the genesis of the work as being part of the Scandinavian art project, Experimental Environment, which conducted various artistic experiments in Iceland, Denmark and other places in the 1980s.
In May 1985, a group of artists, members of the Scandinavian art project, Experimental Environment, gathered to take part in the Saari-Vala Environmental Art Action in Bockholm, Finland. There I experienced a sense of the history of the origins of Icelanders, something which is also related in the present exhibition at the Nordic House in Reykjavík.
I had an uncanny feeling that I had been on this island before, when travelling on my way from Mongolia to Iceland, hundreds of years ago.
As you know, there have been speculations that the Icelanders as a race originated in Mongolia. I have discovered the history of their migration to Iceland, which runs as follows: Many centuries ago, a mighty warlord, let’s say it was Alexander the Great, was living in the centre of the known world. He dispatched his bravest and most experienced warriors, along with some women, scribes and other followers, on an exploratory expedition to the cardinal directions, the north, west, south, and east, in order to discover and conquer new, unknown territories. Those who headed east followed the rising sun until they reached the steppes of Mongolia. There they settled down and lived in comfort. Those scribes who accompanied the warriors were expected to document the expedition for the king. Several centuries later, when the documents written by the scribes eventually came to be examined, the people discovered that they had another fatherland in the west. They therefore decided to gather together their belongings and head back west towards the setting sun. We followed the sun for days and years, walking, riding and sailing. We enriched our experience and our determination grew in strength as our journey progressed, and we recorded everything that we saw and experienced. I remember endless pine forests, mountains and waterfalls, lakes, islands, rivers and seas before we eventually reached the ocean. We then constructed huge ships and sailed on westwards towards the setting sun.
As a result of this vivid experience of my participation in this expedition while on the island of Bockholm in the Finnish archipelago, I carved a picture of a sun ship into a granite rock by the sea. The sun ship symbolizes the promise of new, undiscovered territory. It is also being exhibited here at the Nordic House, made of aluminium.
There has been some dispute about the eventual location of Sun Voyager on Sæbraut in Reykjavík. Some people have complained that the ship does not face west, towards the setting Sun in accordance with the concept behind it. The original intention had been for Sun Voyager to be situated in the west part of Reykjavík, for obvious reasons. Jón Gunnar's original idea had been for the ship to be placed on Landakot hill, the prow facing the centre of Reykjavík and the stern to Christ the King Cathedral (Icelandic: Landakotskirkja). Another possibility was that it could be placed by the harbour in the centre of Reykjavík on a specially constructed base. The coastline by Ánanaust nonetheless eventually came to be Jón Gunnar's preferred location for the ship. Unfortunately, changes in the town planning for Reykjavík came to rule out this location. In the end, the final decision was taken (with Jón Gunnar's consent) that Sun Voyager should be located on Sæbraut on a small headland (which the artist jokingly called Jónsnes: Jón's Peninsula). Jón Gunnar was well aware that when bolted to its platform, Sun Voyager would be facing north, but felt that that made little difference when it came down to it.
Sun Voyager was built in accordance with the artist's hand-drawn full-scale plan. Its irregular form with the ever-flowing lines and poetic movement which are a distinctive feature of so many of his works make it seem as if the ship is floating on air. It reaches out into space in such a way that the sea, the sky and the mind of the observer become part of the work as a whole. As a result, Sun Voyager has the unique quality of being able to carry each and every observer to wherever his/her mind takes him/her. Few of Jón Gunnar's works have a simple obvious interpretation. As he stated himself, all works of art should convey a message that transcends the work itself. It is the observer who bears the eventual responsibility for interpreting the works in his/her own way, thus becoming a participant in the overall creation of the work. Jón Gunnar's works frequently make such demands on the observers, giving them the opportunity to discover new truths as a result of their experience.
All 26 large panels with bright floral patterns in the main lobby of the station, which differ in their pattern, were created by Oksana Grudzynska, who acted as the artist of the panels, the performer was Hanna Sharay, and Nina Fedorova worked as a technologist.
Декоративне майолікове панно (1962) з українськими мотивами на мармуровому пілоні станції метро Хрещатик – яскраві квіткові візерунки, складені з майоликових плиток. Автор: українська художниця декоративного і монументального мистецтва, заслужений художник Української РСР Грудзинська Оксана Аркадіївна (1923 - 2024).
Усі 26 великих панно із яскравими квітковими візерунками головного вестибюля станції, які відрізняються малюнком, створила Оксана Грудзинська, яка виступала як художниця панно, виконавицею була Ганна Шарай, а Ніна Федорова працювала як технолог.
Червоний колір, який використали для плиток, дуже незвичний. Це темно-червона полива з глибоким мідним відблиском, яку назвали «бичачою кров’ю». Її рецептуру винайшла Ніна Федорова, проводячи експерименти з виготовлення емалей червоного кольору на основі міді. Проте рецептура вважається втраченою після смерті Федорової у 1993-му, і повторити її не вдається досі.
Примітка Федорова Ніна Іванівна (30. 12. 1907, - 30. 01. 1993, Київ) — українська художниця-керамістка. Розробила широку палітру полив (глазур) відновлюючого вогню, а також іскристі, матові, збірчасті, кристалічні, потічні поливи; відродила забуті техніки розпису кераміки (декоративний розпис ваз, таць, кашпо); створювала власні декоративні розписи панно.
На фото панно першого пілона лівого ряду пілонів, якщо входити на станцію з ескалаторів вулиці Городецького та Інститутської.
Нижні ряди плиток панно на фото відсутні, оскільки приховані за лавкою.
Майоліка – це один з найвідоміших і найпопулярніших видів кераміки, який вирізняється своєю яскравістю, декоративністю та багатою історією. Вироби з майоліки мають особливу текстуру, насичені кольори та характерний блиск, що робить їх унікальними серед інших видів кераміки.
Excerpt from www.bwst.ca/the-artists/shaw:
Location: C
Title: Shade
Material: Aluminum, Steel, Powder coating
Jordan Shaw is a Toronto-based artist and creative technologist. Educated at Carleton University, Algonquin College, and OCAD University, his artwork focuses on the collaboration between digital systems, emerging technologies, and natural environments. He encourages exploration within his work, hoping to foster a deeper understanding and curiosity about our surroundings.
Artist Statement:
`Shade` is an investigation into perspective and analog interactivity. It utilizes the sun's global illumination to create evolving shadows for dynamic, multi-dimensional engagement throughout the day. A collaboration between art, technology, and nature, the artwork’s time-based nature encourages reflection on the potential impact of external influences within our digital-physical world.
Facebook ♦ Twitter ♦ Pinterest ♦ Instagram ♦ 500px ♦ Website
Brookfield Place celebrates Earth Day by releasing a unique flock of 50 luminous floral-patterned birds into the Allen Lambert Galleria. Their propulsion draws on the air we breathe, underscoring the interconnection between man, nature and the preciousness of our environment.
Breath is an iteration of Air Pressure, a successful exhibition of blue birds mounted at Brookfield Place New York. Building on the concept, the Earth Day installation utilizes a variety of floral patterned silks, a natural organic material, to create a cohesive cloud of colourful forms, representing the beautiful complexity of our planets diversity.
Studio F Minus is the collaborative of artist/architects Mitchell F Chan and Brad Hindson, working with a network of world-class engineers, fabricators, and technologists to create large-scale art projects for broad public audiences. Since its founding in 2008, Studio F Minus has been commissioned to produce major public works for cities across Canada and has exhibited installation works in galleries and museums internationally.
Produced by Sandy Pearl and Clyde Wagner
Media & Art Consultants
www.brookfieldplacenewsandevents.com/events/240/breath-ar...
Macro Mondays. theme: favourite book (fiction). I chose "The Magician of Lhasa" by David Michie. I have read and reread this book many times. a great tale.
The Magician of Lhasa. A novice monk. A quantum scientist. An ancient secret. David Michie.
(from Wikipedia)
The Magician of Lhasa is a novel by David Michie. The novel follows dual plot lines. The first is set in 1959 and follows a teenage Buddhist monk as he is tasked with transporting an ancient, long-hidden secret scrolls of his faith to neighboring India.
The second plot line is set in 2007 and follows a nano-technologist whose research project has been mysteriously taken over by an American corporation.
The novel received stellar reviews, although it was banned in China for its portrayal of the 1959 Tibetan uprising.[1] The Magician of Lhasa has won accolades for illustrating the connection between basic principles of modern physics and ancient Buddhist practices.[2]
The novel is published by Trapdoor Books, an imprint of Trapdoor Publishing. First edition printed in 2010
NASA GOES-13 satellite image showing earth on December 31, 2010 8: 45 UTC.
Credit: NOAA/NASA GOES Project
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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Sun Voyager is a dreamboat, an ode to the sun. A sculpture by Jón Gunnar Árnason, located next to the Sæbraut road in Reykjavík, Iceland. Intrinsically, it contains within itself the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom.
The work is constructed of quality stainless steel and stands on a circle of granite slabs surrounded by so-called “town-hall concrete”. It was constructed in accordance with Jón Gunnar’s enlarged full-scale drawing of Sun Voyager and was overseen by Jón Gunnar’s assistant, the artist Kristinn E. Hrafnsson. The engineering of the sculpture was supervised by the technologist, Sigurjón Yngvason, in close cooperation with Jón Gunnar himself, the building itself was carried out by Reynir Hjálmtýsson and his assistant.
--- Wikipedia
Aftermath
Name: Peter Renshaw
Location: Kinglake West.
Date: 2009MAR26
Description:
First time in the back paddock. The plants you see in the foreground are what is left of a 1acre paddock of exotic Camellias and Rhododendrons. They are bending in the direction of the fire path.
The text below is a talk I gave on how we (brother, sister, myself and mates) organised and executed plans to get immediate power & water at my Dads house. Authorities simply didn't react fast enough.
==================
Final draft for talk at Trampoline
update latest news
Now published at seldomlogical.com/gsd.html.
A quick intro to the fire is here www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157615800278371/. Be aware this is a draft & I'll be posting later a linked & more polished version at seldomlogical and my wp site. For the purposes of the talk on the day I subtitled the talk Kick-starting Volunteers to not only make the title shorter but to put the talk in a bigger context. The ideas here can be applied to situations like Black Saturday but could just as easily be applied to Volunteers, even Startups. They all face the same types of problems.
Hello, my name is Peter. My talk is called "Getting stuff
done with nothing". Before I begin I'll tell you something
about myself. My first computer was a ZX-80. I don't get
out much and I haven't been to a meeting for a long time.
I'm one of those Gen-X slackers, I went to school for 20
or so years and I've worked mostly in Startups and
software. So you could say I'm a bit of an expert on the
topic. Well at least one.
Getting stuff done with nothing
Why is it that some individuals adapt to change faster than
others? How is it that people with no authority, few
resources can make such a difference? The ideas I want to
explore has its roots in the slow decline of volunteering,
the unfolding financial crisis and the 7th February 2009.
A day we now know as Black Saturday.
How do you avoid sabotaging yourself trying to help?
How do you get stuff done, with nothing?
Black Saturday
It was 46 degrees that day. I'd thought about going to Dads
about 70 kilometers from where I live. But with a total
fire ban and hot conditions I chose the pool instead
staying close to home. It wasn't till I got home about six
o'clock that evening that I got a call from a distressed
sister saying Dad was fighting off fires at his property at
Kinglake West and his phone was going flat. Later I got
another call at around 8 o'clock to say the house had
survived but he was still fighting. [0]
I was 70 kilometers away, it was getting dark so I drove to
the nearest place I could see the range, snapped a few
shots and uploaded them to Flickr. My brother and sister
who lived closer shot up to Whittlesea trying to get into
the fire-zone to help. Foolish maybe, but it was to have
positive implications later. [1] I knew that if Dad
survived the first two hours with house intact - as long
as he kept his wits about him, he would survive. So I
started planing, writing and collecting any information
I could to see if I could help out further down the line.
49 days later
It's now forty nine days since the fire and work is
still going on. A casual comment by a CFA volunteer on my
Flickr account [2] suggesting that for the next major fire
a similar site might do exactly what I was doing -
collecting information and acting as a clearing house.
This was going to be initial idea for my talk. "How to
apply technology and apply it to solve the communications
and logistic problems" I encountered with the fires. Maybe
it could be applied to other relief efforts. What about
the recession? Could it help people who loose their jobs
to re-train? Get new skills?
But thinking about it more, it turned out to be the wrong
question to ask. I don't think technology is the problem.
[3] I think the real problem is much more fundamental. I
think it's people and how they tackle obstacles. I don't
want to get bogged down in theory. What I want concentrate
on something practical. How to apply some quick hacks that
anyone can master in times of need.
Personal qualities not technology
To get things done you have to overcome hurdles. Some
are personal and internal. Others are external and totally
out of your control. When I started thinking about what
personal qualities might be important, I was struck by the
fact you might need to experiment and apply various
combinations to achieve a result. So I have tried to narrow
the list, to what I think are the 10 qualities that make a
difference.
1) Controlling emotion
Emotions effect the way we make decisions. Emotions come in
many forms as we react to stress. Each person reacts
slightly differently. Limiting your emotional reaction, lets
you move forward to make decisions. It's a trait that only
you can control. Some sort of control is an advantage over
none. No control over you emotions can let fear control
you. Fear is by far the most damaging emotion I can think
of. Fear paralyses you into in-action. In-action is not
only counter productive but it's also the fastest way to
sabotage yourself. Fear is also contagious. If you are
fearful, it has a nasty habit of rubbing-off onto others.
I don't know the solution to avoiding or controlling fear
but I do know you should be aware it exists. You should try
to negate it's side effects. The better control you have
over fear, the more effective you can be. [4]
2) Listening
How well you listen greatly effects any outcome to try to
achieve. Not listening is one of the quickest ways to fail
when you encounter external hurdles. Not listening you miss
details. Details that could mean the difference between
knowing what is required or taking a risk and guessing. A
requirement achieved is a form of measurable success.
Guessing simply wastes time. If in doubt ask someone "on
the ground". They know things you don't. Listen now and
you save time and effort later.
3) Mindset
If you have a rigid mindset. If you cannot adapt quickly
enough. You risk not only failing to achieve the things you
set out to do. You will be susceptible to blunder. A
blunder is when the action you take, results in a worse
situation than when you start. Blunders have many causes.
But the most likely culprit is a fixed or rigid mindset.
Mindset is the combined effect of "how you react
emotionally to current events" and "the decisions you make
as a result". So ask yourself. "Are you undermining
yourself because you have a rigid mindset?"
4) Empathy & imagination
Can you walk in the shoes of another person? Can you
identify their problems and solve them? Empathy and
imagination are an effective antidote to blunders, rigid
mindsets and cognitive traps in thinking. [5] Don't just
try and blunder your way through a solution. First put
yourself into situation you are trying to improve and
use your mind to to project, how you might make the
current situation into a better or best situation. [6]
5) Communication not Info-mania
An info-maniac is someone who misuses information. If you
hold onto information, shun or avoid the source or nature
of information. You are self sabotaging yourself. You need
to collect enough of the right type of relevant
information. Don't worry about the having too much
information. You will be surprised what people might be
looking for or find. [7] Working as a team has its own
challenges. When communicating to more than one person
make sure they have the right mindset and ensure they are
communicating together to get the job done.
6) Thrift and resources
Up till now, the focus has primarily been on the how.
Little thought has been given to cost. If you have few
resources and need them quickly it is up to you to work out
how important they are. Weigh the costs of buying verses
loaning. Don't buy if you can help it. The time honoured
"Beg, borrow and ask" works, well some of the time. A simple
solution is to hack what you already have and see if it can
fit the purpose. A roll of fencing wire and duct tape may
work wonders but not miracles.
This is where you have to get creative. A good resource can
be friends or people you know. It may even be complete
strangers. In some cases you will have to pay cash. Before
you do check with people on the ground if they really need
this item. If you pay cash it might be better to accept a
higher price for a receipt instead of trying to negotiate
a discount. This avoids disputes. Pay a bit more to avoid
potential conflict. [8]
7) Speed
We are often told to do things "fast". But saying and
doing are two different things. Where do you start? Well
start at the basics. The basics of life are 'food', 'water'
and shelter. So for a given situation concentrate first on
the basics. Be able to say with certainty you have
reliability. Day in, day out. Every day. Speed is also
about getting real results without wasting unnecessary time
and resources. Any lack of the above qualities will hinder
your efforts. So I think the measure of speed is about
delivering the basics. Then using a combination of
listening, empathy and imagination you can move your way
forward.
But speed alone isn't good enough.
It's a constant. What you really want is acceleration.
What forces can you use to increase the accelerate the rate
you do things? Well the answer to this and a potential
road-block is probably a combination of and Info-mania.
Collect enough information on problem at hand and you get a
data glut and as long as the relevance of the information
is high someone can probably find the right information.
The trick is then to get the right people to take notice.
We got "feet on the ground" to Dad in less than 48 hours.
Delivering a delivering a generator and essentials. Yet I
was shocked that it took another 48 hours for support teams to
touch base in Flowerdale a mere 26 kilometers further
north. [9] This changed quickly when Pete William started
writing the "helpflowerdale" blog. Things sped up when the
information flow sped up. [10]
8) Search for simplicity
KISS or Keep it Simple Stupid. Easy to say, much harder to
do in practice. The advantage of simplicity is it helps
keeps you focused on what is achievable. Focusing on simple
outcomes is also cost and time effective. Complex things
consume resources. How do you find simple solutions in
real-life complexity?
I have no real answers. But I did get a few valuable
insights trying to work out how to solve the problem of
water. After the fires, I knew delivering the basics was
going to be a big problem. And the most important basic is
water. But how do you source, deliver and maintain a clean
water supply 70 kilometers away?
How did I simplify the problem? Well first I had the right
mindset. I knew in the middle of summer in remote areas
that damaged water tanks, no pumps and when the power is
down there will be no reliable water. I also knew speed was
of the essence. The simplicity hack I applied was knowing
that water being a basic was required quickly. I confirmed
by ringing up people on the ground that water storage was a
problem. Then spread the news around this is what was
required. It just so happened that other people where
already thinking along the same lines pre-warned because of
the information I spread, "empathised" and offered help.
The actual situation itself is complicated and I couldn't
tackle this problem myself but I got a call from a good
friend who is an expert in logistics and just happened to
have a water solution in the form of a Shutz. By chance I
also got access to various forms of transport.
Is this a case of good luck or searching for a simpler way?
I'm not sure. I do know that by knowing this was a priority
and using resources I secured the water containers and got
them delivered. [11], [12]
9) Follow through, re-evaluate
What you start you finish. Don't leave loose threads. Then
quickly re-evaluate. Do you really need to continue?
Communicate together. Is someone else doing this? Check
with someone on the ground again. Then continue. If you
promise to do something, do it. No one else is going to do
it. It is up to you.
Are you going to let your mates down?
10) Motivation, "the mongrel factor"
The final personal quality is how much of the "mongrel
factor" you have. No, it has nothing to do with "Blue
Heelers" (the TV show) [13] but the mongrel breed of dog.
How hard do you "snap" and "snarl" [14] to extract that
last 5 percent effort required to complete a task? The
difference between those who give up and those who succeed
can partially be explained to how hard they are willing to
push themselves. [15]
The future of Volunteers
I don't think technology alone can solve the types of
problems. You need intelligent application of technology.
Instead we should look at how we as individuals respond
using technology to amplify results. I also saw a complete
change in community attitudes to 'volunteering'. Before the
fire, volunteering was a dirty word. After the fire people
felt guilty not helping.
The fires may be over. But your chance to make a difference
begins now. Black Saturday might be the fractal training
run for the current recession. Lots of people, young people
especially are now going find themselves without the
opportunities to work and no path to improve themselves.
What are YOU! going to do? Are you! (point to individual)
going to let your mates down?
Reference
[0] Bootload, flickr, "You can read a summary and view
pictures of the fires first hours here",
[Accessed Thursday, 26th March, 2009]
flickr.com/photos/bootload/3260244634
[1] We (my brother, sister, her bloke, myself and a good
mate) undertook two distinct operations. Operation Genny:
objective to deliver power in the form of a generator.
Operation Shutz: objective to deliver clean water supply
tanks up to 3000 litres with 1 tank capable of being put on
a ute. We completed both. We had feet on the ground within
48 hours of the fire occurring for the generator. The water
supply following some 2 weeks later.
None of this would have been possible if emotional sister
and determined brother used speed to the fire zone within
couple of hours. The reward, a pass to move through the
police road blocks. Had it not been for this quick
thinking. Nothing we planned would have come to fruition.
[2] miniopterus, Flickr, "I should have said, good job
tracking the events. I imagine that next time we have fires,
we might see something similar to your Flickr diary.",
flickr.com/photos/bootload/3298613958
[Accessed Thursday, 26th March, 2009]
[3] To technologists who forge and yield hammers every
problem can appear to be a nail. In this case I don't think
a technology solution is applicable as tackling how people
deal with decision making. You need intelligent application
of technology. Instead we should look at how we as
individuals respond using technology to amplify results.
[4] Fear is there for a reason. Men may perceive women to
be inferior when it comes to emotion. But like the second
law of thermodynamics, all that built up emotion is going
to leak out some time in the future. So in the long run,
I think women have an edge over men dealing with emotion.
But in the short term it is men who edge women out with
self control. There is a downside here. Apply too much
control and you might emotionally overheat and become
brittle when you cool down leaving yourself open to
cracking. Hard objects become brittle and crack under
stress.
[6] google, "enter 'from: kinglake west to: Flowerdale
VIC, Australia' and view the maps tab. This reveals the
distance from Kinglake West."
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[5] Zachary Shore, "Blunder: Why Smart People Make Bad
Decisions, Blunder Intro, P5."
www.zacharyshore.com/static/content/blunder_intro.pdf
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[6] CVS2BVS: Current View of Situation to Best View of
Situation is a quick hack to make you think of moving
forward. What is you current view? What is your best
view? How do you get there? You have to ask the question
before you can find a solution.
[7] ITConversations, Tech Nation, Zachary Shore, "Why
Smart People Make Bad Decisions: Professor, Naval
Postgraduate School"
itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail4007.html
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[8] Sourcing the Shutz (ruggised 1000 Lt, portable water
container) I negotiated a price by quoting a friends name
in cash. Then I get a phone call asking for more money. A
quick call back to my referring mate sorted this out. But
had I got a receipt I could have avoided this. In the end
it worked out. But the risk was there. You can read more
about sourcing the Shutz here:
www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157614178152108/
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[9] google, "To find the distance from Kinglake West to
Flowerdale enter 'from: Kinglake West to: Flowerdale VIC,
Australia' into google and click the maps tab.
[10] Pete Williams, blogspot, "Flowerdale - Survivor
Spirit", "A cry for help from the forgotten people of
Flowerdale"
"... The final straw for my sister in law came at 6.00am
today (12/02/09) when those left fought to save one of the
remaining houses that caught on fire overnight. They fought
with no water, no fire trucks and no support from the Army
that was in the area. They lost the fight. ..."
helpflowerdalenow.blogspot.com/2009/02/cry-for-help-from-...
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[11] bootload, flickr, "flickr set: 'Shutz IBC 1000L' where
I order and collect the Shutz water tank"
www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157614178152108/
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[12] bootload, "flickr set: 'Eltham to Kinglake West'
where we deliver the tanks"
www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157614178001242/
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[13] IMDb, "Blue Heelers, The Mongrel Factor"
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[14] Australian Sports Commission, "Participating in Sport:
Predicting sports suitability", "... Coaches who observe
such testing sessions are assessing the ‘mongrel factor’
which athletes show a doggedness to continue when the test
becomes hard?"
www.ausport.gov.au/participating/got_talent/overview/pred...
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[15] Simon Britton, "Mongrel Nation",
culturenow.com/site/item.cfm?item=24814
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
To Andy, James, Kev, Mum and Trace. They know how to get
things done with nothing. Thanks Trace, Colin for reading
the article.
NASA image acquired August 4, 2010
Intense fires continued to rage in western Russia on August 4, 2010. Burning in dry peat bogs and forests, the fires produced a dense plume of smoke that reached across hundreds of kilometers. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) captured this view of the fires and smoke in three consecutive overpasses on NASA’s Terra satellite. The smooth gray-brown smoke hangs over the Russian landscape, completely obscuring the ground in places. The top image provides a close view of the fires immediately southeast of Moscow, while the lower image shows the full extent of the smoke plume.
To read more about this image go to: earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=45046
To view the high res go here:
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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The Sun Voyager,
Reykjavík,
Iceland.
The Sun Voyager (Icelandic: Sólfar) is a sculpture by Jón Gunnar Árnason, located next to the Sæbraut road in Reykjavík, Iceland. Sun Voyager is described as a dreamboat, or an ode to the Sun. The artist intended it to convey the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom.
In 1986, the district association of the west part of the city funded a competition for a new outdoor sculpture to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the city of Reykjavík. Jón Gunnar's Sun Voyager won the competition, and the aluminium model (42.5 cm × 88 cm × 36 cm, 16.7 in × 34.6 in × 14.2 in) was presented to the city for enlargement. The full-sized Sun Voyager was eventually unveiled on Sæbraut on the birthday of the city of Reykjavík, August 18, 1990.
The work is constructed of quality stainless steel and stands on a circle of granite slabs surrounded by so-called “town-hall concrete”. It was constructed in accordance with Jón Gunnar's enlarged full-scale drawing of Sun Voyager and was overseen by Jón Gunnar's assistant, the artist Kristinn E. Hrafnsson. The engineering of the sculpture was supervised by the technologist, Sigurjón Yngvason, in close cooperation with Jón Gunnar himself, the building itself was carried out by Reynir Hjálmtýsson and his assistant.
This artist's concept shows an auroral display on a brown dwarf. If you could see an aurora on a brown dwarf, it would be a million times brighter than an aurora on Earth.
Credits: Chuck Carter and Gregg Hallinan/Caltech
---
Mysterious objects called brown dwarfs are sometimes called "failed stars." They are too small to fuse hydrogen in their cores, the way most stars do, but also too large to be classified as planets. But a new study in the journal Nature suggests they succeed in creating powerful auroral displays, similar to the kind seen around the magnetic poles on Earth.
"This is a whole new manifestation of magnetic activity for that kind of object," said Leon Harding, a technologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, and co-author on the study.
On Earth, auroras are created when charged particles from the solar wind enter our planet's magnetosphere, a region where Earth's magnetic field accelerates and sends them toward the poles. There, they collide with atoms of gas in the atmosphere, resulting in a brilliant display of colors in the sky. Read more: www.nasa.gov/jpl/powerful-auroras-found-at-brown-dwarf
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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This evening Jenna, her mom and I attended the annual Health Sciences Spring Banquet at Purdue. Jenna is finishing up her junior year there and was awarded the Barbara Young Award.
Description of the award:
"Barbara Young was a member of the first class of students majoring in Medical Technology when the School of Health Sciences was created in the fall of 1979. During her three years on campus she was a strong student attaining letter grades of A and B. She was described as a self-starter and pleasant person. In her clinical year she excelled academically and was considered by her instructors as hard working, dedicated, always eager to learn. Upon completion of her B.S. degree in August, 1982, she passed the National Certifying Examination for Medical Technologists and was employed as a registered medical technologist.
On December 21, 1982, Barbara Young became suddenly ill, quickly lapsed into a coma and died three days later. Cause of death was attributed to a brain tumor with no previous indication of a problem.
The Barbara Young award was established with the support of her parents to honor her memory and recognize an outstanding student in semester 6 that is majoring in medical technology. The student must have a G.P.A. of 3.00 or better, and have been accepted into an accredited clinical program at an affiliated hospital for the fourth year. The award is based on demonstrated qualities of leadership, self-reliance and outstanding motivation."
Needless to say ... her mom and I are extremely proud!
About Me:
I am Pranav Bhasin, a technologist by education, photographer by passion, cyclist and runner by desire, entrepreneur by choice and an ardent traveler.
My photography is an attempt to mirror the soul of places I have been to, people I have met and things I have experienced during my travels. Please visit Pranav Bhasin's Photo Gallery and Photo Blog for a collection of my best photos.
You can also connect with me at: My Product Management and Social Media Blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Foursquare.
In case you are interested in using my photos, please write to me and I would be happy to offer them for a price. Please do not use my photos without prior authorization from me. Thanks!
With this photograph, I begin publishing a series of my photographs documenting the events of the so-called “Orange Revolution,” which took place in Ukraine (with its epicenter in the center of Kyiv) from November 22, 2004, to January 23, 2005.
I was a witness to those events, as well as to everything that subsequently unfolded in the political, economic, and social life of my country.
The trigger for the protests was the outcome of the presidential election, in which the incumbent prime minister of the country—and former head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration—Viktor Yanukovych was officially declared the winner.
Yanukovych was portrayed as a pro-Russian candidate who relied primarily on the support of the population of Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions (most notably Donbas and Crimea), as well as on the administrative resources of the ruling regime of President Leonid Kuchma at the time.
The rest of the country (located on the right bank of the Dnipro River) favored Viktor Yushchenko, the former head of the National Bank of Ukraine and former prime minister, whom political strategists positioned as a pro-European and pro-Western candidate.
It was during that election that unscrupulous hired political consultants (both Ukrainian and foreign) for the first time cynically played the card of dividing Ukrainians along linguistic lines.
Electoral fraud—during voting itself and especially during the vote-counting process—came as no surprise to Ukrainians, since virtually all previous elections had been conducted in a similar manner, using a wide range of manipulative techniques (in this regard, the Ukrainian authorities and political technologists demonstrated remarkable ingenuity; techniques tested in Ukrainian elections were later adopted by dishonest or undemocratic regimes in other countries).
Fuel was also added to the fire by the fact of Viktor Yanukovych’s criminal past: he had several convictions dating back to Soviet times, including for stealing hats from passengers’ heads on public transport and, as reported in the press, even participation in a gang rape.
Shortly before the vote, Viktor Yushchenko was seriously poisoned with dioxin. The poisoning partially paralyzed and disfigured his face, making it difficult for him to speak. He was in critical condition overall and spent many subsequent years undergoing treatment; traces of the poisoning remained on his body up to these days. There were many other incidents during his presidential campaign, but the poisoning overshadowed everything else.
The security services of President Kuchma’s regime cynically and mockingly spread claims that Yushchenko had either overeaten black caviar or botched a Botox injection.
Like tens of millions of other Ukrainians, I did not want to see a repeat criminal as president of my country, and I could see that Ukraine was being forcibly turned away from the path toward the civilized world and pushed instead toward a gangster-style dictatorial state. That is why I went out to protest, together with everyone else.
To be continued...
(3 September 2005) --- Typhoon Nabi is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 11 crewmember on the International Space Station, as it swirls in the Pacific Ocean, heading toward southern Korea and Japan. At the time this image was taken Typhoon Nabi was ~23N 133E with sustained winds ~100 knots, gusting to 120 knots.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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City Lights at Night along the France-Italy Border
The brightly lit metropolitan areas of Torino (Italy), Lyon, and Marseille (both in France) stand out amidst numerous smaller urban areas in this dramatic astronaut photograph. The image captures the nighttime appearance of the France-Italy border. The southwestern end of the Alps Mountains separates the two countries. The island of Corsica is visible in the Ligurian Sea to the south (image top).
The full moon reflects brightly on the water surface and also illuminates the tops of low patchy clouds over the border (image center). This image was taken by an International Space Station (ISS) astronaut at approximately 11:55 p.m. local time, when the ISS was located over the France-Belgium border near Luxembourg.
Astronauts orbiting the Earth frequently collect images that include sunglint, or the mirror-like reflection of sunlight off a water surface. Sunglint typically lends a bright, or washed out appearance to the water surface. In clear-sky conditions, reflected light from the Moon can produce the same effect (moonglint), as illustrated in this astronaut photograph. The astronaut observer was looking towards the southeast at an oblique viewing angle at the time the image was taken; in other words, looking outwards from the ISS, not straight down towards the Earth.
Astronaut photograph ISS023-E-29061 was acquired on April 28, 2010, with a Nikon D3 digital camera, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 23 crew. The image in this article has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. Lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by William L. Stefanov, NASA-JSC.
Instrument: ISS - Digital Camera
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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I+D+i en la industria quesera española. Biotecnología y nuevos procesos de producción. Las nuevas tecnologías como mejores aliados de la producción artesanal. Con José Vicente Altamirano, Senior Food Technologist, Tetra Pak; Luisa Villegas, Coordinadora de la Asociación para la promoción del Queso Idiazábal de Pastor Artzai-Gatza; Eduardo Querol, Delegado de Ventas y Pedro Pórtoles, quesero profesional e inventor de la máquina dosificadora Dosiqueso. Grupo Andreu; y Miguel Ángel Ramírez, Director General IDEA FOOD Consulting.
20/02/2010: Hit 2000 Faves. Thanks
Published in the January 2010 issue of the Popular Photography magazine on page 50
Will we ever know for sure?
You can see more of my photos, which i didn't (yet) publish here, on my zenfolio page:
Technique/Processing
Shot with my Sigma 12-24 @ 24mm. The framing took a few attempts (especially to align the lines of the ceiling with the 12h mark of the clock...
No fancy processing this time, just converted to b&w and a little dodge and burn for more contrast on the clock
Where?
Nearly all my photos are geotagged, so you can see directly on the flickr map where the photo was taken.
This one's been shot in the brand new Guillemins train Station in Liège, Belgium, designed by the famous spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava.
It's still in work though and should be finished by the end of september 2009. Nevertheless, it's already a very impressive structure.
Info
Time is a component of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects. Time has been a major subject of religion, philosophy, and science, but defining it in a non-controversial manner applicable to all fields of study has consistently eluded the greatest scholars.
In physics as well as in other sciences, time is considered one of the few fundamental quantities. Time is used to define other quantities – such as velocity – and defining time in terms of such quantities would result in circularity of definition. An operational definition of time, wherein one says that observing a certain number of repetitions of one or another standard cyclical event (such as the passage of a free-swinging pendulum) constitutes one standard unit such as the second, is highly useful in the conduct of both advanced experiments and everyday affairs of life. The operational definition leaves aside the question whether there is something called time, apart from the counting activity just mentioned, that flows and that can be measured. Investigations of a single continuum called spacetime brings the nature of time into association with related questions into the nature of space, questions that have their roots in the works of early students of natural philosophy.
Among prominent philosophers, there are two distinct viewpoints on time. One view is that time is part of the fundamental structure of the universe, a dimension in which events occur in sequence. Time travel, in this view, becomes a possibility as other "times" persist like frames of a film strip, spread out across the time line. Sir Isaac Newton subscribed to this realist view, and hence it is sometimes referred to as Newtonian time. The opposing view is that time does not refer to any kind of "container" that events and objects "move through", nor to any entity that "flows", but that it is instead part of a fundamental intellectual structure (together with space and number) within which humans sequence and compare events. This second view, in the tradition of Gottfried Leibniz and Immanuel Kant, holds that time is neither an event nor a thing, and thus is not itself measurable nor can it be travelled.
Temporal measurement has occupied scientists and technologists, and was a prime motivation in navigation and astronomy. Periodic events and periodic motion have long served as standards for units of time. Examples include the apparent motion of the sun across the sky, the phases of the moon, the swing of a pendulum, and the beat of a heart. Currently, the international unit of time, the second, is defined in terms of radiation emitted by caesium atoms (see below). Time is also of significant social importance, having economic value ("time is money") as well as personal value, due to an awareness of the limited time in each day and in human life spans.
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Thanks for explore #1
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You can license my photos through Getty images
As a former Potter (or do you say “Ceramicist”- or Silica Technologist) I instinctively knew that there was a former factory that baked clay here, whether a Tile Factory or something related to “firing” Clay.
Thanks to Google Maps (-👍 👍! ) I now know
it was The Antigos Fornos da Fabrica de Loucas de Massareles of near Campagna Train Station in PORTO.
NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, left, swears in A.C. Charania as NASA’s Chief Technologist, as Ellen Gertsen, chief of the administration branch of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate looks on, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Dr. Hibbert reviews the X-ray taken of Homer Simpson’s head. He has to tell Homer that he can’t let those donuts go to his head!
Being an X-ray technician, or as it may also be referred to as a Radiologic Technologist, can be both challenging and rewarding work. In the field of medical imaging, X-rays, along with CT scans, MRIs, and other non-invasive tests can offer radiologists and physicians important health details that can assess a patient’s health without surgery. This field not only requires the basics of biology, chemistry, and physics, but also human anatomy, physiology, and a little psychology. Yes, knowing how to position a patient in the proper ‘pose’ is part of the job. Knowing how to set the X-ray machine and adjust for proper exposure is also required. Personal safety is also necessary as the technician must also safeguard himself or herself from the harmful rays emitted over time. That is why they must scan themselves to alert to possible over-exposure to X-rays.
To view a video on Hubble go here:
www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4402354400/
A close-up of Astronaut John Grunsfeld shows the reflection of Astronaut Andrew Feustel, perched on the robotic arm and taking the photo. The pair teamed together on three of the five spacewalks during Servicing Mission 4 in May 2009.
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute conducts Hubble science operations.
Goddard is responsible for HST project management, including mission and science operations, servicing missions, and all associated development activities.
To learn more about the Hubble Space Telescope go here:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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NASA image release August 5, 2010
A beautiful new image of two colliding galaxies has been released by NASA's Great Observatories. The Antennae galaxies, located about 62 million light-years from Earth, are shown in this composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), the Hubble Space Telescope (gold and brown), and the Spitzer Space Telescope (red). The Antennae galaxies take their name from the long antenna-like "arms," seen in wide-angle views of the system. These features were produced by tidal forces generated in the collision.
The collision, which began more than 100 million years ago and is still occurring, has triggered the formation of millions of stars in clouds of dusts and gas in the galaxies. The most massive of these young stars have already sped through their evolution in a few million years and exploded as supernovas.
The X-ray image from Chandra shows huge clouds of hot, interstellar gas that have been injected with rich deposits of elements from supernova explosions. This enriched gas, which includes elements such as oxygen, iron, magnesium, and silicon, will be incorporated into new generations of stars and planets. The bright, point-like sources in the image are produced by material falling onto black holes and neutron stars that are remnants of the massive stars. Some of these black holes may have masses that are almost one hundred times that of the Sun.
The Spitzer data show infrared light from warm dust clouds that have been heated by newborn stars, with the brightest clouds lying in the overlapping region between the two galaxies.
The Hubble data reveal old stars and star-forming regions in gold and white, while filaments of dust appear in brown. Many of the fainter objects in the optical image are clusters containing thousands of stars.
The Chandra image was taken in December 1999. The Spitzer image was taken in December 2003. The Hubble image was taken in July 2004, and February 2005.
To read more go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/multimedia/antennae.html
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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Credit: NASA, ESA, SAO, CXC, JPL-Caltech, and STScI
Acknowledgment: G. Fabbiano and Z. Wang (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), and B. Whitmore (STScI)
Robert Wilson 1903 - 1992 invented ship"s propeller - large black propeller on left of photo
Prominent beside the wharf of Dunbar’s Victoria Harbour is a large, black painted ship’s propeller, a memorial to a little known Dunbar lad, a Victorian inventor and technologist.
Robert Wilson was the son of Benjamin Wilson, mariner and cooper, and was born at the Shore of Dunbar. Robert had just turned seven when his father was drowned, lost when the Dunbar Lifeboat was upset during a rescue. Straightened circumstances soon forced his mother, Catherine Lyall, and the remaining family to move to the countryside to be near relatives. There, Robert was apprenticed to a wright.
Despite the move, Robert was still close enough to Dunbar to keep up his developing interest in ships and propulsion – the library of the town’s Mechanics Institute providing suitable technical texts to support his interests and his membership led to important contacts. From boyhood he worked at devising a means of propelling a vessel by means of ‘rotating sculls’ – what we know today as a propeller. By the 1820s, and with the patronage of the Lauderdales in Dunbar, he demonstrated working models in Leith Harbour, winning a prize from Highland Society and the Scottish Society of Arts in 1832. It was a harder struggle to convince the wider world that the invention was useful. Even with the aid of his Scottish backers the Admiralty was sceptical of his device and periodic spells of debt meant that experiments had to give way to earning a living.
Robert concentrated on his career, securing a position as Works Manager of the Bridgewater Foundry (Patricroft, Lancaster) of James Nasmyth. When Nasmyth retired in 1856, Robert became his managing partner (the firm later became Nasmyth, Wilson & Co.) and he remained so until 1882. In that period, Robert secured over 30 patents for engineering advances. Many were concerned with the technology behind Nasmyth’s steam hammers, but some related directly to his early obsession – propellors. Although he never got the recognition that he felt he deserved (a competitor, Francis Petit Smith, reaped most of the rewards) in 1880 he was awarded 500 pounds by the Admiralty to licence his double action screw propeller to drive the torpedoes then under development.
Robert’s career was followed closely back in Dunbar and East Lothian and the pages of the local press make repeated reference to Scotland’s Pioneer of Speed; as early as 1936 it was proposed that a memorial be erected near the scene of his first experiments – a plan that had to wait until his 200th anniversary when the current memorial was unveiled in September 2003.
Kittiwake Colony
RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 9, 2007
Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Reto Stöckli
A day’s clouds. The shape and texture of the land. The living ocean. City lights as a beacon of human presence across the globe. This amazingly beautiful view of Earth from space is a fusion of science and art, a showcase for the remote-sensing technology that makes such views possible, and a testament to the passion and creativity of the scientists who devote their careers to understanding how land, ocean, and atmosphere—even life itself—interact to generate Earth’s unique (as far as we know!) life-sustaining environment.
Drawing on data from multiple satellite missions (not all collected at the same time), a team of NASA scientists and graphic artists created layers of global data for everything from the land surface, to polar sea ice, to the light reflected by the chlorophyll in the billions of microscopic plants that grow in the ocean. They wrapped these layers around a globe, set it against a black background, and simulated the hazy edge of the Earth’s atmosphere (the limb) that appears in astronaut photography of the Earth.
The land surface layer is based on photo-like surface reflectance observations (reflected sunlight) measured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite in July 2004. The sea ice layer near the poles comes from Terra MODIS observations of daytime sea ice observed between August 28 and September 6, 2001. The ocean layer is a composite. In shallow water areas, the layer shows surface reflectances observed by Terra MODIS in July 2004. In the open ocean, the photo-like layer is overlaid with observations of the average ocean chlorophyll content for 2004. NASA’s Aqua MODIS collected the chlorophyll data. The cloud layer shows a single-day snapshot of clouds observed by Terra MODIS across the planet on July 29, 2001. City lights on Earth’s night side are visualized from data collected by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program mission between 1994–1995. The topography layer is based on radar data collected by the Space Shuttle Endeavour during an 11-day mission in February of 2000. Topography over Antarctica comes from the Radarsat Antarctic Mapping Project, version 2.
Most of the data layers in this visualization are available as monthly composites as part of NASA’s Blue Marble Next Generation image collection. The images in the collection appear in cylindrical projection (rectangular maps), and they are available at 500-meter resolution. The large images provided above are the full-size versions of these globes. In their hope that these images will inspire people to appreciate the beauty of our home planet and to learn about the Earth system, the developers of these images encourage readers to re-use and re-publish the images freely.
NASA images by Reto Stöckli, based on data from NASA and NOAA.
To learn the history of the Blue Marble go here:
earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/BlueMarble_...
To learn more about the Blue Marble go here:
earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=8108
To learn more about NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center go here:
www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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Image release June 22, 2010
A spectacular new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image — one of the largest ever released of a star-forming region — highlights N11, part of a complex network of gas clouds and star clusters within our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. This region of energetic star formation is one of the most active in the nearby Universe.
The Large Magellanic Cloud contains many bright bubbles of glowing gas. One of the largest and most spectacular has the name LHA 120-N 11, from its listing in a catalogue compiled by the American astronomer and astronaut Karl Henize in 1956, and is informally known as N11. Close up, the billowing pink clouds of glowing gas make N11 resemble a puffy swirl of fairground candy floss. From further away, its distinctive overall shape led some observers to nickname it the Bean Nebula. The dramatic and colourful features visible in the nebula are the telltale signs of star formation. N11 is a well-studied region that extends over 1000 light-years. It is the second largest star-forming region within the Large Magellanic Cloud and has produced some of the most massive stars known.
It is the process of star formation that gives N11 its distinctive look. Three successive generations of stars, each of which formed further away from the centre of the nebula than the last, have created shells of gas and dust. These shells were blown away from the newborn stars in the turmoil of their energetic birth and early life, creating the ring shapes so prominent in this image.
Beans are not the only terrestrial shapes to be found in this spectacular high resolution image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. In the upper left is the red bloom of nebula LHA 120-N 11A. Its rose-like petals of gas and dust are illuminated from within, thanks to the radiation from the massive hot stars at its centre. N11A is relatively compact and dense and is the site of the most recent burst of star development in the region.
Other star clusters abound in N11, including NGC 1761 at the bottom of the image, which is a group of massive hot young stars busily pouring intense ultraviolet radiation out into space. Although it is much smaller than our own galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud is a very vigorous region of star formation. Studying these stellar nurseries helps astronomers understand a lot more about how stars are born and their ultimate development and lifespan.
Both the Large Magellanic Cloud and its small companion, the Small Magellanic Cloud, are easily seen with the unaided eye and have always been familiar to people living in the southern hemisphere. The credit for bringing these galaxies to the attention of Europeans is usually given to Portuguese explorer Fernando de Magellan and his crew, who viewed it on their 1519 sea voyage. However, the Persian astronomer Abd Al-Rahman Al Sufi and the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci recorded the Large Magellanic Cloud in 964 and 1503 respectively.
Credit: NASA, ESA and Jesús Maíz Apellániz (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain)
To learn more about Hubble go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
Excerpt from www.marketingmag.ca: “Symphony of Swings” (the brainchild of Marc Pelland, Fuse’s newly-hired creative technologist) sees a traditional swing set transformed into an interactive art installation. Sensors within the swings respond to movement, emitting both light and sound as people play. When moved in tandem, the swings synchronize to create a “symphony” of complementary sounds.
RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 9, 2007
Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Reto Stöckli
A day’s clouds. The shape and texture of the land. The living ocean. City lights as a beacon of human presence across the globe. This amazingly beautiful view of Earth from space is a fusion of science and art, a showcase for the remote-sensing technology that makes such views possible, and a testament to the passion and creativity of the scientists who devote their careers to understanding how land, ocean, and atmosphere—even life itself—interact to generate Earth’s unique (as far as we know!) life-sustaining environment.
Drawing on data from multiple satellite missions (not all collected at the same time), a team of NASA scientists and graphic artists created layers of global data for everything from the land surface, to polar sea ice, to the light reflected by the chlorophyll in the billions of microscopic plants that grow in the ocean. They wrapped these layers around a globe, set it against a black background, and simulated the hazy edge of the Earth’s atmosphere (the limb) that appears in astronaut photography of the Earth.
The land surface layer is based on photo-like surface reflectance observations (reflected sunlight) measured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite in July 2004. The sea ice layer near the poles comes from Terra MODIS observations of daytime sea ice observed between August 28 and September 6, 2001. The ocean layer is a composite. In shallow water areas, the layer shows surface reflectances observed by Terra MODIS in July 2004. In the open ocean, the photo-like layer is overlaid with observations of the average ocean chlorophyll content for 2004. NASA’s Aqua MODIS collected the chlorophyll data. The cloud layer shows a single-day snapshot of clouds observed by Terra MODIS across the planet on July 29, 2001. City lights on Earth’s night side are visualized from data collected by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program mission between 1994–1995. The topography layer is based on radar data collected by the Space Shuttle Endeavour during an 11-day mission in February of 2000. Topography over Antarctica comes from the Radarsat Antarctic Mapping Project, version 2.
Most of the data layers in this visualization are available as monthly composites as part of NASA’s Blue Marble Next Generation image collection. The images in the collection appear in cylindrical projection (rectangular maps), and they are available at 500-meter resolution. The large images provided above are the full-size versions of these globes. In their hope that these images will inspire people to appreciate the beauty of our home planet and to learn about the Earth system, the developers of these images encourage readers to re-use and re-publish the images freely.
NASA images by Reto Stöckli, based on data from NASA and NOAA.
To learn the history of the Blue Marble go here:
earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/BlueMarble_...
To learn more about the Blue Marble go here:
earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=8108
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant, all that remains of a tremendous stellar explosion. Observers in China and Japan recorded the supernova nearly 1,000 years ago, in 1054.
Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State University)
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute conducts Hubble science operations.
Goddard is responsible for HST project management, including mission and science operations, servicing missions, and all associated development activities.
To learn more about the Hubble Space Telescope go here:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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Image Release April 8, 2010
Hubble has snapped a spectacular view of M 66, the largest "player" of the Leo Triplet, and a galaxy with an unusual anatomy: it displays asymmetric spiral arms and an apparently displaced core. The peculiar anatomy is most likely caused by the gravitational pull of the other two members of the trio.
The unusual spiral galaxy, Messier 66, is located at a distance of about 35 million light-years in the constellation of Leo. Together with Messier 65 and NGC 3628, Messier 66 is the member of the Leo Triplet, a trio of interacting spiral galaxies, part of the larger Messier 66 group. Messier 66 wins in size over its fellow triplets — it is about 100 000 light-years across.
This is a composite of images obtained through the following filters: 814W (near infrared), 555W (green) and H-alpha (showing the glowing of the hydrogen gas). They have been combined so to represent the real colours of the galaxy.
Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin and Robert Gendler
To learn more about this image go to: www.spacetelescope.org/images/html/heic1006a.html
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
On August 7, 2003, the NASA Aqua MODIS instrument acquired this image of Ireland on the first day this summer that most of the island hasn´t been completely obscured by cloud cover. Called the Emerald Isle for a good reason, Ireland is draped in vibrant shades of green amidst the blue Atlantic Ocean and Celtic (south) and Irish (east) Seas. Faint ribbons of blue-green phytoplankton drift in the waters of the Celtic Sea, just south of Dublin.
Dublin itself appears as a large grayish-brown spot on the Republic of Ireland´s northeastern coast. This large capital city (population 1.12 million) sits on the River Liffey, effectively splitting the city in half. Northern Ireland´s capital city, Belfast, also sits on a river: the River Lagan. This city, though its population is only a fifth of the size of Dublin´s, is also clearly visible in the image as a grayish-brown spot on the coast of the Irish Sea.
Sensor Aqua/MODIS
Credit Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
For more information go to:
visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=5744
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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This image of Earth’s city lights was created with data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS). Originally designed to view clouds by moonlight, the OLS is also used to map the locations of permanent lights on the Earth’s surface.
Credit Data courtesy Marc Imhoff of NASA GSFC and Christopher Elvidge of NOAA NGDC. Image by Craig Mayhew and Robert Simmon, NASA GSFC.
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The rocks are famous because they move, leaving tell-tale trails in the clay, like this one. This happens at several playa in California and Nevada. There's no record of anybody seeing one of the rocks move, and scientists aren't quite sure how it happens. But they know that it's not the work of animals, gravity, or earthquakes.
Photo credit: NASA/GSFC/Cynthia Cheung
To read a feature story on the Racetrack Playa go to: www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/roving-rocks.html
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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To view a high res still of this video go here:www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4386822005/
Animation of NASA's Blue Marble.
Credit NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Image by Reto Stöckli (land surface, shallow water, clouds). Enhancements by Robert Simmon (ocean color, compositing, 3D globes, animation). Data and technical support: MODIS Land Group; MODIS Science Data Support Team; MODIS Atmosphere Group; MODIS Ocean Group Additional data: USGS EROS Data Center (topography); USGS Terrestrial Remote Sensing Flagstaff Field Center (Antarctica); Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (city lights).
This spectacular “blue marble” image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet. These images are freely available to educators, scientists, museums, and the public. This record includes preview images and links to full resolution versions up to 21,600 pixels across.
Much of the information contained in this image came from a single remote-sensing device-NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS. Flying over 700 km above the Earth onboard the Terra satellite, MODIS provides an integrated tool for observing a variety of terrestrial, oceanic, and atmospheric features of the Earth. The land and coastal ocean portions of these images are based on surface observations collected from June through September 2001 and combined, or composited, every eight days to compensate for clouds that might block the sensor’s view of the surface on any single day. Two different types of ocean data were used in these images: shallow water true color data, and global ocean color (or chlorophyll) data. Topographic shading is based on the GTOPO 30 elevation dataset compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey’s EROS Data Center. MODIS observations of polar sea ice were combined with observations of Antarctica made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s AVHRR sensor—the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer. The cloud image is a composite of two days of imagery collected in visible light wavelengths and a third day of thermal infra-red imagery over the poles. Global city lights, derived from 9 months of observations from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, are superimposed on a darkened land surface map.
For more information related to NASA's Blue Marble go to:
earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/BlueMarble_...
NASA image release June 6, 2010
Like a July 4 fireworks display a young, glittering collection of stars looks like an aerial burst. The cluster is surrounded by clouds of interstellar gas and dust - the raw material for new star formation. The nebula, located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina, contains a central cluster of huge, hot stars, called NGC 3603.
This environment is not as peaceful as it looks. Ultraviolet radiation and violent stellar winds have blown out an enormous cavity in the gas and dust enveloping the cluster, providing an unobstructed view of the cluster.
Most of the stars in the cluster were born around the same time but differ in size, mass, temperature, and color. The course of a star's life is determined by its mass, so a cluster of a given age will contain stars in various stages of their lives, giving an opportunity for detailed analyses of stellar life cycles. NGC 3603 also contains some of the most massive stars known. These huge stars live fast and die young, burning through their hydrogen fuel quickly and ultimately ending their lives in supernova explosions.
Star clusters like NGC 3603 provide important clues to understanding the origin of massive star formation in the early, distant universe. Astronomers also use massive clusters to study distant starbursts that occur when galaxies collide, igniting a flurry of star formation. The proximity of NGC 3603 makes it an excellent lab for studying such distant and momentous events.
This Hubble Space Telescope image was captured in August 2009 and December 2009 with the Wide Field Camera 3 in both visible and infrared light, which trace the glow of sulfur, hydrogen, and iron.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. in Washington, D.C.
Credit: NASA, ESA, R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), F. Paresce (National Institute for Astrophysics, Bologna, Italy), E. Young (Universities Space Research Association/Ames Research Center), the WFC3 Science Oversight Committee, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
An erupting prominence observed by SDO on March 30, 2010.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO
To read more about this image go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/first-light.html
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
NASA image acquired April 12-13, 2010
STEREO Captures Largest Prominence Eruption in 15 Years
The STEREO (Ahead) spacecraft caught this spectacular eruptive prominence in extreme UV light as it blasted away from the Sun (Apr. 12-13, 2010). This was certainly among the largest prominence eruptions seen by either the STEREO or SOHO missions. The length of the prominence appears to stretch almost halfway across the sun, about 500,000 miles. Prominences are cooler clouds of plasma that hover above the Sun’s surface, tethered by magnetic forces. They are notoriously unstable and commonly erupt as this one did in a dramatic fashion. The video clip shows about 19 hours of activity.
To learn more or donwload the high res files go to: stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/item.php?id=selects&iid=122
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
NASA image release May 20, 2010
Artist's concept of the exoplanet WASP-12b.
The hottest known planet in the Milky Way galaxy may also be its shortest-lived world. The doomed planet is being eaten by its parent star, according to observations made by a new instrument on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS). The planet may only have another 10 million years left before it is completely devoured.
The planet, called WASP-12b, is so close to its sunlike star that it is superheated to nearly 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit and stretched into a football shape by enormous tidal forces. The atmosphere has ballooned to nearly three times Jupiter's radius and is spilling material onto the star. The planet is 40 percent more massive than Jupiter.
To learn more go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/planet-eater.html
Credit: NASA/ESA/G. Bacon
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
NASA GOES 13 satellite image showing earth on August 17, 2010 11:45 UTC.
Credit: NOAA/NASA GOES Project
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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"Light Echo" Illuminates Dust Around Supergiant Star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon)
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute conducts Hubble science operations.
Goddard is responsible for HST project management, including mission and science operations, servicing missions, and all associated development activities.
To learn more about the Hubble Space Telescope go here: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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The name NEMO has been used throughout history by many famous authors to describe events and people who find themselves on the border between fantasy and reality. In Latin nemo means ‘no one’ and indicates a world between fantasy and reality. Visitors to NEMO science centre can become a scientist, technologist or technician for a day. Suddenly dreams are real.