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Astronomy Picture Of The Day 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Dust Sculptures in the Rosette NebulaExplanation: What creates the cosmic dust sculptures in the Rosette Nebula? Noted for the common beauty of its overall shape, parts of the Rosette Nebula, also known as NGC 2244, show beauty even when viewed up close. Visible above are globules of dark dust and gas that are slowly being eroded away by the energetic light and winds by nearby massive stars. Left alone long enough, the molecular-cloud globules would likely form stars and planets. The above image was taken in very specific colors of Sulfur (shaded red), Hydrogen (green), and Oxygen (blue). The Rosette Nebula spans about 50 light-years across, lies about 4,500 light-years away, and can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros). ... Astronomy

Video; The Universe From Hubble 1969-12-31 17:59:59 ...

Astronomy Picture Of The Day 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Great Mountain MoonriseExplanation: On May 31st, a gorgeous Full Moon rose over Uludag Mountain in Bursa Province, Turkey. This alluring telephoto view of the twilight scene is a composite of images taken roughly every two minutes beginning shortly after Sunset, following the rising Moon as it moves up and to the right. Of course, as the Moon rises it gets brighter and changes color, becoming less reddened as the sight-line through the dense atmosphere is steadily reduced. Each of the final two exposures also captured a rising planet Jupiter. Like the Full Moon, the bright, wandering planet is nearly opposite the Sun in Earth's sky and was caught on the lefthand side of the picture in two places, just above a small peak in the mountain side. Intriguingly, some considered this Full Moon a Blue Moon. ... Astronomy

Astronomy Picture Of The Day 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Jet Approaching a Crescent MoonExplanation: No natural clouds appear in this picture. On the left, an airplane cruises through the atmosphere leaving a contrail in its wake. The contrail would normally appear white, but the large volume of air toward the setting Sun preferentially knocks away blue light, giving the reflected trail a bright orange hue. Far in the distance, to the right of the plane, is the young Moon. This vast world shows only a sliver of itself because the Sun is nearly lined up behind it. The above image is framed by an eerie gray sky, too far from day to be blue, too far from night to be black. Within minutes the impromptu sky show ended. The plane crossed the Moon. The contrail dispersed. The Sun set. The Moon set. The sky faded to black, only to reveal thousands of stars that had been hiding below the gray din. ... Astronomy

Astronomy Picture Of The Day 1969-12-31 17:59:59 IC 4603: Reflection Nebula in OphiuchiusExplanation: Why does this starfield photograph resemble an impressionistic painting? The effect is created not by digital trickery but by large amounts of interstellar dust. Dust, minute globs rich in carbon and similar in size to cigarette smoke, frequently starts in the outer atmospheres of large, cool, young stars. The dust is dispersed as the star dies and grows as things stick to it in the interstellar medium. Dense dust clouds are opaque to visible light and can completely hide background stars. For less dense clouds, the capacity of dust to preferentially reflect blue starlight becomes important, effectively blooming the stars blue light out and marking the surrounding dust. Nebular gas emissions, typically brightest in red light, can combine to form areas seemingly created on an artist's canvas. Photographed above is roughly four square degrees of the nebula IC 4603 near the bright star Antares toward the constellation of Ophiuchus. ... Astronomy

Terrorized by 'War on Terror' 1969-12-31 17:59:59 How a Three-Word Mantra Has Undermined AmericaBy Zbigniew BrzezinskiSunday, March 25, 2007; Page B01Washington PostThe "war on terror" has created a culture of fear in America. The Bush administration's elevation of these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious impact on American democracy, on America's psyche and on U.S. standing in the world. Using this phrase has actually undermined our ability to effectively confront the real challenges we face from fanatics who may use terrorism against us.The damage these three words have done -- a classic self-inflicted wound -- is infinitely greater than any wild dreams entertained by the fanatical perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks when they were plotting against us in distant Afghan caves. The phrase itself is meaningless. It defines neither a geographic context nor our presumed enemies. Terrorism is not an enemy but a technique of warfare -- political intimidation through the killing of unarm ...

Biodiesel, What Is It? 1969-12-31 17:59:59 By: Mark AllenIn today's world, one can hardly escape the subject of fuel prices and fuel supply. For a number of different reasons people have turned from standard petroleum based fuel sources and looked for a reliable alternative-fuel. Biodiesel is one such fuel that experts and enthusiasts have embraced as not only their idea of a fuel of the future, but is also their choice for a fuel for today. But, what is Biodiesel? Biodiesel is a fuel containing some of the same traits as conventional diesel fuel. Biodiesel is made from high quality vegetable oils through a manufacturing process that can be done on a large scale - such as a refinery, or on a small scale - such as a home Biodiesel kit. The primary use for Biodiesel right now is as a substitute for petroleum based diesel fuel.In different parts of the world, different plants are used as the source for the vegetable oil that is made into Biodiesel. Theoretically, any vegetable grown can be broken down and turned into Biodi ...

Astronomy Picture Of The Day 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Friday, June 8, 2007Markarian's EyesExplanation: Across the heart of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster lies a string of galaxies known as Markarian's Chain. Prominent in Markarian's Chain are these two interacting galaxies, NGC 4438 (left) and NGC 4435 - also known as The Eyes. About 50 million light-years away, the two galaxies appear to be about 100,000 light-years apart in this sharp close-up, but have likely approached to within an estimated 16,000 light-years of each other in their cosmic past. Gravitational tides from the close encounter have ripped away at their stars, gas, and dust. The more massive NGC 4438 managed to hold on to much of the material torn out in the collision, while material from the smaller NGC 4435 was more easily lost. The remarkably deep image of this crowded region of the universe also includes many more distant background galaxies. ... Astronomy

Consciousness 1969-12-31 17:59:59 an animation of Spirit ...

Astronomy Picture Of The Day 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Looking Back at an Eclipsed Earth Explanation: Here is what the Earth looks like during a solar eclipse. The shadow of the Moon can be seen darkening part of Earth. This shadow moved across the Earth at nearly 2000 kilometers per hour. Only observers near the center of the dark circle see a total solar eclipse - others see a partial eclipse where only part of the Sun appears blocked by the Moon. This spectacular picture of the 1999 August 11 solar eclipse was one of the last ever taken from the Mir space station. The two bright spots that appear on the upper left are possibly Jupiter and Saturn, although this has yet to be proven. Mir was deorbited in a controlled re-entry in 2001. ... Astronomy

Astronomy Picture Of The Day 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Shuttle PlumeExplanation: What kind of cloud is that? Not a naturally occurring one. Pictured is the drifting smoke plume left over from last Friday's launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The twisted plume was captured shortly after launch high above NASA's massive Vehicle Assembly Building, the largest single story building in the world. Rockets frequently create picturesque plumes during launch. The Space Shuttle is currently visiting the International Space Station and delivering a new backbone truss segment to the continually developing and occupied spaceport. This trip, officially labeled STS-117, is the 118th space shuttle flight overall and the 28th for the Atlantis Orbiter. ... Astronomy

Astronomy Picture Of The Day 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Warped Sky: Star Trails PanoramaExplanation: What's happened to the sky? A time warp, of sorts, and a digital space warp too. The time warp occurs because the above image captured in a single frame a four hour exposure of the night sky. Prominent and picturesque star trails are visible. The space warp occurs because the above image is actually a full 360 degree panorama, horizontally compressed to fit your browser. As the Earth rotated, stars appeared to circle both the South Celestial Pole, on the left, and the North Celestial Pole, which occurs just below the horizon on the right. The above image captured the sky over Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia, including the domes of two large telescopes artificially lit by red light. A horizontally unwarped image is visible by clicking on the above image. ... Astronomy

Astronomy Picture Of The Day 1969-12-31 17:59:59 The Merope Reflection NebulaExplanation: Reflection nebulas reflect light from a nearby star. Many small carbon grains in the nebula reflect the light. The blue color typical of reflection nebula is caused by blue light being more efficiently scattered by the carbon dust than red light. The brightness of the nebula is determined by the size and density of the reflecting grains, and by the color and brightness of the neighboring star(s). NGC 1435, pictured above, surrounds Merope (23 Tau), one of the brightest stars in the Pleiades (M45). The Pleiades nebulosity is caused by a chance encounter between an open cluster of stars and a molecular cloud. ... Astronomy

Astronomy Picture Of The Day 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Globular Star Cluster M3 Explanation: This immense ball of half a million stars older than the Sun lies over 30,000 light-years away. Cataloged as M3 (and NGC 5272), it is one of about 150 globular star clusters that roam the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy. Even in this impressively sharp image, individual stars are difficult to distinguished in the densely packed core, but colors are apparent for the bright stars on the cluster's outskirts. M3's many cool "red" giant stars take on a yellowish cast, while hotter giants and pulsating variable stars look light blue. A closer look at the deep telescopic view also reveals a host of background galaxies. Itself about 200 light-years across, the giant star cluster is a relatively bright, easy target for binoculars in the northern constellation Canes Venatici, The Hunting Dogs, and not far from Arcturus. ... Astronomy

Atheist 1969-12-31 17:59:59 This is NOT an argument for atheism... It's a defense of atheists. ...