Category: Physics

Moon’scapes

~ mehopper

There’s no denying that it’s been a rough week for many Earthlings.

On the other hand, it’s been a great week for anyone who spends their time more preoccupied with the Moon than with more earthly concerns.

That’s because there’s a treasure trove of news about our lunar realm.

For example, NASA’s Goddard Media Studios released this stunning 4K video that used data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to generate a visualization of what the Apollo 13 astronauts would have seen between the time that they came around from the dark side of the Moon and when they reestablished radio contact with Mission Control.

NASA Goddard (YouTube Channel)
NASA Goddard (Official Website)

If you have ever seen the movie Apollo 13, then you appreciate why this particular time frame was so poignant. If you have never seen it, then I highly recommend that you do!

Of course, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is no longer our only source of imagery from the far side of the Moon because China landed their Chang’e-4 spacecraft and Yutu-2 rover there last year, and they’re still there working away. The Chang’e-4’s mission team celebrated the anniversary of their success by releasing some data and images to the public.

You can find out more about Chang’e-4’s moonscapes in this article.

The Most Detailed Photos Yet of the Far Side of the Moon (Neel V. Patel, Technology Review)

In addition, hot off the press, the Yutu-2 rover’s radar scanned up to 40 meters below the surface of the Moon, and those findings were just published this week as well.

China’s Moon Rover Takes a Deeper Look at the Far Side (Jonathan O’Callaghan, Scientific American)
Digging into the Far Side of the Moon: Chang’E-4 Probes 40 Meters into Lunar Surface (Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters, AAAS EurekAlert)
The Moon’s Farside Shallow Subsurface Structure Unveiled by Chang’E-4 Lunar Penetrating Radar (Chunlai Li, et al. Science Advances)

So, what a great week for Moon lovers!

Finally, it’s Friday, so a bit of fun is in order — check out this 360° video that shows a “different” way of seeing a (fictional) moonscape.

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

VR 360 TV (YouTube Channel)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief stint as a “Moonling.”

If you want more Moon’scapes, then head on over to NASA and Google.

If you want to learn more about space and space travel, explore Space Depot!

Touch the 360° image to begin exploring, touch the objects and doors to enter virtual 360° experiences, and touch “i”s to learn about the experiences.

You can also see it directly on Kuula.

Happy Friday, Stay Healthy & Have a Great Leap Day!

Find out more about the Moon@Cosma …

Touch the Sun

~ mehopper

Remember how Icarus wanted to touch the Sun, but met his demise instead?

Well, scientists at NASA wanted to touch the Sun too, but unlike Icarus, they succeeded!

Better yet, they are beginning to share what they learned by doing it!

Before we get into all of that, let’s go back and start at the beginning.

NASA launched a robotic spacecraft called the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) in 2018, and this video describes the probe’s audacious mission to “touch the Sun.”

NASA Goddard (YouTube Channel)
NASA Goddard (Official Website)

Then NASA posted this 360° video about the probe’s launch that was narrated by Nicola Fox (Project Scientist at that time and now Director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division).

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

NASA (YouTube Channel)
NASA (Official Website)

Since its launch, the probe has done a spectacular job of starting to achieve its scientific goals, and some of the first results were just released this week.

Here’s a quick teaser that NASA posted ahead of a press conference on Wednesday.

ScienceAtNASA (YouTube Channel)
NASA Science (Official Website)

This video summarizes the key discoveries that NASA shared at the press conference.

NASA Goddard (YouTube Channel)
NASA Goddard (Official Website)

Four articles about the results were also posted by the journal Nature ahead of their publication in the print edition on December 12th. This article introduces those articles and has links to them.

A Step Closer to the Sun’s Secrets (Daniel Verscharen, Nature)

It’s awesome to know more about what makes that great glowing ball in the sky tick, but I also found myself a bit sad because the mission’s goals do not include sending back imagery for us Earthlings to enjoy. That means we still don’t know what it looks like to “touch the Sun.”

Perhaps it would look a bit like this 360° video of a simulation of the Sun that was posted by a hearty YouTuber way back in 2016.

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

Zproxy (YouTube Channel)

That was cathartic to watch, but of course it wouldn’t sound like that because there is no “sound” in space. The actual experience would also be way, way more visually stunning.

We can be certain of that because, while the Parker Solar Probe doesn’t capture imagery, there’s another NASA mission called the Solar Dynamics Observatory that does. It doesn’t capture 360° videos, but what it does capture is far more dynamic than the simulation.

Here’s a video that the Solar Dynamics Observatory captured on June 18, 2015. This isn’t exactly how it would look because it’s been colorized in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, but it still gives you a sense of the unbelievable majesty of the activity that you would see on the surface of our favorite star if you were able to go there in person.

NASA Goddard (YouTube Channel)
NASA Goddard (Official Website)

How beautiful was that?!?!

Kudos to the scientists and engineers at NASA for having the audacity to find ways to go where no one has gone before and for communicating to us what it’s like there, too!

If you want to learn more about the the rest of the Solar System, explore this Toy World!

Click the 360° image below to explore it, click the menu in the upper right for controls and click “i” buttons on/off for links to experiences. Use “portals” to visit otherToy Worlds.

You can also explore this Toy World on Kuula.

You can also choose your own adventure by clicking on the links below.

“Space”
Universe (Astronomical Instrument)
Galaxy Milky Way, Andromeda
Planetary System Star, Brown Dwarf, Planet, Moon

Our Neighborhood
Solar System Sun
Terrestrial Planet Mercury, Venus, Earth (Moon), Mars
Asteroid Belt Ceres, Vesta
Jovian Planet Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Trans-Neptunian Object
Kuiper Belt Pluto, Haumea, Makemake
Scattered Disc Eris, Sedna, Planet X
Oort Cloud Etc. Scholz’s Star
Small Body Comet, Centaur, Asteroid

Find out more about the Sun@Cosma …

Bird’s-Eye Views

~ mehopper

Humans tend to interact with animals as if they see the world in pretty much the same way that we do. However, the more scientists study animal vision, the more they tell us that is just not the way that it is. Furthermore, what scientists know about animal vision goes way beyond the fact that our pet cats and dogs can’t see color the same way that we do.

In fact, what they tell us about what birds can “see” is particularly awesome!

For example, birds can see ultraviolet light, so that means they can essentially see a forth primary color. They also have the bizarre ability to “see” magnetic fields. Here’s a link to a video that includes an explanation of a wide variety of things that birds can see along with some interesting facts about our own vision.

How Birds Really See the World (SciShow, YouTube)

Here are links to articles about how scientists modeled a bird’s ultraviolet vision to show how perceiving ultraviolet light aids them in their navigating through dense forests. There are some neat photos in the article that illustrate the difference between how we and birds would see the leaves of trees.

Birds Can See a ‘Colour’ Humans Can’t. Now Scientists Have Revealed This Hidden World (Tessa Koumoundouros)
Avian UV vision Enhances Leaf Surface Contrasts in Forest Environments (Cynthia Tedore & Dan-Eric Nilsson, Nature Communications)

Some research has also came out with more detail about how birds perceive magnetic fields. Here’s a link to a video and an article about it.

This Quantum Sixth Sense Could Allow Birds to Navigate Earth’s Magnetic Field (Seeker, YouTube)
The Mystery of How Birds Navigate is Over, and the Answer is So Amazing (Philip Perry, Big Think)

Awesome stuff! It gives a whole new meaning to bird’s-eye view, doesn’t it?

While I was doing some research for this post, I also tripped across this slick site with a nice visualization of bird migration patterns.

Millions of Birds Migrate: Where Do They Go? (National Geographic)

Lest you be disappointed that the title of the post promised a “bird’s-eye view,” here’s a 360° video that shows an eagle’s point of view while soaring over Dolomites in Italy.

Exploring the Dolomites from an Eagle’s Point of View in 360° (Red Bull)

Finally, here’s a link to a video that describes a multitude of incredible ways that other animals perceive the world.

How Animals and People See the World Differently (National Geographic, YouTube)

Find out more about birds, animals in general and electromagnetism…

The Waves Won!

~ mehopper

Gravitational waves that is!

It has been announced that Rainer Weiss (MIT), Barry Barish (Caltech) and Kip Thorne (Caltech) have won the 2017 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for their decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the first observation of gravitational waves in 2015.

Here are links to a one minute video from Newsy and a few articles from The New York Times that celebrate the honor.

US physicists Win Nobel Prize (Newsy, YouTube)
2017 Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded to LIGO Black Hole Researchers (Dennis Overbye, New York Times)
Learning from Gravitational Waves (David Kaiser, New York Times)

Needless to say, the gentleman’s respective institutions are proud of their faculty’s achievements, and they’ve each published press releases celebrating the win as well.
MIT physicist Rainer Weiss shares Nobel Prize in physics (Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office)
Caltech Scientists Awarded 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics (Caltech)

MIT also published a short video of Rainer Weiss describing his reaction to finding out that LIGO had successfully discovered gravitational waves.

Rainer Weiss wins Nobel Prize in Physics (MIT, YouTube)

If you’re not exactly well versed about gravitational waves, here’s a neat little video that explains the concept with stick figures.

Minute Physics (YouTube Channel)
Minute Physics (Facebook)

If you would like a more in-depth explanation of the science that earned the Nobel Prize, here’s a video of Walter Issacson interviewing Kip Thorne that covers the fascinating story of how LIGO helped prove something predicted by Einstein a century ago.

Kent Presents (YouTube Channel)

Of course, Kip Thorne isn’t new to the public eye. If he looks a bit familiar to you, it could be because you saw him on TV back in 2014 during numerous interviews where he explained the awesome contributions that he made to the movie Interstellar. Here’s a link to a short clip from the Interstellar Featurette that explains how he helped make the movie spectacular to watch and contributed to a better understanding of physics too!

Interstellar Featurette – Building A Black Hole (Rotten Tomatoes, YouTube)

Cool stuff!

Find out more about gravity, physics, the universe and science in general …

Molecular Machines

~ mehopper

Molecular machines have been around for a while, but these little wonders are getting the public’s attention today because a trio of scientists were just awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their progress in the area. Here’s a link to a video and other resources about this neat development.

Mini Machines Win 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry (Euronews)

World’s Smallest Gadgets Bag Nobel Chemistry Prize (Daniel Clery, AAAS Science Magazine)
Press Release: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016 (Official Press Release)
Molecular machine (Wikipedia)

File this one under “insanely cool technology” and “things that will change everything!”

Find out more about Find out more about machines, physics, science and innovation in general … …