Tag Archives: Space

Okay, so I’m guilty of sensationalism, so shoot me… in the face… with a plasma gun! The ESO’s (European Southern Observatory) Paranal Observatory, which acts as home for the VLT (Very Large Telescope). This photo captures the VLT’s Laser Guide Star facility in action. The laser beam is part of the VLT’s adaptive optics system, which corrects for distortions caused ...

Gearfuse has some of the smartest readers on the face of the planet. Andrew’s Fake Facts Weekly recently came out with a study that placed Gearfuse at the top of the list for the number of physicists per 1000 readers. You have to admit, that’s a pretty impressive piece of made-up trivia. The infographic after the jump is chock full ...

The process of space travel, from brainstorming to landing, is possible through a mere system of steps. While the number of steps needed to plan a successful mission might rank in the hundreds of millions, it is all performed very methodically and precisely. Such care is needed when you’re dealing with gadgets and machinery that costs well into the billions ...

True story. Indiana University cosmologist Nikodem Poplawski observed the activity of particles entering a black hole and apparently Einstein might have been wrong about that whole general relativity theory thing, at least the part that says black holes are singularities. According to Poplawski, instead of matter reaching infinite density while going through a black hole, the particles rebound and expand ...

NASA recently released a set of beautiful photos taken from space in April 2010. Among them was this jaw-dropper. A shot of an active Aurora on both poles of our beautiful planet. Luckily you have to be a little further away to see all of the space junk. EDITOR’S NOTE: Ok, so it’s an artistic rendering. Whatever. Still beautiful. *disappointed* ...

Not only does renowned theoretical physicist and master auto-tuner Stephen Hawking not openly welcome alien visitors, he seems to fear it and thinks we should too. In a new Discovery Channel series three years in the making, Hawking warns that any alien race smart enough to seek us out probably don’t have the best intentions in mind. He’s previously spoken ...

Best0fScience produced this amazing video tour of the entire piss-drinking International Space Station, detailing all of the nooks and nodes of the most diplomatic spacecraft in the known universe. This thing is huge, much bigger and windier than I had ever anticipated. Be warned that the multi-dimensional construction of the ISS leads to some serious nausea-inducing moments, complete with handheld ...

Earth is pretty gorgeous in its own right, without the addition of fancy-pantsy rings. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Uranus. And by Uranus, I mean your butt hole. Did I say that out loud? Planets. I love planets. The video after the jump, featuring the handy work of animator Roy Prol, portrays what Earth might look like if ...

Captured by the GeoEye-1 satellite at about half-meter resolution, this photo shows a stunning view of the Dubai Airshow in progress. Link

Being a night stalker isn’t always easy for the urban dweller. Especially if your target’s apartment building doesn’t have a fire escape. Sometimes you’ve gotta bring your own supplies. That’s why this Telescoping Ladder design is perfect for the peeping tom with limited space. There’s no room to hide an eight foot ladder. It just doesn’t work. The telescoping mechanism ...