From Astronomy Picture Of The Day; May 11, 2012:
Sun vs. Super Moon
Charlie SzabotothThe Super Moon wins, by just a little, when its apparent size is compared to the Sun in this ingenious composite picture. To make it, the Full Moon on May 6 was photographed with the same camera and telescope used to image the Sun (with a dense solar filter!) on the following day. Of course, on May 6 the Moon was at perigee, the closest point to Earth in its eliptical orbit, making it the largest Full Moon of 2012. Two weeks later, on May 20, the Moon will be near apogee, the most distant point in its orbit, so by then it will be nearly at its smallest apparent size. It will also be a dark New Moon on that date. And for some the New Moon will be surprisingly easy to compare to the Sun, because on May 20 the first solar eclipse of 2012 will be visible from much of Asia, the Pacific, and North America. Along a path 240 to 300 kilometers wide, the eclipse will be annular. Near apogee the smaller silhouetted Moon will fit just inside the bright solar disk.
(via wigmund)
Image nicked from skeptik.ee
These are size comparisons, taken with the same zoom on the same camera at different times.
(Hope I’m not wrong:) on the left: above: average moon high up in the sky
below: average moon near the horizon
on the right: above: “super moon” high up in the sky
below: “super moon” near the horizon
After staring at this for 10 minutes non-stop…
…my head hurts. But now, I understand a tiny bit more about circular dichroism. I don’t, however, understand why I have to understand this in the first place…
(Source: riposiinpace)
Graphene: Strongest Material on Earth
A short 2010 video on the cool carbon allotrope graphene!
(Source: youtube.com)
Curiosity frees the Mind: What is Coral?
Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Corals are marine animals living in compact colonies called of identical polyps. A set of tentacles surrounds the mouth opening, and an exoskeleton is excreted near the base, so over time, the colony creates the large skeleton that…
FACT 91: Ever wondered why the hammer-like heads help hammerhead sharks?
They use them to pin down and then eat their favourite food….stingrays!
(Source: matt-benedict)
