And now, back to my taxes.
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Archive for the ‘Science!’ Category
Learned Something
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, learning@lunch, science, Thoughts on March 3, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Congratulations, Percy!
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, inspiration, Mars, NASA, perseverance, science, yay on February 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »
It’s been just over two years since the Perseverance rover began its quest on Mars. What’s it been up to? A lot, but this article has a summary and link to the whole of its adventure (so far) distilled into a time-lapse video.
Follow Perseverance on Its Mars Journey With This Two-Year Timelapse – Universe Today
The rover has now traveled almost 15 km (9 miles). In addition to studying numerous rocks, it has also collected and stowed away 18 sample containers of rocks, regolith, and even the Martian atmosphere, to be gathered later and brought to Earth in a future Mars Sample Return mission.
For more cool stuff like a Mars photo booth, check out NASA’s Perseverance’s Highlights and Dr. Sunanda Sharma’s talk about Perseverance- Two Years on Mars.
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Check This Out
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, Bill Hammack, explainers, science, Thoughts on February 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »
If you are going shopping this weekend, you might find this information useful. If nothing else, it will give you something to consider as the checkout lines to either side of you whoosh on by.
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How to Rocket
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, inspiration, research, science, space exploration on February 7, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Purrfect Happiness
Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, #ChatGPT, AI, my cat, Thoughts on February 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »
It’s like this: I have a whole folder titled 365, full of interesting and informative ideas for this blog. I even had an idea for the post I wanted to do today, but lo (for various reasons involving day job bureaucracy for both myself and Mr Man), ’tis not to be. Instead, I give you ChatGPT’s idea of “a quote about joy in the voice of my cat.”
“Joy is found in the simple things, like a warm sunbeam, a cozy napping spot, and a good belly rub. Purr-fect happiness is just a whisker’s length away.”
— Your Cat.
Because this is the sort of information that everyone needs.
For more on cats and whiskers:
* You may also know that “chat” is French for cat. So now we know what’s really behind A.I…. that’s right, animal intelligence.
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The Green Comet, Redux
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, look up, science, space, Thoughts on February 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Let’s give one last shoutout to our visitor from outer space. C/2022 E3 (ZTF), the universe’s charismatic invitation to look up and wonder about our past and our future, is at its closest point to Earth today. That means it will be at its brightest. If the world and weather are on your side, you might be able to see it with the naked eye. Look to the north after sunset. Is it fuzzy? Is it green? It might just be a comet!
Green comet C-2022 E3 (ZTF) will be closest to Earth today | Space
During the comet’s perigee, it will come to within a distance of around 26 million miles (42 million kilometers) from our planet, which is equivalent to about 28% of the distance between Earth and the sun. If you’ve been waiting to get a look at C/2022 E3 (ZTF) before it speeds away, now is your best chance. You can also watch the comet live online on Feb. 1 in a free webcast at 11 p.m. EST (0400 GMT) from the Virtual Telescope Project.
If the weather isn’t cooperating where you are or you have a hard time finding it or you just can’t see yourself outside in the cold, there will be a live webcast tonight. Pour a cup of hot cocoa and wave as The Green Comet flies by!
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Ever Curious
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, creative writing ideas, inspiration, science on January 22, 2023| 1 Comment »
My mother, ever curious, wanted to know what all the “green comet” fuss is about. Here’s a quick guide to C/2022 E3 (ZTF), a visitor last welcomed to these parts by Neanderthals.
A lot has changed since then!
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See a rare green comet closest to the sun on Jan. 12 in livestream | Space
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs (NASA JPL) gives the period of this comet as 50,000 years. This means the last time the orbit of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) brought it so close to the Earth, our planet was in the midst of the last glacial period or “ice age” and early Homo sapiens and Neanderthals still shared the planet.
Pretty pictures: A dazzling green comet has stargazers thrilled in amazing photos | Space.
How to Watch the Green Comet During the New Moon – The New York Times
Comets are clumps of dust and frozen gases, sometimes described by astronomers as “dirty snowballs.”…
“They’re alive,” Laurence O’Rourke, an astronomer with the European Space Agency, said. “When they’re far from the sun, they’re sleeping, and when they get close to the sun, they wake up.”
[Nothing to worry about then. It’s fine!]
…
To catch the comet, look north.
On Jan. 21, the night of the new moon and thus the darkest skies, the comet will be close to Draco — the dragon-shaped constellation that runs between the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper.
Over the following nights, the comet will creep along the dragon’s tail. And on Jan. 30, the comet will reside directly between the Big Dipper’s “cup” and Polaris, the North Star. If you’re accustomed to finding the North Star by following the two stars on the end of the Big Dipper’s cup, then you should be able to spot the comet. Simply scan that imaginary line until you see a faint smudge.
…
For anyone living above the 35th parallel — imagine a curving East-West line running from North Carolina through the Texas Panhandle out to Southern California — the comet will be visible all night starting Jan. 22.
So C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is going to be visible for a while, but you might need binoculars. What did the Neanderthals think of it and its dramatic green halo, I wonder?
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The Ground Beneath
Posted in Likes, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, inspiration, random facts, travel, volcano lair on January 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Research for my supervillain lair: Welcome to Volcano Roots – volcanoroots.org
Scientists have been trying to image the intricate plumbing of volcanoes to help understand their dynamics and better predict eruptions… and plan better supervillain lairs.
They didn’t really say that last part. But they should have.
As an example, here’s a handy explainer showing the depths beneath Santorini, a beautiful but geologically unstable Greek island in the Mediterranean. The graphic shows why.
It also tries to give a nod to the volcanically disrupted Minoan culture, late of Santorini, but the Latin placeholder text is less than useful. Here’s a link to help with that: Santorini 1600 BC and the End of Minoan Civilization.
If you have a chance to visit the island, I recommend it. Because nothing says a supervillain lair can’t be pretty.
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Me Likey
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, doppelgangers, origins, science on January 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »
A recent NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day featured an excellent version of the Periodic Table highlighting not just elements, but also those elements’ origins.
The hydrogen in your body, present in every molecule of water, came from the Big Bang. There are no other appreciable sources of hydrogen in the universe. The carbon in your body was made by nuclear fusion in the interior of stars, as was the oxygen. Much of the iron in your body was made during supernovas of stars that occurred long ago and far away. The gold in your jewelry was likely made from neutron stars during collisions that may have been visible as short-duration gamma-ray bursts or gravitational wave events…
— Astronomy Picture of the Day
And the fact that the author and I share a name? An astronomical coincidence.
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And A Happy Solstice to You
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, science, solstice, Thoughts on December 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »
For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, today marks the shortest day of the year.
The December solstice is the moment the Sun is directly above the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere. This is the southernmost latitude it reaches during the year. After the solstice, it begins moving north again.
Today is also technically the start of winter, although the fifteen inches of snow in our front yard this past week would beg to differ.
Between that and predictions of another big storm in the offing, it’s no wonder Santa is so determined to make his annual road trip.
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