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If Earth had Saturn’s Rings

From an excellent post by Jason Davis

From Washington, D.C., the rings would only fill a portion of the sky, but appear striking nonetheless. Here, we see them at sunrise.

From Guatemala, only 14 degrees above the equator, the rings would begin to stretch across the horizon. Their reflected light would make the moon much brighter.

From Earth’s equator, Saturn’s rings would be viewed edge-on, appearing as a thin, bright line bisecting the sky.

At the March and September equinoxes, the Sun would be positioned directly over the rings, casting a dramatic shadow at the equator.

At midnight at the Tropic of Capricorn, which sits at 23 degrees south latitude, the Earth casts a shadow over the middle of the rings, while the outer portions remain lit.

via x

Taylor Swift - Viva La Vida (Cover)

Check out Fingerprints of Water on the Sand via NASA http://ift.tt/1Mxtpaz

This is wonderful.

via Phil Plait

Why isn’t Pluto a planet?!?!?

Ahhhhh sweet cute innocent little Pluto, what did you do to deserve the demotion? How can we live in a world with only 8 planets? Were all those years of elementary school for nothing? Many people …

oldie but goodie

reindeer are the only mammals whose eyes are known to change colour, going from a gold in the summer, when the sun is a constant presence in the arctic, to a less reflective blue in the near perpetually dark winter months. 

in dark conditions, muscles in your irises contract to dilate your pupils and allow more light into your eyes. when it’s bright again, the irises widen and the pupils shrink. the same thing happens in reindeer, but the arctic winter forces their pupils dilate for months at a time.

this constant effort to stay dilated ends up blocking the small vessels that drain fluid out of the eyes, which causes pressure to build up. this in turn compresses the collagen fibers that make up tapetum - a mirrored layer that sits behind the retina (seen in the second photo).  

when compressed, these fibers in the eye reflect blue wavelengths of lights instead of the yellow which accompanies a typical spacing of the fibers, as in summer.  (photos x, x)

LOL, this whale popped out the ocean like, “Hey, what’s up, hello?!”

P.S. those kayakers are super soaked but totally fine.

What is a Supermoon Lunar Eclipse?

We’ve told you that on Sept. 27 a supermoon lunar eclipse will occur in the U.S. And much of the world, but what does that mean?

One important note, is that this event can be referred to in many different ways: 

Supermoon Lunar Eclipse

Super Blood Moon

Harvest Moon Eclipse

Supermoon Eclipse

All slightly different names, but apply to the same spectacular event that will occur this weekend. 

Since it’s rare that both a supermoon and an lunar eclipse occur at the same time, let’s break it down. 

1) Supermoon

A supermoon is a full or new moon that falls closest to the fall equinox, and is at its closest approach to the Earth. This results in the moon appearing up to 14% larger in diameter.

2) Lunar Eclipse 

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly behind the Earth into its shadow. This can give the moon a red tint.

3) A Supermoon Lunar Eclipse!

The combination of these two events does not happen very often. In fact, since 1900 a supermoon lunar eclipse has only happened 5 times! The last time this occurred was 1982, and if you miss the event this year, your next opportunity won’t come until 2033.

This year, the event will be visible from the Americas, Europe and Africa on the night of Sept. 27. Here’s a full schedule of the supermoon eclipse:

If it’s cloudy in your area on Sept. 27, don’t worry! NASA Television will be providing a live stream of the event, so you can tune in and enjoy the show. 

For more information and resources on the supermoon lunar eclipse, visit our page on NASA.gov.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

For anyone interested, this is a lecture we recently helped organise at the University of Glasgow, “Listening to Einstein’s Universe: the hunt for gravitational waves” by Prof. Martin Hendry. I’d suggest giving it a watch it you’re interested, it’s both fun and informative :)