Space-m17-blog - SpaceForLife

The first two images are tesseracts and the second two are 4D spheres. 1 Dimension: in a universe with one dimension, particles can only move in a line so from left to right not up and down. _____________________________

2 Dimensions: this is made up of an infinite amount of 1D universe and particles would be able to to move in two dimensions, up down left and right. Now if there was an organism living in a 2 dimensional it would see things in 1 dimension just like we see things in 2 dimensions and our brain is what is able to interpret depth by using two eyes and our brain. When we hold our finger in front of our face and move it, we can see that it appears to have moved relative to the background. Our brains see this difference and this allows us to estimate how far away they are. In a 2D universe there would be no background as such to see the “finger” moving against so it would be seen in 1D although it’s impossible to visualise anything in 1 dimension.

3 Dimensions: we live in 3 spatial dimensions in our universe which is made up of an infinite amount of 2D universes. We see things in 2 dimensions. A common misconception is that time is the 4th dimension but it doesn’t really make sense because it is present in every spatial dimension.

4 Dimensions: this is almost impossible to try and visualise. There are some people who claim they can think in 4 and even more dimensions. Now, a 4th dimensional organism would see things in 3 dimensions. If they came to our universe then they would be seeing absolutely every line of every shape but it wouldn’t be possible for a 4D being to like in 3D, it would be like us living in 2D. Above I have some 4D shapes to give you an idea of how we can represent them. It’s better to watch the inks though.

http://youtu.be/-x4P65EKjt0 http://youtu.be/5BF-ygCbmD8

This Monday, Aug. 17, marks the final targeted flyby of Dione, one of Saturn’s many moons, in Cassini’s long mission. During this flyby, the science team will conduct a gravity experiment that will contribute to our knowledge of the internal structure of Dione. We will also learn more about its outer ice shell, and will be able to compare this with Saturn’s other icy moons.

Beyond the icy moons, Saturn is adorned with thousands of beautiful ringlets, While all four gas giant planets in our solar system have rings – made of chunks of ice and rock – none are as spectacular or as complicated as Saturn’s. Like the other gas giants, Saturn is mostly a massive ball of hydrogen and helium.

This image of Saturn was taken using an infrared filter. Using this type of filter can help scientists determine the location of clouds in the planet’s atmosphere. The darker areas reveal clouds that are lower in the atmosphere, while the bright areas are higher altitude clouds. 

Since Cassini reached Saturn in 2004, it has captured important data and images. This spacecraft has the ability to “see” in wavelengths that the human eye cannot, and it can “feel” things about magnetic fields and tiny dust particles that no human hand could detect. These heightened “senses” have allowed us to have a better understanding of Saturn, its moons and the solar system.

Learn more about Cassini & Saturn: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/

Hubble Space Telescope

You’ve probably heard of our Hubble Space Telescope, but have you had the chance to actually take a look at the amazing images it has captured for us over the years? Since Hubble launched in April 1990,  it has made more than 1.2 million observations, some to locations more than 13.4 billion light years from Earth!

Hubble can see astronomical objects with an angular size of 0.05 arc seconds, which is like seeing a pair of fireflies in Tokyo from your home in Maryland…yea, that’s pretty far! This accuracy allows us to see images like this one of Little Gem Nebula, roughly 6,000 light-years away from us.

Images from Hubble are regularly released to the public, and are some of the most breathtaking views in the Universe. Images like this one of Lagoon Nebula, in the constellation of Sagittarius, not only make for amazing desktop screen-savers, but provide us with valuable scientific information about distant stars and galaxies, as well as the planets in our solar system.

We recently celebrated Hubble’s 25th Anniversary, and look forward to many more years of discovery and captivating images.

Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.

Comet PanSTARRS and a Crescent Moon

Robonaut at JSC. nasa

New video! Spiral galaxies in a nutshell!

Milky Way over Devils Tower

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Why do we explore? Simply put, it is part of who we are, and it is something we have done throughout our history. In “We Are the Explorers,” we take a look at that tradition of reaching for things just beyond our grasp and how it is helping us lay the foundation for our greatest journeys ahead. So what are we doing to enable exploration? We’re building the Orion spacecraft is built to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before. Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion will launch on NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System.

Also underway, is Astronaut Scott Kelly’s Year In Space. Kelly is living and working off the Earth, for the Earth aboard the station for a yearlong mission. Traveling the world more than 220 miles above the Earth, and at 17,500 mph, he circumnavigates the globe more than a dozen times a day conducting research about how the body adapts and changes to living in space for a long duration.

You should do your job in such a fashion that others can build on top of it, so they will indeed say, “Yes, I’ve stood on so and so’s shoulders and I saw further.” The essence of science is cumulative. By changing a problem slightly you can often do great work rather than merely good work. Instead of attacking isolated problems, I made the resolution that I would never again solve an isolated problem except as characteristic of a class.

“You and Your Research,” Dr. Richard W. Hamming of Bell Labs (via ryanandmath)