Wednesday 15 September 2010

Time Travel


This was a genuine advert in an american paper.

Antlers


So researching into Antlers got me a bit obsessed so i spent an obscene amount of money on my own pair because they are rad and look amazing. So here is a few pictures of them in my house.

They have 10 points and have a very wide girth. This means that this Red Deer must have been pretty old because they only get this big when there older.

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Jupiter

Jupiter is made up of belts of different types of clouds, mainly brown and white.
Two wide stripes—known as the equatorial belts—normally circle the huge planet, products of the fast-moving jet streams that roar through Jupiter's atmosphere.
But in May this year the southern equatorial belt dissaperead leaving what is usually a dark redish brown belt to now a pale white belt. This also makes the Giant Red Spot appear duller.

This doesnt concern most astronamers becuase a similiar event happend in 1990. But the southern equatorial belt didnt completly dissapeared, only became smaller.

The southern equatorial belt is expected to make its return with in 1 to 3 years returning Jupiter back to its 'normal' self

Monday 13 September 2010

Jupiter

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/space/solar-system/jupiter-article/

Just found this nicely laid out and interactive National Geographic Website about Jupiter! Very Good and has all the important information.

Thursday 9 September 2010

Maps

The word MAP comes from the Latin word, "mappa", and means napkin, cloth, or sheet. A cartographer is someone who creates maps.

There are different types of maps;
Topographic (a basic type of map that shows the natural and artificial features of an area. It also shows the borders of towns, states, or countries)
Special purpose (Navigational and Avaition maps are used by Pilots and Ship Captains)
Relief (are 3D maps made out of clay or plastic)
Political (Show the divides between different countries)
Geologic (shows land use, rainfall, population, and other kinds of scientific data)

The first map to represent the known world was created by Anaximander, a Greek philosopher, in the 6th century B.C.


In 1507 Martin Waldseemuller, a German cartographer, was the first to add the Americas to a map he created.

Maps

Ortelius's map of the world, from 1601

1418 Ming Dynasty Map by artist Mo Yi-tong, possibly the oldest map of the world!

Wednesday 8 September 2010

Giant Tortoise


I think these big guys are good because they look so old and wise. And take life nice and easy.
Here are some pictures of Giant Tortoises looking amazing...
A giant tortoise at a mud wallow on Volcan Alcedo in the Galapagos Islands.

Scientists have successfully reintroduced giant tortoises to a Galapagos island where the species once teetered on extinction.
Recently the Galapagos Islands have been removed from the Unesco endangered list! Hooray!


Here is a close up of 'Lonely George' who is the last known Pinta Giant Tortoise, who are native to only one island in the pacific. He is the last of the species and has been labelled the rarest creature in the world.
Poor George.


Here is when i met one of these amazing creatures in Singapore !




Above are some pictures of Galapagos Giant Tortoises

Here is a picture of a Galapagos Giant Tortoise with a new born. Seventy may seem rather old to be reproducing, but the Galapagos tortoise doesn't reach sexual maturity until it is 25.


Mating can occur at any time during the year, and the female tortoise can produce between two and 16 tennis ball-sized eggs, which she buries in a 1ft deep nest.

They then incubate for around 130 days. Unusually, temperature can effect the gender of the hatchlings. A low nest temperature means they are likely to be male, while a hot, stuffy nest is more likely to produce females.

However, it is impossible to determine the sex of a Galapagos tortoise until it is 15 years old.


Growth will occur slowly over the next 40 years, at which point the tortoises reach full size. Their large shells add to their impressive appearance and act as a shield against predators.

This magnificent armour is actually a bone, and a crucial part of the tortoise skeleton. However, it does slow them down, as they have an average speed of only 0.18mph.

No one knows why the Galapagos reptiles are so large, but it's possible that a lack of predators on the South American islands meant they evolved free from danger.



Jupiter


The Great Red Spot
is the most well known characteristic of the planet

Jupiter's atmosphere has a zig-zag pattern of twelve jet streams which make up its signature pastel-toned bands. Earth, by comparison, has only two jet streams.
The Great Red Spot is sandwiched between two of these jets streams, forcing the winds that power those perimeter winds to deflect around the spot.
The Great Red Spot is a persistent
anticyclonic storm (which means it spins the other way to the rest of the gas)
It is situated 22° south of Jupiter's equator, which has lasted for at least 180 years and possibly as long as 345 years or more.
reat Red Spot was first discovered in the 1600’s by astronomer Robert Hooke.

This storm is so big you could fit 3 Earths within it!

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley have discovered that the size of the storm has decreased 15% between 1996 and 2006.





Jupiter

This is a video of Voyager 1 approach to this colossal planet. These pictures were taken in 1979.
I think this video is amazing

Time Travel

Grandfather Paradox

Imagine a man travelled back in time and killed his biological grandfather before the latter met the traveller's grandmother. As a result, one of the traveller's parents (and by extension the traveller himself) would never have been conceived. This would imply that he could not have travelled back in time after all, which means the grandfather would still be alive, and the traveller would have been conceived allowing him to travel back in time and kill his grandfather.


Jupiter


Jupiter has at least 63 moons! (and more are being discovered all the time)
These include the 4 main moons called Lo, Europa, Ganymede and Callista. These are referred to as the Galilean Moons because they were first discovered by Galileo Galilie in 1610

The names of the fours moons come from the lovers of Zeus from Greek mythology.

Here is a picture to show the scale of the moons of Jupiter and other planets.


Lo

Is the inner most of the four largest moons. It has over 400 actvive volcanoes and is the most geologically active object in the solar system. It has mountains that are taller than Mount Everest!

Europa

Europa is only slightly smaller than our moon. It is one of the smoothest objects in the solar system due to the layer of ice on the surface. Below this ice is about 100 kilometers of water which is exciting because this could be a good place to find extraterrestrial life ! Aliens !
Life in this Ocean could be similar to life found in Earths deep ocean were life is abundant even without natural light.

Ganymede

Ganymede is the largest natural satellite in the solar system. Its bigger than Mercury. It is also an ice covered moon. It is also the only natural satellite that has its own magnetic field.

Callisto

Is the last Galileon moon and is also the second largest of the four. Callisto has been considered the most suitable place for a human base for future exploration of the Jupiter system because it is furthest from the intense radiation of Jupiter.

Thursday 2 September 2010

Time Travel

There are 4 main dimensions.
Forward and Backward. Left and Right. Up and down and Time. These are the dimensions of 'Time and Space'. Because we are so used to the main 3 dimensions we find it hard to comprehend that time is also dimension which isn't fixed in a straight line, from start to finish.
The same as if there were a world where there were only the first 2 dimensions, if you placed a 3D object in there world they would be very confused by it.

Not many people realise it but the 'space age' made it possible to cross the fourth dimension there are allready time travellers amoung us. Such as Sergei Krikalev (picture below) who is the world record holder for space flight orbiting earth on the russian space station MIA for 803 days. This space station orbits the earth at 16,000 miles per hour. Having spent so long going so fast means he is also the world record holder for time travell. He has moved forward in time, only by a fraction of a second. But he is still technically a time traveller!