A powerful explosion from the sun carved a 60,000-mile-long “canyon of fire” on Halloween night. Live Science calls the event “a striking reminder that the sun is fast approaching its explosive peak." https://flip.it/TlWpyb #Science#Space#Sun#SolarSystem
@rs_hole@coreyspowell And with the probability of that event being what it is, I won't be holding my breath.
Absent a huge quantum leap (no pun intended?) in physics, #interstellar physical travel is just not going to happen. Travel within our #SolarSystemmight be realistic, but while I haven't checked the travel agency's catalog in depth recently, I seem to recall something about our current spot being one of the better places in the neighborhood.
"The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) has collected and released almost 7 billion individual laser altimeter returns from the lunar surface. The LOLA data is used poleward of 79◦latitude as the elevation basemap necessary for calculating shading…”
Two drawings on black paper with (mostly) acrylic markers from a couple of years ago that I haven't posted on the fediverse before.
When I was a 4 years old, I wanted to be like Mr Spock. He was both my first love in life, and my literal idol for many years (and I met Leonard Nimoy years later, in 2005, at Star Trek's 40th anniversary party).
The first Star Trek movie in 1979 was also the first movie I ever saw in a theater, and I still remember Spock in his spacesuit flying towards V'ger. I'll always love my dad for taking me to the theater with him, he wanted me to embrace sci-fi as he had. And that I did!
I eventually followed Spock's footsteps to become a computer programmer, before my health failed me and became housebound, which is when I turned into art.
Let's take a look at Erik Wernquist's new short film "ONE REVOLUTION PER MINUTE".
It features a luxurious 450m-radius rotating orbiter stationed around various planets.
There are incredibly detailed views from inside the orbiter as the sun, stars and planets rotate around at 1 rev per min.
Eric adds that even with the artificial g, the perpetually spinning views and constantly moving light and shadows would be very uncomfortable for humans.
There are more similar films and detailed descriptions at Erik Wernquist's web site.
But everyone's favorite is "Wanderers". It is visually stunning and the theme of visiting and inhabiting the planets in our solar system is very inspiring, all the more so because it features the immortal voice and words of Carl Sagan from his book 'Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space'.
And since we are doing Friday night at the movies, let's enjoy the rotating space station from "2001: A Space Odyssey," masterfully crafted by Stanley Kubrick, using the technology available 55 year ago in 1968 🤔
Welcome to my Friday five, a roundup of interesting links I enjoyed over the last week! Today in my cabinet of curiosities: accents, castles, and the beginning of the universe…times 2! 🪐🔭🏰
• Within 326 light-years of the #sun there are statistically 11,000 #Earth-size #planets 🪐 in the habitable zone of K-type (sun-like) stars.
• The #SolarSystem is younger than 77% of close #star systems with rocky #exoplanets.
• Rocky exoplanets outnumbered giant Jupiter-like exoplanets when the #universe 🌌 was young.
• Statistically, the closest life-harboring Earth-like #planet is 65 light-years 📏 distant.