amayasnep, 2 months ago to space

Y’all it’s time for NASA & Dragons! :drgn_3c_evil:​

NASA made a TTRPG and not gonna lie it looks pretty good. A short 3-4 hour game but fun! Kind of a cross between sci-fi and fantasy. It could make for a good way to spice up your campaign or just vibe with friends on the weekend. Definitely needs more space worms.

Adventure design by Christina Mitchell. Graphic design by Michelle Belleville.

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/multimedia/online-activities/the-lost-universe/

#NASA #TheLostUniverse #TTRPG #isekai

Map of Aldastron, a land where The Lost Universe takes place. The map has an aged parchment appearance with forests, mountains, landmarks, and towns labelled.

amayasnep, 2 months ago to science

The Science of Spherical Cats

Manuls, also known as Pallas’ cats, are arguably the most spherical cats to ever exist. They live in bitterly cold regions of Eurasia, from the Siberian taiga to the rugged slopes of the Zagros Mountains. What explains their friend shape?

Well it’s simple really. According to the laws of thermodynamics, the rate of cooling is inversely proportional to the radius of the spherical animal. Larger animals cool more slowly than smaller animals, which is why a Canada lynx is physically much larger than a bobcat. However, the harsh climate and infrequent meals put selection pressure on these animals to have smaller body sizes. How then do they cope?

By increasing their radius through the growth of a ridiculously thick coat of fur and generous stores of fat throughout their bodies, they are able to efficiently retain body heat despite their small size. Their overall density increases and eating habits allow them to thrive in such harsh environments. Manuls don’t live in abundance, so becoming ambush predators and having flexible diets increase the chance of their survival.

It’s for these same reasons why snow leopards, also known as sneps, have smaller, denser bodies with generous coats of fur compared to leopards. This is also why snow leopards curl their long, fluffy tails around their bodies when sleeping out in the cold, creating the legendary snorb.

#manul #pallascat #snowleopard #snorb #biology

Snow leopard curled up into a ball as they sleep on a metal platform in a Japanese zoo.

amayasnep, 2 months ago to Fox

They're literally the same creature

Belly rubs? :neofox_3c:​

#fox #redfox #aircraft #Sukhoi #Su34

Russian Sukhoi Su-34 lying on its back with its hind legs and left forepaw raised. The plane stares blankly.

amayasnep, 3 months ago to random

I’m too otherkin for this world

Maybe in the next life I’ll be a snep taur.

#snep #snowleopard #taur #otherkin #therian

amayasnep, 3 months ago to catposting

Mrrrow? :blobcat3c:​

They were practically begging us for cats. I just had to share mine.

https://www.tumblr.com/jewish-culture-is/741614041052692480/

#catposting #catsofmastodon

Siamese (Balinese?) cat sitting inside of a plastic red storage bag and staring up at you with bright blue eyes.
Orange tabby (Maine coon?) sleeping on a white bed with their paws elevated and their lower body awkwardly pivoted to the side.

amayasnep, 3 months ago to Astronomy

Gravitational lensing has to be one of the most visually striking phenomena in astronomy

Gravitational lensing is a phenomenon where a massive object bend the light of a distant source as it approaches the observer. Most often this takes the form of enormous galaxy clusters bending the light of even more distant galaxies into warped images of their true selves. They typically follow an arc around the massive object in the foreground like ripples in a pond.

Here's a few of my favourite gravitational lensing events.

Abel 1689 – Virgo

Abel 1689 is a one of the largest galaxy clusters in the known universe. It's located about 2.459 billion light-years away in constellation Virgo. Not only is this image visually beautiful, but the sheer number of gravitationally lensed galaxies across the entire image is just mind-blowing.

In 2008, one of the lensed galaxies, A1689-zD1, became known as the most distant galaxy from Earth based on a photometric redshift. 2008 also happens to be the same year the astronomy bug really bit me and it became one of my life-long passions.

You can find the original image file here.

PSZ1 G311.65-18.48 – Apus

PSZ1 G311.65-18.48 is a massive galaxy cluster located 4.6 billion light-years away in the constellation Apus. What's especially remarkable about this image is that it features a bright galaxy that's been lensed 12 separate times along four arcs. Three of these arcs are visible to the upper right of the cluster, while a fainter fourth arc is partially obscured by a bright foreground star to the bottom left of the cluster. This galaxy is almost 12 billion light-years away from Earth, which given its title as the brightest gravitationally lensed galaxy is quite a remarkable feat.

You can find the original image file here.

#astronomy #HubbleSpaceTelescope #galaxycluster #galaxies #supernova #gravitationallensing

(1/2)

Composite infrared and visible light image of PSZ1 G311.65-18.48 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2019. It shows a dark sky specked with golden elliptical galaxies with a very dense cluster of galaxies at the centre of the frame.

amayasnep, 3 months ago to Astronomy

I don't talk about astronomy nearly enough, so let's change that!

One of the most groundbreaking developments in astronomy has been the absolutely mind-blowing work the James Webb Space Telescope has been putting out in a fraction of the time it took the old Hubble Space Telescope to produce similar work. Here are a couple of recent images I find particularly remarkable.

S1 LMC N79 – Dorado

Honestly, this image is just beautiful to look at. It’s even more breathtaking when you consider that this is just one cloud within this star-forming region of the Large Magellanic Cloud, which itself is an irregular galaxy located about 163,000 light-years from Earth. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere and find yourself a suitably dark place, you can gaze up and see this whole other galaxy as a milky blotch in the night sky.

You can read more about this image here.

A gravitationally lensed supernova in MRG-M0138 – Cetus

It's pretty wild seeing the immense force of gravity contained within these galactic clusters warp distant points of light in these visually striking ways. Each arc is a galaxy far beyond the cluster itself that allow us to peer further back in time. Sometimes these warped images mirror themselves on the complete opposite side of the cluster, like ripples on a pond. In the case of this distant supernova, the light emanating from that cataclysmic event is being reflected in such a way that it's reappearing further down the length of the arc, making it seem as though there are two supernovae happening when in fact they are the same.

You can read more about this image here.

#astronomy #jameswebbspacetelescope #starcluster #stellarnursery #molecularcloud #largemagellaniccloud #supernova #gravitationallensing #galaxies

A supernova is visible within a gravitationally lenses galaxy named MRG-M0138, which is part of the MACS J0138.0-2155 galaxy cluster in the constellation Cetus. The light from the supernova is lensed in such a way that it created a mirror image of itself further along the arc of the lensed galaxy.

amayasnep, 3 months ago to mastodon

Well I hate the #Mastodonapp enough now that I’ve decided to not use it anymore. I’m using my browser as an app now, just like with Cohost.

Any recommendations for a #Mastodon iOS app where I don’t have to pay a monthly fee for the app to function?

kiwa, 6 months ago to random

I like tiny computers

ZLabe, 6 months ago to random

Uh, this is really something else. Look at these latitudinal averages over the last three months...

[Plot shows zonal-mean surface air temperature anomalies (1951-1980 baseline), where latitude = x-axis (not scaled by distance). Data from GISTEMPv4]

amayasnep, 7 months ago to Cat

K I L L

There was a tiny light being cast through my window and on the wall lmao
#cat #catsofmastodon #chattering

markwyner, 7 months ago to Israel

Even though I’m an Atheist, my family is Jewish. That’s my DNA. I’m an Ashkenazi Jew by blood.

But I don’t stand with Israel the government. Or Hamas. I stand with innocent people who suffer the effects of colonialism and terrorism.

This blind support for Israel backed with a sentiment that the opposite anti-semitism? That’s propaganda.

Joshua Hill on the Jewish case against Zionism:
https://www.jphilll.com/p/a-jewish-case-against-zionism

#Israel #Palestine #Zionism #Judaism #Colonialism #Terrorism

Sominemo, 7 months ago to random

Huh, Wikimedia still didn't fix graphs, which were disabled in April due to security problems with it. That's sad.

https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T334940

amayasnep, 7 months ago to Judaism

I think the hardest part about exploring #Judaism is that not only do I work nights, but I work weekends as well.

I would like to do a lot of things but I just can’t due to my schedule. Shabbat? Work. Friday evening service? Work. Classes? I don’t even think I can get that ball rolling yet. My hope is that I’ll eventually have a schedule where I can look into all this more and make a good go of things. Not that I haven’t already made a genuine effort.

amayasnep, 7 months ago to animals

No thoughts
#nothoughts #catsofmastodon

Sominemo, 8 months ago to random

Windows 10/11 search is intolerably slow?

Turning these off improved its performance radically on my device. Hope it will help someone else with this problem too.

ZLabe, 8 months ago to random

The latest global sea level data from satellite altimetry, which was just updated through mid-July 2023

• Graph/data processed by https://www.aviso.altimetry.fr/en/data/products/ocean-indicators-products/mean-sea-level.html

jonty, 9 months ago to random

Thought I ordered 50,000 nematodes. Would anyone like some nematodes.

Please. I have so many worms.

amayasnep, 9 months ago to Trains

One of my all-time favourite maps

Back-on-Track is a European network of volunteers campaigning for the expansion of better, more affordable night train services across Europe.

You can get a copy of their latest map here: https://back-on-track.eu/night-train-map/

#Eurail #Interrail #railway #passengerrail #trains #maps #Europe

amayasnep, 9 months ago to Cat Spanish

Gato… Gato! Gordito :3

#cat #gato #catsofmastodon #gatosdemastodon

roxy, 9 months ago to random

a lot of people followed me recently so here's an old picture for you

roxy, 10 months ago to random

"whys your fursona have a collar" it's a furry thing, you wouldn't understand

Sominemo, 10 months ago to random

I just learned MQA filed for bankruptcy ✨

Wander, 10 months ago to memes

Me: if I could be a furry I'd be a feral! The reality of my choice: (by Wereshiba)

Oh, but I would still choose it regardless. I'd just have to get people to do things for me :P

Artist: https://twitter.com/wereshiba
cc: @memes

jwildeboer, 11 months ago (edited 10 months ago) to random

The best EV for anyone living in a city is an electric bicycle, IMHO and experience. A comfy and practical one. Not some pseudo sporty stuff. With big bags. So you can do your shopping, go out for a picknick in the park, to the lake or whatever. You don't need a car for everything. This is my daily ride. And at a bit below 900€ quite affordable, IMHO.