Seven 9s and 10s

theatlantic:

In Focus: Decommissioning the Space Shuttles

Starting next month, NASA will begin delivering its four Space Shuttle orbiters to their final destinations. After an extensive decommissioning process, the fleet — which includes three former working spacecraft and one test orbiter — is nearly ready for public display. On April 17, the shuttle Discovery will be attached to a modified 747 Jumbo Jet for transport to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Virginia. Endeavour will go to Los Angeles in mid-September, and in early 2013, Atlantis will take its place on permanent display at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. Test orbiter Enterprise will fly to New York City next month. Gathered here are images of NASA’s final days spent processing the Space Shuttle fleet.

See more. [Images: NASA]

The images in this set are both beautiful and heartbreaking. It’s difficult to watch such a great chapter of human history coming to a close.

You should definitely click-through to view all of them.

(via itsfullofstars)

High-res tonedeaf: inky: The Good Atheist, via Travors. An invisible sky daddy didn’t save all those Chilean miners; real people with science and technology got it done! I agree. Somewhat related to what I tweeted that night: “The most refreshing part about this rescue is that I haven’t heard “God” mentioned. Man rescued these men, and they all know it. Fantastic.” The next time someone tells you God rescued these brave men, or that their rescue was a miracle, ask them if they can explain why God trapped them down there in the first place. Some religious folk are so quick to praise God that they completely ignore past events.

tonedeaf:

inky:

The Good Atheist, via Travors.

An invisible sky daddy didn’t save all those Chilean miners; real people with science and technology got it done!

I agree.

Somewhat related to what I tweeted that night: “The most refreshing part about this rescue is that I haven’t heard “God” mentioned. Man rescued these men, and they all know it. Fantastic.”

The next time someone tells you God rescued these brave men, or that their rescue was a miracle, ask them if they can explain why God trapped them down there in the first place. Some religious folk are so quick to praise God that they completely ignore past events.

High-res itsfullofstars: mohandasgandhi: Let’s go to Mars! I’m 100% supportive of the quest to find other inhabitable worlds.  However, if I were a writer, I think a great sci-fi tragedy could be written that goes a little something like this: “Oh no! Earth is in danger! Find another place to live!” “Oh yay! We can inhabit PLANET-X! Let’s do this!” “Hooray! We made it to PLANET-X and we’re all alive!” “OH. SHIT.” And then PLANET-X gets whacked by a giant asteroid and everyone dies, while Earth continues to exist unharmed for another 4.5 billion years until Sol becomes a red giant. The end.

itsfullofstars:

mohandasgandhi:

Let’s go to Mars!

I’m 100% supportive of the quest to find other inhabitable worlds.  However, if I were a writer, I think a great sci-fi tragedy could be written that goes a little something like this:

“Oh no! Earth is in danger! Find another place to live!”

“Oh yay! We can inhabit PLANET-X! Let’s do this!”

“Hooray! We made it to PLANET-X and we’re all alive!”

“OH. SHIT.”

And then PLANET-X gets whacked by a giant asteroid and everyone dies, while Earth continues to exist unharmed for another 4.5 billion years until Sol becomes a red giant.

The end.

I wonder if 600 years from now, humans will look back in disbelief at our scientific theories about the universe, just as we look back now and laugh at the idea that the world was flat.

Seriously.

What if there are no such things as black holes?  What if all the evidence we think points to black holes is actually pointing to something else - something so mind-boggling and immense that we can’t even begin to imagine what it may be, because we’re focusing on minuscule individual pieces of an indescribably massive other thing?

High-res itsfullofstars: cosmicpower: The “lifestyles” of 75 neighboring galaxies are illuminated in this poster from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.In this composite, blue colors reveal light from an older population of stars. Tints of green represent organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, while red lumps show clouds of warm dust and gas heated by radiation from newborn stars. The galaxies are organized by shape, according to the Hubble-Tuning Fork. In this structure, elliptical galaxies sit on the left side of the poster, creating the tuning fork’s handle. They are designated by the letter “E”, and given a number from zero to seven. An “E0” galaxy looks round, while an E7 galaxy is very long and thin.Spiral galaxies are located to the right side of the poster creating the fork’s two prongs. The top prong is made up of regular spiral galaxies, and identified by the letter “S.” Barred spiral galaxies make up the bottom prong, and are branded “SB.” Meanwhile, letters – “a”, “b”, and “c” – indicate how tightly the spiral arms are wound. An “Sa” galaxy’s arms are wound very tightly, while an “Sc” galaxy’s spiral arms are very loosely wound.Irregular galaxies are organized on bottom-left side of the poster because they were not represented in Hubble’s original Tuning Fork. Love this.

itsfullofstars:

cosmicpower:

The “lifestyles” of 75 neighboring galaxies are illuminated in this poster from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

In this composite, blue colors reveal light from an older population of stars. Tints of green represent organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, while red lumps show clouds of warm dust and gas heated by radiation from newborn stars. 

The galaxies are organized by shape, according to the Hubble-Tuning Fork. 

In this structure, elliptical galaxies sit on the left side of the poster, creating the tuning fork’s handle. They are designated by the letter “E”, and given a number from zero to seven. An “E0” galaxy looks round, while an E7 galaxy is very long and thin.

Spiral galaxies are located to the right side of the poster creating the fork’s two prongs. The top prong is made up of regular spiral galaxies, and identified by the letter “S.” Barred spiral galaxies make up the bottom prong, and are branded “SB.” Meanwhile, letters – “a”, “b”, and “c” – indicate how tightly the spiral arms are wound. An “Sa” galaxy’s arms are wound very tightly, while an “Sc” galaxy’s spiral arms are very loosely wound.

Irregular galaxies are organized on bottom-left side of the poster because they were not represented in Hubble’s original Tuning Fork.

Love this.