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Showing posts with label video. Show all posts

Sunday, September 18, 2011 ~ Have your say...

Flying Over Planet Earth: as seen from the ISS (video)

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Below is a an incredible time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet Earth at night. 

According to the creator, on his YouTube channel, "this movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and the Amazon. 

Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line) and the stars of our galaxy. Raw data was downloaded from The Gateway To Astronaut Photography of Earth "http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/mrf.htm "."

Saturday, September 3, 2011 ~ Have your say...

Milky Way Creation Simulation (video)

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For decades, astrophysicists have attempted to recreate the formation of spiral galaxies such as the Milky Way as realistic as possible. 

Recently, a groupd of astrophysicists from the University of Zurich demonstrated the world's first realistic simulation of the creation of the Milkey Way galaxy.  The simulation was done in collaboration with astronomers from the University of California at Santa Cruz. 

The new results were partly calculated on the computer of the Swiss National Supercomputing Center (CSCS) and show, for instance, that there must be stars on the outer edge of the Milky Way.

"The simulation follows the interactions of more than 60 million particles of dark matter and gas. A lot of physics goes into the code--gravity and hydrodynamics, star formation and supernova explosions--and this is the highest resolution cosmological simulation ever done this way," said astrophysist Guedes.

Just how complex was this simulation? It was calculated in 8 months at the Swiss National Supercomnputing Centre at Manno, Switzerland. It would take 570 years of comptuational time to run the same simulation on a personal computer.

And here it is - the formation of our Milky Way galaxy:

Thursday, September 1, 2011 ~ Have your say...

Tempest Milky Way: a stunning example of time-lapsed photography

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Produced by Randy Halverson and shot in central South Dakota, this is a stunning example of time lapsed photography of our Milky Way galaxy with a backdrop of electrical storms in the background.


From the Vimeo page:
"One of the challenges in making this video, was trying to get good storm with stars shots. The opportunity doesn't come along very often, the storm has to be moving the right speed and the lightning can overexpose the long exposures. I had several opportunities this summer to get storm and star shots. In one instance, within a minute of picking up the camera and dolly, 70mph winds hit. One storm was perfect, it came straight towards the setup, then died right before it reached it."
Visit his page to see more: http://vimeo.com/28040685

Thursday, August 11, 2011 ~ Have your say...

Face In The Clouds - A Great Example of Pareidolia

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YouTube user "denisfarmer" took a fantastic video of a rapidly approaching storm front in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada.  As the clouds twist and churn in the sky, they eventually take upon the shape of a face - and it really does look like a face!  However, this is not God, or Zeus, or anything other deity for that matter - it is simply a great example of us humans finding a pattern we are very familiar with (faces) among random noise (quickly moving clouds)... otherwise known as "pareidolia".

Since the clouds change shape so quickly and frequently, it increases the probability that some combination of bumps, puffs and wisps will emerge to look like a face.  Also, it looks as if the face might be composed of multiple layers of the cloud front that come together to look like a face from only his vantage point.

Watch the video - it's worth it.


Wednesday, April 27, 2011 ~ Have your say...

3 Incredible Examples of Time Lapsed Photography (videos)

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You've probably already heard of these two videos - The Mountain, and Aurora.  They are both incredible examples of time lapsed photography by Terje Sorgjerd, who is a passionate landscape and video photographer.  From his Facebook page:
I have been published many times in some of the world biggest press and media outlets including, but not limited to: CNN, NBC, USA Today, Reuters, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Weather Channel and The Washington Post, and Good Morning America.

I am probably most well known for my unique photos of the Iceland volcano Eyjafjallajokull, which erupted in 2010, leaving an immediate impact on our modern society halting air-traffic between North America and Europe for over a week.
Take a look at these three videos, and experience the Milky Way and Northern Lights in a unique way.

The Mountain

Aurora



El Cielo de Canarias (Canary Sky)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBWPCvdv8Bk
http://vimeo.com/23205323 



Saturday, April 23, 2011 ~ Have your say...

The Solar Dynamics Observatory: Year One Video Collage

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NASA has recently released a video collage from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). In the last year, the sun has gone from its quietest period in years (the solar minimum) to the activity marking the beginning of solar cycle 24. SDO has delivered incredible images of solar flares, eruptions of prominences, and the early stages of coronal mass ejections. This video demonstrates some of the most amazing events over the last year.




According to NASA’s website, in the order they appear in the video, the events are:

1. Prominence Eruption from AIA in 304 Angstroms on March 30, 2010
2. Cusp Flow from AIA in 171 Angstroms on February 14, 2011
3. Prominence Eruption from AIA in 304 Angstroms on February 25, 2011
4. Cusp Flow from AIA in 304 Angstroms on February 14, 2011
5. Merging Sunspots from HMI in Continuum on October 24-28, 2010
6. Prominence Eruption and active region from AIA in 304 Angstroms on April 30, 2010
7. Solar activity and plasma loops from AIA in 171 Angstroms on March 4-8, 2011
8. Flowing plasma from AIA in 304 Angstroms on April 19, 2010
9. Active regions from HMI in Magnetogram on March 10, 2011
10. Filament eruption from AIA in 304 Angstroms on December 6, 2010
11. CME start from AIA in 211 Angstroms on March 8, 2011
12. X2 flare from AIA in 304 Angstroms on February 15, 2011

This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?10748

I can't help but wonder what we'll discover in the future as our technology improves even further.  Imagine what other stars look like?  What about a red giant?  White dwarf?  Neutron star?  Watching this video really puts things in perspective for me - I've watched it a dozen times, and can't help but feel that our planet is just so tiny, so insignificant, compared to the complexities and magnitudes of our solar system, galaxy, and universe.  I can only imagine what the video for Year 2 will comprise.




Friday, April 22, 2011 ~ Have your say...

The Russian Dead Alien Video

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On April 20th, 2011, The Daily Mail reported, "Body of 'dead alien' is found in frozen wastes of Siberia after claims of UFO hurtling to Earth... but is it an elaborate hoax?"

Igor Molovic, one of the two teens who discovered the alien, was quoted as saying, 'We couldn't believe it when we saw it. And what was spooky is that there was no sign of the spaceship. Perhaps that was taken away and the body overlooked."  They took a video of their discovery, and promptly uploaded it to YouTube, where it went viral in a few days, gathering nearly a million plays in only a few days.

Believers in UFOs suggest the body could have been left behind by extraterrestrial visitors after an accident, or missed by Russian military alien experts clearing up after a crash. The area is a known UFO hotspot with dozens of sightings reported every year.  In fact, the discovery follows reports of a UFO in a nearby region about a month ago.

And without further adieu, here is the video:


UFOlogists were quick to comment, suggesting this video was more evidence for proof-positive that Earth is being visited by aliens:

"There is a constant drip drip of info at the moment... It feels a matter of time before an anouncement. First the US army's senior figures talking about UFO's shutting the missle silo's down on numerous occaision... the released FBI files regarding crashed saucers... The Welsh Roswell incident being revisited... Frankly, I have an open mind (as you can tell!), for me though, the multi angle footage of the UFO in Isreal is all I need. You cannot fake that surely. If the Aliens can swing by Manchester and pick me up, that would be great..."
And another...
"It's so lame how people always get thrilled by having another excuse to shout "Fake! fake!" every time something weird shows up. Unless proven otherwise, this is in fact plausible."
So... was it a hoax?

Yup.  The Siberian alien was created by two Russian teens, Timur Hilall and Kirill Vlasov, who confessed to the hoax after police in Irkutsk, Siberia, investigated. The police also found the “alien” figure hidden in one of the teen’s bedrooms.  To quote one of the officers, 'It was lying under his bed and an examination of it revealed it had been made of bread crumbs which were covered in chicken skin.'

As expected, conspiracy theorists have already started accusing the government of a cover up.   And there were more comments after the hoax was revealed:
  
"We know what we saw. Powerful people in the military just don't want us to see this."
"Is anybody looking at the picture of the alien model on this web page? It is not the same as the alien filmed in the snow. For one, the model is blue. The alien has skin and is orange. Is anybody paying attention? This model was made after the fact, to try and discredit the actual alien body. The model does not resemble the actual alien body. Is anyone out there not an idiot?"
Really?  Even when presented with proof that the two teens hoaxed the whole thing, people still cling to the beliefs, invoking the fallacious "conspiracy theory" argument.  Why not invoke Occam's Razor once more:  is it more likely that this was a hoax, or that an alien being was discovered by a couple of teenage boys?

Sigh.  



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