Pyrologist

Photo

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 04:28:06 -0400

2headedsnake: Slava Triptih

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 04:00:36 -0400

2headedsnake:

Slava Triptih

Desire

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 03:59:53 -0400

nayyirahwaheed:

what i never
learned
from my mother
was that
just because someone desires you
does
not mean they value you.
desire is the kind of thing that
eats you
and
leaves you starving.

- the color of low self esteem, nayyirah waheed

electricspacekoolaid: Interesting Facts About Saturn by Fraser...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 03:58:45 -0400

electricspacekoolaid:

Interesting Facts About Saturn by Fraser Cain

1. Saturn is the least dense planet in the Solar System

Saturn has a density of 0.687 grams/cubic centimeter. Just for comparison, water is 1 g/cm³ and the Earth is 5.52. Since Saturn is less dense than water, it would actually float like an apple if you could find a pool large enough. Of course, why you’d want to ruin a pool with all that hydrogen, helium and ices…

2. Saturn is a flattened ball

Saturn spins so quickly on its axis that the planet flattens itself out into an oblate spheroid. Seriously, you see this by eye when you look at a picture of Saturn; it looks like someone squished the planet a little. Of course, it’s the rapid spinning that’s squishing it, causing the equator to bulge out.

While the distance from the center to the poles is 54,000 km, the distance from the center to the equator is 60,300 km. In other words, locations on the equator are approximately 6,300 km more distant from the center than the poles.

We have a similar phenomenon here on Earth, where points on the equator are more distant from the center of the Earth, but on Saturn, it’s much more extreme.

3. The first astronomers thought the rings were moons.

When Galileo first turned his rudimentary telescope on Saturn in 1610, he could see Saturn and its rings, but he didn’t know what he was looking at. He though that the rings might actually be two large moons stuck to either side of Saturn – ears maybe?

It wasn’t until 1655 that the Dutch astronomer Christian Huygens used a better telescope to observe Saturn. He had the resolution to realize that the moons on either side of Saturn were actually rings: “a thin, flat ring, nowhere touching, and inclined to the ecliptic.” Huygens was also the first person to discover Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

4. Saturn has only been visited 4 times by spacecraft

Only 4 spacecraft sent from Earth have ever visited Saturn, and three of these were just brief flybys. The first was Pioneer 11, in 1979, which flew within 20,000 km of Saturn. Next came Voyager 1 in 1980, and then Voyager 2 in 1981. It wasn’t until Cassini’s arrival in 2004 that a spacecraft actually went into orbit around Saturn and captured photographs of the planet and its rings and moons.

Unfortunately, there are no future plans to send any more spacecraft to Saturn. A few missions have been proposed, including such radical concepts as a sailboat that could traverse the liquid methane lakes on Titan.

5. Saturn has 62 moons

Jupiter has 67 discovered moons, but Saturn is a close second with 62. Some of these are large, like Titan, the second largest moon in the Solar System. But most are tiny – just a few km across, and they have no official names. In fact, the last few were discovered by NASA’s Cassini orbiter just a few years ago. More will probably be discovered in the coming years.

6. The length of a day on Saturn was a mystery until recently

Determining the rotation speed of Saturn was actually very difficult to do, because the planet doesn’t have a solid surface. Unlike Mercury, you can’t just watch to see how long it takes for a specific crater to rotate back into view; astronomers needed to come up with a clever solution: the magnetic field.

To determine the rotational speed of Saturn, astronomers had to measure the rotation of the planet’s magnetic field. By one measurement, Saturn takes 10 hours and 14 minutes to turn on its orbit, but when Cassini approached Saturn, it clocked the rotation at 10 hours and 45 minutes. Astronomers now agree on an average day of 10 hours, 32 minutes and 35 seconds.

7. Saturn’s rings could be old, or they could be young.

It’s possible that Saturn’s rings have been around since the beginning of the Solar System – around 4.54 billion years ago. Or maybe they’re relatively brand new compared to the age of Saturn. Astronomers still don’t fully understand the origin of Saturn’s rings.

They might have formed recently, when a 300-km ice moon was torn apart by Saturn’s gravity, forming a ring around the planet.

It’s also possible that they’re the left over material when Saturn formed in the solar nebula. The material in the rings might have gotten jostled by Saturn’s gravity, and never could pull together into a cohesive Moon.

But astronomers have also found that the ring material looks just too clean to have formed so long ago, and could be as young as 100 million years old. It’s all just a big mystery.

8. Sometimes the rings disappear

Well, they don’t actually disappear, but they look like they’re going away. Saturn’s axis is tilted, just like Earth. From our point of view, we see Saturn’s changing position as it takes its 30 year journey around the Sun. Sometimes, the rings are fully open, and we see them in all their glory, but other times we see the rings edge on – it looks like they’ve disappeared. This happened in 2008-2009, and will happen again in 2024-2025.

9. You can see Saturn with your own eyes

Saturn appears as one of the 5 planets visible with the unaided eye. If Saturn is in the sky at night, you can head outside and see it. To see the rings and the ball of the planet itself, you’ll want to peer through a telescope. But you can amaze your friends and family by pointing out that bright star in the sky, and let them know they’re looking at Saturn.

10. There could be life near Saturn

Not life on Saturn; the planet is way too hostile to support life. But there could be life on one of Saturn’s moons: Enceladus. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft recently discovered ice geysers blasting out of Enceladus’ southern pole. This means that some process is keep the moon warm enough that water can remain a liquid underneath the surface. And wherever we find liquid water on Earth, we find life.

Want to learn more about Saturn?

New Astronomy Cast just about Saturn. The first is Episode 59: Saturn, and the second is Episode 61: Saturn’s Moons.

More from Fraser Cain: Google+, Star Parties, Astronomy Cast

nevver: Maha Shivaratri

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 03:57:35 -0400

nevver:

Maha Shivaratri

arpeggia: Matthew Pillsbury - Museum Hours, 2004-2010 Click on...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 03:56:45 -0400

La Victoire de Samothrace, Musée du Louvre, 2008

La Venus de Milo (backside), Musée du Louvre, 2010

La Joconde – Salle des Etats, Musée du Louvre, 2008

L’esclave Rebel, Musée du Louvre, 2010

Reflection in busts of Victor Hugo, Musee Rodin, Paris, 2008

Les Esclaves de Michel Ange, Musée du Louvre, 2010

La Victoire de Samothrace, Musée du Louvre, 2008

Reflection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2007

arpeggia:

Matthew Pillsbury - Museum Hours, 2004-2010

Click on each image for details.

anomaleye: could be amanda sage

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 03:42:24 -0400

anomaleye:

could be amanda sage

Photo

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 03:41:47 -0400

elle-emeno-pee: watareyoudoing: I recently discovered Andrej...

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 05:04:17 -0400

elle-emeno-pee:

watareyoudoing:

I recently discovered Andrej Pejic, who is such a gorgeous individual! When I read about Andrej, it seems that everyone uses male pronouns. Does anyone know about Andrej’s preference of pronouns or their(?) opinion on using different pronouns for transgenders? I also read that Andrej’s lover uses female pronouns for Andrej.

andrej is beautiful! i remember reading somewhere a few years ago that andrej prefers “ze.”

Photo

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 00:23:21 -0400

nevver: News

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 23:59:35 -0400

nevver:

News

bluetoes591: Vintage violin in the shop. Of unknown provenance,...

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 23:59:03 -0400

bluetoes591:

Vintage violin in the shop. Of unknown provenance, probably more than 200 years old and likely Italian, this violin features some very intricate inlay. Double purfling and abalone inlays in curly maple would not be easy to do using the hand tools of the day.

archatlas: Rings

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 03:25:08 -0400

archatlas:

Rings

stfuconservatives: After I mentioned that Exxon was controlling...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 03:24:38 -0400

stfuconservatives:

After I mentioned that Exxon was controlling the airspace above the Arkansas spill, I got a fiery Ask accusing me of spreading conspiracy theories because only the FAA controlled airspace. My mistake: the FAA is controlling the airspace above the spill, per Exxon’s request.

navisis: Platonov Pavel

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 03:13:54 -0400

navisis:

Platonov Pavel

lustik: Origami Architecture - YEE’S JOB via Paper Art trends

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 03:11:59 -0400

lustik:

Origami Architecture - YEE’S JOB via Paper Art trends

juliafae: julia fae / brian shumway

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 03:11:51 -0400

juliafae:

julia fae / brian shumway

kateoplis: Festival Hall

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 03:11:06 -0400

kateoplis:

Festival Hall

Anon

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 06:05:08 -0400

And then I told her what my tumblr was, and I knew there was no going back.
it was never going to be the same.

The Harsh & Hurtful Reality of Being Bisexual

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:59:26 -0400

The Harsh & Hurtful Reality of Being Bisexual:

elle-emeno-pee:

rainbowbreathingbisexual:

“Today I want to take you all on a little journey though my Facebook since I started dating the Farmer’s Daughter, and then at the end, let’s have a little discussion about it. On each page, I will share a different photo (three total) that I’ve shared on Facebook, as well as a few of the comments that followed. Please note that this has been recorded as a podcast as well.

Please read through the whole thing. I think it’s a discussion we really need to have, the most important part of which is on the last page.” By Dan Pearce

——

Thanks for the submission. This is actually an incredibly short but important read. The 5 pages are just 3 screen caps, 1 summary of what he’s been told in real life and 1 short but touching confession at the end.

from the article:

The following list contains just a few things people have said to me in real life.

By a gay friend: “There is no such thing as bisexuality. I really think it just means you haven’t figured out who you actually are attracted to.”

By a gay friend: “I told her [the Farmer’s Daughter] that she needed to be really careful because bisexuals are probably never going to be satisfied in a straight relationship.”

By a straight friend: “I don’t believe you that you’re bisexual. If you were, you’d be dating a guy right now.”

By a gay friend: “I think you’re just dating her because you are too scared to really see what you want.”

By my sister: “Dan, you just come off as a 2 on the Kinsey scale to me. You seem pretty straight to me.”

By a straight friend: “This just proves that you are straight.”

By a gay friend: “You just don’t act like a gay man. I don’t think you’re gay.”

By a straight friend: “Are you sure? Seems to me like you need to experiment a lot more.”

By a gay friend: “I don’t trust people who say they’re bisexual. I don’t believe it’s real.”

By a straight friend: “This guy likes it any way he can get it.”

You get the idea. As you can imagine, there have been plenty more.

…

But first, I’d like to remind you that yes, I’m bisexual, but…

That doesn’t mean that I sleep around.

That doesn’t mean that I am confused.

That doesn’t mean that I am attracted to everyone.

That doesn’t mean that I am in transition.

That doesn’t mean that I am not faithful in my relationships.

That doesn’t mean that I will always want and miss the gender I am not with.

That doesn’t mean that I am denying my true self.

That doesn’t mean that I am into threesomes. Or orgies. Or swinging.

That doesn’t mean that I am always horny.

And, believe it or not, that doesn’t mean that I am attracted to you simply because you’re breathing and you have two legs with something in between them.

It simply means that I will fall in love with whomever I will fall in love with.