Perihelion to Aphelion : Aphelion for 2021 occurred on July 5th. That’s the point in Earth’s elliptical orbit when it is farthest from the Sun. Of course, the distance from the Sun doesn’t determine the seasons. Those are governed by the tilt of Earth’s axis of rotation, so July is still summer in the north and winter in the southern hemisphere. But it does mean that on July 5 the Sun was at its smallest apparent size when viewed from planet Earth. This composite neatly compares two pictures of the Sun, both taken with the same telescope and camera. The left half was captured close to the date of the 2021 perihelion (January 2), the closest point in Earth’s orbit. The right was recorded just before the aphelion in 2021. Otherwise difficult to notice, the change in the Sun’s apparent diameter between perihelion and aphelion amounts to a little over 3 percent. via NASA
An awesome Tumblr called WTF Bad Science Fiction Covers is in the middle of CATS IN SPACE week and their contributors have found an incredible assortment of sci-fi felines ranging from intrepid space-cat explorers and bunny-cat hybrids to alien cat steeds and giant monster cats. What you see here is just a faction of the interstellar whole collection. Click here to view more. And follow wtfbadsciencefictioncovers for even more of the best of the word, weirdest and WTF in science fiction books covers and titles.
Lands’ End is still sadly classifying their science and space tees as “boys” and “girls,” BUT that doesn’t mean they have to be worn and enjoyed along gender lines! Now if they would only make these all in adult sizes so I could BUY THEM ALL PLEASE.
Interstellar Voyaging – An Evolutionary Transition
Held at Perimeter Institute and webcast live worldwide on Dec 3., 2014, Smith’s lecture explores the biological and cultural challenges associated with multigenerational interstellar space travel.
The Tulip and Cygnus X 1 : This tall telescopic field of view looks out along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the nebula rich constellation Cygnus the Swan. Popularly called the Tulip Nebula, the brightest glowing cloud of interstellar gas and dust above center is also found in the 1959 catalog by astronomer Stewart Sharpless as Sh2-101. Nearly 70 light-years across the complex and beautiful Tulip Nebula blossoms about 8,000 light-years away, shown in a Hubble palette image that maps the glow of the nebula’s sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen ions into red, green, and blue colors. Ultraviolet radiation from young energetic stars at the edge of the Cygnus OB3 association, including O star HDE 227018, ionizes the atoms and powers the emission from the Tulip Nebula. Also in the field of view is microquasar Cygnus X-1, one of the strongest X-ray sources in planet Earth’s sky. Driven by powerful jets from a black hole accretion disk, its fainter bluish curved shock front is only just visible though, directly above the cosmic Tulip’s petals near the top of the frame. via NASA
