Sunday 22 February 2015

Carina Nebula Hubble Space iPad Case

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!


tagged with: stars, universe, carina nebula, mystic mountain, outer space, hubble telescope, deep space, nature, science, cool astronomy, astronomy, nasa, esa, hubble space telescope, hubble photo, cosmos, astronomical, cosmology, space, natural, space picture, space image, nebula picture, cool astronomy photo, cool space photo, nebula photo, nebula image

Hubble telescope photograph of the Carina Nebula

This photo of the Carina Nebula was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is reminiscent of a sci-fi/fantasy illustration, and shows an enormous mountainous pillar of dust and gas in rich orange tones, against a starlit deep blue background.

Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

You can personalise the design further if you'd prefer, such as by adding your name or other text, or adjusting the image - just click 'Customize it' to see all the options. IMPORTANT: If you choose a different sized version of the product, it's important to click Customize and check the image in the Design view to ensure it fills the area to the edge of the product, otherwise white edges may be visible.

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Breakthrough may lead to industrial production of graphene devices

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With properties that promise faster computers, better sensors and much more, graphene has been dubbed the ‘miracle material’.

The post Breakthrough may lead to industrial production of graphene devices has been published on Technology Org.

 
#materials 
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Vintage Astronomy, Antique Ptolemaic Solar System Print

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: americana, retro, vintage, ptolemy, stars, constellations, celestial map, universe, nostalgic, planisphere, antique celestial

Vintage illustration Renaissance era astronomy and antique celestial image featuring the Ptolemaic solar system with the Earth at the center, created in 1660 by Andreas Cellarius. The Ptolemaic Solar System, from The Celestial Atlas, or the Harmony of the Universe. Andreas Cellarius (c.1596-1665) was a Dutch-German cartographer, best known for his Harmonia Macrocosmica of 1660, a major star atlas, published by Johannes Janssonius in Amsterdam.

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The appalling, incoherent selfishness of Chris Christie's vaccine 'choice'

Science Focus

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On CBS's Face the Nation last Sunday, Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said he is "very concerned" about the possibility of a massive, sustained outbreak of measles in the United States. A growing number of parents are deciding not to vaccinate their children, resulting in 100 cases of measles in 14 states in the latest outbreak. Frieden argued that it is extremely important to prevent measles from re-establishing itself as an endemic disease, after it was eradicated at great expense and effort around the year 2000.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) chose the very next day to downplay the threat, a reply of sorts to President Obama, who strenuously recommended vaccination in an interview. At a press conference in England, part of a trip that is widely considered to be a rehearsal for a presidential run, Christie said that while he has vaccinated his own children, he did not expressly recommend vaccination for others. Instead, people "should have some measure of choice." (The libertarian Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) went further, saying of vaccines, "Most of them ought to be voluntary.")

After criticism, Christie amended his statement to emphasize that "there is no question kids should be vaccinated," while still maintaining that the danger of vaccine-preventable illnesses should be "balanced" against the supposed risks of vaccines. But it still doesn't wash, given the 2009 letter he wrote saying he would "stand with" vaccine-refusenik parents.

Christie is utterly mistaken on the science. But his comments exemplify a typically American selfishness, one that in this case is not just morally odious, but incoherent.

It's true that an individual case of measles is a lot less threatening than one of Ebola, for which Christie — again acting against the best advice of medical scientists — last year briefly enacted a forcible quarantine for health-care workers who had treated Ebola in Africa. By this reasoning, it is worth curtailing individual liberty for very deadly diseases, but not so with less dangerous ones.

But just because a disease is not as bad as Ebola does not mean it isn't still worth eradicating. Furthermore, the measles vaccine is extremely safe for healthy people: though there is a tiny risk, as there is with every activity, it is far smaller than getting measles itself. Only the very young, and those with compromised immune systems or allergies, have an actual reason to avoid it.

And make no mistake, measles is still a very serious illness. A quarter-million people worldwide got it last year, mostly children in the developing world; more than half died (though that death rate can be reduced to about 1 to 2 out of 1,000 with modern medicine). Long-term complications can include deafness, pneumonia, encephalitis, and a degenerative nerve disease. It's also incredibly contagious, "probably the most contagious infectious disease known to mankind," as a CDC specialist told NPR. Back in the pre-vaccine days, each person who caught it infected 17 new ones — as opposed to less than two for Ebola.

More broadly, this entire argumentative frame misses the greatest benefit of vaccines: herd immunity. A population vaccinated to a high enough level becomes largely impervious to the disease by sheer statistics, and that protects the vulnerable ones who can't be vaccinated, or those whose vaccines didn't take root. Vaccines are not just about preventing personal illness, but stopping them from spreading. Done systematically enough, it can eradicate diseases completely. The elimination of smallpox, which killed something like 300 million people in the 20th century alone, ranks high on the list of human accomplishments.

That is why this is as much a moral issue as a scientific one. The appalling selfishness inherent in the idea of "vaccine choice" was starkly illustrated in a recent CNN story. After the measles outbreak at Disneyland, CNN talked to a family whose 10-month-old baby had contracted the disease. They're terrified he'll pass it on to their 3-year-old daughter, who has leukemia and can't get the vaccine — but might be killed by the disease. Here's the response of a refusenik parent:

CNN asked Wolfson if he could live with himself if his unvaccinated child got another child gravely ill. "I could live with myself easily," he said. "It's an unfortunate thing that people die, but people die. I'm not going to put my child at risk to save another child." [CNN]

In other words, it's okay to cause the death of another child if your kid wants to go to Disneyland. And that's leaving aside the risk to Wolfson's own kids, who are put at risk by his atrocious parenting.

Every person depends on society to function. From public roads to sanitation to clean water to the very economic system itself — your day is made possible by millions of other people doing their small part to maintain our civilization. When it comes to violently contagious diseases, it is not possible to speak meaningfully of choice divorced from the needs of those people.

Herd immunity, like many of the great public goods, is literally an issue of life and death. As such, Christie's parental "choice" is a gross infringement of others' basic rights.

 
#science 
 » see original post http://theweek.com/articles/537149/appalling-incoherent-selfishness-chris-christies-vaccine-choice
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Further delays strike US nuclear plant construction

Science Focus

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Many nuclear reactors in the US have had their service extended past their expected decommissioning points, and the low price of natural gas has helped drive the closure of some of these sites. In order to maintain its current levels of nuclear power generation, the country needs to build and open new plants. Unfortunately, the US hasn't completed a new plant for decades, as a combination of local opposition and large cost overruns left utilities looking to other sources of power.

In recent years, however, the Obama administration has licensed several new nuclear plants, and there are currently five under construction. These plants provide the first chance to learn whether modern reactor designs and improved construction techniques could overcome the problems that brought an end to plant construction in the 1970s.

So far, however, the results have not been promising. Southern Co., the owner of the Vogtle site in Georgia, has seen delays on the construction of two new reactors, delays that have left it embroiled in lawsuits with the two primary contractors for the reactors, Westinghouse Electric and Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. Now, the company has announced further delays that will push the project back at least 18 months more. That will result in costs from extended financing that are expected to run over $700 million.

Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

 
#science 
 » see original post http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/science/~3/u1dMOHQ1HRc/
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Generating Mobius strips of light: Researchers experimentally produce these structures from light polarization

Science Focus

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A collaboration between researchers from Canada, Europe, and the United States has experimentally produced Möbius strips from the polarization

The post Generating Mobius strips of light: Researchers experimentally produce these structures from light polarization has been published on Technology Org.

 
#physics 
 » see original post http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechnologyOrgPhysicsNews/~3/UgIY7QvWTvM/
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The Dark River to Antares

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Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

Stellar Nursery R136 in the Tarantula Nebula Wall Decal

Here's a great wall decal featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: stars, galaxies, astronomy, galaxy, hotair balloons, wall stickers, dorneblmc, stellar nursery, r136, 30 doradus nebula, massive stars, large magellanic cloud, star cluster, amazing hubble images, tarantula nebula

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Hundreds of brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm, glowing clouds in appear in this the most detailed view of the largest stellar nursery in our local galactic neighborhood. The massive, young stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus (or Tarantula) Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way.
There is no known star-forming region in our galaxy as large or as prolific as 30 Doradus. Many of the diamond-like icy blue stars are among the most massive stars known. Several of them are over 100 times more massive than our Sun. These hefty stars are destined to pop off, like a string of firecrackers, as supernovas in a few million years. The image, taken in ultraviolet, visible, and red light by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, spans about 100 light-years.
The movement of the LMC around the Milky Way may have triggered the massive cluster's formation in several ways. The gravitational tug of the Milky Way and the companion Small Magellanic Cloud may have compressed gas in the LMC. Also, the pressure resulting from the LMC plowing through the Milky Way's halo may have compressed gas in the satellite. The cluster is a rare, nearby example of the many super star clusters that formed in the distant, early universe, when star birth and galaxy interactions were more frequent.
The LMC is located 170,000 light-years away and is a member of the Local Group of Galaxies, which also includes the Milky Way. The Hubble observations were taken Oct. 20-27, 2009. The blue color is light from the hottest, most massive stars; the green from the glow of oxygen; and the red from fluorescing hydrogen.

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image code: dorneblmc

Image credit: Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3

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Orion Nebula Hubble Spitzer Space iPad Folio Covers

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!


tagged with: orion nebula, hubble, spitzer, nebula photo, astronomy, gas clouds, universe, nature, cool astronomy, nebulae, dust clouds, stars, nasa, esa, outer space, hubble space telescope, cosmos, cosmic, astronomical, astrophotography, cosmology, space picture, space image, deep space, natural, science, abstract, orange, cool space

Photograph of the Orion Nebula

This image shows stars, dust and gas inside the Orion Nebula, 1500 light years from Earth. This is a composite photo, based on ultraviolet and visible light images from the Hubble Space Telescope, and infrared views from the Spitzer Space Telescope. The result shows a swirling mass of gas and dust in shades of orange, green, blue and purple, spotted with bright stars. (The colours have been enhanced slightly here.)

Credit: Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI

Another view of the Orion Nebula can be found here.

You can personalise the design further if you'd prefer, such as by adding your name or other text, or adjusting the image - just click 'Customize it' to see all the options. IMPORTANT: If you choose a different sized version of the product, it's important to click Customize and check the image in the Design view to ensure it fills the area to the edge of the product, otherwise white edges may be visible.

See more in my shop
If you like this product, you can find more like it in my store:

Click here to view all the other items with this design.

Click here to see a wide range of other astronomy & space designs.

»visit the AstronomyGiftShop store for more designs and products like this
The Zazzle Promise: We promise 100% satisfaction. If you don't absolutely love it, we'll take it back!

NASA Stormy Colorful Hubble Astronomy Case iPad Cases

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!


tagged with: hubble, nasa, space, exploration, astronomy, night, sky, stars, milkyway, psychedelic, trippy

Like the fury of a raging sea, this anniversary image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a bubbly ocean of glowing hydrogen, oxygen, and sulphur gas in the extremely massive and luminous molecular nebula Messier 17. This Hubble photograph captures a small region within Messier 17 (M17), a hotbed of star formation. M17, also known as the Omega or Swan Nebula, is located about 5500 light-years away in the Sagittarius constellation.

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New design tool for metamaterials

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Metamaterials – artificial nanostructures engineered with electromagnetic properties not found in nature – offer tantalizing future prospects such

The post New design tool for metamaterials has been published on Technology Org.

 
#materials 
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Vintage Astronomy Celestial Copernican Planisphere Poster

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: constellations, retro, vintage, celestial, americana, antique map, nostalgic, atlas, copernicus, star chart, antique celestial

Vintage illustration Renaissance era astronomy and celestial image featuring an antique map with the sun at the center of the universe and planets circling, created in 1660 by Andreas Cellarius. Copernican Planisphere, from The Celestial Atlas, or the Harmony of the Universe. Andreas Cellarius (c.1596-1665) was a Dutch-German cartographer, best known for his Harmonia Macrocosmica of 1660, a major star atlas, published by Johannes Janssonius in Amsterdam.

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Star Cluster Pismis 24, core of NGC 6357 Room Decals

Here's a great wall decal featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: stars, galaxies, astronomy, wall decal, star cluster, pismis 24, sculpting ultaviolet ionisation, super massive stars, sclustpsms, nebula ngc 6357

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series The star cluster Pismis 24 lies in the core of the large emission nebula NGC 6357 that extends one degree on the sky in the direction of the Scorpius constellation. Part of the nebula is ionised by the youngest (bluest) heavy stars in Pismis 24. The intense ultraviolet radiation from the blazing stars heats the gas surrounding the cluster and creates a bubble in NGC 6357. The presence of these surrounding gas clouds makes probing into the region even harder. One of the top candidates for the title of "Milky Way stellar heavyweight champion" was, until now, Pismis 24-1, a bright young star that lies in the core of the small open star cluster Pismis 24 (the bright stars in the Hubble image) about 8,000 light-years away from Earth. Pismis 24-1 was thought to have an incredibly large mass of 200 to 300 solar masses. New NASA/ESA Hubble measurements of the star, have, however, resolved Pismis 24-1 into two separate stars, and, in doing so, have "halved" its mass to around 100 solar masses.

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image code: sclustpsms

Image credit: NASA/ESA Hubble

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Click to customize.
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