[ad_1] When the first manned missions started, NASA had more to worry about than photography. In fact, the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth, John Glenn, picked up a $40 Minolta Ansco Autoset 35mm camera himself from a Florida camera shop. The third man in space, Walter Schirra, did the same thing, but went […]
Category: thenewbigpicture
Israel’s Moon probe snaps a final photo before crashing
[ad_1] SpaceIL was one of the finalists for Google’s Lunar Xprize, which ended without a winner. Had the probe landed, it would have carried several scientific experiences. That includes measuring the local magnetic field using a magnetometer and carrying a NASA-made laser retroreflector array to measure the precise distance between the Earth and the Moon. […]
Why Garfield phones have littered French beaches for 35 years
[ad_1] Creator Jim Davis made no bones that he created Garfield with merchandising in mind, saying the strip was “a conscious effort to come up with a good, marketable character.” The phones were one of many, many items commercialized during the fat cat’s heyday, and are still considered a collector’s item. The gimmick is that […]
‘Cannonball’ pulsar points to the supernova that formed it
[ad_1] Pulsars are superdense neutron stars that form out of massive supernovae. They can only be found when their electromagnetic beams points directly to Earth like a nuclear-powered lighthouse. Pulsars have been found to rotate as fast as 1.6 milliseconds, or 38,500 rpm. They pick up the angular momentum of the massive stars that formed […]
Textiles become circuits in ‘The Embroidered Computer’
[ad_1] The Embroidered Computer has flippable relays like those used in mainframes before semiconductors came along. While they’re not nearly as fast, you have to admit that they look a lot cooler in operation (above). The dominant material is gold, used for its highly conductive properties, arranged in patterns to form the logic of a […]
NASA unveils stunning images of merging supersonic shockwaves
[ad_1] The jets shown in the images are T-38s flying at 28,000 feet or so. They were captured by a B200 King Air flying a pattern just 2,000 feet above them, equipped with 1,400 fps cameras mounted on a special arm. They show the shockwaves, or rapid pressure changes that result when an aircraft flies […]