Anon To Avoid Links. Freshman Year College, Roommate And I HATED Each Other, Long Story, Not Relevant.

Here’s one I haven’t seen before. Perseid meteors viewed from above, from the International Space Station, 2 in about 2 seconds from the high resolution downlooking camera.

“Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.” – Stephen Hawking

Stunning capture by Jordan McInally of @undersoulphotography

White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) at Sunset

Lido Key Beach, FL

Island Point Milky Way

Nikon d5100 - 6 x 25s - ISO 4000 - f2.8 - 16mm

What is so special about Saturn’s moon Titan?

Titan is Saturn’s largest moon and the only natural satellite in our solar system known to have a dense atmosphere. But there is something much more amazing about the Saturnian orbiter.

Titan has a vast system of oceans, lakes, and huge mountain ranges. How, though, could a body whose average temperature is -290°F (-179°C) contain liquid water on its surface? It doesn’t.

The oceans and lakes on Titan are made of liquid methane (CH₄) and ethane (C₂H₆). The mountains are made of water ice. That’s right. The “waters” of titan are made of not water, but hydrocarbons, and its mountain ranges are made of not minerals like calcium, iron, and cobalt, but ice.

Could, then, there be not water-based, but hydrocarbon-based life on Titan? Astrobiologists (scientists who study possible extraterrestrial life forms) are hoping to send rovers there one day to sample the oceans and answer that question.

If it turned out that there is life somewhere else in the solar system, it would be so much more than just a cool scientific discovery. For two hundred thousand years, we humans have thought that we were alone in the universe. We thought that only our blue and green home harbored life. If life turned up elsewhere, we would know that we were wrong all along.

(pictured: Titan; source: NASA, Cassini spacecraft, 2006)

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 2016 September 6 

The Whirlpool Galaxy and Beyond 

Follow the handle of the Big Dipper away from the dipper’s bowl, until you get to the handle’s last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you might find this stunning pair of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry in Charles Messier’s famous catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula, the large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as NGC 5194. Its spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (left), NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the angular boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici. Though M51 looks faint and fuzzy to the human eye, the above long-exposure, deep-field image taken earlier this year shows much of the faint complexity that actually surrounds the smaller galaxy. Thousands of the faint dots in background of the featured image are actually galaxies far across the universe.

I went to college in another state from where I grew up. I’d been with my girlfriend for three years at the time so we tried to do the long distance thing. Within a week she was acting weird and then she just suddenly quit talking to me without any goodbye. I was understandably confused, so I called her house to try to talk to her. She wasn’t home, but her dad (who is fucking awesome) told me that she’d been hanging out with my best friend (from here on out referred to as db, for douchebag).

I called DBs roommate that I got along with and asked him to tell me the truth. He said she’d been over every night that week and stayed. I lost my shit. Called them both pissed off, told them to fuck themselves, etc.

Initially I wanted to kick his ass, but by the time I came home for break I’d decided it wasn’t worth it. So I just let it go and moved on. A few years go by, I finish college and move back home.

One day I get a call from db. He’s three hours away from home and his car is broken down. He doesn’t want to pay a towing company to get it home and I’m the only one he knows with a trailer big enough to haul it. He says he knows it’s awkward but he’ll give me $200 if I come get him.

I was fucking ecstatic. Told him I was an hour and a half away from home but I could leave after that if he wanted. He says that’s fine. I get off the phone and go back to watching tv on my couch.

Two hours go by: DB: hey, have you left yet? Me: I’m getting ready now, traffic was bad DB: ok. See you in a few hours

Three more hours: DB: you getting close? Me: my gps screwed up, still about a half hour

Another hour DB: dude where are you at?

Ten minutes DB: hello?

Five minutes DB: answer your phone dude

Five minutes: DB: are you even coming? 

Me: nah, but have fun.

He didn’t respond after that

A room with a view

Taken near the entrance to Paranal site’s Residencia hotel, ESO’s motivation behind building advanced telescopes in such remote and challenging locations could not be clearer. The spectacular sky, free from light pollution, reveals the secrets usually hidden in areas populated by humans. Strict regulations are in place to maintain these conditions, and the lights on the left are needed to mark the sides of the road (known as the stairway to heaven), because cars are not allowed to use their headlights. Palm fronds are not a typical part of the desert skyline, but this particular one was replanted outside after it grew too large to remain inside la Residencia. Unfortunately, the harsh conditions of the Atacama desert prooved too much, and it did not survive long.

The splash of the Milky Way to the left dwarfs the little blotches of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds to the right.

Credit: H. Sommer/ESO

Afternoon Thunderstorms roll across the prairie. 

Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, FL

You aren't getting away Scott free after pissing on my car

This story takes place at 1am today.

I’d just gotten home from working my 5th 12 hour work day and started to unwind with a bottle of wine and a show (the Eric Andre show) in the living room with my girlfriend. (I should note the door to the patio is about 10 feet directly in front of the sofa. And I live on the 4th floor in an apartment building.)

I begin to hear loud voices but it’s 1am on a Saturday night on a busy street, not out of place. However I decided to go on to the porch to people watch. I see five drunk 16/17 year old kids getting out of a truck parked directly in front of my car. There appears to be maybe 4-5 inches of space between my car and theirs.

Everyone seems to crowd around my front bumper laughing and are staring at my car, at first I thought they’d hit it, but then I notice the driver of the truck is pissing on my car. I hear him say to his friends “sucks for whoever owns this car” and pisses on the handle. So I shout back “that’d be me” they didnt look my way so I assumed they didn’t hear me. Then he quickly finishes and they start running toward the lobby so I yell “cheers mate” and he yells back a “cheers bud.”

I decided I needed to have revenge. So I grabbed a condom and filled it with conditioner. I then wrote a note that said “piss on my car? Enjoy my cum :)”

I delicately placed the note under their blade and took the condom and threw it full force at the windshield causing a glorious splatter. I then moved my car underground to make sure they couldn’t retaliate.

I woke up bright and early this morning and drank tea on my porch for an hour and a half just to be there to witness them see my work. The driver audibly yelled “what the fuck” and looked up to my porch. I raised my mug and yelled back a “cheers bud”. And then returned inside to watch The Eric Andre Show (the show is fucking awesome)