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Stephen Hawking morre aos 76 anos

Físico teórico Stephen Hawking morre aos 76 anos http://pt.euronews.com/2018/03/14/fisico-teorico-stephen-hawking-morre-aos-76-anos

Ōyō Sketchbook (Ōyō manga) : [volume 2]

Ogino Issui 荻野一水 (Japanese, active 1900-10)

Publisher, Kyoto : Yamada Unsōdō 山田芸艸堂

1903

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)

Purchase, Mary and James G. Wallach Foundation Gift, 2013

2013.789a, b

The Traditional Colors of Japan

You might not think much about colors, especially in this day and age when the 24-bit display you're...

From the article: “Some of Japan’s colors have a lengthy background dating back to the Asuka period (538 ~ 710) and the hierarchical Japanese color system itself can be most easily traced back to 603 AD, when Prince Shōtoko established the first Twelve Level Cap and Rank System in Japan. Based on Confucian values and the five Chinese elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water), this particular hierarchy determined one’s rank by quality, rather than one’s heritage. Ranks were made identifiable by specific colors, as follows:

大徳 (Daitoku) Greater Virtue

小徳 (Shōtoku) Lesser Virtue

大仁 (Daijin) Greater Benevolence

小仁 (Shōjin) Lesser Benevolence

大礼 (Dairei) Greater Propriety

小礼 (Shōrei) Lesser Propriety

大信 (Daishin) Greater Sincerity

小信 (Shōshin) Lesser Sincerity

大義 (Daigi) Greater Justice

小義 (Shōgi) Lesser Justice

大智 (Daichi) Greater Knowledge

小智 (Shōchi) Lesser Knowledge

Within this system, the kinkiji (禁色), meaning “forbidden colors” were exclusively designated for use by only the highest ranking government officials and their robes. For example, the robes of the kuge (公家, the dominant aristocratic class in Kyoto’s imperial courts) were of the color Ōtan (orange), therefore the use of this color by any other lower rank was strictly prohibited.

 As such, the warm orange and red hues came to be associated with power and affluence. Examples of this can also be found in everything from ornamental combs and katana scabbards to the torii gates of Shinto shrines and the shrine-maidens’ garb. On the opposite end of the spectrum (ha!), the yurushiiro (許し色, “permissible colors”) were usable by commoners.”

I find it particularly interesting that at this early period in Japanese development, they were of course still using Chinese philosophy and science to systematically organize something very abstract and unscientific as what color clothes you should wear– and not only that, but using Chinese science to determine that some colors should be forbidden in society to some people, and thus literally color-code peoples’ castes using a color system based on magic! :)

Fantástico!!

What’s that green streak in front of the Andromeda galaxy? A meteor. While photographing the Andromeda galaxy last Friday, near the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower, a sand-sized rock from deep space crossed right in front of our Milky Way Galaxy’s far-distant companion. The small meteor took only a fraction of a second to pass through this 10-degree field. The meteor flared several times while braking violently upon entering Earth’s atmosphere. The green color was created, at least in part, by the meteor’s gas glowing as it vaporized. Although the exposure was timed to catch a Perseids meteor, the orientation of the imaged streak seems a better match to a meteor from the Southern Delta Aquariids, a meteor shower that peaked a few weeks earlier

Object Names: Andromeda Galaxy

Image Type: Astronomical

Credit: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich

Time And Space

Carbon and Our Changing Climate

Carbon is the backbone of life on Earth. We are made of carbon, we eat carbon and our civilizations are built on carbon. We need carbon, but that need is also entwined with one of the most serious problems facing us today: global climate change.

Forged in the heart of aging stars, carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the Universe. Most of Earth’s carbon – about 65,500 billion metric tons – is stored in rocks. The rest is in the ocean, atmosphere, plants, soil and fossil fuels.

Over the long term, the carbon cycle seems to maintain a balance that prevents all of Earth’s carbon from entering the atmosphere, or from being stored entirely in rocks. This balance helps keep Earth’s temperature relatively stable, like a thermostat.

Today, changes in the carbon cycle are happening because of people. We disrupt the cycle by burning fossil fuels and clearing land. Our Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite is providing our first detailed, global measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere at the Earth’s surface. OCO-2 recently released its first full year of data, critical to analyzing the annual CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere.

The above animation shows carbon dioxide released from two different sources: fires and massive urban centers known as megacities. The animation covers a five day period in June 2006. The model is based on real emission data and is then set to run so that scientists can observe how greenhouse gas behaves once it has been emitted.

All of this extra carbon needs to go somewhere. So far, land plants and the ocean have taken up about 55 percent of the extra carbon people have put into the atmosphere while about 45 percent has stayed in the atmosphere. The below animation shows the average 12-month cycle of all plant life on Earth (on land and in the ocean). Eventually, the land and oceans will take up most of the extra carbon dioxide, but as much as 20 percent may remain in the atmosphere for many thousands of years.

Excess carbon in the atmosphere warms the planet and helps plants on land grow more. Excess carbon in the ocean makes the water more acidic, putting marine life in danger. Forest and other land ecosystems are also changing in response to a warmer world. Some ecosystems – such as thawing permafrost in the Arctic and fire-prone forests – could begin emitting more carbon than they currently absorb. 

To learn more about NASA’s efforts to better understand the carbon and climate challenge, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/carbonclimate/.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Noren - Tedomari Tsubame Niigata ken

Jupiter’s Galilean Moons

Io - Jupiter’s volcanic moon

Europa -  Jupiter’s icy moon

Ganymede - Jupiter’s (and the solar system’s) largest moon

Callisto -  Jupiter’s heavily cratered moon

Made using: Celestia, Screen2Gif & GIMP Based on: @spaceplasma‘s solar system gifs Profile sources: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/joviansatfact.html