Normal Things…Done In A Not So Normal Way

Albert Einstein in a vintage polo.

Ever wonder about what lies between the stars? Learn all about the interstellar medium in this short video! Follow Evant Horizon for more astronomy posts!

The interstellar medium is the gas and dust between stars. Of its mass, this gas is composed of mainly hydrogen and helium with a touch of heavier elements. Highly dense regions of the ISM known as molecular clouds are directly responsible for the formation of stars.

Sea Level Rise

For thousands of years, sea level has remained relatively stable. But now, Earth’s seas are rising. Since the beginning of the 20th century, they have risen about eight inches, and more than two inches in the last 20 years alone!

As water warms, it expands and takes up more space. That means that when oceans warm, the sea level rises. This summer, we’ve been researching exactly how global warming has impacted Greenland’s ice sheet. Our ICESat-2 mission will use a laser to measure the height of the planet’s surface. Over time, we will be able to provide a record of elevation change, and estimate how much water has melted into the ocean from land ice change.

So how much ice are we actually losing? Great question, but the answer might shock you. In Greenland alone, 303 gigatons of ice was lost in 2014!

Since we know that ice is melting, we’re working to gain a better understanding of how much and how fast. We’re using everything from planes, probes and boats, to satellites and lasers to determine the impact of global warming on the Earth’s ice.

Follow along for updates and information: http://climate.nasa.gov/

One of the characteristics of successful scientists is having courage. Once you get your courage up and believe that you can do important problems, then you can. If you think you can’t, almost surely you are not going to. Courage is one of the things that Shannon had supremely. You have only to think of his major theorem. He wants to create a method of coding, but he doesn’t know what to do so he makes a random code. Then he is stuck. And then he asks the impossible question, “What would the average random code do?” He then proves that the average code is arbitrarily good, and that therefore there must be at least one good code. Who but a man of infinite courage could have dared to think those thoughts? That is the characteristic of great scientists; they have courage. They will go forward under incredible circumstances; they think and continue to think.

“You and Your Research,” Dr. Richard W. Hamming of Bell Labs (via ryanandmath)

Annular Eclipse at Westwood, CA

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A photo of Jupiter. Took by Cassini with COISS on April 02, 2001 at 15:22:15. Detail page on OPUS database.

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New video! Spiral galaxies in a nutshell!

http://bit.ly/rawcuriosity

Take a look around Mars. Here’s where I’m working right now.

Click the link to see all my latest pictures from the surface of Mars.

(3 June 1965) — Overall view of the Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, during the early hours of the Gemini-Titan 4 spaceflight. Photo credit: NASA