Time lapse video of our beautiful planet. This is the awe-inspiring view from the Southern Hemisphere. 

(Mashable shared the sights from the Northern Hemisphere earlier today.)

This is great. Any form of public science should be celebrated by other scientists, even if it’s outside our discipline. Via: becauseofthiswoman: Name: Carolyn PorcoDate: 1953-present  Why she rocks: She’s the head of the Cassini imaging team. (Cassini is a spacecraft mission to Saturn plus its satellites). She and her teams have always been adding to our knowledge of the outer planets and their moons even back to Voyager. She’s also a great public speaker, who did some TED talks. Quote: “Get ready….Cassini flies close by Dione, and takes some pics of Enc(Enceladus) too. We’ll post the goods when they’re done on the ground”-@carolynporco     Because of this woman…we have more knowledge in planetary science and someone who is in science who is also active in the public.Submitted by neutron7.tumblr.com  High-res

This is great. Any form of public science should be celebrated by other scientists, even if it’s outside our discipline.

Via:

becauseofthiswoman:

Name: Carolyn Porco
Date: 1953-present 

Why she rocks: She’s the head of the Cassini imaging team. (Cassini is a spacecraft mission to Saturn plus its satellites). She and her teams have always been adding to our knowledge of the outer planets and their moons even back to Voyager. She’s also a great public speaker, who did some TED talks.

Quote: “Get ready….Cassini flies close by Dione, and takes some pics of Enc(Enceladus) too. We’ll post the goods when they’re done on the ground”-@carolynporco    

Because of this woman…we have more knowledge in planetary science and someone who is in science who is also active in the public.

Submitted by neutron7.tumblr.com 

(via ikenbot)

From CNN: Kepler-22b is the first confirmed planet in the “habitable zone,” the area around a star where a planet could exist with liquid water on its surface, that has been discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission. The planet’s radius is about 2.4 times that of the Earth. It is located about 600 light years away. Via CNN. High-res

From CNN:

Kepler-22b is the first confirmed planet in the “habitable zone,” the area around a star where a planet could exist with liquid water on its surface, that has been discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission.

The planet’s radius is about 2.4 times that of the Earth. It is located about 600 light years away.

Via CNN.

The New York Times reports that scientists claim to be less than one year away from finding a habitable planet. It seems unlikely that the search on Mars will yield any living organisms. Scientists say it is more probable to find life beyond Mars, but it won’t be complex species similar to humans. Instead, they are more likely to discover single cell microbes. I like this: Some scientists deplore the emphasis on [finding alien life forms that are] animals like us, saying it is hopelessly parochial and unimaginative — the scientific equivalent of the drunk searching for his car keys under a street light because that’s where the light is. “Animals are overgrown microbes,” said Paul Falkowski, a biophysicist and biologist from Rutgers. “We are here to ferry microbes across the planet. Plants and animals are an afterthought of microbes.” So, we should hardly be disappointed if we find our neighbors are microbes. After all, on Earth, microbes were the whole story for almost four billion years, paleontologists say, and now inhabit our intestines as well as every doorknob. Image credit: Image of Mars taken in 2004. NASA; JPL; Cornell University; Michael Benson via the New York Times. High-res

The New York Times reports that scientists claim to be less than one year away from finding a habitable planet. It seems unlikely that the search on Mars will yield any living organisms. Scientists say it is more probable to find life beyond Mars, but it won’t be complex species similar to humans. Instead, they are more likely to discover single cell microbes. I like this:

Some scientists deplore the emphasis on [finding alien life forms that are] animals like us, saying it is hopelessly parochial and unimaginative — the scientific equivalent of the drunk searching for his car keys under a street light because that’s where the light is.

“Animals are overgrown microbes,” said Paul Falkowski, a biophysicist and biologist from Rutgers. “We are here to ferry microbes across the planet. Plants and animals are an afterthought of microbes.” So, we should hardly be disappointed if we find our neighbors are microbes. After all, on Earth, microbes were the whole story for almost four billion years, paleontologists say, and now inhabit our intestines as well as every doorknob.

Image credit: Image of Mars taken in 2004. NASA; JPL; Cornell University; Michael Benson via the New York Times.

  • Source: The New York Times