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Notes: 2 / 22 hours ago
Iranian F-14 Tomcat escorting two Russian Su-27 Flankers of the Russian Knights aerobatic team. Interesting to see some of the (79) F-14 Tomcats the U.S. sold Iran back in the seventies still flying (and looking good)! Wish I could say the same for the U.S. Navy F-14’s being ground up into scrap at A.M.A.R.C. as I type this….
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Notes: 3 / 22 hours ago
Iranian F-14 Tomcats escorting Russian Su-27 Flankers
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Notes: 89 / 22 hours ago from unknownskywalker
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Notes: 60 / 22 hours ago from unknownskywalker
Pulverized Planet Dust May Lie Around Double Stars
Tight double-star systems might not be the best places for life to spring up, according to a new study using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. The infrared observatory spotted a surprisingly large amount of dust around three mature, close-orbiting star pairs. Where did the dust come from? Astronomers say it might be the aftermath of tremendous planetary collisions.
The particular class of double stars in the study, RS Canum Venaticorums (RS CVns for short), are separated by only about two million miles, or two percent of the distance between Earth and our sun. The stellar pairs orbit around each other every few days, with one face on each star perpetually locked and pointed toward the other.
The close-knit stars are similar to the sun in size and are probably about a billion to a few billion years old — roughly the age of our sun when life first evolved on Earth. But these stars spin much faster, and, as a result, have powerful magnetic fields, and giant, dark spots. The magnetic activity drives strong stellar winds that slow the stars down, pulling the twirling duos closer over time. And this is where the planetary chaos may begin.
As the stars cozy up to each other, their gravitational influences change, and this could cause disturbances to planetary bodies orbiting around both stars. Comets and any planets that may exist in the systems would start jostling about and banging into each other, sometimes in powerful collisions.
Above: (1) This artist’s concept illustrates an imminent planetary collision around a pair of double stars. (2) This artist’s concept illustrates a tight pair of stars and a surrounding disk of dust — most likely the shattered remains of planetary smashups.
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Notes: 14 / 22 hours ago from countryboylife (originally from legrandcirque)
American ground crew doing maintenance work on a bomber during WWII. Photograph by J.R. Eyerman. Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, 1944.
(Source: legrandcirque)
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Notes: 269 / 1 day ago from unknownskywalker
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Notes: 3 / 4 days ago
Photo of Northrop Grumman’s X-47B U.C.A.V. (unmanned combat aerial vehicle) from above.
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Notes: 13454 / 4 days ago from countryboylife (originally from prawnosaurus)PLEASE REBLOG THIS LIKE THE PLAGUE
This is a petition on the Directgov website - this goes straight through to parliment and at the current time of posting it only has 21 signatures
I know a lot of people are reblogging the one sponsored by anonymous which is great but if you live in the UK, this is going to be your best best at getting yourself heard about ACTA - even if you don’t live in the UK or even the EU, PLEASE REBLOG THIS, as ACTA is something that not only affects Europe but the rest of the world as well and this could be one of the only opportunities for it to be downturned
ACTA is one more offensive against the sharing of culture on the Internet. ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is an agreement secretly negotiated by a small “club” of like-minded countries (39 countries, including the 27 of the European Union, the United States, Japan, etc). Negotiated instead of being democratically debated, ACTA bypasses parliaments and international organizations to dictate a repressive logic dictated by the entertainment industries. ACTA would impose new criminal sanctions forcing Internet actors to monitor and censor online communications. It is thus a major threat to freedom of expression online and creates legal uncertainty for Internet companies. In the name of trademarks and patents, it would also hamper access to generic medicines in poor countries. Stop ACTA from ruining Free Speech NOW! For more information, visit http://www.laquadrature.net/ACTA or watchhttp://youtu.be/citzRjwk-sQ
I signed it, so can should guys! : D
Done
Double Done
(Source: prawnosaurus)
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Notes: 70 / 4 days ago from xplanes
Rescue on the ice by Bernt Balchen, 1942 (via, article)
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Notes: 70 / 4 days ago from unknownskywalker
Inside Dragon
SpaceX has launched a 360° panorama interior view of their Dragon spacecraft (in cargo configuration). Look inside Dragon →
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Notes: 7400 / 4 days ago from serina (originally from bloodnote)
(Source: bloodnote)
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Notes: 19 / 4 days ago from elledark
The Myth of the Pinata of Benevolence
“We have this fantasy that our interests and the interests of the super rich are the same. Like somehow the rich will eventually get so full that they’ll explode. And the candy will rain down on the rest of us. Like there’s some kind of pinata of benevolence. But here’s the thing about a pinata: it doesn’t open on it’s own. You have to beat it with a stick.” ~ (Bill Maher) .
The problem is that America’s career politicians, of all parties, are among the least likely people on earth to use that stick on our behalf. -
Notes: 2 / 4 days ago from bookmarkletClick here to stop the newest threat to Internet freedom
A new global treaty could allow corporations to police what we do on the Internet. Last week we successfully pushed back the US censorship bills — if we act now, we can get the EU Parliament to bury this new threat — add your voice now! -
Notes: 104 / 4 days ago from unknownskywalker
Shot from Eastern Tennessee. Jan 24, 2012.
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Notes: 198 / 4 days ago from unknownskywalker
Most amazing high definition image of Earth - Blue Marble 2012
A ‘Blue Marble’ image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA’s most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012. The NPP satellite was renamed ‘Suomi NPP’ on January 24, 2012 to honor the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin.
Suomi NPP is NASA’s next Earth-observing research satellite. It is the first of a new generation of satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth. Suomi NPP is carrying five instruments on board. The biggest and most important instrument is The Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite or VIIRS.
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