npr:
Internet’s over, people. Maurice Sendak just won.
Higher praise there could not be. —Wright
![jtotheizzoe:
1859’s “Great Auroral Storm” — The Week the Sun Touched the Earth
These days, with constant high-tech astronomical observation and our detailed knowledge of solar physics, solar storms are something we have come to expect, and rarely fear (remember this?).
But in 1859, a solar storm was unleashed with such power that you could read a book at midnight under the resulting aurora. Telegraph operators across the U.S. were forced to shut off their batteries, and sent messages across the wires using the current provided by the storm alone.
Painters like Frederic Edwin Church were inspired by the celestial fireworks, as shown in his 1865 painting above. Matthew Lasar has a gripping tale of that week in 1859 at Ars Technica.
Here’s a taste:
“Two patches of intensely bright and white light broke out.” … [Richard Christopher] Carrington puzzled over the flashes. “My first impression was that by some chance a ray of light had penetrated a hole in the screen attached to the object-glass,” he explained, given that “the brilliancy was fully equal to that of direct sun-light.”
The astronomer checked his gear. He moved the apparatus around a bit. To his surprise, the intense white patches stayed put. Realizing that he was an “unprepared witness of a very different affair,” Carrington ran out of his studios to find a second observer. But when he brought this person back, he was “mortified to find” that the bright sections were “already much changed and enfeebled.”
“Very shortly afterwards the last trace was gone,” Carrington wrote. He kept watch on the region for another hour, but saw nothing more. Meanwhile, the explosive energy that he had seen rushed towards him and everyone else on Earth.
(↬ Ars Technica)
Telegram operators sent messages using the current from the storm! Holy heck.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3i8ybU2HO1qbh26io1_500.jpg)
1859’s “Great Auroral Storm” — The Week the Sun Touched the Earth
These days, with constant high-tech astronomical observation and our detailed knowledge of solar physics, solar storms are something we have come to expect, and rarely fear (remember this?).
But in 1859, a solar storm was unleashed with such power that you could read a book at midnight under the resulting aurora. Telegraph operators across the U.S. were forced to shut off their batteries, and sent messages across the wires using the current provided by the storm alone.
Painters like Frederic Edwin Church were inspired by the celestial fireworks, as shown in his 1865 painting above. Matthew Lasar has a gripping tale of that week in 1859 at Ars Technica.
Here’s a taste:
“Two patches of intensely bright and white light broke out.” … [Richard Christopher] Carrington puzzled over the flashes. “My first impression was that by some chance a ray of light had penetrated a hole in the screen attached to the object-glass,” he explained, given that “the brilliancy was fully equal to that of direct sun-light.”
The astronomer checked his gear. He moved the apparatus around a bit. To his surprise, the intense white patches stayed put. Realizing that he was an “unprepared witness of a very different affair,” Carrington ran out of his studios to find a second observer. But when he brought this person back, he was “mortified to find” that the bright sections were “already much changed and enfeebled.”
“Very shortly afterwards the last trace was gone,” Carrington wrote. He kept watch on the region for another hour, but saw nothing more. Meanwhile, the explosive energy that he had seen rushed towards him and everyone else on Earth.
Telegram operators sent messages using the current from the storm! Holy heck.
(via absurdlakefront)
Bitches it’s May 1st, I’m gonna swing.
(via Imgur)
Osmia Avosetta are solitary bees that build their nests by biting petals off of flowers, flying them back one by one, and gluing them together often using nectar as glue. Each nest is a papermache work of art that houses a single bee egg. (via)
EARTH IS FUCKING BEAUTIFUL
I will always reblog these bees.
(via gordon-crisp)
the sidewalks of hell are paved w/ roller bags
“The size of Earth, in comparison to… let’s say, the sun… is equivalent to the size of a grain of sand. And even then the size of the sun, in comparison to Betelgeuse, is equivalent to the size of 1 pixel… and this is so on and so forth for however limited or infinite you think space really is. So taking that into consideration, Earth is basically nothing in size, yet it still amazingly exceeds the size of us, just like we amazingly exceed the size of a micro-organism. Yet… regardless of this, people still think that the only way of life is living the life that has been handed down to us from generations and generations of misguided people with closed off ideals. Our potentials aren’t limited to pursuing one choice of study for our one choice of career that we’ll have, just to make money to buy flashy material things… and they aren’t limited to feelings of being worthless if we don’t look a certain way or fit up to a certain ideal. Our potentials as human beings are actually infinite, but only if recognized. Sometimes I just want to shake some people, tell them to drive into the desert in the middle of the night just to look at the stars and think about life for a little while. A lot of people really need that.” — (via moreofamore)
TRUTH
(Source: likethesun, via absurdlakefront)
(via South Africa Welcomes Prince Harry, A Brand New Pygmy Hippo - ZooBorns)
OMG
This is so cute I want to cry
(via npr)
In Sunday’s New York Times
I don’t usually get political but seriously, let’s do this thing already.
(via gordon-crisp)
Today is Brazilian Christmas in my house - deck the halls!
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