Warping it up!

Fini Alring’s Glossy Tech Zine

Tatooine-like Planet Discovered

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2005

ATP writes “CNN is reporting that a planet has been discovered in a solar system with 3 suns. The observation brings into doubt the theory stating that planets form from the dust orbiting around a single sun. The discovery also resulted in a new method of searching for extrasolar planets — until now most searching focused only on single-sun systems.”

Slashdot | Tatooine-like Planet Discovered

Martian Ice Lake Found

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2005

The HRSC on ESA’s Mars Express obtained this perspective view on 2 February 2005 during orbit 1343 with a ground resolution of approximately 15 metres per pixel.

It shows an unnamed impact crater located on Vastitas Borealis, a broad plain that covers much of Mars’s far northern latitudes, at approximately 70.5° North and 103° East.

The crater is 35 kilometres wide and has a maximum depth of approximately 2 kilometres beneath the crater rim. The circular patch of bright material located at the centre of the crater is residual water ice.

The colours are very close to natural, but the vertical relief is exaggerated three times. The view is looking east.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Source: ESA | Water ice in crater at Martian north pole

World’s Largest Telescope Begins Production

Sunday, July 24th, 2005

JohnnyNapalm writes “The Aggie Daily News is reporting today that the first mirrors have been cast for the world’s largest telescope. The result of cooperation from some of the foremost institutions in education and science in the nation, the Giant Magellan Telescope stands to operate at a resolution 10 times larger than the Hubble. The project, set to be constructed in Chile, is slated for completion in 2016.”

* Slashdot | World’s Largest Telescope Begins Production

The Moon has been Googled

Wednesday, July 20th, 2005

The folks at Google have released a partial map of the moon, based on their exisiting mapping sites.

TIP: Try zooming all the way in!!

In honor of the first manned Moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969, we’ve added some NASA imagery to the Google Maps interface to help you pay your own visit to our celestial neighbor. Happy lunar surfing. More about Google Moon.

* Google Moon

* Google Earth

Scientists Complete Universe Millennium Simulation

Wednesday, July 6th, 2005

/. james tech writes “The Virgo Consortium recently completed its massive “Millennium Simulation”, tracing the universe’s evolution from its early origins to present day. To simplify the computations, they considered only dark matter which composes most of the universe. Using a 512-node cluster with IBM
processors, the group produced over 20 terabytes of data with some of the most breathtaking images of the universe never seen. A visible matter simulation is underway, at a lower resolution.”

* Slashdot | Scientists Complete Universe Millennium Simulation