Astronomy picture of the day - 2015 August 23 - Giant Cluster Bends, Breaks Images

Giant Cluster Bends, Breaks Images 
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Lee & H. Ford (Johns Hopkins U.)

Explanation: What are those strange blue objects? Many of the brightest blue images are of a single, unusual, beaded, blue, ring-like galaxy which just happens to line-up behind a giant cluster of galaxies. Cluster galaxies here typically appear yellow and -- together with the cluster's dark matter -- act as a gravitational lens. A gravitational lens can create several images of background galaxies, analogous to the many points of light one would see while looking through a wine glass at a distant street light. The distinctive shape of this background galaxy -- which is probably just forming -- has allowed astronomers to deduce that it has separate images at 4, 10, 11, and 12 o'clock, from the center of the cluster. A blue smudge near the cluster center is likely another image of the same background galaxy. In all, a recent analysis postulated that at least 33 images of 11 separate background galaxies are discernable. This spectacular photoof galaxy cluster CL0024+1654 from the Hubble Space Telescope was taken in November 2004.

Foto - Cuba - "Rio Toa" - 28-10-2010

"Rio Toa"

Cuba, 28-10-2010

JoanMira

Catrastofe aérea no sul de Inglaterra - Video

Um avião que participava no espectáculo aéreo de Shoreham, em Brighton, no sul de Inglaterra, caiu numa estrada provocando várias vítimas, noticiou o Guardian.

Ao cair na A27, a norte do aeroporto da cidade de Brighton, o avião atingiu vários carros, disse o porta-voz da polícia de Sussex, acrescentando que ainda não foi possível apurar nem número de vítimas.

Também não se conhece o estado destas vítimas. Um porta-voz do hospital local – Royal Sussex County Hospital – diz que receberam um ferido ligeiro e um ferido em estado crítico. Relatos não confirmados dizem que dois ciclistas morreram no acidente. 

O avião que participava no espectáculo da Associação da Força Aérea Britânica era um caça Hawker Hunter. Não conseguiu acabar uma das manobras e acabou por se despenhar. As testemunhas no local não viram o piloto ejetar-se. A Reuters refere que o piloto foi retirado dos destroços em chamas.

Observador - Portugal

Conhece todos os miradouros em Lisboa?... Miradouro do Monte

It’s a well-kept secret, perhaps due to its off-the-beaten-path location. From here you have a panoramic view that goes from the old town to the modern city.

É um segredo muito bem guardado, talvez pela localização fora dos roteiros turísticos. Daqui aprecia-se uma vista panorâmica que vai do centro histórico à cidade moderna.

Astronomy picture of the day - 2015 August 22 - Little Planet Curiosity

Little Planet Curiosity 
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS - Little Planet: Andrew Bodrov

Explanation: A curious robot almost completely straddles this rocky little planet. Of course, the planet is really Mars and the robot is the car-sized Curiosity Rover, posing over its recent drilling target in the Marias Pass area of lower Mount Sharp. The 92 images used to assemble the little planet projection, a digitally warped and stitched mosaic covering 360x180 degrees, were taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the Curiosity mission sol (martian day) 1065. That corresponds to 2015 August 5, three Earth years since Curiosity landed on the surface of the Red Planet. The composite selfie excludes images that show the rover's robotic arm and mount of the MAHLI camera itself, but their shadow is visible beneath. Check out this spectacular interactive version of Curiosity's sol 1065 panorama.

Imagenes del Mundo - Erupcion volcanica en Indonesia

Erupción volcánica del Monte Merbabu en la isla de Java (Indonesia).

SURYO WIBOWO (AFP)

Imagenes del Mundo - La cria de elefante

Presentación al público de una cría de elefante nacida en el Zoo de Chester (Reino Unido).

PETER BYRNE (AP)

Foto - "Quinta das Carvalhas" - Douro - 02-09-2014

"Quinta das Carvalhas"

Douro, 02-09-2014

JoanMira

Corruption au Brésil

Nouveau rebondissement dans le scandale de corruption qui ébranle le pays. Cette fois-ci c’est Eduardo Cunha, président de la Chambre des députés et l’un des principaux ennemis du gouvernement au Congrès, qui pourrait être mis en examen.

Le président de la Chambre des députés Eduardo Cunha fait face à une demande de mise en examen pour “blanchiment d’argent et corruption passive”, annonce le quotidien brésilien O Globo.  Il aurait reçu l’équivalent de 5 milliards de dollars (4,4 millions d’euros) en pots-de-vin dans le scandale qui touche le groupe pétrolier brésilien Petrobras.

Conservateur, évangélique, Cunha s’est retiré il y a plusieurs semaines de la coalition gouvernementale pour se transformer en l’un des ennemis acharnés du gouvernement au Congrès et rejoindre les députés de l’opposition qui demandent la destitution de la présidente Dilma Rousseff.

Il nie toutes les accusations qui sont portées contre lui et a affirmé qu’il ne démissionnerait pas. La Cour suprême, seule institution habilitée à juger les parlementaires qui bénéficient de l’immunité, doit encore accepter sa mise en examen. Il sera alors le premier parlementaire de ce rang en exercice mis en examen dans l’énorme dossier de corruption Petrobras qui ébranle le Brésil depuis plusieurs mois. La justice a aussi demandé la mise en examen de l’ancien président et actuel sénateur Fernando Collor, mais on ne connaît pas encore les chefs d’accusation, souligne le quotidien de Rio de Janeiro.

Courrier International - France

Astronomy picture of the day - 2015 August 21 - Sprites from Space

Sprites from Space 
Image Credit: NASA, Expedition 44

Explanation: An old Moon and the stars of Orion rose above the eastern horizon on August 10. The Moon's waning crescent was still bright enough to be overexposed in this snapshot taken from another large satellite of planet Earth, the International Space Station. A greenish airglow traces the atmosphere above the limb of the planet's night. Below, city lights and lightning flashes from thunderstorms appear over southern Mexico. The snapshot also captures the startling apparition of a rare form of upper atmospheric lightning, a large red sprite caught above a lightning flash at the far right. While the space station's orbital motion causes the city lights to blur and trail during the exposure, the extremely brief flash of the red sprite is sharp. Now known to be associated with thunderstorms, much remains a mystery about sprites including how they occur, their effect on the atmospheric global electric circuit, and if they are somehow related to other upper atmospheric lightning phenomena such as blue jets or terrestrial gamma flashes.