Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 December 23 - Once Upon a Solstice Eve

Once Upon a Solstice Eve 
Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek

Explanation: Once upon a solstice eve a little prince gazed across a frozen little planet at the edge of a large galaxy. The little planet was planet Earth of course, seen in this horizon to horizon, nadir to zenith projection, a digitally stitched mosaic from the shores of the Sec reservoir in the Czech Republic. So the large galaxy must be the Milky Way, and the brightest beacon on the planet's horizon Venus, visible around the globe as this season's brilliant evening star. Celestial treasures in surrounding dark skies include the Pleiades star cluster, and the North America nebula found along a dusty galactic rift. Embracing Venus, Zodiacal light traces a faint band across the night, but the more colorful pillars of light shine above streets a little closer to home.

Palacios cariocas - O Paço Imperial

O Paço Imperial, localizado na Praça XV, centro histórico da cidade do Rio de Janeiro, foi construído em 1743 para ser a residência dos governadores da Capitania do Rio de Janeiro.

Hoje em dia, este edifício é considerado o mais importante em estilo colonial no país e abriga um Centro Cultural.

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 December 22 - An Airplane Glory

An Airplane Glory 
Image Credit & Copyright: Shane Larson (Adler Planetarium, CIERA-Northwestern)

Explanation: Looking out the window of an airplane, you might be lucky enough to see "the glory" in the direction directly opposite the Sun. Before airplanes, the phenomenon, known to some as the heiligenschein or the Specter of the Brocken, was sometimes seen from mountaintops. There, when conditions were right, one could look away from the Sun and see what appeared to be the shadow of a giant surrounded by a bright halo. The giant turns out to be the observer, as in the modern version a silhouette of an plane frequently occupies the glory's center. This bright glory was photographed two weeks ago over Michigan from an airplane on approach to O'Hare International Airport. Thecause of the glory is still being researched and is relatively complex. Surely, small droplets of water in some way reflect, refract, and diffract sunlight backwards towards the Sun. The phenomenon has similar counterparts in other branches of science including astronomy, where looking out from the Earth in the direction opposite the Sun yields a bright spot called the gegenschein.

Imagenes del Mundo - Aves en Nepal

Un grupo de aves migratorias se posan en las ramas de un árbol al amanecer en el lago Taudaha, en las afueras del valle de Katmandú (Nepal).
HEMANTA SHRESTHA EFE

Texto - Amigos: Bom Natal!

Meus amigos é tempo de Natal, de paz, de dizer a todos quanto deles gosto e continuarei a gostar.

Aproveito para pedir perdão aos que, porventura, possa, sem querer, ter ofendido.

Mas paz não significa perdão para todos; aqueles que me fizeram mal; garanto-lhes o pior apenas concedendo alguma trégua; aproveitem-se dela; é  que, como não sou santo, irei rapidamente prosseguir a luta contra os...desculpem... quase ia dizer uma asneira parecida com palavrão; nesta época parece que o não deva fazer embora, certos cretinos, analfabetos ou estúpidos (à escolha) fiquem, por ora,  apenas prisioneiros da minha mente vindicativa.

Logo após a "festa" garanto a prossecução da luta.

21-12-2016

JoanMira  

Palacios cariocas - Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz)

A Fundação ocupa um belo palácio em estilo neomourisco em Manguinhos, região cercada por favelas.Construído em 1905, com base em croquis de Oswaldo Cruz, o prédio fora construído sobre uma das colinas da região, tendo a sua fachada voltada para o mar. 

 

O palácio, que se assemelha aos palácios ingleses do período Elisabetano, abriga a Fundação homônima criada por Oswaldo Cruz, que é a mais importante instituição de ciência e tecnologia em saúde da América Latina.

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 December 21 - Traces of the Sun

Traces of the Sun 
Video Credit & Copyright: György Bajmóczy

Explanation: This year the December Solstice is today, December 21, at 10:44 UT, the first day of winter in the north and summer in the south. To celebrate, watch this amazing timelapse video tracing the Sun's apparent movement over an entire year from Hungary. During the year, a fixed video camera captured an image every minute. In total, 116,000 exposures follow the Sun's position across the field of view, starting from the 2015 June 21 solstice through the 2016 June 20 solstice. The intervening 2015 December 22 solstice is at the bottom of the frame. The timelapse sequences constructed show the Sun's movement over one day to begin with, followed by traces of the Sun's position during the days of one year, solstice to solstice. Gaps in the daily curves are due to cloud cover. The video ends with stunning animation sequences of analemmas, those figure-8 curves you get by photographing the Sun at the same time each day throughout a year, stepping across planet Earth's sky.

Palacios cariocas - Palacio da Ilha Fiscal

Como diz o nome, o palácio fica na Ilha Fiscal, ocupando 1.000 metros quadrados da ilha de Guanabara.

Construído em 1889, em estilo neogótico, este palácio serviu de quartel da guarda de fiscalização do porto e, posteriormente, ficou se famoso por abrigar o último baile do Brasil Imperial

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 December 20 - Sharpless 308: Star Bubble

Sharpless 308: Star Bubble 
Image Credit & Copyright: Anis Abdul

Explanation: Blown by fast winds from a hot, massive star, this cosmic bubble is huge. Cataloged as Sharpless 2-308 it lies some 5,200 light-years away toward the constellation of the Big Dog (Canis Major) and covers slightly more of the sky than a full moon. That corresponds to a diameter of 60 light-years at its estimated distance. The massive star that created the bubble, a Wolf-Rayet star, is the bright one near the center of the nebula. Wolf-Rayet stars have over 20 times the mass of the Sun and are thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova phase of massive star evolution. Fast winds from this Wolf-Rayet star create the bubble-shaped nebula as they sweep up slower moving material from an earlier phase of evolution. The windblown nebula has an age of about 70,000 years. Relatively faint emission captured in the expansive image is dominated by the glow of ionized oxygen atoms mapped to a blue hue.

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 December 19 - Supermoon over Spanish Castle

Supermoon over Spanish Castle 
Image Credit & Copyright: Tomeu Mas

Explanation: No, this castle was not built with the Moon attached. To create the spectacular juxtaposition, careful planning and a bit of good weather was needed. Pictured, the last supermoon of 2016 was captured last week rising directly beyond one of the towers of Bellver Castle in Palma de Mallorca on the Balearic Islands of Spain. The supermoon was the last full moon of 2016 and known to some as the Oak Moon. Bellver Castle was built in the early 1300s and has served as a home -- but occasional as a prison -- to numerous kings and queens. The Moon was built about 4.5 billion years ago, possibly resulting from a great collision with a Mars-sized celestial body and Earth. The next supermoon, defined as when the moon appears slightly larger and brighter than usual, will occur on 2017 December 3 and be visible not only behind castles but all over the Earth.