"Crazy Mary"
2016-11-01
Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 November 1 - Arp 299: Black Holes in Colliding Galaxies
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, GSFC, Hubble, NuSTAR
Explanation: Is only one black hole spewing high energy radiation -- or two? To help find out, astronomers trained NASA's Earth-orbiting NuSTAR and Chandra telescopes on Arp 299, the enigmatic colliding galaxies expelling the radiation. The two galaxies of Arp 299 have been locked in a gravitational combat for millions of years, while their central black holes will soon do battle themselves. Featured, the high-resolution visible-light image was taken byHubble, while the superposed diffuse glow of X-ray light was imaged by NuSTAR and shown in false-color red, green, and blue. NuSTAR observations show that only one of the central black holes is seen fighting its way through a region of gas and dust -- and so absorbing matter and emitting X-rays. The energetic radiation, coming only from the galaxy center on the right, is surely created nearby -- but outside -- the central black hole's event horizon. In a billion years or so, only one composite galaxy will remain, and only one central supermassive black hole. Soon thereafter, though, another galaxy may enter the fray.
2016-10-31
Sting and Rufus Wainwright - "Wrapped around your finger" - Video - Music - Live
"Wrapped around your finger"
Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 October 31 - Ghost Aurora over Canada
Image Credit & Copyright: Yuichi Takasaka
Explanation: What does this aurora look like to you? While braving the cold to watch the skies above northern Canada early one morning in 2013, a most unusual aurora appeared. The aurora definitely appeared to be shaped likesomething , but what? Two ghostly possibilities recorded by the astrophotographer were "witch" and "goddess of dawn", but please feel free to suggest your own Halloween-enhanced impressions. Regardless of fantastical pareidolicinterpretations, the pictured aurora had a typical green color and was surely caused by the scientifically commonplace action of high energy particles from space interacting with oxygen in Earth's upper atmosphere. In the image foreground, at the bottom, is a frozen Alexandra Falls, while evergreen trees cross the middle.
2016-10-30
Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 October 30 - Halloween and the Ghost Head Nebula
Image Credit: Mohammad Heydari-Malayeri (Observatoire de Paris) et al., ESA, NASA
Explanation: Halloween's origin is ancient and astronomical. Since the fifth century BC, Halloween has been celebrated as a cross-quarter day, a day halfway between an equinox (equal day / equal night) and a solstice (minimum day / maximum night in the northern hemisphere). With a modern calendar however, even though Halloween occurs tomorrow, the real cross-quarter day will occur next week. Another cross-quarter day is Groundhog Day. Halloween's modern celebration retains historic roots in dressing to scare away the spirits of the dead. Perhaps a fitting tribute to this ancient holiday is this view of the Ghost Head Nebula taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. Similar to the icon of a fictional ghost, NGC 2080 is actually a star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way Galaxy. The Ghost Head Nebula spans about 50 light-years and is shown in representative colors.
2016-10-29
Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 October 29 - Moonset at Whitby Abbey
Image Credit & Copyright: Chris Kotsiopoulos (GreekSky)
Explanation: October's Hunters Moon shines near the horizon, setting beyond the arches of Whitby Abbey in this eerie night scene. The moonlight partly illuminates the ruined Benedictine abbey's grounds and walls on a cliff overlooking the North Sea from England's Yorkshire coast. Fans of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula will recognize the abbey and town of Whitby as the location of the Transylvanian count's shipwrecked landing on English shores. There fiction's most famous vampire transformed into an immense dog, jumped ashore and ran up the cliff to the ruined abbey. A 360 degree panorama, the dramatic fisheye view was created from 23 digitally stitched photos.
2016-10-28
Article - Le Portugal envisage une taxe sur le paysage
Votre maison est baignée par le soleil ou vous disposez d’une vue imprenable sur la mer ? Tremblez. A l’avenir, vous pourriez bien payer une taxe foncière en hausse de 10 à 20 %, rapporte The Portugal News.
Le gouvernement portugais a en effet annoncé qu’il envisageait de mettre en place, au niveau municipal, un impôt foncier proportionnel à l’intensité de la lumière naturelle et à la vue dont votre logement bénéficie. À l’inverse, le propriétaire d’un appartement situé en rez-de-chaussée ou particulièrement exposé au bruit aura de bonnes chances de voir le montant de sa taxe foncière diminuer. Fernando Rocha Andrade, secrétaire d’état aux Affaires fiscales, justifie cette mesure par la volonté du gouvernement d’introduire une plus grande équité fiscale entre les contribuables. De son côté, Luis Menezes Leitao, président de l’association des propriétaires de Lisbonne, condamne un projet “qui ne rime à rien. Les propriétaires vont devoir payer un impôt sur quelque chose qui ne génère pas de revenu. Certains n’auront pas les moyens de payer.”Toutefois, cette taxe n’est pas une mauvaise nouvelle pour tout le monde. En effet, elle ne devrait pas s’appliquer à tous les propriétaires mais uniquement à ceux qui ont acheté ou fait estimer leur logement récemment. Le budget sera voté en novembre prochain. On saura alors si cette mesure rentrera en vigueur.
Courrier International - France
Imagens do Mundo - O Cristo do Corcovado na Suiça!
Uma réplica de onze metros de altura do Cristo Redentor do Corcovado a ser transportada por um helicóptero num monte da localidade de Pfaefers (Suiça) por motivo de uma celebração de arte na região.
GIAN EHRENZELLER EFE
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