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Jai guru deva om?

Hopefully, it doesn't mean "All your base belong to us..."

NASA to Beam Beatles' 'Across the Universe' Into Space

For the first time ever, NASA will beam a song -- The Beatles' "Across the Universe" -- directly into deep space at 7 p.m. EST on Feb. 4.

The transmission over NASA's Deep Space Network will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the day The Beatles recorded the song, as well as the 50th anniversary of NASA's founding and the group's beginnings. Two other anniversaries also are being honored: The launch 50 years ago this week of Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite, and the founding 45 years ago of the Deep Space Network , an international network of antennas that supports missions to explore the universe.

The transmission is being aimed at the North Star, Polaris, which is located 431 light years away from Earth. The song will travel across the universe at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney expressed excitement that the tune, which was principally written by fellow Beatle John Lennon, was being beamed into the cosmos.

"Amazing! Well done, NASA!" McCartney said in a message to the space agency. "Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul."

Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, characterized the song's transmission as a significant event.

*****

Tune in to NASA TV at 6:55 p.m. Eastern to watch as the song is sent into Deep Space.

Go to NASA TV

Now THAT is One Cool Map

From the Earth's center, to the furthest reaches of the universe. Link

Giant Hornets and Bullet Ants and Bot Flies, Oh My

The 5 most horrifying bugs in the world.

Click it, if you dare...

Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2007

More pictures accompanied by lots of interesting commentary.

Also: Some very nice astronomy wallpaper here. I change my background periodically.  Right now, I am using the picture of the Andromeda Galaxy on the left.

How Do Americans Die?

A look at various age groups based on data from 2004. From the LATimes:

Ages 1-4

Unintentional injury....1,641
Birth defects.... 569
Cancer.... 399
Homicide.... 377
Heart disease.... 187
Influenza and pneumonia.... 119
Septic infections.... 84
Perinatal period.... 61
Non-cancerous tumors.... 53
Respiratory disease (emphysema, bronchitis, etc.) 48

Ages 5-9


Unintentional injury.... 1,126
Cancer.... 526
Birth defects.... 205
Homicide.... 122
Heart disease.... 83
Respiratory disease (emphysema, bronchitis, etc.).... 46
Non-cancerous tumors.... 41
Septic infections.... 38
Aneurysms, strokes.... 34
Influenza and pneumonia.... 33

Ages 10-14

Unintentional injury....1,540
Cancer.... 493
Suicide.... 283
Homicide.... 207
Birth defects.... 184
Heart disease.... 162
Respiratory disease (emphysema, bronchitis, etc.).... 74
Influenza and pneumonia.... 49
Non-cancerous tumors.... 43
Aneurysms, strokes.... 43

Ages 15-24

Unintentional injury.... 15,449
Homicide.... 5,085
Suicide.... 4,316
Cancer.... 1,709
Heart disease.... 1,038
Birth defects.... 483
Aneurysms, strokes.... 211
HIV/AIDS.... 191
Influenza and pneumonia.... 185
Respiratory disease (emphysema, bronchitis, etc.).... 179

Ages 25-34

Unintentional injury.... 13,032
Suicide.... 5,074
Homicide.... 4,495
Cancer.... 3,633
Heart disease.... 3,163
HIV/AIDS.... 1,468
Diabetes.... 599
Aneurysms, strokes.... 567
Birth defects.... 420
Septic infections.... 328

Ages 35-44

Unintentional injury.... 16,471
Cancer.... 14,723
Heart disease.... 12,925
Suicide.... 6,638
HIV/AIDS.... 4,826
Homicide.... 2,984
Liver disease.... 2,799
Aneurysms, strokes.... 2,361
Diabetes.... 2,026
Influenza and pneumonia.... 891

Ages 45-54

Cancer.... 49,520
Heart disease.... 37,556
Unintentional injury.... 16,942
Liver disease.... 7,496
Suicide.... 6,906
Aneurysms, strokes.... 6,181
Diabetes.... 5,567
HIV/AIDS.... 4,422
Respiratory disease (emphysema, bronchitis, etc.) 3,511
Septic infections.... 2,251

Ages 55-64

Cancer.... 96,956
Heart disease.... 63,613
Respiratory disease (emphysema, bronchitis, etc.).... 11,754
Diabetes.... 10,780
Aneurysms, strokes.... 9,966
Unintentional injury.... 9,651
Liver disease.... 6,569
Suicide.... 4,011
Kidney disease.... 3,963
Septic infections.... 3,745

Ages 65+

Heart disease.... 533,302
Cancer.... 385,847
Aneurysms, strokes.... 130,538
Respiratory disease (emphysema, bronchitis, etc.).... 105,197
Alzheimer's disease.... 65,313
Diabetes.... 53,956
Influenza and pneumonia.... 52,760
Kidney disease.... 35,105
Unintentional injury.... 35,020
Septic infections.... 25,644

Sources: National Vital Statistics System; National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A Second Earth?

Scientists have discovered a warm and rocky "second Earth" circling a star, a find they believe dramatically boosts the prospects that we are not alone.

The planet is the most Earth-like ever spotted and is thought to have perfect conditions for water, an essential ingredient for life. Researchers detected the planet orbiting one of Earth's nearest stars, a cool red dwarf called Gliese 581, 20 light years away in the constellation of Libra.

Measurements of the planet's celestial path suggest it is 1½ times the size of our home planet, and orbits close to its sun, with a year of just 13 days. The planet's orbit brings it 14 times closer to its star than Earth is to the sun. But Gliese 581 burns at only 3,000C, half the temperature of our own sun, making conditions on the planet comfortable for life, with average ground temperatures estimated at 0 to 40C. Researchers claim the planet is likely to have an atmosphere. The discovery follows a three-year search for habitable planets by the European Southern Observatory at La Silla in Chile.

"We wouldn't be surprised if there is life on this planet," said Stephane Udry, an astronomer on the project at the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland.

Link

The Farthest Traveled Human-Made Object

NASA's two venerable Voyager spacecraft are celebrating three decades of flight as they head toward interstellar space. Their ongoing odysseys mark an unprecedented and historic accomplishment.

...Voyager 1 currently is the farthest human-made object, traveling at a distance from the Sun of about 15.5 billion kilometers (9.7 billion miles). Voyager 2 is about 12.5 billion kilometers (7.8 billion miles) from the Sun. Originally designed as a four-year mission to Jupiter and Saturn, the Voyager tours were extended because of their successful achievements and a rare planetary alignment. The two-planet mission eventually became a four-planet grand tour. After completing that extended mission, the two spacecraft began the task of exploring the outer heliosphere.

More

(Star Trek fans may recall what happens to Voyager 6...)

Global Warming Deniers?

No such thing - no matter what Al Gore would like people to think. No one denies the earth is warming.  The real question is:  Is this increase in temperature manmade?

A report from the global warming battlefield.

An Apparition From Around the Time of King David

Unspeakable beauty and unimaginable bedlam can be found together in the Trifid Nebula. Also known as M20, this photogenic nebula is visible with good binoculars towards the constellation of Sagittarius...The light from M20 we see today left perhaps 3000 years ago, although the exact distance remains unknown.

NASA picture of the day.

NASA High Definition Video Gallery

Wow!

The Spinning Blue Marble

Spacecraft Galileo sped by earth in 1990 taking pictures - approximately one frame per minute over 25 hours.  This series of photos makes up a very cool, but unfortunately all too short, movie of the earth's rotation as seen from outer space.

Putting Things into Perspective

The universe is so vast and we are so small.

And one day, it all just suddenly burst into existence?  No Creator of this miracle?

I just don't believe it.

But then again, Who/What created The Creator? 

Climate Change

Of interest, though the etiology is apparently different than that of earth's global warming:

Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over approximately the same period.

Cold Global Warming

Cambodians ponder an unfamiliar concept: cold

Whilst Delicate Moths Drink the Tears of Sleeping Birds...

Sounds kinda poetic, but it's not.

Ahem. (cough) "Me, me, me me."

I'm a O80-C52-E15-A87-N37 Big Five!!

What are you?

Interestingly, I did not place the exclamation points at the end of the link above - they were placed there by the source.  Strange, that I thought it necessary to inform you of this.  Also strange, that I thought it necessary to tell you that I found it interesting. 

And I am still thinking and writing about it, minutes later.

Am I thinking too deeply?  Or just trying to amuse?  Will readers think it's amusing or tedious? Should I care?  What am I doing this for?  Why am I here?  What is the meaning of existence? Does it matter?  Doesn't everything matter?  If everything doesn't matter, than why should anything? What is the smallest piece of information you can think of?  What's smaller than that?  Where did it come from? Are matter and energy one and the same?  Can we create matter?  Can we create energy? If we can't, who can?  Who did? 

Not sure if the test covered this aspect of.

Hubble Picture: Galaxies Colliding

This Hubble image of the Antennae galaxies is the sharpest yet of this merging pair of galaxies. As the two galaxies smash together, billions of stars are born, mostly in groups and clusters of stars. The brightest and most compact of these are called super star clusters.

Credit: Credit: NASA, ESA, and B. Whitmore (Space Telescope Science Institute). Acknowledgement: James Long (ESA/Hubble).

Link