31 January 2010

24 January 2010

Pluto Reconsidered

Dwarf planets are planets too! Counting them gives our solar system 13 planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris.

An artist's impression of (136108) Haumea and ...Image via Wikipedia

An artist's impression of (136472) Makemake (p...Image via Wikipedia

- Laurel Kornfeld

Here is an interesting podcast:

http://listen.googlelabs.com/listen?id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbs.org%2Fwgbh%2Fnova%2Frss%2Fnova-podcast-it.xml%231082749470514420924

Eris, the largest known scattered disc object ...Image via Wikipedia

Comparison of the eight largest TNOs. Five of ...Image via Wikipedia

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13 January 2010

Lights, camera, action: Yellowknife to share aurora borealis with world


Images by Fred Espenak (left); Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope,
European Space Agency and NASA



Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska — The Aurora Bo...Image via Wikipedia

"Lights, camera, action: Yellowknife to share aurora
borealis with worldLast Updated: Thursday, February 26, 2009 | 11:24 AM ET Comments30Recommend73CBC NewsThe AuroraMax camera will watch for northern lights during the 'solar maximum,' which is expected to take place around 2012. The solar maximum could bring more northern lights more often. (CBC)Ever wanted to see the northern lights, without having to travel north? A camera being set up in Yellowknife will allow people around the world to catch the phenomenon unfold online.The Canadian Space Agency is teaming up with partners in Yellowknife and Calgary to set up a camera that will capture images of the aurora borealis and put those images on a website.The space agency is working with the City of Yellowknife, Astronomy North and the University of Calgary on the five-year AuroraMax project.


Red and green Aurora in Fairbanks, AlaskaImage via Wikipedia

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Giant Breach in Earth's Magnetic Field Discovered

Hi! I thought you'd be interested in this story from Science@NASA: NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. The size of the opening and the strange way it forms could overturn long-held ideas of space physics. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/16dec_giantbreach.htm?friend

11 January 2010

Recommended photo gallery from USATODAY.com

Someone thought you might be interested in the following photo gallery on USATODAY.com:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/space/twis08/flash.htm

To view the gallery, click the link or paste it into your browser.

Copyright 2010, USAToday.com

03 January 2010

Pandora and the Music Genome Project



The Music Genome Project®

On January 6, 2000 a group of musicians and music-loving technologists came together with the idea of creating the most comprehensive analysis of music ever.

Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.

Since we started back in 2000, we've carefully listened to the songs of tens of thousands of different artists - ranging from popular to obscure - and analyzed the musical qualities of each song one attribute at a time. This work continues each and every day as we endeavor to include all the great new stuff coming out of studios, clubs and garages around the world.

It has been quite an adventure, you could say a little crazy - but now that we've created this extraordinary collection of music analysis, we think we can help be your guide as you explore your favorite parts of the music universe.

We hope you enjoy the journey.

Tim Westergren
Founder
The Music Genome Project