“The immense distances to the stars and the galaxies mean that we see everything in space in the past – some as they were before the Earth came to be. Telescopes are time machines.” – Carl Sagan
The lightest (i.e., least massive) known star, OTS 44
This image is a 1.5… *BILLION* pixel photograph of the Andromeda Galaxy. To view the image in all its glory go here.
NASA is the coolest thing that’s ever happened! I know I am a nerd, but I could look at this stuff all day. Apollo 11 happened before I was born, but that didn’t stop me from being a space geek. I used to take my son to visit the Nation Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio several times a year. Instead of being bored like a lot of the other moms, I was geeking out right along with my son.
Ode to Apollo 11 and the joy of discovery
“We’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible.
And we count these moments
these moments when we dare to aim higher
to break barriers and reach for the stars
to make the unknown known
we count these moments as our proudest achievements
but we lost all that
or perhaps we’ve just forgotten that we are still pioneers
and we’ve barely begun
and that our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, because our destiny lies above us.”
My son and I were discussing Moore’s Law the other day. (Yes, we actually sit around and talk about things like this.) in 1965 Intel co-founder Gordon Moore wrote his vision of how the performance of computer hardware would double every 18 months for the same price. The computing technology of the average cell phone far exceeds the combined computing power of the two spacecraft that got humans to the moon and home safely. That blows my mind when I stop to think about it.
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