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NASA's new infrared telescope, WISE, has released its first images.
The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer has returned more than 250,000 raw images. To celebrate its performance thus far, NASA selected four of them for processing and publication.
Above, you can see the comet, Siding Spring, which was discovered in 2007 by Australian observers. Its 10 million-mile-long tail is made of glowing dust pushed away from its nucleus by the solar wind. (More WISE photos)
In the image below, we see the Andromeda galaxy's dusty spiral arms. WISE has four detectors in the infrared spectrum, which measure light with wavelengths of 3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22 microns. By using only the detectors that can measure the longest wavelengths, scientists can generate images like the one below, which shows just the dusty arms of the galaxy, which are heated by young stars. READ MORE
[Sources: NASA, Wired.com, Photo Images: ©NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
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Posted By Gunkee to quantumNOTES - Science Space Technology News and Random Thoughts at 2/17/2010 04:15:00 PM
Soldiers, you are now cleared to use your thumb drives again. U.S. Strategic Command has lifted its ban on the tiny drives, memory sticks, CDs and other "removable flash media" on military networks.
The repeal, first reported by InsideDefense.com, may be good news for troops, who depend on the drives to move data in bandwidth-starved locations. But it may be good news for hackers, too. The original network security concerns which prompted the ban haven't really been addressed, one Strategic Command cyber defense specialist tells Danger Room: "Not much changed. StratCom simply does not have the support to enforce such a ban indefinitely." READ MORE
[Sources: Wired.com, Inside Defense]
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Posted By Gunkee to quantumNOTES - Science Space Technology News and Random Thoughts at 2/18/2010 03:52:00 PM
Sci-fi stories rarely find their way into theatrical venues. How can simple stage productions do justice to futuristic environments, weird science and hyper-tech wizardry? The new Wirehead play hopes to get around the dilemma with a low-cost high concept.
Josh Worth illustration courtesy Echo Theater Company
Wirehead goes live Saturday at the Echo Theater Company in Los Angeles with this fascinating premise: When an intracranial implant that boosts human intelligence becomes available to anyone with the money to pay for the surgery, rich people get super-bright while poor folks get left in the dust. The IQ divide leads to the brink of civil war between resentful "normal" people and the artificially enhanced "wirehead" class of geniuses. READ MORE
Wirehead runs through March 14 in Los Angeles at Stage 52, 5299 West Washington Blvd. Show times: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, Sunday 7 pm. Tickets are $20. Information at 1-800-413-8669.
[Source: Underwire]
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Posted By Gunkee to quantumNOTES - Science Space Technology News and Random Thoughts at 2/15/2010 01:46:00 PM
When you design and produce the most expensive and technologically advanced stage show in history, you face a constant flow of mechanical and practical challenges. The Cirque du Soleil crew behind KA at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas takes on those challenges with ever-evolving technology and innovation.
KÀ, the unprecedented, gravity-defying production by Cirque du Soleil takes adventure to an all new level. KÀ is a heroic journey of love and conflict, set within a dynamic theatrical landscape, as an entire empire appears on KÀ's colossal stage and a captivating display of acrobatics envelops the audience.
The Slave Cage machine dominates one of the massive production numbers in the MGM Grand and Cirque du Soleil's KA.
To offer a sense of the show's scale, Keith Wright (KA's Operations Production Manager) laid out the theater's dimensions: "The stage is 120 feet across. From the high grid rigging at the ceiling to the pit (the lowest floor level), it's 149 feet (about 15 stories). It's 98 feet from the stage level to that high grid. And it's 120 feet from the stage level to the pit." READ MORE
[Source: Underwire, Cirque du Soleil]
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Posted By Gunkee to quantumNOTES - Science Space Technology News and Random Thoughts at 2/16/2010 01:30:00 PM
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station received a special software upgrade in January 2010 - personal access to the Internet and the World Wide Web via the ultimate wireless connection. Expedition 22 Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer made first use of the new system Friday, January 22, 2010, when he posted the first unassisted update to his Twitter account, @Astro_TJ, from the space station. Previous tweets from space had to be e-mailed to the ground where support personnel posted them to the astronauts' Twitter account. To follow Twitter updates from Creamer and two of his crewmates, ISS Commander Jeff Williams and Soichi Noguchi, visit:
http://twitter.com/NASA_Astronauts
[Source: nasa.gov]
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Posted By Gunkee to quantumNOTES - Science Space Technology News and Random Thoughts at 1/23/2010 11:43:00 AM
The vacuum cleaner, the first that the company has launched in Britain for two years, weighs just 3.25kg (just over 7lb) which is less than some laptops and can be held in the palm of one hand. Folded-up in a cupboard it is small enough to fit on a piece of A4 paper. However, the company insists it is a fully-fledged vacuum and not a hand-held device. Sir James Dyson, the founder of the company, said: "It took us five years to painstakingly compress and rebuild every single component."
[Source: telegraph.co.uk; dyson]
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Posted By Gunkee to quantumNOTES - Science Space Technology News and Random Thoughts at 2/12/2010 01:37:00 PM
