HELL IS EMPTY AND ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE
“Tobias Fünke” - Illustration by Sam Spratt
Have a happy Arrested Development binge-viewing everyone.
From IFLS/FB: Happy birthday to the Very Large Telescope! The VLT is fifteen years old this month. This collage shows one image for each year since it started surveying the universe.
Data gathered from the VLT has led to an average of one peer reviewed scientific paper every DAY. In 2007, almost 500 papers were published based on data from the VLT. Scientific studies from the VLT include:
- Imaging an extrasolar planet for the first time
- Tracking individual stars moving around the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way
- Observing the afterglow of the furthest known gamma-ray burst.
- The detection of carbon monoxide molecules i…n a galaxy located almost 11 billion light-years away for the first time, a feat that had remained elusive for 25 years.
- Study of the violent flares from the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.
- Measuring the age of the oldest star known in our galaxy.
- Analysing the atmosphere around a super-Earth exoplanet for the first time using the VLT.
Fast forward through 46 years of special effects advancements, and there’s no getting around it.
A tribble will always look like a poorly constructed furry pillow.
Social media lacewing (Semachrysa jade), Malaysia
In a trend-setting collision of science and social media, Hock Ping Guek photographed a beautiful green lacewing with dark markings at the base of its wings in a park near Kuala Lumpur and shared his photo on Flickr. Shaun Winterton, an entomologist with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, serendipitously saw the image and recognized the insect as unusual. When Guek was able to collect a specimen, it was sent to Stephen Brooks at London’s Natural History Museum who confirmed its new species status. The three joined forces and prepared a description using Google Docs. In this triumph for citizen science, talents from around the globe collaborated by using new media in making the discovery. The lacewing is not named for its colour — rather for Winterton’s daughter, Jade
| image by Guek Hock Ping
