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06/11/2024

VILLES BIONIQUES DU FUTUR - Solar Drop : une piscine-lagon


L'une des pétales du dôme abrite une piscine avec vue sur la mer d'Oman et s'entoure de plantes vertes.

© Vincent Callebaut

ASTRONOMY - Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas over the Dolomites

 2024 November 6

A town is shown in the foreground surrounded by tall
mountains with even taller mountains in the distance. Above 
them all is a bright white streak that is a comet with both
a tail and an anti-tail. High above are stars in the night
sky.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas over the Dolomites
Credit & Copyright: Alessandra Masi

Explanation: Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas is now headed back to the outer Solar System. The massive dusty snowball put on quite a show during its trip near the Sun, resulting in many impressive pictures from planet Earth during October. The featured image was taken in mid-October and shows a defining visual feature of the comet -- its impressive anti-tail. The image captures Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) with impressively long dust and ion tails pointing up and away from the Sun, while the strong anti-tail -- composed of more massive dust particles -- trails the comet and points down and (nearly) toward the recently-set Sun. In the foreground is village of Tai di CadoreItaly, with the tremendous Dolomite Mountains in the background. Another comet, C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), once a candidate to rival Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas in brightness, broke up last week during its close approach to our Sun.

05/11/2024

VILLES BIONIQUES DU FUTUR - King’s forest : des chalets-feuilles au Maroc


Ces trois chalets sont des résidences de luxe, près de Fès, au Maroc, dans la forêt de Louajriyine. Bâtis sur une pente, ils offrent une vision panoramique de presque 360° sur les montagnes de l'Atlas, depuis un balcon entourant tous les espaces de vie. Ils prennent la forme d'une feuille, d'ailleurs la structure de la charpente en bois imite les nervures.

© Vincent Callebaut

ASTRONOMY - Milky Way over Easter Island

 2024 November 5

A grassy hill appears in the foreground with tall statues 
of human heads embeddd. High overhead the central band of the 
Milky Way galaxy crosses horizontally. Above the Milky Way is
a dark sky filled with stars. 
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Milky Way over Easter Island
Credit & Copyright: Josh Dury

Explanation: Why were the statues on Easter Island built? No one is sure. What is sure is that over 900 large stone statues called moais exist there. The Rapa Nui (Easter Island) moais stand, on average, over twice as tall as a person and have over 200 times as much mass. It is thought that the unusual statues were created about 600 years ago in the images of local leaders of a vibrant and ancient civilization. Rapa Nui has been declared by UNESCO to a World Heritage SitePictured here, some of the stone giants were imaged last month under the central band of our Milky Way galaxy. Previously unknown moais are still being discovered

04/11/2024

MUSIQUE - Vivaldi - Les Quatre saisons - L'été - Joshua Bell

"L'été"

ASTRONOMY - M42: The Great Nebula in Orion

 2024 November 4

A starfield is shown with a nebula glowing in red, purple,
and blue. Dark brown gas is also seen on the lower left. 
A small cluster of stars appears in the center.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

M42: The Great Nebula in Orion
Credit & Copyright: Fényes Lóránd

Explanation: The Great Nebula in Orion, an immense, nearby starbirth region, is probably the most famous of all astronomical nebulas. Here, glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1500 light-years away. In the featured deep image in assigned colors highlighted by emission in oxygen and hydrogen, wisps and sheets of dust and gas are particularly evident. The Great Nebula in Orion can be found with the unaided eye near the easily identifiable belt of three stars in the popular constellation Orion. In addition to housing a bright open cluster of stars known as the Trapezium, the Orion Nebula contains many stellar nurseries. These nurseries contain much hydrogen gas, hot young stars, proplyds, and stellar jets spewing material at high speeds. Also known as M42, the Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is located in the same spiral arm of our Galaxy as the Sun.

03/11/2024

VILLES BIONIQUES DU FUTUR - Solar Drop : une fleur en mer d’Oman


À Abou Dhabi, ce dôme est installé dans la baie et accueille un centre de cure thermale et une piscine. Les sept lieux d'habitations sont situés à l'extérieur, au plus près de l'eau, sur un cercle de 350 m de diamètre. Le dôme est surmonté de deux ellipses portant ce qui, vu de loin, apparaît comme un motif d'inspiration arabe. En fait, une série de seize spirales, sur le sommet, sont faites de cellules photovoltaïques. Autour, seize spirales sont plantées de végétaux qui favorisent la fraîcheur.

© Vincent Callebaut

ASTRONOMY - Jupiter Abyss

 024 November 3

Swirling clouds on the planet Jupiter are pictured, mostly
in white, tan, and light blue. A dark spot appears in the center
surrounded by swirling white and blue clouds. 
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Jupiter Abyss
Image Credit: NASAJunoSwRIMSSSProcessing & LicenseGerald Eichstädt & Sean Doran

Explanation: What's that black spot on Jupiter? No one is sure. During one pass of NASA's Juno over Jupiter, the robotic spacecraft imaged an usually dark cloud feature informally dubbed the Abyss. Surrounding cloud patterns show the Abyss to be at the center of a vortex. Since dark features on Jupiter's atmosphere tend to run deeper than light features, the Abyss may really be the deep hole that it appears -- but without more evidence that remains conjecture. The Abyss is surrounded by a complex of meandering clouds and other swirling storm systems, some of which are topped by light colored, high-altitude clouds. The featured image was captured in 2019 while Juno passed only about 15,000 kilometers above Jupiter's cloud tops. The next close pass of Juno near Jupiter will be in about three weeks.

02/11/2024

LES NUAGES DIEUX DU CIEL - Nuages en forme de chou-fleur (cumulonimbus calvus et cumulus congestus)


Cette photo a été prise près du lac Okeechobee, en Floride (États-Unis). Placés haut dans l'atmosphère, ces nuages en forme de chou-fleur sont des cumulonimbus (cumulonimbus calvus et cumulus congestus). Les cumulonimbus sont constitués de gouttelettes d'eau et, notamment dans leur région supérieure, par des cristaux de glace. Ils contiennent également de grosses gouttes de pluie et, souvent, des flocons de neige, de la neige roulée, du grésil ou des grêlons. Les gouttelettes d'eau et les gouttes de pluie peuvent être fortement surfondues. Les cumulonimbus peuvent se présenter soit isolément, soit disposés en une file continue, semblable à une vaste muraille. D'autre part, il peut arriver que la région supérieure des cumulonimbus soit mêlée à la masse d'un altostratus ou d'un nimbostratus. Des cumulonimbus peuvent également se développer au sein même de la masse nuageuse d'un altostratus ou d'un nimbostratus.

© Bernhard Mühr, Der Karlsruher Wolkenatlas, www.wolkenatlas.de

ASTRONOMY - Saturn at Night

 2024 November 2

See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
the highest resolution version available.

Saturn at Night
Image Credit: NASAJPL-CaltechSpace Science InstituteMindaugas Macijauskas

Explanation: Saturn is bright in Earth's night skies. Telescopic views of the outer gas giant planet and its beautiful rings often make it a star at star parties. But this stunning view of Saturn's rings and night side just isn't possible from telescopes in the vicinity of planet Earth. Peering out from the inner Solar System they can only bring Saturn's day side into view. In fact, this image of Saturn's slender sunlit crescent with night's shadow cast across its broad and complex ring system was captured by the Cassini spacecraft. A robot spacecraft from planet Earth, Cassini called Saturn orbit home for 13 years before it was directed to dive into the atmosphere of the gas giant on September 15, 2017. This magnificent mosaic is composed of frames recorded by Cassini's wide-angle camera only two days before its grand final plunge. Saturn's night will not be seen again until another spaceship from Earth calls.

VILLES BIONIQUES DU FUTUR - Solar Drop : une piscine-lagon

L'une des pétales du dôme abrite une piscine avec vue sur la mer d'Oman et s'entoure de plantes vertes. © Vincent Callebaut