Science & Technology - Astronomy picture of the day : Along the Western Veil

2019 September 19
Along the Western Veil 
Image Credit & Copyright: Min Xie

Explanation: Delicate in appearance, these filaments of shocked, glowing gas, are draped across planet Earth's sky toward the constellation of Cygnus. They form the western part of the Veil Nebula. The Veil Nebula itself is a large supernova remnant, an expanding cloud born of the death explosion of a massive star. Light from the original supernova explosion likely reached Earth over 5,000 years ago. Blasted out in the cataclysmic event, the interstellar shock wave plows through space sweeping up and exciting interstellar material. The glowing filaments are really more like long ripples in a sheet seen almost edge on, remarkably well separated into atomic hydrogen (red) and oxygen (blue-green) gas. Also known as the Cygnus Loop, the Veil Nebula now spans nearly 3 degrees or about 6 times the diameter of the full Moon. While that translates to over 70 light-years at its estimated distance of 1,500 light-years, this telescopic image of the western portion spans about half that distance. Brighter parts of the western Veil are recognized as separate nebulae, including The Witch's Broom (NGC 6960) along the top of this view and Pickering's Triangle(NGC 6979) below and left.

Science & Technologie - Video - Archéologie : Sur les traces des premiers peintres d’Afrique

Avec ses milliers d’abris décorés, le massif des Matopos, dans le sud-ouest du Zimbabwe, s’impose comme l’un des lieux emblématiques de l’art pariétal dans le monde. Dans ce reportage diffusé avec LeMonde.fr, partez avec une équipe d’archéologues qui tente de remonter l’histoire de ces peintures très énigmatiques.

Science & Technologie - Nucléaire - Déchets : 500 mètres sous la terre, dans le labo de Cigéo à Bure

Au laboratoire souterrain de l’Andra à Bure (Meuse), à  490 mètres sous terre, travaux de recherche sur le stockage des déchets nucléaires de haute activité vie longue (HA/VL) et de moyenne activité vie longue (MA/VL) pour le projet de centre industriel de stockage géologique (Cigéo).

Usine Nouvelle 

Science & Technologie - Aeronautique - Avions du futur : Des moteurs au-dessus de l'avion plutôt que dessous

Pour réduire le bruit des avions perçu au sol, une excellente solution, simple mais efficace, est d'installer les moteurs au-dessus de l'avion. Pourquoi n'y a-t-on pas pensé plus tôt ? Parce que les équipes de maintenance n'aiment pas... L'accès aisé aux moteurs est en effet un gage de sécurité mais aussi d'économie puisqu'il est plus rapide. Les placer sur le fuselage ou les ailes, voire les intégrer dans le corps de l'avion, comme dans les ailes volantes, a toujours fait peur aux avionneurs. Mais si les moteurs du futur sont plus fiables ? © Bauhaus Luftfahrt

Science & Technology - Astronomy picture of the day : Gigantic Jet Lightning over India

2019 September 18
Gigantic Jet Lightning over India 
Image Credit & Copyright: Hung-Hsi Chang

Explanation: Yes, but can your lightning bolt do this? While flying from Munich to Singapore earlier this month, an industrious passenger took images of a passing lightning storm and caught something unexpected: gigantic jet lightning. The jet was captured on a single 3.2-second exposure above Bhadrak, India. Although the gigantic jet appears connected to the airplane's wing, it likely started in a more distant thundercloud, and can be seen extending upwards towards Earth's ionosphere. The nature of gigantic jets and their possible association with other types of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) such as blue jets and red sprites remains an active topic of research.

Science & Technology - Astronomy picture of the day : Water Vapor Discovered on Distant Exoplanet

2019 September 17
Water Vapor Discovered on Distant Exoplanet 
Illustration Credit: ESA, NASA, Hubble; Artist: M. Kornmesser

Explanation: Where else might life exist? One of humanity's great outstanding questions, locating planets where extrasolar life might survive took a step forward recently with the discovery of a significant amount of water vapor in the atmosphere of distant exoplanet K2-18b. The planet and it parent star, K2-18, lie about 124 light years away toward the constellation of the Lion (Leo). The exoplanet is significantly larger and more massive than our Earth, but orbits in the habitable zone of its home star. K2-18, although more red than our Sun, shines in K2-18b's sky with a brightness similar to the Sun in Earth's sky. The discovery was made in data from three space telescopes: Hubble, Spitzer, and Kepler, by noting the absorption of water-vapor colors when the planet moved in front of the star. The featured illustration imagines exoplanet K2-18b on the right, its parent red dwarf star K2-18 on the left, and an unconfirmed sister planet between them.

Science & Technology - Astronomy picture of the day : A Lunar Corona over Turin

2019 September 16
A Lunar Corona over Turin 
Image Credit & Copyright: Giorgia Hofer (Cortina Astronomical Association)

Explanation: What are those colorful rings around the Moon? A corona. Rings like this will sometimes appear when the Moon is seen through thin clouds. The effect is created by the quantum mechanical diffraction of light around individual, similarly-sized water droplets in an intervening but mostly-transparent cloud. Since light of different colors has different wavelengths, each color diffracts differently. Lunar Coronae are one of the few quantum mechanical color effects that can be easily seen with the unaided eye. The featured lunar corona was captured around full Moon above Turin, Italy in 2014. Similar coronae that form around the Sun are usually harder to see because of the Sun's great brightness.

Music - Video - Phil Spitalny/Evelyn : "Here Come the Co-Eds"

"Here Come the Co-Eds"

Phil Spitalny fue un músico, crítico musical, compositor y líder de banda estadounidense, habitual en la programación radiofónica de las décadas de 1930 y 1940. Se hizo famoso por formar una orquesta en la que todos sus componentes eran mujeres, algo novedoso en esa época. En esta edición podemos apreciar a la orquesta en su plenitud, teniendo como solista a Evelyn y su Violin Mágico. Las escenas pertenecen a la película "Here Come the Co-Eds", de 1945, protagonizada por el dúo Abbott & Costello.

Music - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - "Piano Concerto No. 21 - Andante"

"Piano Concerto No. 21 - Andante"

Science & Technology - Astronomy picture of the day : A Harvest Moon

2019 September 13
A Harvest Moon 
Image Credit & Copyright: Jean-Francois Graffand

Explanation: Famed in festival, story, and song the best known full moon is the Harvest Moon. For northern hemisphere dwellers that's a traditional name of the closest full moon to the September equinox. In most North America time zones this year's Harvest Moon will officially rise on Friday, September 13. In fact the same Harvest Moon will rise on September 14 for much of the planet though. Of course the Moon will look almost full in the surrounding days. Regardless of your time zone the Harvest Moon, like any other full moon, will rise just opposite the setting Sun. Near the horizon, the Moon Illusion might make it appear bigger and brighter to you but this Harvest Moon will be nearlunar apogee. That's the closest point in its orbit, making it the most distant, and so the smallest, full moon of the year. On August 15 a wheat field harvested in south central France made this a harvest moon scene too, the full moon shining on with beautiful iridescent clouds at sunset.