I got you!

I've been trying for some time to photograph the sunspots with my DSLR and 18-200 lenses. Today, I finally got it! The sky was clear and there was some activity on the Sun.
You can't see much but I still think it's awesome to take photo of the Sun's activity with regular DSLR and basic lenses. We're talking 150 million kilometers here!
I used welding glass for safety reasons and to darken the very bright Sun. Don't photograph without protection (mylar foil or welding glass) as you can and will seriously hurt your eyes.

Do you see it?

Let me help you.

Now you better see it!

And for comparison an animated picture from Spaceweather.com

Next stop: Prominence.

Fusion?

After the Japanese earthquake accident world environmentalists want to shut down most of the world's nuclear reactors. I don't know if they know that shutting down nuclear plants means that we will become slaves of electricity. High demand and low supply pushes the price up. Way up.
So fission hasn't got such bright future ahead. How about fusion?

Fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts. Heat/energy is released.  That's as detailed as I'd like to go. On the other hand, fusion is opposite of fission, the atomic nuclei merge together to form a single heavier nucleus. In that process large amount of energy is released.


ITER

ITER is actually what I wanna archive here. ITER or International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor is huge research and engineering project that is currently building tokomak (fusion reactor). I did not know that it was already designed and in production. It will produce 500 MW of output power for 50 MW input power in up to 1000 seconds. 10:1 ratio. (nuclear plants produce circa 500-1000 MW per year)
That is just experimental and electricity won't be actually added to electrical network.
ITER is scheduled to begin operating in 2018-19 (some say 2016). I wonder how it goes. I sure would wanna look at this archive post in 6 years!

The ITER.

Natural fusion reactor - The Sun.

One way of using fission.

ITER - Official ITER homepage.
ITER Wiki - Wiki article with cool timeline.

Wiki Attack:
Fusion Power Wiki
Nuclear Fusion Wiki
Nuclear Fission

Sprite!

I am beginning to think that I am addicted to deceiving titles! Sprites... so rare and so awesome!

This could actually be addendum to my Atmospheric Optics post. Sprites are special kinds of lighting that occur high above thunderstorm clouds (shelf clouds).
It is believed that sprites are formed only during really large storms - hence the rarity. Sprites often come in clusters. I would really like to see one day this amazing red thing! A friend of mine once caught it on the photo - blew my mind.

Sheer awesomeness.

Mind the blue jet.

Sprite observation.

Space Weather - Space weather archive about sprites.
Wiki - Wiki article about sprites.
Eurosprite - Blog about following sprites.

Super Full Moon

Beware!
On March the 19th we'll be able to observe the biggest and brightest moon in almost 20 years!
Moon's orbit has an oval shape which of course means that sometimes the Moon is farther and sometimes it's closer to the Earth.
On March the 19th it's gonna be the closest in 17 years - meaning it is going to be 30% brighter and 14% bigger (visually of course). This event happens only in once about 18 years so be sure you don't miss it!
It is recommended that you look it at the sunset - just above the horizon - as it will appear even bigger because of foreground objects.

Explanation of this phenomena in more detail in the video below:

NASA Science - NASA Science article
APOD - [will add astronomy picture of the day as I'm pretty sure the super moon will be published there] [edit: added the link]

The history of sci-fi

Yes, I'm still alive!
Just a short update as I am very busy these days! I found a great picture of the history of science fiction. Looks confusing when you first look at it but it soon becomes one god-damn-awesome-picture.

http://scimaps.org/submissions/7-digital_libraries/maps/thumbs/024_LG.jpg

Goodbye Glory

On march the 4th NASA's satellite Glory crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Glory was meant to collect various data of aerosols (smoke, air pollution etc.) and would have also collected irradiance information for climate study, water and energy cycles etc...
The crash was due to the Glory's launch vehicle Taurus XL which malfunctioned during the flight. Too bad, the costs were estimated to be close to 500 million US dollars. Half a billion. Poor taxpayers.

Anyway, RIP Glory, you would've served well!

Artist's impression of Glory in the space.

The launch. When everything seemed fine.

On the ground.

Twitter - Twitter of Glory program.
Wiki - Wiki of Glory satellite.
NASA - Official web page of the program.

Spot the Loser

I simply have to share this article with you (and for my personal archive). It is about identifying so called "Losers" in various relationships. It introduces us some charactheristics of "The Loser" and it helps us identify these people before any emotional or physical damage is done. Another name for this article would be: How to spot a douchebag.
I have met people with such characteristics in my life, but have never really thought of putting together these "symptoms" and making a logical conclusion that the person might be a harming element in my life.
Anyway, here's a really short extract:


1. Rough Treatment "The Loser" will hurt you on purpose. If he or she hits you, twists your arm, pulls your hair, kicks you, shoves you, or breaks your personal property EVEN ONCE, drop them.

2. Quick Attachment and Expression "The Loser" has very shallow emotions and connections with others. Typically, in less than a few weeks of dating you'll hear that you're the love of their life, they want to be with you forever, and they want to marry you.

3. Frightening Temper "The Loser" has a scary temper. If your boyfriend or girlfriend blows up and does dangerous things, like driving too fast because they're mad, breaking/throwing things, getting into fights, or threatening others - that temper will soon be turned in your direction.


7. It's Always Your Fault "The Loser" blames you for their anger as well as any other behavior that is incorrect. When they cheat on you, yell at you, treat you badly, damage your property, or embarrass you publicly - it's somehow your fault.

15. Bad Stories People often let you know about their personality by the stories they tell about themselves. The stories a person tells informs us of how they see themselves, what they think is interesting, and what they think will impress you.



I guess I'll have to stop hitting my girlfriend. (j/k)

"Hey, wanna see my doughnut holder?"

Identify the Loser - The abovementioned article.
Douchebag - Encyclopaedia Dramatica definiton of a douche.