This is worth noting:
Einstein Was Right – Euclid Just Captured Space-Time Warping in a Perfect Cosmic Ring
Which references:
Euclid: A complete Einstein ring in NGC 6505
Feb 122025
Aug 122024
I miss having neat nature to take photos of. Utah was full of that. Illinois… well, it’s here, but usually obscured with buildings, power lines, light poles, etc. Still, every now and then something worth taking a photo of emerges.
May 222024
Turns out giant thin draggy structures don’t hold up that well against multi-vortex tornadoes.
Nov 182023
The second Starship/Superheavy launched today. Vastly more successful than the first flight, but both stages were still destroyed.
This sort of thing would be unacceptable for a modern NASA launch system… but it was common in early launch vehicle development. Atlas and Titan kerploded with regularity. This sort of thing is not desirable, but it is a natural part of the learning process.
Scott Manley has done an analysis of the video and has some good suggestions about what happened with the booster. There would seem likely to be some serious issues with slosh and propellant hammer effects, caused by the sudden deceleration and flip maneuver. These are resolvable.
But beyond the technical issues and successes… this flight was simply *gorgeous.*
Some beautiful views of the Starship II 🚀,
before the take-off, while take-off, during the Hot-Staging phase and after separation and charting its solo Odyssey. One day a similar machine will carry a human to Mars, beside all the negativity.#Space #SpaceX #StarshipBest… pic.twitter.com/Qm3BxrBIj3
— Masroor H. Bukhari (@MasroorBukhari) November 18, 2023
I LOVE this view of the Raptors shutting down in segments!! 🔥 #SpaceX #Starship@DJSnM @Erdayastronaut pic.twitter.com/UaNdMMUfAx
— Debapratim (@debapratim_) November 18, 2023
So majestic – look at her!!#SpaceX #StarshipLaunch
— This Brown Geek (@thisbrowngeek) November 18, 2023
OMG! No Words!! #SpaceX #Starship #ITF2 #Elonmusk #Liftoff #Starbase #Texas https://t.co/TGuheUrBqZ pic.twitter.com/av5nIGyUVz
— Scott Schilke (@SchilkeScott) November 18, 2023
How wonderful!👍
Congratulations #SpaceX pic.twitter.com/klliKCEvpA— Ri's Kitchen (@TanKitchen91) November 18, 2023
The most awaited lift off of the year. Few more steps towards success 🚀 what a view 😍🫶#SpaceX #StarshipLaunch #Starship pic.twitter.com/tJf9T1kdz7
— cosmichaos (@karmicoder) November 18, 2023
Aug 062023
There is a fox that seems to hang out in my back yard from time to time. It’s incredibly skittish; any noise and *bam* it sprints over the fence. So getting decent photos of it has been a challenge, but today i got these. In previous, kinda cruddier photos it looked mangy, but now I think that it just had dark patches.
Jul 282023
Starships first not-exactly-successful launch was filmed not only from the ground, but from the NASA WB-57 flying at altitude. Apparently at least five cameras were trained on the launcher; video from two have been released, while three remain classified. i would *assume* that the classified three display some combination of:
1) better tracking
2) Better image quality – better sensor and/or telescope
3) Different spectra… IR and the like
Even with the somewhat dodgy tracking and potato-quality images, these are interesting. You really get a sense of how Starship flopped around the sky at the end there. Which was both sad and incredibly impressive… no other rocket would have survived as long flying *sideways.*
Jul 252023
These two are buds.
Jul 242023
Of my four cats, two (Speedbump and Banshee) like catnip. Buttons has never cared for it; Billy shows no interest, though he’s still young (cats apparently don’t become interested in catnip until sexual maturity).
Speedbump’s interest is polite. He will sit silently and watch me carrying leaves and stems and will gently take a leaf and gnaw upon it. Banshee, in contrast, goes bugnuts.
Jul 132023
I have no idea if it has been apparent or not based on recent blog/Twitter postings that the last few days have been frazzling for me. But the short form is that Buttons has been quite sick… and terribly miserable. Several days of vet visits finally culminated today in the conclusion that he *probably* is suffering from another bout of pancreatitis, though the initial symptoms were quite different from the earlier bouts. This time it seemed as if he was plugged up somehow, but a X-ray showed that he’s clear. Blood work revealed the infection markers of pancreatitis, so he was treated for that today… and he has shown improvement.
A vocally miserable cat is not something I recommend. Especially one so miserable that he chooses to remain inert and just wail. AAAARRRRGH.
This was him yesterday, looking hopeless.
This was at the vet today prior to the doc coming in. You can see just how absolutely thrilled he was.
X-ray of his innards. It reportedly shows that his intestines are largely empty. To me is seems to indicate that his abdomen is infected with a space-squid of some kind.
And this critter is “Ziggy” the French bulldog who was in the vet clinic waiting room as I was checking out. Friendly little guy even if he looks like he aught to be gnawing the foot off of a selfless dark age princess of Urland.
Buttons seems to be on the mend. He does not appear to be in agony anymore; instead he simply seems to be wore out. He didn’t eat or drink for several days; he has recent eaten and drank *some,* though not a lot. Progress, anyway.
This has cost a *lot.* I need to put a ton of stuff on ebay, both to cover this and my other rather voluminous bills, but if you’re of a mind to, feel free to hit the tip jar below…
Jul 032023
Elephant guns at 82,000 frames per second create some interesting phenomena. Especially interesting are the very brief flashes upon contact with the ballistics gel.