Author Archives: Chompsky

Behold: Valles Marineris on Mars – the grandest canyon in the solar system. To wit:

…the grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometers long, spans as much as 600 kilometers across, and delves as much as 8 kilometers deep. By comparison, the Earth’s Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA is 800 kilometers long, 30 kilometers across, and 1.8 kilometers deep. The origin of the Valles Marineris remains unknown, although a leading hypothesis holds that it started as a crack billions of years ago as the planet cooled. Several geologic processes have been identified in the canyon. The featured mosaic was created from over 100 images of Mars taken by Viking Orbiters in the 1970s.

(Image: NASA, USGS, Viking Project)

apod

Behold: the Moon, Mars, Saturn and Venus lined up – a complete coincidence, but not by coincidence. To wit:

…all of the planets orbit the Sun in (nearly) a single sheet called the plane of the ecliptic. When viewed from inside that plane — as Earth dwellers are likely to do — the planets all appear confined to a single band. It is a coincidence, though, when three of the brightest planets all appear in nearly the same direction. Such a coincidence was captured about a month ago. Featured above, Earth’s Moon, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter were all imaged together, just before sunrise, from the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. A second band is visible diagonally across this image — the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. If you wake up early, you will find that these same planets remain visible in the morning sky this month, too.

(Image: Mihail Minkov)

apod

Behold: the  Red Dot Design Award winning Brabus Shadow 900 Black Ops boat.

Not exactly military spec but not far off with dual 450hp outboard engines pushing the 11.6 metre überskiff to 60+ knots. There’s a forward cabin with sleeping room for two with an optional aft cabin and wet bar.

Only 37 will be made and yours will come in a gunmetal grey and red Sun-top or Spyder configuration from around €411,000.

uncrate