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Author Archives: Chompsky
Halo You
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A spectacular (and very rare) ice halo photographed (on an iPhone) by Michael Schneider this month in the Swiss Alps. According to Schneider, the phenomenon developed gradually as fog dissipated at the top of a ski resort.
The annotated overlay (using information from this site on atmospheric optics) was created by Mark McCaughrean.
Previously: Dublin Rainbow
Hot Wheels
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Behold: the 1959 Maserati 5000 GT Coupe – nicknamed the ’Shah of Persia’ after the man who commissioned it the previous year.
The 5000GT is a 5.0l, V8 version of the similarly sleek 3500GT with a superlight aluminium chassis and bodywork designed by Carrozzeria Touring.
One of the rarest Maseratis, only 34 were ever built and you can’t have this one. It’s only for looking at.
Another wonderfully bizarre, richly soundscaped morphing shenanigans by Guldies Konst – six months and 2,500 images in the making.
Previously: Distortion
Not really. What appears to be an electrical discharge from the Milky Way is actually a distant storm photographed from the Italian island of Sardinia last June. To wit:
The foreground rocks and shrubs are near the famous Capo Spartivento Lighthouse, and the camera is pointed south toward Algeria in Africa. In the distance, across the Mediterranean Sea, a thunderstorm is threatening, with several electric lightning strokes caught together during this 25-second wide-angle exposure. Much farther in the distance, strewn about the sky, are hundreds of stars in the neighbourhood of our Sun in the Milky Way Galaxy. Farthest away, and slanting down from the upper left, are billions of stars that together compose the central band of our Milky Way.
(Image: Ivan Pedretti)
Ghost Wall
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Meditations of the Berlin Wall by artist Diane Meyer in which present day photographs are meticulously hand-stitched, blurring those parts of the scene that were once bisected or obscured by the wall.
UPDATE: Why the artist has stitched the wall on the Pariser Platz side of the Brandenburg Gate and not the opposite side (well spotted James in comments) is anyone’s guess.
The scamps at Nukazooka poke fun at Elon Musk’s clunky design penchant with the launch of a new device capable of turning everything into a polygonal version of itself.
Swole
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Behold: M27 – the Dumbell Nebula – possibly what will eventually happen to our own sun. To wit:
…the type of nebula our Sun will produce when nuclear fusion stops in its core.,M27 is one of the brightest planetary nebulae on the sky, and can be seen toward the constellation of the Fox (Vulpecula) with binoculars. It takes light about 1000 years to reach us from M27, featured here in colors emitted by hydrogen and oxygen. Understanding the physics and significance of M27 was well beyond 18th century science. Even today, many things remain mysterious about bipolar planetary nebula like M27, including the physical mechanism that expels a low-mass star’s gaseous outer-envelope, leaving an X-ray hot white dwarf.
(Image: Steve Mazlin)
Hot Keels
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Behold: the Rossinavi X Pininfarina Super Sport 65 Yacht.
Given the collaboration with an Italian car designer, (and not the first) automotive cues are everywhere, from the upper deck to a staircase inspired by air intakes. Powered by four MTU 16V engines producing 2,600 bhp, it has a top speed of 30+ knots and a range of up to 4,000 nautical miles at a more leisurely 12 knots.
The price is no concern of yours.