Behold: the Mini Vision Urbanaut – a conceptual EV minivan from BMW designed to make the most of its interior space despite a tiny exterior footprint.
A flexible four seat arrangement behind a single slide and swivel door includes a fold away dashboard and a front windscreen that can be hinged open when the vehicle is stationary.
The wheels light up. The front seats transform into a daybed.
You’d wonder is it a car at all.
Star clusters are impressive things on their own. But why have one when you can have a pair? Behold: open clusters NGC 869 and NGC 884. To wit:
Also known as “h and chi Persei”, this unusual double cluster, shown above, is bright enough to be seen from a dark location without even binoculars. Although their discovery surely predates recorded history, the Greek astronomer Hipparchus notably cataloged the double cluster. The clusters are over 7,000 light years distant toward the constellation of Perseus, but are separated by only hundreds of light years. In addition to being physically close together, the clusters’ ages based on their individual stars are similar – evidence that both clusters were likely a product of the same star-forming region.
(Image: Greg Polanski)
Yesterday.
Colum Cronin tweetz:
Dublin resplendent in the late autumn sunshine. Beautiful reflections on the water, a golden carpet of leaves, and blue skies.
In fairness.
Your man on the left there. Big long streak. Very mysterious. To wit:
Known as Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancements (STEVEs), these luminous light-purple sky ribbons may resemble regular auroras, but recent research reveals significant differences. A STEVE‘s great length and unusual colours, when measured precisely, indicate that it may be related to a subauroral ion drift (SAID), a supersonic river of hot atmospheric ions thought previously to be invisible. Some STEVEs are now also thought to be accompanied by green picket fence structures, a series of sky slats that can appear outside of the main auroral oval that does not involve much glowing nitrogen. The featured wide-angle composite image shows a STEVE in a dark sky above Childs Lake, Manitoba, Canada in 2017, crossing in front of the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy.
(Image: NASA, Krista Trinder)
The ghost town of Dikson island in the Russian Arctic, photographed last winter in the surreal light of the Aurora Borealis by Evgenia Arbugaeva.
That’s right. Photographed.
A very impressive kid-friendly short by German animation graduate Christoph Sarow: the story of a summer in the country with Tom, his aggressive cousin Mattias, simmering envy, an ocean of chickens, a red dog and the Universe.
You’ll see.
Suitably briefed by research scientist Dr Kurt Schwenk, zefrank wraps his prehensile mind around the topic of snakes, lizards, worm-lizards and their impressive, useful, frequently alarming tongues.
Previously: True Facts About Hummingbirds
Hostels In Ireland tweetz:
We recently came across this incredible photo of a deer down by our Glendalough International Hostel in Wicklow and just had to share it.
(Pic: Gary Doyle Photography)
