4 New Posts Including Top 5 “First” Discoveries In Astronomy (Along the History)

Top 5 “First” Discoveries In Astronomy (Along the History)

Posted: 18 Jul 2014 02:17 AM PDT

Astronomy is probably the oldest science. Ancient civilizations around the world gazed up at the sky and the stars, but it wasn’t until the scientific enlightenment of the 17th century that astronomers were able to get a handle on how things actually worked up there. These new discoveries would eventually lead to the rich, fascinating picture of the universe we have today. Here are a few significant milestones that had to be reached along the way.

First Telescope

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The first patent for a telescope was applied for by a Dutch eyeglasses manufacturer named Hans Lippershey. In 1608, he created a device capable of producing 3x magnification. However, the invention of the telescope, like all great technological breakthroughs, comes with controversy.

It’s also the story of the invention of the microscope, as both instruments were the same piece of technology at that point. Lippershey’s town of Middelburg was also home to Hans and Zacharias Janssen, a father and son lens-crafting team who claimed credit for the invention and accused Lippershey of thievery.
Another Dutch spectacle-maker, Jacob Metius of Alkmaar, filed a patent similar to Lippershey’s a few weeks later. The Dutch spectacle-makers were so busy arguing among themselves over who came up with the magnification device none of them actually did any astronomy with it.

That honor famously goes to Galileo, whose numerous achievements we’ve discussed before. Galileo’s versions eventually reached 10 times the power of the originals, although none of the Dutch lens-makers were imprisoned for heresy, so there’s that.

Is the Future of the Universe Already Determined?

Posted: 17 Jul 2014 09:19 AM PDT

The ultimate fate of the universe is a topic in physical cosmology. Most of the cosmologists says that the ultimate fate of the universe is dependent on the shape of the universe and what role dark energy will play as the universe ages.

There are many theories, many ideas, many possible fates are predicted by rival scientific theories. But could we actually predict the future of the univers?
This question arise another questions like: Do the past and future exist? what does that mean for quantum randomness? What is Random after all? …etc…. A list of scientific (even philosophical) questions that nobody have concret answers yet.

Down, you can watch a video (by Veritasium team): they are trying to explain what is not Random. Watching this video, maybe you will find an answer or maybe you will just find it interesting (or not).

Do not hesitate to tell us about your review (you can see down cosmosup-team’ review). If you enjoy this please share and comment it.

Curiosity Spots “Lebanon”

Posted: 17 Jul 2014 07:14 AM PDT

Talk about heavy metal! This shiny, lumpy rock spotted by NASA’s Curiosity rover is likely made mostly of iron—and came from outer space! It’s an iron meteorite, similar to ones found in years past by Curiosity’s forerunners Spirit and Opportunity, but is considerably larger than any of the ones the MER rovers came across… in fact, at 2 meters (6.5 feet) wide this may very well be the biggest meteorite ever discovered on Mars

More…
• Earth and Moon are much Older Than We Thought
• 5 Amazing Places On Earth

The transmitted photograph from the Martian surface combines a series of high-resolution circular images taken by the Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) of Curiosity’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument with color and context from rover’s Mast Camera (Mastcam). Curiosity snapped the images during the 640th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity’s work on Mars – May 25, 2014 back here on Earth. The imaging shows angular-shaped cavities on the surface of the rock. One possible explanation is that they resulted from preferential erosion along crystalline boundaries within the metal of the rock.
Another possibility is that these cavities once contained olivine crystals, which can be found in a rare type of stony-iron meteorites called pallasites, thought to have been formed near the core-mantle boundary within an asteroid.

Original raw Mastcam (right) image of Lebanon and Lebanon B from Sol 640. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
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While iron meteorites are fairly common on Earth, on Mars they are by far the most common types of meteorites that have been discovered—if just for the sheer fact that they are highly resistant to erosion. • Credit: http://goo.gl/SzAa3k.
• If you like this article please share and comment it.

Science Can Be Funny

Posted: 17 Jul 2014 03:59 AM PDT

Today, we’ll post something different than the usual articles, something cool, crazy, strange, funny, weird, odd maybe even bizarre. So, discover these funny “science” pics (20 pics), you’ll love and enjoy watching them.

1. Bad pick up lines for geologists