The University of Zurich partnered up with the University of California at Santa Cruz to run an impressive simulation of the creation of the universe, and visualized the result in this impressive movie now on YouTube.
For almost 20 years astrophysicists have been trying to recreate the formation of spiral galaxies such as our Milky Way realistically. Now astrophysicists from the University of Zurich present the world’s first realistic simulation of the formation of our home galaxy together with astronomers from the University of California at Santa Cruz. The new results were partly calculated on the computer of the Swiss National Supercomputing Center (CSCS) and show, for instance, that there has to be stars on the outer edge of the Milky Way.
Unfortunately, the video is only on YouTube in 360p.
NASA’s twin STEREO probes have finally moved into position around the sun, giving us real-time complete coverage of what’s going on both the visible and hidden side of our closest star.
“With data like these, we can fly around the sun to see what’s happening over the horizon—without ever leaving our desks,” says STEREO program scientist Lika Guhathakurta at NASA headquarters. “I expect great advances in theoretical solar physics and space weather forecasting.”
The information so far has been impressive, and promises lots of new insight into how the sun works and its effects on various earth systems like tsunamis and magnetics.
Check out this amazing visualization of asteroids found floating in space, and watch how many new one’s we’ve discovered in the last 30 years.
View of the solar system showing the locations of all the asteroids starting in 1980, as asteroids are discovered they are added to the map and highlighted white so you can pick out the new ones.
The final colour of an asteroids indicates how closely it comes to the inner solar system.
Earth Crossers are Red
Earth Approachers (Perihelion less than 1.3AU) are Yellow
The beautiful image to the right was not taken by NASA. Nor was it taken by a rocket. Nor was it taken by a high-altitude weather balloon, which you might have guessed from the title to this post. No, the stunning image was taken by an amateur, using an inexpensive digital camera. He not only took images, he also took movies which you can see on the Gnews link. From the article:
Robert Harrison, 38, used a collection of cheap parts costing £500 to create a balloon-mounted camera that can travel up to 21.7 miles (35km) above the surface of the Earth. The result is a series of pictures taken from a height that only a rocket or weather balloon can reach. Mr Harrison, an IT director from Highburton, West Yorkshire, has launched 12 high-altitude balloons (HABs) since 2008
This morning, the culmination of months of work was completed as the LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation & Sensing Satellite) smashed into the moon’s surface. Planning the mission was no small task, and the folks at NASA Goddard previsualized various landing sites prior to the mission.
“Visualization aided two aspects of the LCROSS mission,” said Ernie Wright at the SVS. “It helped us understand how visible the plume will be from Earth and whether the targeted terrain was flat and in shadow.”
What exactly did this do?
On September 11, LCROSS mission planners announced that they had targeted a smaller, more northerly crater named Cabeus A. But later that month, analyses of new data from instruments aboard LRO, together with archival measurements from NASA’s Lunar Prospector mission of the late 1990s, indicated that the larger Cabeus crater was a better bet.
Combining the forces of CyberSpace, Social Media, and the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, the new WeChooseTheMoon website will be recreating the history Apollo 11 lunar mission. You can view photographs and videos from the archives, follow the entire event minute by minute on three separate twitter feeds, and browse thousands of pages of declassified mission documents.
“The undertaking is pretty massive. We’re joking a lot about how sending millions to the moon in cyberspace in 2009 is going to end up taking just as much time as sending three guys to the moon in 1969,” said Joe Alexander, creative director at The Martin Agency. “But truly, we feel honored to be doing it. There’s a real sense of purpose, living up to JFK’s idea that the space race will bring out the best in us. We don’t want to let JFK – in a real sense, our client – down. So there’s a little pressure, which is good.”
Currently in “Stage 1: Prelaunch”, the actual “liftoff” will be July 16th, 9:32am, exactly 40 years after the original launch. Some high-quality 3D animations have been created that will accompany the various stages of the event.
The University of Zurich partnered up with the University of California at Santa Cruz to run an impressive simulation of the creation of the universe, and visualized the result in this impressive movie now on YouTube.
NASA’s twin STEREO probes have finally moved into position around the sun, giving us real-time complete coverage of what’s going on both the visible and hidden side of our closest star.
This morning, the culmination of months of work was completed as the LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation & Sensing Satellite) smashed into the moon’s surface. Planning the mission was no small task, and the folks at NASA Goddard previsualized various landing sites prior to the mission.
Combining the forces of CyberSpace, Social Media, and the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, the new 
VizWorld.com 
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