Riding Light Through The Universe (Video)

Riding Light Through The Universe (Video) | Third Monk image 2

This video is fun for anyone who ever wanted to ride through space at the speed of light! The above video is a sped up version of the original in case you don’t have the time to take a 45 minute ride through the universe.

At first I was like, “45 minutes!!”, but then I realized that it was 45 minutes to get through the whole universe and that tripped me out even more.

Peppered with little tidbits of information throughout this interstellar journey, riding light is a fun trip through our universe! You can check out the original video below.

Godspeed!!!

Riding Light Through The Universe

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Wanderers – Short Film Narrated by Carl Sagan (Video)

Wanderers - Short Film Narrated by Carl Sagan (Video) | Third Monk image 2

This short film provides an inspiring look into the future, where humans visit other planets in the galaxy. The narration by Carl Sagan, philosophically explores our natural instinct to go far beyond our starting point.

The film is a vision of our humanity’s future expansion into the Solar System. Although admittedly speculative, the visuals in the film are all based on scientific ideas and concepts of what our future in space might be like, if it ever happens.

All the locations depicted in the film are recreations of actual places in the Solar System, built from real photos and map data where possible. – Erik Wernquist, Filmmaker

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WANDERERS

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Timelapse Earth – 4K Edition (Video)

Timelapse Earth - 4K Edition (Video) | Third Monk image 2

Timelapse Earth in 4K resolution, as imaged by the geostationary Elektro-L weather satellite, from May 15th to May 19th, 2011.

Elektro-L is located about 40,000 km above the Indian ocean. It orbits at a speed that causes it to remain over the same spot as the Earth rotates.

The satellite creates a 121 megapixel image (11136×11136 pixels) every 30 minutes with visible and infrared light wavelengths. The images were edited to adjust levels and change the infrared channel from orange to green to show vegetation more naturally. The images were resized by 50%, misalignments between frames were manually corrected, and image artifacts that occurred when the camera was facing towards the sun were partially corrected. The images were interpolated by a factor of 20 to create a smooth animation.

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The Most Astounding Fact in the Universe – Neil deGrasse Tyson (Video)

The Most Astounding Fact in the Universe - Neil deGrasse Tyson (Video) | Third Monk image 1

Halley Dust and Milky Way by Mike Taylor

Neil deGrasse Tyson was asked:

What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?

The most astounding fact is the knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on Earth the atoms that make up the human body are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures.

These stars, the high mass ones among them went unstable in their later years they collapsed and then exploded scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas cloud that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems stars with orbiting planets, and those planets now have the ingredients for life itself.

So that when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up – many people feel small because they’re small and the Universe is big – but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There’s a level of connectivity.

That’s really what you want in life, you want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant you want to feel like a participant in the goings on of activities and events around you That’s precisely what we are, just by being alive… – Neil deGrasse Tyson

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What Would Our Sky Look Like if the Moon was a Disco Ball? (Video)

What Would Our Sky Look Like if the Moon was a Disco Ball? (Video) | Third Monk image 2

This simulation envisions what a giant mirror orbiting Earth would reflect in our sky.

When the disco moon is in low orbit, each reflection of the sun appears as a tiny sun, although you can never reflect enough light to get above the temperature of the surface of the sun (about 6000 degrees).

When as near as the ISS, the Earth surface to disco-ball-moon surface distance is 420 km or so. The orbital period in relation to the earth is realistic, about a 2.1 hour period.

This awesome animation was by Yeti Dynamics (creator of the planets at the moon’s distance simulation)

Disco Ball Specs

The large mirror-tiles are 150km squared, and the small ones are 100km squared.
They are all 10 km thick with glass (with an IOR of 1.56)
There are 3012 mirrored tiles

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A Visit to the Observatory is a Psychedelic Trip – Joe Rogan (Video)

A Visit to the Observatory is a Psychedelic Trip - Joe Rogan (Video) | Third Monk image 1

Joe Rogan talks about one of the best psychedelic experiences he’s ever had that didn’t involve a drug. The elevation of the Keck Observatory in Hawaii is so high, you can only reach it by driving up and past the clouds.

You have this incredible view of the stars, where you see the whole milky way like a movie. I was staring into the impossible, I remember being upset that I couldn’t see this every night.

That’s up there all the time, and by not seeing that and just making it this blank screen, you lose the feel for what’s really going on.

When you’re on top of an observatory and you look out at this incredible view of the stars, you realize we are really in space right now, on a big organic spaceship. – Joe Rogan Experience #371 with Rick Doblin, Founder of  Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).

Astronauts that go into space and look back down at earth experience the overview effect. The view from above causes a shift in consciousness and a reminder of how much wonder exists in the universe.

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Space Tour: Inside The International Space Station (Video)

Space Tour: Inside The International Space Station (Video) | Third Monk image 4

Astronaut Suni Williams gives an in-depth tour inside The International Space Station.

Suni does a great job taking us through the different modules. Showing off everything from the kitchen to the work stations, Suni even takes the time to show us the bathroom and viewing stations.

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NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Expedition 38 flight engineer, equipped with a bungee harness, exercises on the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT) in the Tranquility node of the International Space Station, Nov. 9, 2013.

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NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins, Expedition 38 flight engineer, poses for a photo with his Thanksgiving meal in the Unity node of the International Space Station, Nov. 28, 2013.

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Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, Expedition 23 flight engineer, adds potable water to a soft beverage container at the galley in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station, May 26, 2010.

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NASA astronaut Catherine (Cady) Coleman assists cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev of Russia’s Federal Space Agency with a haircut in the Kibo laboratory on the International Space Station, Jan. 15, 2011. Kondratyev and Coleman used a vacuum cleaner to remove free-floating hair particles from the air.

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Unrealistic Scenes: Bizarre Star-Studded Landscapes

Unrealistic Scenes: Bizarre Star-Studded Landscapes | Third Monk image 1

Star-Studded Landscapes

Nathan Spotts has always been captivated by the beauty of our world, and he would:

Often dream of the things that lay just beyond what we can see.  I wanted to create images of scenes that are not-quite real, but that almost could be.

This ongoing project of composite photographs is meant to be viewed large, in print or on a vertical screen from the lower third looking slightly upward.

 Bizarre Star-Studded Landscapes Gallery

Star-Studded Landscapes

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> Unrealistic Scenes | Photography Served

Timelapse Earth – Wondrous Views of the Earth from Space (Video)

Timelapse Earth - Wondrous Views of the Earth from Space (Video) | Third Monk image 2

Experiencing the Overview Effect isn’t yet a realistic option for many of us, however we can enjoy the next best thing while we wait for Public Space Travel to become affordable.

These Timelapse Earth videos are a wonderful way to gain a new perspective on our Planet, each other, and ourselves.

As always, please make sure to watch these videos in High-Definition.

For pictures of the Earth from Space go: here, here, and here.

Timelapse Earth | Fly Over View from Space | NASA, ISS

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Beautiful View of Northern Lights from Space

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Planet Earth Seen from Space

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The Voyagers: A Short Film About Love, Hope, Space, and Carl Sagan (Video)

The Voyagers: A Short Film About Love, Hope, Space, and Carl Sagan (Video) | Third Monk image 3

The Voyagers is a beautiful short film by video artist and filmmaker Penny Lane, made of remixed public domain footage — a living testament to the creative capacity of remix culture — using the story of the legendary interstellar journey and the Golden Record to tell a bigger, beautiful story about love and the gift of chance.

Lane takes the Golden Record, “a Valentine dedicated to the tiny chance that in some distant time and place we might make contact,” and translates it into a Valentine to her own “fellow traveler,” all the while paying profound homage to Sagan’s spirit and legacy.

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In 1977, NASA launched two unmanned missions into space, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Though originally intended to study Saturn and Jupiter over the course of two years, the probes have long outlasted and outtraveled their purpose and destination, having recently exited our Solar System entirely. Attached to each Voyager is a gold-plated record, known as The Golden Record — an epic compilation of images and sounds from Earth encrypted into binary code, the ultimate mixtape of humanity. Engineers predict it will last a billion years.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Golden Record was conceived by the great Carl Sagan and was inspired by his childhood visit to the 1939 New York World’s Fair, where he witnessed the famous burial of the Westinghouse time capsule. And while its story is fairly well-known, few realize it’s actually a most magical love story — the story of Carl Sagan and Annie Druyan, the creative director on the Golden Record project, with whom Sagan spent the rest of his life.

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It’s hard to imagine the Golden Record being made now. I wish Carl Sagan were here to say, ‘You know what? A thousand billion years is a really long time. Nobody can know what will happen. Why not try? Why not reach for something amazing?’ There is no way to forestall what can’t be fathomed, no way to guess what hurts we’re trying to protect ourselves from. We have to know in order to love, we have to risk everything, we have to open ourselves up to contact — even with the possibility of disaster. – Penny Lane

A Glorious Dawn- Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. Acrylic on Canvas.

> A Short Film About How Carl Sagan Fell in Love | Brain Pickings

The Overview Effect – A Profound Shift in Human Consciousness (Video)

The Overview Effect - A Profound Shift in Human Consciousness (Video) | Third Monk image 4

The Overview Effect, first described by author Frank White in 1987, is an experience that transforms astronauts’ perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it.

Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.

‘Overview’ is a short film that explores this phenomenon through interviews with five astronauts who have experienced the Overview Effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for society, and our relationship to the environment. 

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Once a photograph of the Earth, taken from outside, is available… a new idea as powerful as any in history will be let loose. – Fred Hoyle, 1948

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For more pictures of the Earth taken from space go here and here.

Overview Effect