This space exploration infographic gives an in-depth look at all the missions we have ever sent out into space. How many billions of miles do you think we’ve explored?
Space Exploration – How Far Have we Gone? (Infographic)
Sunshine, A Visual Masterpiece About Our Dying Sun From Danny Boyle
If you were cool enough to catch Danny Boyle’s Sunshine during its 2007 theatrical run, you were treated to a visually immersive film that brought you on board with a space crew chosen to save human existence by replenishing a dying sun. Supporting the eye opening cinematography was the beautiful soundtrack score by John Murphy that has been used in various films and shows like the Walking Dead.
The protagonists of Boyle’s films have included nihilist junkies (“Trainspotting”), enraged zombies (“28 Days Later”), neo-hippie backpackers (“The Beach”) and poverty defying children (“Slumdog Millionaire”). His genres have ranged from black comedy to apocalyptic horror to the metaphysical science fiction themes explored in Sunshine.
Sunshine Trailer – Directed by Danny Boyle
The principle of sensory stimulation is front and center in “Sunshine,” which depicts a manned mission to the Sun. A crew of scientists has been given the task of restarting the dying star by torpedoing it with a nuclear payload. The tone of the film is a throwback to 2001: A Space Odyssey and the premise seems to be lifted from the 1968 Pink Floyd title Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun. On a related note, Pink Floyd was originally asked to score the soundtrack for 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Sunshine – The Surface of the Sun, Music Tribute
One constant in my film career is focus on sheer physical pleasure. I don’t want people to sit there and objectively watch the film. I want them to experience it as something that’s under their skin, so you try to make the films really tactile. – Danny Boyle
Sunshine – Captain Kaneda Meets the Sun
Danny Boyle his screenwriter, the novelist Alex Garland, who also wrote the script for “28 Days Later,” embraced the idea that “Sunshine,” precisely because of the vastness of its subject, would be a space odyssey in the most interior sense: a head trip. “It’s like films about mountains,” he said. “They’re not about mountaineering. They’re about the mind. Movies about space raise those questions of what we’re doing here, and that inevitably introduces a spiritual dimension.”
Boyle tried to inspire a suitable degree of awe for the scenes that simulated contact with the Sun (crew members peer out at the looming orb through Ray-Bans and filtered windows). “I’d say things like, ‘Every bit of you is just a bit of exploded star,’ a nod to Carl Sagan’s philosophies.
Sunshine – Helios, Music Tribute
Sunshine – Danny Boyle Interview
Sunshine – Quentin Tarantino Review
> The Space Odyssey of Danny Boyle | New York Times
Terence McKenna – Shrooms Are Organic Space Probes Sent to Earth by Aliens
In this awesome lecture, Terence Mckenna adds some psychedelic flavor to Panspermia, the theory that life in the universe is distributed by meteors and asteroids. Mckenna believed that mushroom spores were able to survive space travel to become the catalyst of human evolution.
Shrooms Are the Most Unique Lifeform on Earth
First argument – entirely a physical argument. Psilocybin is O-phosphoryl-4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine. What this means is that there is a phosphorous group substituted at the 4 position of the molecule. Now here’s the headline folks: This is the ONLY 4-phosphorylated indole on this planet! On this planet.
Now, if you were searching for extraterrestrial thumbprints on the biology of Earth, you would look for molecules that are unique – that don’t have near relatives spread through other lifeforms. In psilocybin we have a perfect example of this. It is the only 4-phosphorylated indole known to occur in nature! Nature doesn’t work like that folks, nature builds, always, on what has previously been accomplished. So this is a red flag saying at the molecular level this thing looks like an alien artifact – at the molecular level.
Shrooms Used as Probes to Detect Life
A single mushroom in the sporelization phase can shed up to 3 million spores a minute for up to six weeks. ONE mushroom could do this. I maintain, that a strategy for extraterrestrial contact carried on by a super technology would take the following form:
Build a probe.
Give the probe the ability to replicate itself.
Start these probes out from your home planet.
The probes replicate so the volume of the probes stays constant as the volume of space increases.
If you’re carrying out an exhaustive search of the galaxy for life, it’s very hard to imagine a civilization that could visit and monitor every star over long periods of time. A much more efficient strategy would be the “phone home” strategy. You send, essentially a calling card which says if you get this message, call the enclosed toll free number and immediately report your location, we will come at that point. That’s what I think is going on.
Neil deGrasse Tyson Funks the Universe, Psychedelic Music Video
Neil deGrasse Tyson‘s interview on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast is remixed into a funky psychedelic music video about the universe. (Animated by Andy Greenhaw)
In our experience, the Universe never makes anything in ones. When we thought Earth was it. No, Earth is one of many planets. The Sun is! No, the Sun is one of a billion stars in the Milky Way. The Milky Way! No, no there are a hundred other billion galaxies in the Universe.
The Universe? Well we’ve been there before. Am I going to say there’s only one? Because the trend says more. So maybe there’s this Multiverse.
Let’s just continue to push the question a little deeply. If this “entity” never makes anything in ones, then why would it only make one Multiverse? Maybe there are multiple Multiverses.
Neil deGrasse Tyson – Maybe We’re Not As Smart As We Think We Are (Video)
Everything that we are, that distinguishes us from chimps, emerges from that one percent difference in DNA. It has to, ’cause that’s the difference. The Hubble telescope, these grand… that’s in that one percent.
Maybe… everything that we are that is not the chimp is not as smart compared to the chimp as we tell ourselves it is.
Maybe the difference between constructing and launching a Hubble telescope, and a chimp combining two finger motions as sign language – maybe that difference is not all that great. We tell ourselves it is.
Just the same way we label our books optical illusions. We tell ourselves it’s a lot. Maybe it’s almost nothing. How would we decide that?
Imagine another life form that’s one percent different from us.
In the direction that we are different from the chimp.
Think about that.
We have one percent difference and we’re building the Hubble telescope. Go another one percent.
What are we to they? We would be drooling, blithering idiots in their presence. That’s what we would be.
Neil deGrasse Tyson Animation by PersonifciationOfMe
Psychedelic Astronomy Compilation, Adult Swim’s Off The Air (Video)
Adult Swim’s Off The Air is presented without explanation or narration as a showcase of surreal animations, viral internet videos, archival footage and morphing psychedelic imagery, arranged around a single loose theme.
In this clip, the OTA crew highlights the amazing concepts of psychedelic astronomy.
Endless Daylight and Darkness at the Poles – Midnight Sun and Polar Night Time Lapse (Video)
When the sun gets too stoned, it can forget when to leave or when to show up.
The Midnight Sun Time Lapse – BBC Planet Earth, Pink Floyd
The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon occurring in summer months at places north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. The midnight sun is visible at the Arctic Circle from June 12 until July 1. The further north one goes the longer this period extends. In “The Midnight Sun”, an episode of The Twilight Zone, the Earth is on a collision course with the sun, causing a midnight sun effect.
The Polar Night Time Lapse
The polar night occurs when the night lasts for more than 24 hours. This occurs only inside the polar circles.
The polar night in Ny-Ålesund (Island of Spitsbergen) lasts from late October to late February, almost four months in total, and this is a collection of almost every time lapse I did during the polar night, several which I have not uploaded before. The last shot of the movie is made on the last day of the polar night, at a mountain south of town. Unfortunately there was too much clouds to see the sun. – The Ny-Ålesund time lapse Chronicles
The concept of a night of almost one month long has been the subject of the vampire movie 30 Days of Night. In this film, the vampires are drawn to the long duration of darkness, allowing them to terrorize the area as they please.
Joshua Tree Under the Milky Way Galaxy, Time Lapse (Video)
Time lapse video of the Perseid Meteor Shower and the galactic core of the Milky Way as seen from Joshua Tree National Park. Notice a meteor burning up and leaving a cloud of smoke at around the 00:32 second mark.
Summer is the best time to catch glimpses of the galactic center of the Milky Way. The galactic core of the Milky Way was visible after sunset in the South-Southeast direction but the milky way extends completely across the sky from horizon to horizon. It was visible all night long until sun rise.
To see the Milky Way, the ideal time is summer during or around a new moon so that the moon light doesn’t drown it out. Head to a place far away from the pollution of city lights. To photograph the galactic core, I suggest making sure you don’t have a city positioned to the south of your location. Your long exposure will pick up the light from the city. – Evosia Photography
Calvin and Hobbes – Stars and Infinity (Comic Strip)
Calvin and Hobbes Look Out Into the Stars and Ponder Infinity.
Calvin: If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I’ll bet they’d live a lot differently.
Hobbes: How so?
Calvin: Well, when you look into infinity, you realize that there are more important things than what people do all day.
Neil deGrasse Tyson – We Stopped Dreaming, Imbalance of NASA and Military Budget (Video)
The intention of the Penny 4 NASA project is to stress the importance of advancing the space frontier and is focused on igniting scientific curiosity in the general public.
Neil deGrasse Tyson – We Stopped Dreaming
Spending Resources in the Wrong Places
I’m tired of saying this but I have to say it again! The NASA budget is 4/10’s of one penny on a tax dollar. If I held up a tax dollar and I cut horizontally into it 4/10’s of 1% of its width, it doesn’t even get you into the ink! SO I WILL NOT ACCEPT A STATEMENT THAT SAYS “WE CAN”T AFFORD IT!”
Do you realize that the 850 billion dollar bank bailout, that sum of money is greater than the entire 50 year running budget of NASA. And so when somebody says we don’t have enough money for the space program I’m asking its not that you don’t have enough money , its that the distribution of money your spending is warped, in some way that your removing the only thing that gives people something to dream about tomorrow, the home of tomorrow, the city of tomorrow, the transportation of tomorrow, all that ended in the 1970’s after we stopped going to the moon, it all ended, we stopped dreaming. So, I worry that the decisions that congress make doesn’t factor in the consequences of those decisions on tomorrow. They’re playing for the quarterly report, they’re playing for the next election cycle and that is mortgaging the actual future of this nation, tomorrows gone.
Neil deGrasse Tyson – A New Perspective
Dissolving Our Artificial Boundaries
Photo of Earth. Rising over the lunar landscape. Earthrise over the moon. There was Earth. Seen not as the mapmaker would have you identify it. No. The countries were not color coded with boundaries. It was seen as nature intended it to be viewed. Oceans. Land. Clouds.
We went to the moon and we discovered Earth! I claim we discovered Earth. For the first time. How does that affect culture? I got a list! The instance that photo comes out, that is the identifying cover picture of the whole Earth catalog. Thinking of Earth as a whole. Not as a place where nations war. As a whole.
Imbalance of the NASA Budget
NASA Vs Military Budget Pie Chart Comparison
Decrease of NASA Budget Allocation
Choice Between Discovery and Destruction
Our Sun Compared to the Largest Star Ever Discovered (Video)
In this clip from the Discovery Channel’s How The Universe Works, we are shown how the size of our sun compares to other known stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Incredible Aerial Photos of Earth Taken From the Space Station (Photo Gallery)
Astronaut Douglas H. Wheelock assumed command of the International Space Station and the Expedition 25 crew, where he has tweeted space photos to his followers since he arrived at the space station. Enjoy our selected favorites with captions from the awesome NASA astronaut.
Incredible Aerial Photos of Earth Taken From the Space Station
Moon from the ISS
Fly me to the Moon…let me dance among the Stars…” I hope we never lose our sense of wonder. A passion for exploration and discovery is a noble legacy to leave to our children. I hope we set our sails and venture out one day. That will be one glorious day… (8-22-2010). Incredible Photos from Space: NASA, Astronaut Wheelock
Progress-37 over Bahamas
Of all the places on our glorious planet, few rival the brilliant colors of The Bahamas. Here is a view of our Progress-37 re-supply spacecraft, with the islands of The Bahamas as a backdrop. What a wonderful world (8-22-2010)! Incredible Photos from Space: NASA, Astronaut Wheelock
Daybreak
Another breathtaking sunset…we get 16 of these each day in Earth orbit, each one a treasured moment. That beautiful thin blue line is what makes our home so special in the cosmos. Space is cool…but, the Earth is a raging explosion of life in a vast sea of darkness (6-21-2010). Incredible Photos from Space: NASA, Astronaut Wheelock
Hurricane Earl
Out over the central Atlantic, just before another spectacular sunset, with the spiral bands of Hurricane Earl visible in the setting sun. An interesting view of the life-giving energy of our sun. The solar arrays on the port side of the Space Station as well as Hurricane Earl…both gathering the last bit of energy before they fall into eclipse (8-30-2010). Incredible Photos from Space: NASA, Astronaut Wheelock
Mountain in the Andes in South America
Morning breaking over the majestic Andes in South America . I really am not sure of the name of this mountain…just was in awe of its majesty, reaching into the windswept heights and the rising sun. Another day… another chance to stand tall and be counted (10-30-2010). Incredible Photos from Space: NASA, Astronaut Wheelock
The Nile and Egypt by Day
Over the Sahara Desert approaching ancient lands and thousands of years of history. The Nile River flowing through Egypt past the pyramids of Giza up to Cairo in the delta; the Red Sea, Sinai Peninsula, Dead Sea; Jordan River; and the Sea of Galilee are visible, as are the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea and Greece coming over the horizon (9-6-2010). Incredible Photos from Space: NASA, Astronaut Wheelock
Part of the Great Barrier Reef
An explosion of color, motion, and life painted on the canvas of our wonderful world. This is a section of the Great Barrier Reef off the eastern coast of Australia, captured through a 1200mm lens. I think even the great Impressionists would be awestruck with this natural display (8-22-2010). Incredible Photos from Space: NASA, Astronaut Wheelock
Sunset
It is the season for viewing Polar Mesospheric Clouds, and with our high beta-angle we were able to capture this thin layer of noctilucent clouds at sunset (6-25-2010). Incredible Photos from Space: NASA, Astronaut Wheelock
