The Meteor Shower Of 1833

In slow motion, vortex rings can be truly stunning. This video shows two bubble rings underwater as they interact with one another. Upon approach, the two low-pressure vortex cores link up in what’s known as vortex reconnection. Note how the vortex rings split and reconnect in two places – not one. According to Helmholtz’s second theorem a vortex cannot end in a fluid–it must form a closed path (or end at a boundary); that’s why both sides come apart and together this way. After reconnection, waves ripple back and forth along the distorted vortex ring; these are known as Kelvin waves. Some of those perturbations bring two sides of the enlarged vortex ring too close to one another, causing a second vortex reconnection, which pinches off a smaller vortex ring. (Image source: A. Lawrence; submitted by Kam-Yung Soh)

Note: As with many viral images, locating a true source for this video is difficult. So far the closest to an original source I’ve found is the Instagram post linked above. If you know the original source, please let me know so that I can update the credit accordingly. Thanks!

2017 May 6

Galaxy Cluster Abell 370 and Beyond Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Jennifer Lotz and the HFF Team (STScI)

Explanation: Some 4 billion light-years away, massive galaxy cluster Abell 370 only appears to be dominated by two giant elliptical galaxies and infested with faint arcs in this sharp Hubble Space Telescope snapshot. The fainter, scattered bluish arcs along with the dramatic dragon arc below and left of center are images of galaxies that lie far beyond Abell 370. About twice as distant, their otherwise undetected light is magnified and distorted by the cluster’s enormous gravitational mass, dominated by unseen dark matter. Providing a tantalizing glimpse of galaxies in the early universe, the effect is known as gravitational lensing. A consequence of warped spacetime it was first predicted by Einstein a century ago. Far beyond the spiky foreground Milky Way star at lower right, Abell 370 is seen toward the constellation Cetus, the Sea Monster. It is the last of six galaxy clusters imaged in the recently concluded Frontier Fields project.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170506.html

“Sketching Fractals” by Music: Fractals are a treat for your eyes, but what about your ears?

Fractals are geometric constructs that exhibit similar or identical characteristics at every level of magnitude. They provide new tools for geometers to describe objects of extreme intricacy, such as clouds, ferns, snowflakes, mountain ranges, stock-market fluctuations, the human circulatory and nervous system, etc.. The geometry of Fractals brings us a new appreciation for the natural world and the beauty of mathematics. Some of the most popular examples are: The Sierpinski triangle  and the Von Koch snowflake.

Fractals are a treat for your eyes, but what about your ears?. Dmitry Kormann, a composer/keyboardist from São Paulo, Brazil, explains how he brings fractal-like patterns to the very structure of his music, to obtain beautiful results. See more at:  [http://plus.maths.org/issue55/features/Kormann]

Images: Snow winter at Datspiff on Tumblr & Snowflakes and snow crystals on Flickr.

References:

[Fractal Dimensions of Geometric Objects on Fractalfoundation.org]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal]

Scientists Have Set a Limit For Quantum Entanglement - And It's Really Freaking Powerful

Unbreakable at 30 times Earth's acceleration.

For the first time, scientists have subjected quantum entanglement to extreme levels of acceleration, and there’s nothing fragile about this “spooky action at a distance”- it’s way more robust than we thought.

In recent experiments, entangled particles held firm even while being accelerated to 30g - 30 times Earth’s acceleration - and the results could have a big impact on our search for a unified theory of modern physics.

“These experiments shall help [us] unify the theories of quantum mechanics and relativity,” says one of the team, Rupert Ursin, from the University of Vienna, Austria.

Continue Reading.

A movie showing the dynamics of the inner part of the Crab Nebula made using the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Credit: NASA/CXC/ASU/J.Hester et al.

Four Planet System in Orbit, Directly Imaged | Planetary Landscapes Credit: Many Worlds

This evocative movie of four planets more massive than Jupiter orbiting the young star HR 8799 is a composite of sorts, including images taken over seven years at the W.M. Keck observatory in Hawaii.

Read more here.

Double triangle sawtooth by Miguel Angel Blanco Muñoz. I have liked how time seemed to slow down, folding the grid.