Mrdarcyifhewere21stcentury - The House Of Books

We’re Upgrading Our X-ray Vision!

Think X-ray vision is a superpower found only in comics and movies? Unlike Superman and Supergirl, NASA has it for real, thanks to the X-ray observatories we’ve sent into orbit.

Now the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer – IXPE for short – has shot into space to enhance our superpower!

Meet IXPE

When dentists take X-ray pictures of a tooth, they use a machine that makes X-rays and captures them on a device placed on the opposite side. But X-rays also occur naturally. In astronomy, we observe X-rays made by distant objects to learn more about them.

IXPE will improve astronomers’ knowledge about some of these objects, like black holes, neutron stars, and the expanding clouds made by supernova explosions.

That’s because it will capture a piece of information about X-ray light that has only rarely been measured from space!

X-ray astronomers have learned a lot about the cosmos by measuring three properties of light – when it arrives, where it’s coming from, and what energies it has (think: colors). Picture these characteristics as making up three of the four sides of a pyramid. The missing piece is a property called polarization.

Polarization tells us how organized light is. This gives astronomers additional clues about how the X-rays were made and what matter they’ve passed through on their way to us. IXPE will explore this previously hidden side of cosmic X-ray sources.

What is polarization?

All light, from microwaves to gamma rays, is made from pairs of waves traveling together – one carrying electricity and the other magnetism. These two waves always vibrate at right angles (90°) to each other, with their peaks and valleys in sync, and they also vibrate at right angles to their direction of motion.

To keep things simple, we’ll illustrate only one of these waves – the one carrying electricity. If we could zoom into a typical beam of light, we’d see something like the animation above. It’s a mess, with all the wave peaks pointing in random directions.

When light interacts with matter, it can become better organized. Its electric field can vibrate in a way that keeps all the wave crests pointing in the same direction, as shown above. This is polarized light.

The amount and type of polarization we detect in light tell us more about its origin, as well as any matter it interacted with before reaching us.

Let’s look at the kinds of objects IXPE will study and what it may tell us about them.

Exploring star wrecks

Exploded stars create vast, rapidly expanding clouds called supernova remnants – like the Jellyfish Nebula above. It formed 4,000 years ago, but even today, the remnant’s heart can tell us about the extreme conditions following the star’s explosion.

X-rays give us a glimpse of the powerful processes at work during and after these explosions. IXPE will map remnants like this, revealing how X-rays are polarized across the entire object. This will help us better understand how these celestial cataclysms take place and evolve.

Magnifying supermagnets

Some supernovae leave behind neutron stars. They form when the core of a massive star collapses, squeezing more than our Sun’s mass into a ball only as wide as a city.

The collapse greatly ramps up their spin. Some neutron stars rotate hundreds of times a second! Their magnetic fields also get a tremendous boost, becoming trillions of times stronger than Earth’s. One type, called a magnetar, boasts the strongest magnetic fields known – a thousand times stronger than typical neutron stars.

These superdense, superspinning supermagnets frequently erupt in powerful outbursts (illustrated above) that emit lots of X-rays. IXPE will tell astronomers more about these eruptions and the extreme magnetic fields that help drive them.

Closing in on black holes

Black holes can form when massive stars collapse or when neutron stars crash together. Matter falling toward a black hole quickly settles into a hot, flat structure called an accretion disk. The disk’s inner edge gradually drains into the black hole. Notice how odd the disk appears from certain angles? This happens because the black hole’s extreme gravity distorts the path of light coming from the disk’s far side.

X-rays near the black hole can bounce off the disk before heading to our telescopes, and this polarizes the light. What’s exciting is that the light is polarized differently across the disk. The differences depend both on the energies of the X-rays and on what parts of the disk they strike. IXPE observations will provide astronomers with a detailed picture of what’s happening around black holes in our galaxy that can’t be captured in any other way.

By tracking how X-ray light is organized, IXPE will add a previously unseen dimension to our X-ray vision. It’s a major upgrade that will give astronomers a whole new perspective on some of the most intriguing objects in the universe.

Keep up with what’s happening in the universe and how we study it by following NASA Universe on Twitter and Facebook.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

THE RINGS OF POWER

1.02   Adrift  

God, look at him. Just... hnnngh.

This show was made to pander to me and me only. Well, maybe a couple of my buddies too, but I am the big winner here.

the expanse knows how to do a sexy villain RIGHT. marco inaros is the hottest man in the solar system and i hate his beautiful ass so much.

Elrond & Gil-Galad ‘Partings’

Hey, I'm not sure if you accept ideas for one-shots, but you could write about the reader being human and she tells Morpheus that she goes to a club with her friends, and like most girls of our time, she wears dresses short and tight, and Morpheus is all jealous when he sees what she's wearing

Sweetie I'm so so soooo sorry for taking so long! I do accept ideas and I'm deeply sorry for taking so long, sometimes the inspiration for certain things take some time. I don't know if this is exactly what you had in mind, but even though is kind pf short...I liked it 😏

.

Y/N never thought that dating an Endless would be easy, but nobody had the decency to tell her how hard it would be to date Dream of the Endless. They were together for more than a year, her being human was a problem at the beginning but later it was actually something good because Y/N worked at night just like him and with that had plenty of time for each other.

Being a bartender wasn't easy, a lot of pick up lines and disgusting men throwing themselves at her, but it was fun to take a moment to dance with her friends and enjoy the night. Morpheus knew what she did, but never actually got to see her getting ready for it or working at all, for him it was just like the guy who served drinks at Hob's pub.

"I am certain that there is missing fabric on your dress, beloved." was the first thing he said when he, without actually being invited, entered her room. That night he decided that Lucienne could guard the Dreaming and he would be able to be the last and first face Y/N saw. It was supposed to be romantic, but Morpheus couldn't expect to see his beloved in such a short and tight red dress that highlighted her curves in a way that made him want to keep her in bed all night.

"We are in 2022, sweetie."

"You are going to work with that…dress?"

"No, of course not. Today is my free day and the boss said me and my friends could have some fun for free."

"No."

"No?"

"No, I will not allow you to leave dressed like this. You must know all men will keep their eyes on you." he was angry but more than that, Morpheus was jealous.

"You don't allow me anything because you don't own me. Since you don't know much about modern times I will let it pass, but you don't control me."

"I am not trying to control you, this is me trying to take care of you. Protect you!"

"Well, if that's the case you can come with me and if any men try getting close you will be there for me."

"I do not go to such places…"

"Then I'll go all alone with my girls. Totally unprotected and dressed all pretty." as she talked, Y/N got closer to him and pressed her body to his. She grabbed his hand and put it on her right thigh, guiding it up a little bit. "I would feel safer with you there…" her lips now closer to his ear, sending shivers through the Endless' body.

"I do not dance." his voice cracking a little.

"I could be…persuaded." both of Morpheus hands were on her hips, pressing her closer to his body.

"Not even if I say please?" now Y/N was spreading light kisses through his neck.

"Just think about it…I could dance very close to you…" she dragged her leg up brushing in his, Dream's hand immediately went to grab it and keep it there, giving a little squeeze. "And everyone would know that I'm yours." losing all his self control, Morpheus brought her in for a passionate kiss. Y/N never knew how to explain how it felt kissing him, it was like someone was taking all the breath she had and yet gave her life in exchange. It was like flying without the fear of falling, being with him was intense and unique. She loved it…loved him. It was like ages went by as the kissed, when in reality it was not even minutes. "Did I plead my case correctly, my lord?"

"There is nothing I would not do for you, my love." indeed there wasn't, no rules could be strong enough to keep him from making her happy.

"In that case…" she gave him one last peck on his lips. "If you behave tonight, I'll let you tear this dress into pieces." Y/N grabbed her purse and went to get her car keys, giving Morpheus a really nice view on her back. No, he wouldn't stop being jealous and scaring off men that tried to get close to what was his…but perhaps this sort of dress wasn't that bad. Especially later that night when there would be just the two of them in her bedroom.

elendil is just…

hes hot

LLOYD OWEN as ELENDIL  THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RINGS OF POWER | 1.05

Robert Aramayo as ᴇʟʀᴏɴᴅ (S01.E04 • dir. Wayne Yip • 2022)

Thank you for your work on the Finrod and Leithian playlists!! I am in heaven 🥰

You're welcome!! Enjoy 💚