If Earth Had Saturn’s Rings

The faint rings of Uranus, shot in 1986, are made of countless fragments of water ice containing radiation-altered organic material.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Michael Benson, Kinetikon Pictures

If you’ve ever watched water running down the side of the street, you’ve probably noticed that it doesn’t flow smoothly. Instead, you’ll see waves, rivulets, and disturbances that form. That’s because the simple action of flowing down an incline is unstable. Water and other viscous liquids can’t flow downhill smoothly. Any disturbances – an uneven surface, the rumble of passing cars, a pebble in the way – will create a disruption that grows, often until the entire flow is affected. This video shows some of the complex and beautiful patterns you get then. (Video and image credit: G. Lerisson et al.)

It’s sad how much of what is taught in school is useless to over 99% of the population.

There are literally math concepts taught in high school and middle school that are only used in extremely specialized fields or that are even so outdated they aren’t used anymore!

Neptune

It is named after the Roman god of the sea and has the astronomical symbol ♆, a stylised version of the god Neptune’s trident.

Enceladus and Saturn

Image credit: Gordan Ugarkovic

A single-celled organism dying

Arp-142 - Colliding Galaxies (NGC-2936 & NGC-2937 Lower Left)

Pacific Ocean seen from Gemini 7

Credit: NASA