MBTI Types As Calvin And Hobbes Panels

“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.” ~ Stephen Hawking (1942 - 2018)

Why Bennu? 10 Reasons

After traveling for two years and billions of kilometers from Earth, the OSIRIS-REx probe is only a few months away from its destination: the intriguing asteroid Bennu. When it arrives in December, OSIRIS-REx will embark on a nearly two-year investigation of this clump of rock, mapping its terrain and finding a safe and fruitful site from which to collect a sample.

The spacecraft will briefly touch Bennu’s surface around July 2020 to collect at least 60 grams (equal to about 30 sugar packets) of dirt and rocks. It might collect as much as 2,000 grams, which would be the largest sample by far gathered from a space object since the Apollo Moon landings. The spacecraft will then pack the sample into a capsule and travel back to Earth, dropping the capsule into Utah’s west desert in 2023, where scientists will be waiting to collect it.

This years-long quest for knowledge thrusts Bennu into the center of one of the most ambitious space missions ever attempted. But the humble rock is but one of about 780,000 known asteroids in our solar system. So why did scientists pick Bennu for this momentous investigation? Here are 10 reasons:

1. It’s close to Earth

Unlike most other asteroids that circle the Sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Bennu’s orbit is close in proximity to Earth’s, even crossing it. The asteroid makes its closest approach to Earth every 6 years. It also circles the Sun nearly in the same plane as Earth, which made it somewhat easier to achieve the high-energy task of launching the spacecraft out of Earth’s plane and into Bennu’s. Still, the launch required considerable power, so OSIRIS-REx used Earth’s gravity to boost itself into Bennu’s orbital plane when it passed our planet in September 2017.

2. It’s the right size

Asteroids spin on their axes just like Earth does. Small ones, with diameters of 200 meters or less, often spin very fast, up to a few revolutions per minute. This rapid spinning makes it difficult for a spacecraft to match an asteroid’s velocity in order to touch down and collect samples. Even worse, the quick spinning has flung loose rocks and soil, material known as “regolith” — the stuff OSIRIS-REx is looking to collect — off the surfaces of small asteroids. Bennu’s size, in contrast, makes it approachable and rich in regolith. It has a diameter of 492 meters, which is a bit larger than the height of the Empire State Building in New York City, and rotating once every 4.3 hours.

3. It’s really old

Bennu is a leftover fragment from the tumultuous formation of the solar system. Some of the mineral fragments inside Bennu could be older than the solar system. These microscopic grains of dust could be the same ones that spewed from dying stars and eventually coalesced to make the Sun and its planets nearly 4.6 billion years ago. But pieces of asteroids, called meteorites, have been falling to Earth’s surface since the planet formed. So why don’t scientists just study those old space rocks? Because astronomers can’t tell (with very few exceptions) what kind of objects these meteorites came from, which is important context. Furthermore, these stones, that survive the violent, fiery decent to our planet’s surface, get contaminated when they land in the dirt, sand, or snow. Some even get hammered by the elements, like rain and snow, for hundreds or thousands of years. Such events change the chemistry of meteorites, obscuring their ancient records.

4. It’s well preserved

Bennu, on the other hand, is a time capsule from the early solar system, having been preserved in the vacuum of space. Although scientists think it broke off a larger asteroid in the asteroid belt in a catastrophic collision between about 1 and 2 billion years ago, and hurtled through space until it got locked into an orbit near Earth’s, they don’t expect that these events significantly altered it.

5. It might contain clues to the origin of life

Analyzing a sample from Bennu will help planetary scientists better understand the role asteroids may have played in delivering life-forming compounds to Earth. We know from having studied Bennu through Earth- and space-based telescopes that it is a carbonaceous, or carbon-rich, asteroid. Carbon is the hinge upon which organic molecules hang. Bennu is likely rich in organic molecules, which are made of chains of carbon bonded with atoms of oxygen, hydrogen, and other elements in a chemical recipe that makes all known living things. Besides carbon, Bennu also might have another component important to life: water, which is trapped in the minerals that make up the asteroid.

6. It contains valuable materials

Besides teaching us about our cosmic past, exploring Bennu close-up will help humans plan for the future. Asteroids are rich in natural resources, such as iron and aluminum, and precious metals, such as platinum. For this reason, some companies, and even countries, are building technologies that will one day allow us to extract those materials. More importantly, asteroids like Bennu are key to future, deep-space travel. If humans can learn how to extract the abundant hydrogen and oxygen from the water locked up in an asteroid’s minerals, they could make rocket fuel. Thus, asteroids could one day serve as fuel stations for robotic or human missions to Mars and beyond. Learning how to maneuver around an object like Bennu, and about its chemical and physical properties, will help future prospectors.

7. It will help us better understand other asteroids

Astronomers have studied Bennu from Earth since it was discovered in 1999. As a result, they think they know a lot about the asteroid’s physical and chemical properties. Their knowledge is based not only on looking at the asteroid, but also studying meteorites found on Earth, and filling in gaps in observable knowledge with predictions derived from theoretical models. Thanks to the detailed information that will be gleaned from OSIRIS-REx, scientists now will be able to check whether their predictions about Bennu are correct. This work will help verify or refine telescopic observations and models that attempt to reveal the nature of other asteroids in our solar system.

8. It will help us better understand a quirky solar force …

Astronomers have calculated that Bennu’s orbit has drifted about 280 meters (0.18 miles) per year toward the Sun since it was discovered. This could be because of a phenomenon called the Yarkovsky effect, a process whereby sunlight warms one side of a small, dark asteroid and then radiates as heat off the asteroid as it rotates. The heat energy thrusts an asteroid either away from the Sun, if it has a prograde spin like Earth, which means it spins in the same direction as its orbit, or toward the Sun in the case of Bennu, which spins in the opposite direction of its orbit. OSIRIS-REx will measure the Yarkovsky effect from close-up to help scientists predict the movement of Bennu and other asteroids. Already, measurements of how this force impacted Bennu over time have revealed that it likely pushed it to our corner of the solar system from the asteroid belt.

9. … and to keep asteroids at bay

One reason scientists are eager to predict the directions asteroids are drifting is to know when they’re coming too-close-for-comfort to Earth. By taking the Yarkovsky effect into account, they’ve estimated that Bennu could pass closer to Earth than the Moon is in 2135, and possibly even closer between 2175 and 2195. Although Bennu is unlikely to hit Earth at that time, our descendants can use the data from OSIRIS-REx to determine how best to deflect any threatening asteroids that are found, perhaps even by using the Yarkovsky effect to their advantage.

10. It’s a gift that will keep on giving

Samples of Bennu will return to Earth on September 24, 2023. OSIRIS-REx scientists will study a quarter of the regolith. The rest will be made available to scientists around the globe, and also saved for those not yet born, using techniques not yet invented, to answer questions not yet asked.

Read the web version of this week’s “Solar System: 10 Things to Know” article HERE.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

i didnt know this until rn but apparently theres things called sundogs & moondogs that are basically the halo that sometimes appears around the sun & moon

this is a sundog

and this is a moondog

this is so cool & such cute names omg?????? i love space

Fun fact: I’m mostly an ESTJ now, with a little bit of ENTJ in there somewhere.

MBTI on a long weekend

DISCLAIMER: all true things that may have happened ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

INFJ - Saturday: re-reading old msgs, wondering if their friend is mad at them but not sure how to bring it up and discussing it with close friends - Sunday: finally blackmailed into leaving the house by an extrovert - Monday: willingly left the house to see fireworks, enjoying the aesthetic of watching them solo

INTJ - Saturday: plays in a competitive strategic game tournament (e.g. chess, sports, esports), takes home 1st place relentlessly - Sunday: does not sleep in, wakes up, and proceeds as usual on a Sunday - Monday: 50/50 chance of sleeping in, would prefer to spend the day being a closed-off hermit but fam barges in and drags INTJ out

INFP - Saturday: binge-watched a new Netflix original and isn’t ready to talk about the emotional and psychological trauma inflicted by the finale yet - Sunday: scouring the internet for info and details on the show they just watched, re-blogging everything related to the show only to be recommended another one to watch by a total stranger on Tumblr - Monday: hasn’t eaten in 17 hours from a sudden surge of creativity and they’re 5 chapters deep into a fanfiction they’ve written about their favourite pairing

ISFP - Saturday: at an art show enjoying the experience, talks to the artist afterward, and quietly wonders if they’ll ever leave their mark on the world - Sunday: dabbles in a couple of activities, supports a friend at a concert, attends a chill afterparty, and doesn’t notice they’re being flirted with which is really cute - Monday: after days of incubation, inspiration takes hold and ISFP basically drops off the face of this earth — they’re moved to Japan, rooming with a friend, please check up on them

ISFJ - Saturday: bakes the most heavenly tasting cookies anyone has ever tasted and befriends all of the neighbours/neighbourhood pets/random birds and deers - Sunday: mass, always - Monday: gathers family together for dinner, ISFJ is always the best cook

ISTJ - Saturday: Saturday routine (I.e. wake up, shower, breakfast, read/write/schoolwork, lunch, music rehearsal/sport practice, dinner, chill, sleep) - Sunday: Sunday routine (I.e. fam time, friend time, me time) - Monday: finally gets to sleep in

INTP - Saturday: absorbing Wikipedia through an IV until fam kidnaps INTP for a long weekend trip - Sunday: enjoys the sights, rebels in small ways, wishing they were alone but weird fam members and random strangers keep the trip interesting - Monday: sleeps in, exhausted AF, in no mood to converse with anything that requires oxygen to functiom or has 2 or more legs, will sleep anywhere until they get to their bed, in which case they’ll revisit their good friend Wikipedia

ISTP - Saturday: hitting up the city, doing whatever they want, flirting, eating, dancing, interested in new experiences and noticing new people who can provide it - Sunday: hermit - working on an independent project no one knows about - Monday: ISTP is nowhere to be found, until their Instagram reveals that they went to the Arctic to film penguins for National Geographic

ENFP - Saturday: went Mexico for the weekend, told nobody about wanting to go but somehow drags 2 friends with them across the border - Sunday: their Instagram pics are all tagged in Mexico but their Facebook update says they’re in Disneyland partying it up with Mickey and Minnie - Monday: they show up to work by accident and immediately leave for a hike at the national park, only to get lost with their friends and get flirted with by the park ranger

ENTP - Saturday: low key attends a wedding and somehow wedges his way into the speaker’s list, makes jokes about the groom at his expense mercilessly just to get the crowd energy up - Sunday: working on a lip sync dance battle YouTube project with friends, spends all day goofing around, and cracking jokes - Sunday: hermiting the whole day at home to edit the video in time for Monday, king of memes and procrastination as always

ENFJ - Saturday: tutor kids in need on weekends, not for the money but because ENFJ lives off the praises of the parents and is waiting for the moment when the student tells them they’re ‘so cool’ - Sunday: summons all their introverted friends out to play via black magic to come a long weekend party ENFJ is hosting - Monday: runs into a friend while doing errands, the conversation somehow becomes about the friend’s abusive relationship, prompting ENFJ to suggest that they go somewhere to eat right now so the friend can pour over all the details over brunch and sangria

ESFJ - Saturday: running a community fundraiser, spends their time mostly luring people they know to buy their baked goods and by chatting with friendly elderly during their 1pm walk (all of which ESFJ know by name), somehow raises $5000 from a bake sale - Sunday: designated day to spend time with SO, brunch with drinks, quick hike through the local park and taking cute pictures together to remember these moments - Monday: helping to host a neighbourhood block party at their cul de sac, making sure the music isn’t too loud, getting volunteers to stay on task, having fun meeting new people and spending time with friends

ENTJ - Saturday: works overtime on Saturdays, doesn’t mind as long as they’re getting paid, task isn’t too meaningless, and it needs to get done, gets drinks with co-workers at the end to loosen up (it’s Saturday after all) - Sunday: high key runs a business on the side, spends the day at business lunches, knows how to push a deal effortlessly - Monday: plans with loved ones, highly structured, lunch at 11, freetime until 4, dinner party with friends At 5, sleep at 10, ready to wake up and go back to work for 8, just the way ENTJ likes it

ESTJ - Saturday: long weekend cottage party that low key doubles as a networking session, leaves with new contacts and a job interview, not bad for a Saturday - Sunday: designated date with the bae, doing couple things but mostly helping each other solve problems at work, always pushing each other to strive for higher, often called “high powered couple” and secretly likes it - Monday: attends a charity ball, delivers a solid handshake to everyone they meet, bae in tow, both relishing at all the possible contacts they will make at the party, never forgets what charity the ball is raising awareness for

ESFP - Saturday: dance dance dance dance dance dance dance dance dance dance dance dance - Sunday: stays hydrated, goes to the gym to work on that body, makes a new friend by chatting with their treadmill neighbour, invites new friend to happy hour tonight, gets asked out right as they are leaving the gym - Monday: rooftop patio bar, takes shots for their Instagram and their liver, soaking in the last of the long weekend with friends, the city, and a rooftop of fun loving strangers

ESTP: - Saturday: away at a cottage, shenanigans ensue erupting in chaos for thr TJs, knows how to get what they want, gets yelled at by park ranger for causing a disturbance, always sleeps with something with 2 legs or more at night - Sunday: sneaks out of the cottage early morning to look for animals, finds a bear, accidentally hikes through entire forest and is found by the park ranger (sent by friends who reported ESTP lost), and ESTP finally returns to their friends - Monday: ESTP leaves the cottage by themselves at 7am, stops by the park ranger lodge to ask them out, catches a flight to Japan, and low key bumps into ISFP

The entire observable universe squeezed into one image by NASA.

By: Brian | brianmcw

If you get tired learn to rest, not to quit.

Banksy (via barbellsandfortitude)

Moonset Eclipse : Near the closest point in its orbit, the second Full Moon of the month occurred on January 31. So did the first Total Lunar Eclipse of 2018, as the Moon slid through planet Earth’s shadow. In a postcard from planet Earth, this telescopic snapshot captures the totally eclipsed Moon as it set above the western horizon and the Chiricahua Mountains of southern Arizona. The Moon’s evocative reddened hue is due to sunlight scattered into the shadow. Still, the planet’s shadow visibly grows darker near the center, toward the top of the lunar disk. via NASA