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Sun, 19 May 2013 03:49:02 -0400

e4rthy: Rio 40ºC by valterpatrial

Sat, 18 May 2013 07:39:49 -0400

e4rthy:

Rio 40ºC by valterpatrial

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Sat, 18 May 2013 07:39:44 -0400

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Sat, 18 May 2013 06:56:06 -0400

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Fri, 17 May 2013 11:59:48 -0400

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Fri, 17 May 2013 02:41:52 -0400

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Thu, 16 May 2013 16:51:51 -0400

nikolawashere: Stunning crop art has sprung up across rice...

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:35:00 -0400

nikolawashere:

Stunning crop art has sprung up across rice fields in Japan. But this is no alien creation - the designs have been cleverly planted. Farmers creating the huge displays use no ink or dye. Instead, different colours of rice plants have been precisely and strategically arranged and grown in the paddy fields.

As summer progresses and the plants shoot up, the detailed artwork begins to emerge.

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Thu, 16 May 2013 10:58:39 -0400

headlikeanorange: Yosemite Falls, California (Visual...

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:30:55 -0400

headlikeanorange:

Yosemite Falls, California (Visual Relaxation)

tearingdowndoors: Untitled | .sxf

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:00:51 -0400

tearingdowndoors:

Untitled | .sxf

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Wed, 15 May 2013 14:43:19 -0400

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Wed, 15 May 2013 11:21:53 -0400

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Wed, 15 May 2013 11:11:13 -0400

mvnchies: Blue Mountain Fury by Simo884

Wed, 15 May 2013 01:31:27 -0400

mvnchies:

Blue Mountain Fury by Simo884

spaceplasma: X-ray vision tracks lightning bursts Blink and...

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:33:44 -0400

spaceplasma:

X-ray vision tracks lightning bursts

Blink and you’ve missed it. Researchers in the US have captured the world’s first X-ray images of lightning, by creating a special camera that can capture radiation at 10 million frames per second. They presented their new findings at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco and they say that this new view of lightning could help to solve some of the mysteries of this spectacular natural phenomenon.

The research was carried out at the International Center for Lightning Research and Testing, located in Florida. It is one of the few sites in world where lightning is initiated and studied under controlled conditions. By firing rockets with trailing wires into thunder clouds, scientists are able to generate electric fields that are large enough to trigger bolts of lightning, which then propagate back down towards the rocket launch tower.

Joseph Dwyer and colleagues at the Florida Institute of Technology became interested in the fact that lightning emits X-rays as it propagates through the air, a phenomenon that was only noted in the past decade. But given that X-ray sources in lightning travel through the Earth’s atmosphere at velocities approaching the speed of light, it is difficult to catch them on camera before they disappear. In addition, they cannot be imaged with standard mirrors and lenses because huge amounts of material are required to prevent X-rays and gamma rays from entering through the sides of a camera.

Dwyer’s team has created a customized camera that has 30 detectors made from a combination of sodium iodide and photomultiplier tubes, each measuring 3 × 3 inch. The device, which is approximately the size of a standard refrigerator, is also equipped with a 3 inch pinhole aperture, and can record X-rays at 10 million frames per second. “This is actually a very old technique for making images, like that seen in a camera obscura,” Dwyer says.

During July and August this year, Dwyer’s team studied four rocket-triggered lightning flashes at the Florida test site. Each flash lasted for approximately two seconds and the resulting sequences of images revealed that X-rays emerged primarily from the vicinity of the lightning tip as it propagated towards the Earth. As the lightning crashed into the control tower it also triggered large bursts of gamma radiation, which were also captured by the camera.

“For the first time we’re catching a glimpse of lightning in the X-ray emission,” says Dwyer. “We’re seeing lightning as Superman would see it with his X-ray vision”.

Credit: James Dacey/physicsworld.com

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Tue, 14 May 2013 15:51:13 -0400

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Tue, 14 May 2013 13:41:44 -0400

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Tue, 14 May 2013 13:41:39 -0400

oecologia: Pink Mountains (Vermont) by paul+photos=moody.

Tue, 14 May 2013 13:41:26 -0400

oecologia:

Pink Mountains (Vermont) by paul+photos=moody.