Off Topic The "That's interesting"/geek thread

Better not let my missus see that, she'll be wanting to buy them and put them all over the house

 

Ponce.

 

Can't wait til they're all doing this in the Tour de France and there's a big pile up

 

Surely they’ll ban it because you are not in full control of the bike. And if everyone is doing it the advantage disappears.

Clever bloke though.

 

Ringed Neptune captured by James Webb telescope

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Details not seen in more than three decades are apparent in the Webb imagery


The recently launched super space telescope James Webb has returned spectacular new imagery of Neptune.

The observatory's infrared instruments highlight features not seen in such detail since the Voyager 2 probe flew past the planet in 1989.

These include the rings and dust bands that encircle the ice giant.

Scientists are also intrigued by the different cloud structures, which should tell them something novel about the workings of Neptune's atmosphere.

Beyond the planet itself are seven of the giant's 14 moons, the most significant of which is Triton.

It appears star-like in the Webb imagery.

That's because Neptune is darkened in the telescope's view by methane absorption at infrared wavelengths. Triton, on the other hand, reflects an average of 70% of the sunlight that strikes its icy surface. It's very bright.

• Space telescope reveals 'incredible' Jupiter views
• Nasa space telescope delivers spectacular pictures
• A $10bn machine in search of the end of darkness

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The ice giant Neptune has a total of 14 moons, the largest of which is the geologically active Triton


Prof Leigh Fletcher, from Leicester University, is at the Europlanet Science Congress in Granada, Spain, where everyone is "trying to interpret this on our phones, but it's incredible to see those rings, and we're accessing wavelengths that no-one has seen before".

"Its great to see how excited everyone is!" he told BBC News.

"The longer wavelengths are brand new and could give us a window on to the deep circulation patterns, with a bright equatorial band that looks a bit like the bright bands of Jupiter and Saturn.

"Neptune's powerful storms are as active as ever, and the whole Neptune family is represented here, with those ring moons and Triton."

Neptune is the outermost planet in our Solar System, beyond Uranus and Saturn, but inside the dwarf planet Pluto.

It circles the Sun at a distance of roughly 4.5 billion km, and takes 164.8 years to complete one revolution.

Like the other outer Solar System giants, its atmosphere contains a lot of hydrogen and helium. But there is a very strong presence of ices, of water, ammonia and methane.

Neptune's diameter is close to 50,000km, or almost four times that of Earth.

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In the widefield view, it's possible to see the oval and spiral shapes of galaxies beyond our Milky Way

 

Star Wars Argyll shoot leads to charity cash boost

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The new Star Wars series stars Diego Luna


At a glance

• Scotland's Hollow Mountain hydro-electric scheme appears as a location in Disney's new Star Wars series, Andor
  
  
• Cruachan Power Station is housed within a cavern dug inside a mountain near Oban
  
  
• Its owners have made a series of charitable donations after the site was used as a location
  
  
• Funds have gone towards a mountain rescue team and defibrillator project
  

• Published
  22 September 2022

The owners of a Scottish hydro-electric scheme have made a series of charitable donations after Disney used the site for its new Star Wars show, Andor.

Cruachan Power Station is housed within a huge cavern dug out inside the mountain Ben Cruachan, which is nicknamed Hollow Mountain because of the project.

The underground power plant, near Oban, along with its hydro dam and the surrounding landscape have been used as locations for the 12-episode Andor series.

Renewable energy giant Drax said the use of its site had led it to make a total donation running to five figures to help local good causes.

It said funds had gone towards a new vehicle for Oban Mountain Rescue Team and creating a rural defibrillator network with community councils.

A donation has also been made to support the ongoing maintenance and restoration of St Conans Kirk, a historic visitor attraction in the Argyll village of Lochawe.

Cruachan Power Station's visitor centre manager Sarah Cameron said: “Everyone at Cruachan has been incredibly excited to see the power station take a starring role in such an iconic film franchise."

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Cruachan Power Station is housed in a cavern dug out inside a mountain


Andor is a prequel to the 2016 spin-off film Rogue One and follows main character Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna

 

This is impressive. An incredibly complicated, accurate and successful mission.

Dimorphos: Nasa flies spacecraft into asteroid in direct hit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63039191

 

That’s a good call and free to see in the national gallery