Feb 12
One day, poor planet Earth will succumb to the centuries of abuse we’ve dealt her, shrivel up, and cease to support life. Then, if we’re not already living in some Elysium-like habitat in space
     |
Feb 09
He’s got the whole world in his hands, but this watch has the entire solar system on its face. It’s not just a plain old picture of the sun and planets, either. It’s an actual, moving model of planets moving around the sun – and in real-time, too!
The watch, called the Complication Poétique Midnight Planétarium, was designed by Van Cleef & Arpels and costs a whopping $245,000! It’s aptly named, because the movement can be described as such: poetic.
Think of how awesome it would be to have a view of the planets’ actual current alignment with every glance at your wrist. The shooting star on the face is what tells you the regular time in hours and minutes.
So while Mercury will make a lap around the watch’s face in just 88 days, Venus will require 224, and Earth of course does it in exactly a year. Saturn, on the other hand, the farthest planet from the sun included on this piece, won’t make it back to its starting position for a whopping 29 and a half years.
Ahh, if only I had $245 grand in the bank.
[via Geekologie]
Aug 23
Now this is fun. Kurzgesagt made a fantastic animation video detailing our solar system. Perfect for anyone who’s space curious (and that should be everyone), perfect to sit down and show your kid, perfect to learn everything about astronomy that you probably forgotten by now. It’s like taking a trip through a beautiful minimalist solar system to understand the universe around us. [Kurzgesagt]
| |
Jul 10
The solar system isn’t stationary; it’s careening through the infinite abyss of space as we speak. Just like a comet, it comes complete with its own tail, and for the first time, we’ve actually been able to see it.
| |
Sep 07
NASA’s Voyager 1 marks 35th anniversary of its launch, gets photo retrospective in tribute
Posted in: Today's Chili 
It’s hard to believe at times that the Voyager 1 probe is older than many of us reading this article, but it’s true. The official first part of NASA’s Voyager program launched just over 35 years ago on September 5th, 1977, carrying not just cameras and sensors to capture the trip but the famous Golden Record documenting humanity for any curious aliens. To mark the occasion, Wired has gathered together one heck of a photo album that covers both Voyager 1’s trip as well as that of Voyager 2, which technically launched earlier (August 20th the same year) but took a more roundabout route through the solar system. The gallery reminds us of the amazing scenery beyond Mars and puts our tiny blue ball of a planet in perspective; Earth was just a speck at best when photographed late into Voyager 2’s journey. Perhaps the best news surrounding the milestone is simply that both Voyager probes are still running. At 11 billion miles from the Sun, Voyager 1 may be on the cusp of interstellar space and easily represents the most distant human object ever made, not to mention a record-setter for signal transmissions. There’s even a chance we’ll still be hearing back from the probe for its 50th anniversary — its power could keep it chatting up to roughly 2025.
NASA’s Voyager 1 marks 35th anniversary of its launch, gets photo retrospective in tribute originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Sep 2012 02:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
Wired | Email this | Comments
Sep 05
Unleash your inner Galactus with Vintage Confections’ “Planets solar system space ball style hard candy lollipop”. SEO-riffic! The lollipops feature images of the Sun and its planets, plus dwarf planet Pluto. It’s okay dude, we love you all equally, save for Earth. It just edges you all by a tiny bit, what with the oxygen and water and stuff.
My only complaint is that the most awesome-looking planet – Saturn – made for the lamest-looking lolly. Also I can’t differentiate the three bluish ones.
Vintage Confections is selling the lollipops for $17.50 (USD) per 10 pieces. You can specify the flavor of each candy, so be sure to make Earth extra delicious! Whoops, as Vintage Confections mentioned in the comments, you can specify the flavor per order of 10 pieces, not for each piece.
[via Svpply]
Jul 11
A team of astronomers has photographed a new moon in our solar system using the Hubble Space Telescope. The new celestial object is orbiting Pluto. Mark Showalter—from the SETI Institute (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) in Mountain View, California—is intrigued that such a small planet “can have such a complex collection of satellites.” More »
Who's in charge here?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.