Thor’s Hall

Thoughts on things that catch my interest

Archive for December 20th, 2008

December 20, 2008 By: Thor Category: Humor, Terrorism No Comments →

This has got to be, by far, the best commentary on terrorism. Even though it is meant to be humorous…it hits the mark.

December 20, 2008 By: Thor Category: Holidays, Humor No Comments →

…of elves. This surfaces every year, and always puts a smile on my face.

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A Chameleon Sky

The sands of time are running out for the central star of this the Hourglass Nebula. With its nuclear fuel exhausted, this brief, spectacular, closing phase of a sun-like star's life occurs as its outer layers are ejected and its core becomes a cooling, fading white dwarf. In 1995, astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to make a series of images of planetary nebulae, including the one above. Here, delicate rings of colorful glowing gas (nitrogen-red, hydrogen-green, and oxygen-blue) outline the tenuous walls of the 'hourglass.' The unprecedented sharpness of Hubble's images revealed surprising details of the nebula ejection process and may resolve the outstanding mystery of the variety of complex shapes and symmetries of planetary nebulae. Image Credit: NASA, WFPC2, HST, R. Sahai and J. Trauger (JPL)
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