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Okay, it's #introductions time! Hi 👋

I'm Badri, a #writer and #nonfiction#editor at Snipette looking to explore and highlight the interesting aspects of our world 🔦

I also #read a lot, and am always on the lookout for interesting bits of #science, #culture, #history, or #philosophy which come out at some point or other in my articles 👀

I'm also @badrihippo, but this instance, Snipetteville, is a place for all Snipette editors to hang out. We may be talking in private, but if you see a public conversation you're most welcome to join. Feel free to tag me in deep and/or lighthearted #philosophical conversations about aspects of the world 💭

(If you want to write for Snipette, DM me now!)
An extremely detailed diagram of the history of Science Fiction. The diagram has a rather monstrous aspect, with tentacle-like roots and branches. On the upper left corner are found the roots of the diagram: Fear and Wonder, giving way to Animism and Legend. Other portals into the diagram are Philosophy, Art, Exploration and Observation. These roots converge and possibly interact with other concepts such as the Enlightment, Science, Utopias, Romantic Movements. Important science fiction works, authors and genres emerge on the way, amidst a vast quantity of other entries: the Gothic Novel, Frankenstein, Jules Vernes, H.G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, Science Adventure, Fantasy Adventure, Alice in Wonderland, Weird Tales, Pulp Magazines, Astounding Science Fiction, Galaxy Magazine, H.P. Lovecraft, Sword+Sorcery, Modern Horrror, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Dune, Space Opera, Cyber Punk, Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, 2001 Space Odissey, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Total Recall, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dracula, Metropolis, King Kong, Aldous Huxley, and so on. A timeline is indicated on the upper and lower boundaries of the diagram.
An extremely detailed diagram of the history of Science Fiction. The diagram has a rather monstrous aspect, with tentacle-like roots and branches. On the upper left corner are found the roots of the diagram: Fear and Wonder, giving way to Animism and Legend. Other portals into the diagram are Philosophy, Art, Exploration and Observation. These roots converge and possibly interact with other concepts such as the Enlightment, Science, Utopias, Romantic Movements. Important science fiction works, authors and genres emerge on the way, amidst a vast quantity of other entries: the Gothic Novel, Frankenstein, Jules Vernes, H.G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, Science Adventure, Fantasy Adventure, Alice in Wonderland, Weird Tales, Pulp Magazines, Astounding Science Fiction, Galaxy Magazine, H.P. Lovecraft, Sword+Sorcery, Modern Horrror, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Dune, Space Opera, Cyber Punk, Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, 2001 Space Odissey, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Total Recall, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dracula, Metropolis, King Kong, Aldous Huxley, and so on. A timeline is indicated on the upper and lower boundaries of the diagram.

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A map of the structure surrounding the Local Void

In this map our Milky Way galaxy lies at the origin of the red-green-blue orientation arrows, each 200 million lightyears in length.

☑️ this is Fig.1 of https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019ApJ...880...24T/abstract
☑️ more insights by APOD: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190806.html

#Cosmology#Cosmography#LocalVoid#APOD#GreatAttractor #map #astronomy #astrophysics#astrodon #science#STEM#MilkyWay #galaxy #galaxies#CosmicWeb

a cosmographic map featuring the cosmological large scale structure in our local cosmic neighborhood. The density field is displayed as semi-transparent isosurfaces, colored grey for the the lower isocontour value, and colored in nuances of red for five higher levels. The resulting structure is filamentary, with high-density knots at the filaments' crossing, an architecture typical of the Cosmic Web. Three colored arrows materialize the cardinal axes of the Supergalactic Coordiante System, centered at our location. Several important actors of our local cosmography are named: Milky Way, Virgo, Arrowhead, Great Attractor, Perseus-Pisces, Coma, Arch, Hercules. The name of the astronomer leading the study is inprinted in the lower right corner of the figure, reading R. Brent Tully. All these elements are drawn against a white background.
a cosmographic map featuring the cosmological large scale structure in our local cosmic neighborhood. The density field is displayed as semi-transparent isosurfaces, colored grey for the the lower isocontour value, and colored in nuances of red for five higher levels. The resulting structure is filamentary, with high-density knots at the filaments' crossing, an architecture typical of the Cosmic Web. Three colored arrows materialize the cardinal axes of the Supergalactic Coordiante System, centered at our location. Several important actors of our local cosmography are named: Milky Way, Virgo, Arrowhead, Great Attractor, Perseus-Pisces, Coma, Arch, Hercules. The name of the astronomer leading the study is inprinted in the lower right corner of the figure, reading R. Brent Tully. All these elements are drawn against a white background.

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Cosmography archives

2005: Discovery of the Sloan Great Wall

by J. Richard Gott and co-authors
https://doi.org/10.1086/428890

At the time of its discovery, this 1.37 billion light-years long filament is the largest observed structure in the Universe.

#Cosmology #galaxies#SloanGreatWall#Cosmography #archives #archive#CosmographyArchives #history #science#HistoryOfScience #Astrodon #astrophysics #astronomy #physics#STEM#Universe#CosmicWeb

The distribution of galaxies obtained with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and displayed as two fan-shaped plots with Right Ascension versus redshift distances as coordinates. Galaxies' positions are shown as black points on a white background, featuring filamentary structures typical of the Cosmic Web, which describes the large-scale structure of the Universe. The two fan-shaped plots lie on top of each other, with their boundaries elegantly matching each other's. On the lower plot, running from 0 to 14000 km/s in redshift, and from 8  to 17 hours in Right Ascension, is shown the CfA2 Great Wall, with its iconic stickman-shaped distribution of galaxies. On the higher plot, running from 14000 to 28000 km/s in redshift distances, and from about 9 to 14 hours in Right Ascension, is featured the Sloan Great Wall. A caption completes this figure.
The distribution of galaxies obtained with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and displayed as two fan-shaped plots with Right Ascension versus redshift distances as coordinates. Galaxies' positions are shown as black points on a white background, featuring filamentary structures typical of the Cosmic Web, which describes the large-scale structure of the Universe. The two fan-shaped plots lie on top of each other, with their boundaries elegantly matching each other's. On the lower plot, running from 0 to 14000 km/s in redshift, and from 8 to 17 hours in Right Ascension, is shown the CfA2 Great Wall, with its iconic stickman-shaped distribution of galaxies. On the higher plot, running from 14000 to 28000 km/s in redshift distances, and from about 9 to 14 hours in Right Ascension, is featured the Sloan Great Wall. A caption completes this figure.

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Zebra Rock, a mysterious rock with black and white stripes, captured by Perseverance in Stereo3D

To go 3D: eyes' lines of sight parallel/left image for left eye/right image for right eye

Calibrated images by the Mastcam-Z team at Arizona State Univ., Sol 1268, Sep. 13, 2024

#Mars#Perseverance#ZebraRock#FreyaCastle#3D#Stereo3D #stereoscopy #geology #planetaryscience#Mars2020 #rock #rocks #solarocks #science#Stem#astrodon #Mastcam #MastcamZforall #photography

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An asteroid’sdestruction may have given Mars rings, then moons

Scientists simulated a situation that may offer an improved explanation for how the Red Planet ended up with small Phobos and tiny Deimos.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/22/science/mars-moons-asteroids-rings.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ck4.3uM1.EupDU6iZI7Uo&smid=url-share&et_rid=1080503712&et_cid=5442065

Credits video: Jacob Kegerreis, et al./NASA Ames

#Mars#Phobos#Deimos #science #Astrodon#STEM #space #rings#NYTimes #news

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For the purists, here's a video of all lunar phases in 2025 with no labeling. It takes about 5 minutes to watch the full thing -- and what a sweet, meditative 5 minutes it is.

(Full video at link.)

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5415 #science #nature #sky #earth #moon

The Moon always keeps the same face to us, but not exactly the same face. Because of the tilt and shape of its orbit, we see the Moon from slightly different angles over the course of a month. When a month is compressed into 24 seconds, as it is in this animation, our changing view of the Moon makes it look like it's wobbling. This wobble is called libration. The word comes from the Latin for "balance scale" (as does the name of the zodiac constellation Libra) and refers to the way such a scale tips up and down on alternating sides. The sub-Earth point gives the amount of libration in longitude and latitude. The sub-Earth point is also the apparent center of the Moon's disk and the location on the Moon where the Earth is directly overhead. The Moon is subject to other motions as well. It appears to roll back and forth around the sub-Earth point. The roll angle is given by the position angle of the axis, which is the angle of the Moon's north pole relative to celestial north. The Moon also approaches and recedes from us, appearing to grow and shrink. The two extremes, called perigee (near) and apogee (far), differ by as much as 14%.

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NASA's visualization team created a beautiful preview of every phase of the Moon in 2025, hour by hour.

The best part: Watching how the Moon's appearance changes due to its inclination, oval orbit, and libration (wobble).

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5415 #science #nature #nasa #astronomy #space

The phase and libration of the Moon for 2025, at hourly intervals. Includes supplemental graphics that display the Moon's orbit, subsolar and sub-Earth points, and the Moon's distance from Earth at true scale. Craters near the terminator are labeled, as are Apollo landing sites, maria, and other albedo features in sunlight.

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Did you know that #invisibility cloaks are #real?

From the 2nd c's Cap of Hades to #Marvel 's Invisible Woman, magic that renders one #invisible is a common theme in #mythology & #scifi.

In 2006, #theoretical #physicist John Pendry figured out that light could be bent around an object so that it renders it invisible.
This led to many advancements in metamaterial science, known as 'metamaterial cloaking'.

I've enjoyed this talk by Pendry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6IrynhjKs [start: 4:43min]

#science

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Boost phase announcement!

A fun #Discourse forum project I've been working on:

TASAT — There's A Story About That — is a science fiction community initiative from scientist & author David Brin (Earth, Startide Rising, The Postman.)

The mission: to connect highly-placed individuals facing challenging questions to a hive-mind of sci-fi readers and viewers who might recall a story exploring outcomes of a similar scenario.

After extensive beta testing with a small group, it's time to expand our base.

The only qualification? Having read lots of stories. Watched lots of flicks. Played bunches of realistic games.

Visit https://tasat.org/ for a full intro from Dr. Brin, and a link to explore the forum. *Help sci fi to help the world be ready for the unexpected!*

#scifi #sciencefiction #science #futurism

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Two unusual things happened on Earth around 460 million years ago: a bunch of asteroid impacts near the equator & an intense global cold spell.

Possibly both were the result of an asteroid that broke up & gave our planet a pretty but deadly set of rings.

https://eos.org/articles/a-close-asteroid-encounter-may-have-once-given-earth-a-ring #space #science #nature

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Taking a break from awful things:

Scientists taught rats to drive cars. The rats quickly learned to rev the engine and take longer routes just for fun.

Bonus: Watch the researcher do a little happy leap when the rat gets into the car.

https://theconversation.com/im-a-neuroscientist-who-taught-rats-to-drive-their-joy-suggests-how-anticipating-fun-can-enrich-human-life-239029 #science #tech

A rat driving a miniature car...for science!