A Hole in Mars
Credit: NASA, JPL, U. Arizona
Back in 2007, black spots were discovered on Mars that are so dark that nothing inside can be seen. Quite possibly, the spots are entrances to deep underground caves capable of protecting Martian life, were it to exist.
The unusual hole pictured above was found on the slopes of the giant Martian volcano Arsia Mons. The above image was captured three weeks ago by the HiRISE instrument onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently circling Mars.
The holes were originally identified on lower resolution images from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, The above hole is about the size of a football field and is so deep that it is completely unilluminated by the Sun. Such holes and underground caves might be prime targets for future spacecraft, robots, and even the next generation of human interplanetary explorers.
(via scinerds)
Microsoft to push further development of ‘memory cube’.
Microsoft joined the Hybrid Memory Cube Consortium earlier this month, which already includes high profile companies Samsung and IBM. Together the group is trying to advance the technology which uses stacks of DRAM memory combined together with a logic layer on top to control and optimize the memory. Traditionally memory controllers are intergrated into other parts of computers, but by combining them into the logic layer of the memory cube, higher speeds can be achieved along with lower energy consumption.
According to the Consortium, the memory cube could provide 15x the performance of DDR3 memory (which is found in most new computers today), while utilizing an amazing 70% less energy per bit than DDR3.
The group hopes to have 2 and 4 Gigabyte versions of the cube available early next year, although it’s unclear if those would simply be testing versions for developers or a finished product for mass market. They are also working on an interface for the cube to work with mobile devices, where power consumption is particularly critical. Intel is also rumoured to be considering joining the consortium.
sweeet
Empire State by Al Fenn, c. 1946 (LIFE)
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Africa’s First Night Sky ‘Reserve’ Is Stargazing Haven
Image: The Milky Way, photographed from NamibRand reserve. Credit: George Tucker
The NamibRand Nature Reserve, a private nature reserve in southern Namibia, has gotten the stamp of approval to become an official night sky reserve — a spot supremely suited for some of the best stargazing on Earth.
(via scinerds)
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- Danke.
- Bitte. ;)
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I need to get my hands on Portal 2!
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Moral of the story, legends tend to be stupid.
(via scinerds)
New Image of the Pinwheel galaxy in Many Colors Shows Off 21 Million Year Old Light
This image of the Pinwheel Galaxy, or also known as M101, combines data in the infrared, visible, ultraviolet and X-rays from four of NASA’s space-based telescopes. This multi-spectral view shows that both young and old stars are evenly distributed along M101’s tightly-wound spiral arms.
Such composite images allow astronomers to see how features in one part of the spectrum match up with those seen in other parts. It is like seeing with a regular camera, an ultraviolet camera, night-vision goggles and X-ray vision, all at the same time.
The Pinwheel Galaxy is in the constellation of Ursa Major (also known as the Big Dipper). It is about 70% larger than our own Milky Way Galaxy, with a diameter of about 170,000 light years, and sits at a distance of 21 million light years from Earth.
This means that the light we’re seeing in this image left the Pinwheel Galaxy about 21 million years ago - many millions of years before humans ever walked the Earth.
(via scinerds)
