mike hawkins – the blog
thinking out loud
Fairly spectacular computer simulation of a galaxy's birth – I've used the Youtube video because of the odd choice of seventies porn movie music as a backing track, on the New Scientist version.
This epic time-lapse shows the Milky Way forming and evolving over 13.7 billion years… Developed by a team led by Piero Madau from the University of California in Santa Cruz and Javiera Guedes from the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Zurich, it's the most detailed simulation of a galaxy's evolution yet made. Unlike previous attempts, the massive galaxy that appears closely resembles the Milky Way – with its central strip of bright stars surrounded by spiral arms swirling in a flat disc.
See the full article and related items on the New Scientist site – here
Very cool photo taken by a crew member of the International Space Station. Shows the cities of Europe illuminated.
Visit the NASA Earth Observatory for further information.
The robotic crew member mentioned in an article in February is now active on the International Space Station. Regarded as a companion and assistant for humans embarking on long duration flights – R2 (such is his designation) is now up and running.
R2 – has commenced its robonaut career in fine fettle and is a keen user of micro-blogging system Twitter – @AstroRobonaut keeping us informed of his activities and sending out personal messages to followers.
I am really enjoying the fact that my childhood dreams, inspired by Science Fiction predictions are slowly becoming reality – science fact.
Follow this link to a BBC article on R2's activities aboard the ISS.
NASA page covering the R2 Robonaut Project is here
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