AWESOMECON

Video from the KAGUYA explorer probe.  Make sure to watch the HD version since the probe has HD cameras.  Very, very cool.

[via ze frank]

I love Tesla Coils. I remember the first time a saw one when I was a small boy. It was at an Academy of Science in Dallas or Fort Worth, the actual location is hazy, but sitting in the audience watching the electricity arc out was the coolest thing ever.  They are even cooler today.  Spending the last 10 years in San Francisco and being a DJ, eventually you play or attend at least one party that has a Tesla Coil.  The last one I saw was at the Steampunk Treehouse Fundraiser where I was DJing a set.  They had this massive 10′+ Tesla Coil that was both deafening and f***ing cool.  Especially since I was on the same level as the top of the coil and the electricity kept killing my midi/usb sync to my laptop.

Since that last in-person demo I have been seeing a new trend in “singing” coils, something I have not experienced in person yet.  By modulating the resonant frequency of the coil you can make them play songs. Oh Science, is there nothing you can’t do?  The first video is the original video of a singing coil I had seen.  Below is a new one featuring the “Imperial March”:

One of the challenges of astronomy is understanding (or grokking) the size of planets, stars, the solar system, and galaxies.  The dimensions are so beyond human comprehension that we often just have to take the “its really, really big” answer and get over it.  Then you see a video like this, that tries to show just you how big stars are in relation to our planet.

Its an amazing video that does a great job of showing comparative proportions but it still blows my feeble little mind.  Its just too big, way, way too big.  Fraking cool though!