I first watched this video a couple of years ago, and was left feeling awed. And small. Very, very small.
Created by the American Museum of Natural History, The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas out through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History.
The film was part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan.
I hope you like it as much as we do here at Sky-Watching!
NASA has fuelled up the external tank ready for the planned launch of Endeavour at 20:47 BST (15:47 EDT).
There are actually two compartments inside the Shuttle’s external fuel tank. The liquid oxygen tank occupies the top third of the bullet-shaped container and has been filled with 143,000 gallons of liquid oxygen (chilled to -298 degrees Fahrenheit). The liquid hydrogen tank fills the bottom two-thirds and holds 385,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen (chilled to -423 degrees Fahrenheit).
NASA is reporting a 70% “Go” for today’s launch, as recent storm systems have dissipated (as dramatically captured in the NASA Image of the Day, taken Thursday 28th April!)
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
The launch can be watched live on NASA TV, or on this blog as we’ll be showing the feed here!
Fans of the BBC’s “Wonders of the Universe” series with Professor Brian Cox will be dismayed that the series has already finished, but as “tweeted” by the good Professor himself recently a 16 minute video featuring some of the fantastic and awe-inspiring visual effects has been put online by its creators, BDH (Burrell Durrant Hifle). Music is by Timo Baker.
So enjoy it above, or visit Vimeo YouTube, switch it to HD and go fullscreen, and enjoy once again the spectacular imagery they created for us! I’ve watched through this three times already, and if anyone ever asks why I love astronomy and the cosmos so much, I’ll point them to this…
**EDIT** This original video has now been deleted by the creators, however it has been linked above through YouTube, although no longer HD.
