Our Planet

Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale Explained [Wind Speed and Categories]

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date October 10, 2016
No Comments on Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale Explained [Wind Speed and Categories]

Hurricane Dennis was an early-forming major hurricane in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico during the very active 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Dennis was the fourth named storm, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the season. In July, the hurricane set several records for early season hurricane activity becoming the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever to form before August; a title it held for only six days before being surpassed by Hurricane Emily. Dennis hit Cuba twice as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, and made landfall on the Florida Panhandle in the United States as a Category 3 storm less than a year after Hurricane Ivan did so. Dennis killed 88 people—76 directly and 13 indirectly—in the U.S. and Caribbean and caused $2.23 billion (2005 USD) in damages to the United States, as well as an approximately equal amount of damage in the Caribbean, primarily on Cuba. Photo: US Navy 050709-N-0000B-003 (wikipedia)

The Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS) is a 1 to 5 rating based on a hurricane’s sustained wind speed. The Weather Channel meteorologist Mark Elliot prepared a video titled “Why Hurricane Categories Make a Difference” and explained what each category means.

SpaceX unveils the Interplanetary Transport System to colonize Mars

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date September 28, 2016
No Comments on SpaceX unveils the Interplanetary Transport System to colonize Mars

Interplanetary Transport System - Separation Stage — There will be two main components of the system: SpaceX's new rocket, the BFR, or "Big F.cking Rocket" and the company's interplanetary spaceship, the BFS, or "Big F.cking Spaceship". The selected fuel type is deep-cryo methalox for 42 Raptor engines (SpaceX's next generation rocket engine) on the booster and 9 on the spacecraft (total of 51). The Raptor engine has about 500,000 pounds of thrust. Mask has said that the BFR will have 28,730,000 pounds of thrust at liftoff. The current Falcon 9 generates 1.7 million pounds of thrust at liftoff and uses nine "Merlin" engines.

Elon Musk, the founder, CEO, and Lead Designer of the private space travel company SpaceX announced that “they are planning to get humans to Mars in six years”. In order to achieve this goal, Musk revealed the Interplanetary Transport System, which aims to reach Mars with a human crew for the first time in history.

Solar System Astronomy Space Exploration

The scale of the Solar System and the first flybys of planets

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date September 22, 2016
No Comments on The scale of the Solar System and the first flybys of planets

Solar System (distances not to scale) — Our solar system consists of an average star we call the Sun, the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. It includes: the satellites of the planets; numerous comets, asteroids, and meteoroids; and the interplanetary medium. The Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun, with most of the remaining mass contained in Jupiter. The four smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, are terrestrial planets, being primarily composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets are giant planets, being substantially more massive than the terrestrials. The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn, are gas giants, being composed mainly of hydrogen and helium; the two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, are ice giants, being composed mostly of substances with relatively high melting points compared with hydrogen and helium, called ices, such as water, ammonia and methane. All planets have almost circular orbits that lie within a nearly flat disc called the ecliptic. Image: Wikipedia

Previously I posted two articles titled “If The Moon Were Only 1 Pixel – A Tediously Accurate Map Of The Solar System“, and “A Scale Model of Solar System Drawn in the Desert and the Result is Stunning“. In these posts, science enthusiasts have shown the scale of the solar system realistically. Since the human brain cannot deal with really large numbers, these articles provide an amazing way to understand how big actually our Solar System is.

Now, I decided to put the Solar System into scale as an infographic. You can see the scale of the Solar System below, the planets’ distances from the Sun, and the first flybys over them. Plus some statistics about the planets and our home planet, the Earth. Planet sizes are not scaled since they’d be too small to be seen at this scale.

Animals Life on Earth

The fastest land animals

Sarah the cheetah, running — How fast can a cheetah run? The fastest properly authenticated cheetah was a female South African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) named Sarah that lived in the Cincinnati Zoo. She was known as the world's fastest land mammal according to National Geographic magazine. She ran 100 meters in 5.95 seconds in 2012 when she was 11 years old, and was radar-timed at up to 61 miles (98.1 kilometers) an hour. She died (put to sleep because of her diminished quality of life) on 22 January 2016 at the age of 15. Photo: a captured image of Sarah from a high speed video clip.

What are the fastest land animals? Like all the “biggest”, “fastest”, “largest”, etc. animals lists on the Internet, there is a tendency to overestimate also their top speeds. Even the speed of the world’s fastest land animal, the cheetah’s top speed is usually highly overestimated. In fact, measuring an animal’s speed is a very hard task, and very few of them were properly authenticated. Some of them are really fast, that’s true, but what is the exact number? This information is usually not measured correctly.

Astronomy

Proxima Centauri b

On August 24, 2016, a group of scientists led by Dr. Guillem Anglada-Escude at the Queen Mary University of London, announced the discovery of a terrestrial exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, the nearest known star to the Sun. Proxima Centauri is a Latin idiom, meaning “nearest (star) of Centaurus” (see notes 1). The new planet is named Proxima Centauri b and it is predicted to be orbiting within the habitable zone!

Places Animals Life on Earth

Okavango Delta, Botswana

The Okavango Delta is a unique pulsing wetland where the 1,600 km (990 mi) long Okavango River reaches a tectonic trough in the middle of the Kalahari Desert in northern Botswana. Each year approximately 11 cubic kilometers of water spread over the 6,000-37,500 km² area. It is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as well as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa (see notes 1).

Places

Slope Point, New Zealand

Twisted trees of Slope Point, the southernmost point of New Zealand. This photo was taken in 2015. Image source: Deposit Photos

“Slope Point” is the southernmost point of New Zealand’s South Island. It lies 4803 km (2984 mi) from the South Pole and 5140 km (3194 mi) from the equator. It offers spectacular views of the surrounding ocean and coastline.

The place is regularly exposed to extreme weather conditions including heavy winds. The fierce and cold Antarctic winds can uninterruptedly travel over the Southern Ocean for 3,200 km (2,000 miles) and turn trees into strange but somehow beautiful statues.

Geology Oceans Places

Dragon Hole: World’s deepest “blue hole”

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date August 8, 2016
No Comments on Dragon Hole: World’s deepest “blue hole”

The world’s deepest “blue hole” has been discovered in the South China Sea, and it is named “Dragon Hole”. With a depth of 300.89 meters (987.2 feet), it surpassed the Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas, which is 202 meters (663 feet) deep. For comparison, the Eiffel Tower is 324 meters (1,063 feet) tall, so the Dragon Hole could swallow it almost completely.

Earth from Space Space Exploration

A Year of Earth From a Million Miles Away [EPIC NASA video]

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date July 25, 2016
2 Comments on A Year of Earth From a Million Miles Away [EPIC NASA video]

"EPIC" Earth Image by NASA (July 06, 2015) — At the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrangian point, 1,500,000 km (930,000 mi) from Earth; NASA's Deep Space Climate Observatory took an amazing photo of the entire sunlit side of Earth. Photo: NASA

A year after returning its first image, NASA’s EPIC camera, a four-megapixel CCD camera, and telescope attached to the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) show us an entire year of Earth from a million miles away. The result is the amazing video below.

With the voice of Jay Herman, EPIC lead scientist.

Places Geography Geology Mountains Travel

10 Strange Places on Earth [with Videos & Images!]

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date July 12, 2016
1 Comment on 10 Strange Places on Earth [with Videos & Images!]

Devil's Pool [Victoria Falls] — Adventurous tourists experience the thrill of a lifetime, swimming in the Devil's Pool at Victoria Falls. This naturally formed infinity pool, perched on the edge of one of the world's largest waterfalls, offers a unique blend of breathtaking views and exhilarating danger.

Planet Earth, our home, is a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of natural oddities that often defy our understanding of the ordinary. From peculiar geographical formations to mystifying biological phenomena, it’s an array of wonderfully bizarre. Prepare to navigate ten of Earth’s strange places, each possessing its unique intrigue and awe-inspiring story, ready to challenge your perception of the world as you know it. Ready to discover the unexpected?