Posted by on under frank drake, televi, earthlings, extraterrestrials, slashdot, ld, watts, satellites, signals, earth, radio | 
quaith writes "US astronomer Frank Drake has told scientists at a special SETI meeting in London that earthlings are making it less likely that we will be heard in space. In the past, we used huge ground stations to broadcast radio and television signals which could be picked up relatively easily — according to astronomers' calculations anyway. Now we use satellites that transmit at 75 watts and point toward Earth instead of into space. In addition, we've switched to digital which makes the transmissions even fainter. Drake has concluded that very soon, in space no one will hear us at all. I guess we'd better keep listening."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Tagi: frank drake, televi, earthlings, extraterrestrials, slashdot, ld, watts, satellites, signals, earth, radio
Posted by on under museum of modern art, design act, boeing 747, art objects, moma, belg, curators, typefaces, typeface, ly, satellites, boeing, public realm |
The @ symbol is now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. While it sounds like a Dadaist prank, the MoMA is very serious about this acquisition. That said, they're not blind to the conceptual artyness of the news. From the MoMA, where you can also read a fascinating history of the symbol: The acquisition of @ takes one more step. It relies on the assumption that physical possession of an object as a requirement for an acquisition is no longer necessary, and therefore it sets curators free to tag the world and acknowledge things that "cannot be had"--because they are too big (buildings, Boeing 747's, satellites), or because they are in the air and belong to everybody and to no one, like the @--as art objects befitting MoMA's collection... Being in the public realm, @ is free. It might be the only truly free--albeit not the only priceless--object in our collection. We have acquired the design act in itself and as we will feature it in different typefaces, we will note each time the specific typeface as if we were indicating the materials that a physical object is made of. @ at MoMA (via Imaginary Foundation)...
Tagi: museum of modern art, design act, boeing 747, art objects, moma, belg, curators, typefaces, typeface, ly, satellites, boeing, public realm
Posted by on under nasa satellite data, forest canopies, forest canopy, nasa gov, forest heights, global forest, uniform method, pacific northwest, southeast asia, ecosystems, icesat, nasa, forests, satellites, aqua, maps, atmosphere, globe |
Scientists have released a new kind of map that uses NASA satellite data to show the height of forest canopies around the world. Although there are other local- and regional-scale forest canopy maps, the new map is the first that spans the entire globe based on one uniform method. The work -- based on data collected by NASA's ICESat, Terra, and Aqua satellites -- should help scientists build an inventory of how much carbon the world's forests store and how fast that carbon cycles through ecosystems and back into the atmosphere. The map reveals that the world's tallest forests are clustered in the American Pacific Northwest, and areas of Southeast Asia. First-of-its-Kind Map Depicts Global Forest Heights (nasa.gov)...
Tagi: nasa satellite data, forest canopies, forest canopy, nasa gov, forest heights, global forest, uniform method, pacific northwest, southeast asia, ecosystems, icesat, nasa, forests, satellites, aqua, maps, atmosphere, globe
Posted by on under gray card, gizmodo, white balance, satellites, photographers, cameras, earth, photography |
Just like when photographers use a piece of white paper (or gray card, whichever they prefer) to calibrate their cameras, British scientists are using this dried-out Turkish lake to set the
white balance of Earth observation satellites.
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Tagi: gray card, gizmodo, white balance, satellites, photographers, cameras, earth, photography
