GeekwithEnvy

Science

Tested, A Whole Lot of Geekery

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TestedLogo As a geek, I spend a lot of time not only creating and compiling content for our site but also enjoying content from others as well and today I thought I would take a moment to share with you one of my favorite places to visit on the web.

Tested.com is a website that covers technology, science, art and basically just awesome and geeky stuff in general. Tested was created by Will Smith and Norman Chan and now features Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage from MythBusters. I am big fan of MythBusters and basically anything Adam and Jamie do in general. So you could only imagine that I would be extremely excited to see their involvement in the content of Tested.

The website isn’t the only content you can get from Tested, they also have a great YouTube page that is filled with great videos which range from getting a hands on look at the latest electronics, to going Inside Adam Savage’s Cave where you can witness the creative genius in action as he creates something amazing from nothing. Want to see the Hyneman in his natural habitat? Now you can by watching Inside Jaime’s Shop.

So, if you can’t seem to get enough geekery in your life ( and honestly, who couldn’t use a little more?) check out Tested.

 

 

Tornado Path Seen From Space

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Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

The devastating E-F5 tornado that struck central Oklahoma on May 20th 2013 caused 2 billion dollars in damage and has taken up to 24 lives. This powerful storm has left a scar on the Earth’s surface that can easily be identified in this image from far above the Earth.

The photo was taken using the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra spacecraft. This is a false-color image that clearly shows the path of the powerful tornado that lasted nearly 40 minutes as it continued to move along for 17 miles.

You can see a larger view of the image with it’s caption from NASA.

Asteroid With It’s Own Moon

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Radar images of 1998 QE2 (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR)

What’s cooler than an asteroid? How about an astroid with it’s own moon!

The asteroid is 1998 QE2 and NASA scientists have used radar technology to take images of it, as seen at the top of this article. This type of asteroid is known as a binary asteroid and some even have two orbiting moons, those are referred to as triple systems. This asteroid is in the Near-Earth population of asteroids and is about 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) in diameter.

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70 Meter Deep Space Network Antenna in Goldstone, Calif. ( Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR)

The image was taken May 29th, 2013 using the Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone California which is very large.

The antenna itself is 70 meters or 230 feet in diameter and that makes it the largest and most sensitive Deep Space Network antenna on Earth. The DSN antenna is capable of  tracking a spacecraft travelling more than 16 billion kilometers (10 billion miles) from Earth.

You can read the full article on this asteroid from NASA/JPL.

A Big Explosion On the Moon

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Traveling at 56,000 miles per hour a 40 kilogram rock slammed into the moon creating an explosion equivalent to 5 tons of TNT. The event happened on March 17th and was so bright it was actually visible from Earth with the naked eye. This is by far the largest explosion that NASA has detected since they started monitoring impacts on the moon in 2005.

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Earth’s Moon (Credit: NASA)

The moon is no stranger to impacts as you can clearly tell just by looking at the image above. What makes this recent impact so cool is the fact that it was relatively large. Most of the impacts on the moon’s surface are tiny by comparison, many of them merely a few centimeters wide. Anything is possible and someday we may even see a larger rock smash into our moon.

Thanks to Wired for the update.

Chris Hadfield Leaves the ISS With A Cover Song

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Commander Chris Hadfield has made an awesome video, actually he’s made quite a few awesome videos, but in this last one he says goodbye to the International Space Station as he gets ready to land back on Earth by creating an performing an amazing cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”. The video offers something to this song that no other video can and it fits his situation perfectly, it simply captures the moment and the view of Earth is stunning.

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The International Space Station (Credit: NASA)