Latest Posts by akifcalhan - Page 6

Foggy village - Entry to Silent Hill? 🌫️🏘️🛣️❄️🌬️ Neblige Dorf - Eingang zu Silent Hill? 1/392s f/1.7 ISO 40 . . 📷 #samsungs8 . . . #silenthill #fog #village #austria #frosty #way #instagood #insta #instagramanet #instalike #instagram #photooftheday #photo #photographer #photography #amazing #awesome #beautiful #nature #naturephotography #travelphotography #travel #funtravel #follow #comment #like #look #life (hier: Wiener Neustadt, Austria) https://www.instagram.com/p/CI8CiNABBPv/?igshid=1lpwqv41jollj

Frosty watercress on grass 🌿🌱☘️🌱❄️💧💙 Nasturtium officinale - Frostige Bunnenkresse 1/139s f/1.7 ISO 40 . . 📷 #samsungs8 . . . #grass #green #watercress #austria #frosty #brunnenkresse #instagood #insta #instagramanet #instalike #instagram #photooftheday #photo #photographer #photography #amazing #awesome #beautiful #nature #naturephotography #travelphotography #travel #funtravel #follow #comment #like #look #life (hier: Wiener Neustadt, Austria) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIoQ50VhpaQ/?igshid=cvcw6wnn7bbu

Frosty ferns on grass❄️🌿 Frostige Farne im Rasen 1/30s f/22 24 mm ISO 400 . . 📷 #canoneos #450d . . . #fern #green #Farne #austria #frosty #grass #instagood #insta #instagramanet #instalike #instagram #photooftheday #photo #photographer #photography #amazing #awesome #beautiful #nature #naturephotography #travelphotography #travel #funtravel #follow #comment #like #look #life (hier: Wiener Neustadt, Austria) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIdi2B8Bsst/?igshid=niarmucjjzb

Lichen on walnut tree 🌴 Flechten auf dem Walnussbaum I used on picture 1 a reverse adapter mounted on Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS SLR Pic 1: 1/160s f/4.5 ISO 200, reverse adapter Pic 2: 1/80s f/22 55 mm ISO 200 Pic 3: 1/50s f/22 18 mm ISO 200 . . 📷 #canoneos #450d . . . #lichen #tree #Flechten #austria #macrophotography #walnut #instagood #insta #instagramanet #instalike #instagram #photooftheday #photo #photographer #photography #amazing #awesome #beautiful #nature #naturephotography #travelphotography #travel #funtravel #follow #comment #like #look #life (hier: Wiener Neustadt, Austria) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIa3tl9Bdbx/?igshid=14gf7x4hmwcdr

Lovely king wasp 👑 🐝 I see the last wasp 🐝 in my garden🍀. Try to enjoy😀 the last rays of the sun 🌄. . . 📷 #samsungs8 . . . #wasp #sun #garden #austria #love #macrophotography #nice #instagood #insta #instagramanet #instalike #instagram #photooftheday #photo #photographer #photography #amazing #awesome #beautiful #nature #naturephotography #travelphotography #travel #funtravel #follow #comment #like #look #life (hier: Wiener Neustadt, Austria) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIYDL0OhSCH/?igshid=38g7d6gb65ww

Araneus on the fence.🕷️🕸️ Happy Halloween!!! 🎃🦴💀👻🕷️🕸️🦇 Once she bit my finger. 👉 It hurt all day.😿🤮 Take care of this dear.🏥 . . 📷 #samsungs8 . . . #araneus #kreuzspinne #garden #followme #austria #finger #bite #green #photography #pictureoftheday #followforfollowback #macrophotography (hier: Wiener Neustadt, Austria) https://www.instagram.com/p/CHAtQSkjok9/?igshid=mtw95qbyy2qe

A mushroom 🍄 in my garden🍀 I think it's Macrolepiota behind micro fern. . 📷 #samsungs8 . . . #mushroom #garden #riesenschirmlinge #green #samsungs8 #grass #fern #white #austria #followme #love #macrophotography (hier: Wiener Neustadt, Austria) https://www.instagram.com/p/CG4vixLjLlo/?igshid=1iabsq0wk0288

Bürgerhaus - Bundesdenkmalamt Town house - Federal Monuments Office Object ID 453360 Architectural Restoration 🏛️🏗️ . Samsung S8 📷 . #restoration #eisenstadt #townhouse #s8photography #architecture #yellow #bürgerhaus #eisenstadt #denkmalgeschützt #domplatz #followｍe #austria #historicbuildings (hier: Eisenstadt) https://www.instagram.com/p/CF_5y0-DGmA/?igshid=1ce6xqz12zwb

Prunus laurocerasus herbegii 🌼🌷🌼 in my garden Bee-friendly🐝 plant. Hope there will be a lot of bees.🐝🐝🐝 . . . #bee #kirschlorbeer #biene #garden #prunus #flower #strauch #herbegii #green #grün #white (hier: Wiener Neustadt, Austria) https://www.instagram.com/p/CF78u_Sj8f2/?igshid=wwwe35z3cdgb

Baby wasp falling in love ❤️ #wasp #hand #garden #yellow #black #follow #austria #wienerneustadt #gartenarbeit #nützlichetiere #mosquitokiller (hier: Wiener Neustadt, Austria) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEKCvEdjOX3/?igshid=thwvbksb4q5r

Morning walking 🏃into to sunrise 🌄 . Better with Canon EOS 450D, but I only had my phone with me. . . #sunrise #s8 #s8photography #handyphoto #sky #nature #runnig #adidas #walking #followme #camera #blue #tracking #sun #ketosislife #training #motovation #loslassen #sport (hier: Wiener Neustadt, Austria) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDj78N4jd-s/?igshid=8x40o8b7xjn1

Dolly Setton - Human Body Ingredients, “The Cosmic Recipe for Earthlings”, 2013. “The Nitrogen in our DNA, the Calcium in our Teeth, the Iron in our Blood, were made in the interiors of Collapsing Stars. We are made of Star Stuff.” - Carl Sagan

Regarding Fractals and Non-Integral Dimensionality

Alright, I know it’s past midnight (at least it is where I am), but let’s talk about fractal geometry.

Fractals

If you don’t know what fractals are, they’re essentially just any shape that gets rougher (or has more detail) as you zoom in, rather than getting smoother. Non-fractals include easy geometric shapes like squares, circles, and triangles, while fractals include more complex or natural shapes like the coast of Great Britain, Sierpinski’s Triangle, or a Koch Snowflake.

Fractals, in turn, can be broken down further. Some fractals are the product of an iterative process and repeat smaller versions of themselves throughout them. Others are more natural and just happen to be more jagged.

Fractals and Non-Integral Dimensionality

Now that we’ve gotten the actual explanation of what fractals are out of the way, let’s talk about their most interesting property: non-integral dimensionality. The idea that fractals do not actually have an integral dimension was originally thought up by this guy, Benoit Mandelbrot.

He studied fractals a lot, even finding one of his own: the Mandelbrot Set. The important thing about this guy is that he realized that fractals are interesting when it comes to defining their dimension. Most regular shapes can have their dimension found easily: lines with their finite length but no width or height; squares with their finite length and width but no height; and cubes with their finite length, width, and height. Take note that each dimension has its own measure. The deal with many fractals is that they can’t be measured very easily at all using these terms. Take Sierpinski’s triangle as an example.

Is this shape one- or two-dimensional? Many would say two-dimensional from first glance, but the same shape can be created using a line rather than a triangle.

So now it seems a bit more tricky. Is it one-dimensional since it can be made out of a line, or is it two-dimensional since it can be made out of a triangle? The answer is neither. The problem is that, if we were to treat it like a two-dimensional object, the measure of its dimension (area) would be zero. This is because we’ve technically taken away all of its area by taking out smaller and smaller triangles in every available space. On the other hand, if we were to treat it like a one-dimensional object, the measure of its dimension (length) would be infinity. This is because the line keeps getting longer and longer to stretch around each and every hole, of which there are an infinite number. So now we run into a problem: if it’s neither one- nor two-dimensional, then what is its dimensionality? To find out, we can use non-fractals

Measuring Integral Dimensions and Applying to Fractals

Let’s start with a one-dimensional line. The measure for a one-dimensional object is length. If we were to scale the line down by one-half, what is the fraction of the new length compared to the original length?

The new length of each line is one-half the original length.

Now let’s try the same thing for squares. The measure for a two-dimensional object is area. If we were to scale down a square by one-half (that is to say, if we were to divide the square’s length in half and divide its width in half), what is the fraction of the new area compared to the original area?

The new area of each square is one-quarter the original area.

If we were to try the same with cubes, the volume of each new cube would be one-eighth the original volume of a cube. These fractions provide us with a pattern we can work with.

In one dimension, the new length (one-half) is equal to the scaling factor (one-half) put to the first power (given by it being one-dimensional).

In two dimensions, the new area (one-quarter) is equal to the scaling factor (one-half) put to the second power (given by it being two-dimensional).

In three dimensions, the same pattern follows suit, in which the new volume (one-eighth) is equivalent to the scaling factor (one-half) put to the third power.

We can infer from this trend that the dimension of an object could be (not is) defined as the exponent fixed to the scaling factor of an object that determines the new measure of the object. To put it in mathematical terms:

Examples of this equation would include the one-dimensional line, the two-dimensional square, and the three-dimensional cube:

½ = ½^1

¼ = ½^2

1/8 = ½^3

Now this equation can be used to define the dimensionality of a given fractal. Let’s try Sierpinski’s Triangle again.

Here we can see that the triangle as a whole is made from three smaller versions of itself, each of which is scaled down by half of the original (this is proven by each side of the smaller triangles being half the length of the side of the whole triangle). So now we can just plug in the numbers to our equation and leave the dimension slot blank.

1/3 = ½^D

To solve for D, we need to know what power ½ must be put to in order to get 1/3. To do this, we can use logarithms (quick note: in this case, we can replace ½ with 2 and 1/3 with 3).

log_2(3) = roughly 1.585

So we can conclude that Sierpinski’s triangle is 1.585-dimensional. Now we can repeat this process with many other fractals. For example, this Sierpinski-esque square:

It’s made up of eight smaller versions of itself, each of which is scaled down by one-third. Plugging this into the equation, we get

1/8 = 1/3^D

log_3(8) = roughly 1.893

So we can conclude that this square fractal is 1.893-dimensional.

We can do this on this cubic version of it, too:

This cube is made up of 20 smaller versions of itself, each of which is scaled down by 1/3.

1/20 = 1/3^D

log_3(20) = roughly 2.727

So we can conclude that this fractal is 2.727-dimensional.

Worlds That Will Make You Believe Star Wars is Real

The fantastical planets in Star Wars preceded our discovery of real planets outside our solar system…but fiction isn’t too far from the facts. When we send our spacecraft into the solar system and point our telescopes beyond, we often see things that seem taken right out of the Star Wars universe.

Is there a more perfect time than May the 4th to compare real worlds to the ones depicted in Star Wars? 

Probably not…so here are a few:

Mimas

Saturn’s moon, Mimas, has become known as the “Death Star” moon because of how its 80-mile wide Herschel crater creates a resemblance to the Imperial battle station, especially when seen in this view from our Cassini spacecraft. 

Kepler-452b

The most recently revealed exoplanet dubbed as Earth’s bigger, older cousin, Kepler-452b, might make a good stand-in for Coruscant — the high tech world seen in several Star Wars films whose surface is encased in a single, globe-spanning city. Kepler-452b belongs to a star system 1.5 billion years older than Earth’s! That would give any technologically adept species more than a billion-year jump ahead of us.

CoRoT-7b

At 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit, CoRoT-7B is a HOT planet. Discovered in 2010 with France’s CoRoT satellite, it’s some 480 light-years away, and has a diameter 70% larger than Earth’s, with nearly five times the mass. Possibly the boiled-down remnant of a Saturn-sized planet, its orbit is so tight that its star looms much larger in its sky than our sun appears to us, keeping its sun-facing surface molten!  This scorching planet orbiting close to its star could be a good analog for planet Mustafar from Star Wars. 

Kepler-16b

Luke Skywalker’s home planet, Tatooine, is said to possess a harsh, desert environment, swept by sandstorms as it roasts under the glare of twin suns. Real exoplanets in the thrall of two or more suns are even harsher! Kepler-16b was the Kepler telescope’s first discovery of a planet in a “circumbinary” orbit (a.k.a, circling both stars, as opposed to just one, in a double star system). This planet, however, is likely cold, about the size of Saturn, and gaseous, though partly composed of rock.

OGLE-2005-BLG-390

Fictional Hoth is a frozen tundra that briefly serves as a base for the hidden Rebel Alliance. It’s also the nickname of real exoplanet OGLE-2005-BLG-390, a cold super-Earth whose surface temperature clocks in at minus 364 degrees Fahrenheit.

Kepler-22b

Kepler-22b, analog to the Star Wars planet Kamino…which was the birthplace of the army of clone soldiers, is a super-Earth that could be covered in a super ocean. The jury is still out on Kepler-22b’s true nature; at 2.4 times Earth’s radius, it might even be gaseous. But if the ocean world idea turns out to be right, we can envision a physically plausible Kamino-like planet.

Gas Giants

Gas giants of all stripes populate the real exoplanet universe; in Star Wars, a gas giant called Bespin is home to a “Cloud City” actively involved in atmospheric mining. Mining the atmospheres of giant gas planets is a staple of science fiction. We too have examined the question, and found that gases such as helium-3 and hydrogen could theoretically be extracted from the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune. 

Exomoons

Endor, the forested realm of the Ewoks, orbits a gas giant. Exomoon detection is still in its infancy for scientists on Earth. However, a possible exomoon (a moon circling a distant planet) was observed in 2014 via microlensing. It will remain unconfirmed, however, since each microlensing event can be seen only once.

May the 4th be with you!

Discover more about exoplanets here: https://exoplanets.jpl.nasa.gov/

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

The Human Physical Immortality Roadmap

The Sun Just Released the Most Powerful Flare of this Solar Cycle

The Sun released two significant solar flares on Sept. 6, including one that clocked in as the most powerful flare of the current solar cycle.

The solar cycle is the approximately 11-year-cycle during which the Sun’s activity waxes and wanes. The current solar cycle began in December 2008 and is now decreasing in intensity and heading toward solar minimum, expected in 2019-2020. Solar minimum is a phase when solar eruptions are increasingly rare, but history has shown that they can nonetheless be intense.

Footage of the Sept. 6 X2.2 and X9.3 solar flares captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory in extreme ultraviolet light (131 angstrom wavelength)

Our Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite, which watches the Sun constantly, captured images of both X-class flares on Sept. 6.

Solar flares are classified according to their strength. X-class denotes the most intense flares, followed by M-class, while the smallest flares are labeled as A-class (near background levels) with two more levels in between. Similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, each of the five levels of letters represents a 10-fold increase in energy output. 

The first flare peaked at 5:10 a.m. EDT, while the second, larger flare, peaked at 8:02 a.m. EDT.

Footage of the Sept. 6 X2.2 and X9.3 solar flares captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory in extreme ultraviolet light (171 angstrom wavelength) with Earth for scale

Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however — when intense enough — they can disturb Earth’s atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.

Both Sept. 6 flares erupted from an active region labeled AR 2673. This area also produced a mid-level solar flare on Sept. 4, 2017. This flare peaked at 4:33 p.m. EDT, and was about a tenth the strength of X-class flares like those measured on Sept. 6.

Footage of the Sept. 4 M5.5 solar flare captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory in extreme ultraviolet light (131 angstrom wavelength)

This active region continues to produce significant solar flares. There were two flares on the morning of Sept. 7 as well. 

For the latest updates and to see how these events may affect Earth, please visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings.

Follow @NASASun on Twitter and NASA Sun Science on Facebook to keep up with all the latest in space weather research.

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