The earth is now a giant iPhone.
2 Likes
I understand that computers can account for atmospheric distortions and correct the received images to enhance clarity.
1 Like
I’ve been not far from there before, took a bus from Santiago, Chile, to Mendoza, Argentina. Wanted to see Aconcagua, tallest mountain in the western or southern hemisphere at 22,837 feet.
30 some switchbacks heading south out of Santiago,
" From the Argentine side the route to the pass is a slow, gentle incline until entering a tunnel at approximately 3,200 meters (10,500 feet) elevation. On the Chilean side the slope has a far higher grade, and the road descends down a long series of switchbacks to make the descent."
1 Like
Well, obviously it’s designed and operated by people much smarter than us lowly, knuckle dragging citizens. I’m still amazed by that claim though, that an earth based telescope will be a magnitude of 15x more clear than Hubble. Sounds like we might be able to focus in on alien wieners with that kind of clarity. I guess we’ll find out.
Wow. I live a few kms from Cerro Chirripo, the tallest mountain in Costa Rica. A mere 12,500 ft.
22,000 is something else.
3 Likes
Swear to God I see Dr. Evil sitting in there…
3 Likes
There are 3 mountains there that are all very impressive, have Costa Rica on what is now a very short bucket list. Also when I lived in Colorado my deck faced Longs Peak, which is over 14,000 ft and held snow for a good part of the year.
3 Likes
I am heading home soon to help care for my aging parents, but will split time between Canada and CR for the rest of my days. I love this little country, there are so many microclimates and so much regional variety to be found, and the people are kind and tolerant of foreigners. Though that is changing a bit and the immigration laws could change. But right now they are giving out 6 month tourist visas like candy. Come for the beach, stay for the mountains. Actually, in the mountain region I’m in it’s only a 45 minute drive to the Pacific. Crazy abundance of beauty. CR is expensive though, and will only be gettting more expensive as people up north keep migrating here.
3 Likes
My sister-in-laws sister was one of the organizers for saving the leatherback turtles there, so they used to go down there fairly often to help out. Looks like my father-in-law won’t be leaving the retirement home so we will still be dealing with the evil bitch that he married and is mother to my wife for some time to come because evil don’t go down easy. She gave me the green light to go back to Mendoza w/o her but little to no chance she would sign off on me going to CR w/o her. Eh, just gives me something to look forward to I guess. Several people I know from IOWA down there and the reports are all the same. Also a guy from Wisconsin that owned a charter place on Lake Michigan where I fished left and has a place down there doing the same thing, and I love to get out on the water. Safe travels when you go back north, avoid customs in the US if you can.
1 Like
It’s not perfect here, but it’s also a wonderland for people who love nature. If you’re into fishing, there are plenty of little ports to set out from. Ha, Clark Gable had a place down here to go deep sea fishing. And yeah, I will avoid the US until things change, sadly. People from around the world will do the same. Better days ahead, I hope. Please stand up. You know the assignment. Be Americans. 
1 Like
A Star’s Celestial Waltz Proves Einstein Right—Yet Again 
After nearly three decades of careful observation, astronomers have once again confirmed Einstein’s general theory of relativity—this time in one of the universe’s most extreme arenas: the heart of the Milky Way.
The star S2, which orbits our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*, doesn’t follow a regular oval path. Instead, it traces a shifting, flower-like orbit known as Schwarzschild precession—a behavior Einstein predicted would occur near massive objects. While this phenomenon was first noticed in Mercury’s orbit, it’s the first time it’s been witnessed near a black hole.
Thanks to over 300 detailed measurements from the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory, researchers were able to track S2’s motion across its 16-year orbit. At its closest, the star comes within just 17 light-hours of the black hole, hurtling through space at 8,900 km/s—around 3% of the speed of light.
Research Source
R. Abuter et al., “Detection of the Schwarzschild precession in the orbit of the star S2 near the Galactic centre massive black hole,” Astronomy and Astrophysics (2020)
’/%3E%3Cpath d=‘M16.0001 7.9996c0 4.418-3.5815 7.9996-7.9995 7.9996S.001 12.4176.001 7.9996 3.5825 0 8.0006 0C12.4186 0 16 3.5815 16 7.9996Z’ fill=‘url(%23paint1_radial_15251_63610)’/%3E%3Cpath d=‘M16.0001 7.9996c0 4.418-3.5815 7.9996-7.9995 7.9996S.001 12.4176.001 7.9996 3.5825 0 8.0006 0C12.4186 0 16 3.5815 16 7.9996Z’ fill=‘url(%23paint2_radial_15251_63610)’ fill-opacity=‘.5’/%3E%3Cpath d=‘M7.3014 3.8662a.6974.6974 0 0 1 .6974-.6977c.6742 0 1.2207.5465 1.2207 1.2206v1.7464a.101.101 0 0 0 .101.101h1.7953c.992 0 1.7232.9273 1.4917 1.892l-.4572 1.9047a2.301 2.301 0 0 1-2.2374 1.764H6.9185a.5752.5752 0 0 1-.5752-.5752V7.7384c0-.4168.097-.8278.2834-1.2005l.2856-.5712a3.6878 3.6878 0 0 0 .3893-1.6509l-.0002-.4496ZM4.367 7a.767.767 0 0 0-.7669.767v3.2598a.767.767 0 0 0 .767.767h.767a.3835.3835 0 0 0 .3835-.3835V7.3835A.3835.3835 0 0 0 5.134 7h-.767Z’ fill=‘%23fff’/%3E%3Cdefs%3E%3CradialGradient id=‘paint1_radial_15251_63610’ cx=‘0’ cy=‘0’ r=‘1’ gradientUnits=‘userSpaceOnUse’ gradientTransform=‘rotate(90 .0005 8) scale(7.99958)’%3E%3Cstop offset=‘.5618’ stop-color=‘%230866FF’ stop-opacity=‘0’/%3E%3Cstop offset=‘1’ stop-color=‘%230866FF’ stop-opacity=‘.1’/%3E%3C/radialGradient%3E%3CradialGradient id=‘paint2_radial_15251_63610’ cx=‘0’ cy=‘0’ r=‘1’ gradientUnits=‘userSpaceOnUse’ gradientTransform=‘rotate(45 -4.5257 10.9237) scale(10.1818)’%3E%3Cstop offset=‘.3143’ stop-color=‘%2302ADFC’/%3E%3Cstop offset=‘1’ stop-color=‘%2302ADFC’ stop-opacity=‘0’/%3E%3C/radialGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id=‘paint0_linear_15251_63610’ x1=‘2.3989’ y1=‘2.3999’ x2=‘13.5983’ y2=‘13.5993’ gradientUnits=‘userSpaceOnUse’%3E%3Cstop stop-color=‘%2302ADFC’/%3E%3Cstop offset=‘.5’ stop-color=‘%230866FF’/%3E%3Cstop offset=‘1’ stop-color=‘%232B7EFF’/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3C/defs%3E%3C/svg%3E)
’%3E%3Cpath d=‘M15.9963 8c0 4.4179-3.5811 7.9993-7.9986 7.9993-4.4176 0-7.9987-3.5814-7.9987-7.9992 0-4.4179 3.5811-7.9992 7.9987-7.9992 4.4175 0 7.9986 3.5813 7.9986 7.9992Z’ fill=‘url(%23paint0_linear_15251_63610)’/%3E%3Cpath d=‘M15.9973 7.9992c0 4.4178-3.5811 7.9992-7.9987 7.9992C3.5811 15.9984 0 12.417 0 7.9992S3.5811 0 7.9986 0c4.4176 0 7.9987 3.5814 7.9987 7.9992Z’ fill=‘url(%23paint1_radial_15251_63610)’/%3E%3Cpath d=‘M7.9996 5.9081c-.3528-.8845-1.1936-1.507-2.1748-1.507-1.4323 0-2.4254 1.328-2.4254 2.6797 0 2.2718 2.3938 4.0094 4.0816 5.1589.3168.2157.7205.2157 1.0373 0 1.6878-1.1495 4.0815-2.8871 4.0815-5.159 0-1.3517-.993-2.6796-2.4254-2.6796-.9811 0-1.822.6225-2.1748 1.507Z’ fill=‘%23fff’/%3E%3C/g%3E%3Cdefs%3E%3CradialGradient id=‘paint1_radial_15251_63610’ cx=‘0’ cy=‘0’ r=‘1’ gradientUnits=‘userSpaceOnUse’ gradientTransform=‘matrix(0 7.9992 -7.99863 0 7.9986 7.9992)’%3E%3Cstop offset=‘.5637’ stop-color=‘%23E11731’ stop-opacity=‘0’/%3E%3Cstop offset=‘1’ stop-color=‘%23E11731’ stop-opacity=‘.1’/%3E%3C/radialGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id=‘paint0_linear_15251_63610’ x1=‘2.3986’ y1=‘2.4007’ x2=‘13.5975’ y2=‘13.5993’ gradientUnits=‘userSpaceOnUse’%3E%3Cstop stop-color=‘%23FF74AE’/%3E%3Cstop offset=‘.5001’ stop-color=‘%23FA2E3E’/%3E%3Cstop offset=‘1’ stop-color=‘%23FF5758’/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3CclipPath id=‘clip0_15251_63610’%3E%3Cpath fill=‘%23fff’ d=‘M-.001.0009h15.9992v15.9984H-.001z’/%3E%3C/clipPath%3E%3C/defs%3E%3C/svg%3E)
’%3E%3Cpath d=‘M15.9972 7.9996c0 4.418-3.5815 7.9996-7.9996 7.9996-4.418 0-7.9996-3.5816-7.9996-7.9996S3.5796 0 7.9976 0c4.4181 0 7.9996 3.5815 7.9996 7.9996Z’ fill=‘url(%23paint0_linear_15251_63610)’/%3E%3Cpath d=‘M15.9973 7.9992c0 4.4178-3.5811 7.9992-7.9987 7.9992C3.5811 15.9984 0 12.417 0 7.9992S3.5811 0 7.9986 0c4.4176 0 7.9987 3.5814 7.9987 7.9992Z’ fill=‘url(%23paint1_radial_15251_63610)’/%3E%3Cpath d=‘M15.9972 7.9996c0 4.418-3.5815 7.9996-7.9996 7.9996-4.418 0-7.9996-3.5816-7.9996-7.9996S3.5796 0 7.9976 0c4.4181 0 7.9996 3.5815 7.9996 7.9996Z’ fill=‘url(%23paint2_radial_15251_63610)’ fill-opacity=‘.8’/%3E%3Cpath fill-rule=‘evenodd’ clip-rule=‘evenodd’ d=‘M5.6144 10.8866c.159-1.8461 1.127-2.887 2.382-2.887 1.2551 0 2.2231 1.0418 2.3822 2.887.1591 1.8461-.7342 3.1127-2.3821 3.1127-1.648 0-2.5412-1.2666-2.3821-3.1127Z’ fill=‘%234B280E’/%3E%3Cellipse cx=‘11.1978’ cy=‘5.6997’ rx=‘1.3999’ ry=‘1.6999’ fill=‘%231C1C1D’/%3E%3Cellipse cx=‘4.7979’ cy=‘5.6997’ rx=‘1.3999’ ry=‘1.6999’ fill=‘%231C1C1D’/%3E%3Cpath fill-rule=‘evenodd’ clip-rule=‘evenodd’ d=‘M12.3528 3.166a1.4744 1.4744 0 0 0-1.8591-.3279.4.4 0 1 1-.3976-.6941c.9527-.5457 2.1592-.333 2.8678.5056a.4.4 0 0 1-.6111.5163ZM5.4998 2.8381a1.4744 1.4744 0 0 0-1.859.3278.4.4 0 0 1-.6111-.5162c.7085-.8387 1.915-1.0514 2.8677-.5057a.4.4 0 0 1-.3976.6941Z’ fill=‘%23E0761A’/%3E%3C/g%3E%3Cdefs%3E%3CradialGradient id=‘paint1_radial_15251_63610’ cx=‘0’ cy=‘0’ r=‘1’ gradientUnits=‘userSpaceOnUse’ gradientTransform=‘matrix(0 7.9992 -7.99863 0 7.9986 7.9992)’%3E%3Cstop offset=‘.5637’ stop-color=‘%23FF5758’ stop-opacity=‘0’/%3E%3Cstop offset=‘1’ stop-color=‘%23FF5758’ stop-opacity=‘.1’/%3E%3C/radialGradient%3E%3CradialGradient id=‘paint2_radial_15251_63610’ cx=‘0’ cy=‘0’ r=‘1’ gradientUnits=‘userSpaceOnUse’ gradientTransform=‘rotate(45 -4.5262 10.9226) scale(10.1818)’%3E%3Cstop stop-color=‘%23FFF287’/%3E%3Cstop offset=‘1’ stop-color=‘%23FFF287’ stop-opacity=‘0’/%3E%3C/radialGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id=‘paint0_linear_15251_63610’ x1=‘2.3979’ y1=‘2.3999’ x2=‘13.5973’ y2=‘13.5993’ gradientUnits=‘userSpaceOnUse’%3E%3Cstop stop-color=‘%23FFF287’/%3E%3Cstop offset=‘1’ stop-color=‘%23F68628’/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3CclipPath id=‘clip0_15251_63610’%3E%3Cpath fill=‘%23fff’ d=‘M-.002 0h15.9992v15.9992H-.002z’/%3E%3C/clipPath%3E%3C/defs%3E%3C/svg%3E)
All reactions:
1.1K1.1K
2 Likes
So all the hydrographics below the image is the actual equations yes?!
1 Like
Wow, never scrolled down. That Einstein was one smart dude. Leaving it up for those that understand it.
1 Like
Those aren’t equations, that is data from a vector image. 
1 Like
Well, duh, that’s just stating the obvious. 
1 Like
Well…
Wonder if any of them can play on the Edge?
2 Likes
1 Like