Mariaagnesi-fangirl-blog - The Farmer's Daughter

Not all galaxies are lonely. Some have galaxy squads. ⁣

NGC 1706, captured in this image by our Hubble Space Telescope, belongs to something known as a galaxy group, which is just as the name suggests — a group of up to 50 galaxies which are gravitationally bound and relatively close to each other. ⁣

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, has its own squad — known as the Local Group, which also contains the Andromeda galaxy, the Large and Small Magellanic clouds and the Triangulum galaxy.

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

Happy Halloween From The Space Place!

In a dark conference room, a pumpkin gently landed on the Moon, its retrorockets smoldering, while across the room, a flying saucer pumpkin hovered above Area 51 as a pumpkin alien wreaked havoc.

Suffice to say that when the scientists and engineers at our Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, compete in a pumpkin-carving contest, the solar system’s the limit. Now in its ninth year, the contest gives teams only one hour to carve (off the clock, on their lunch break), though they can prepare non-pumpkin materials — like backgrounds, sound effects and motorized parts — ahead of time. 

Enjoy! 

Looking for more pumpkin fun? Check out the full gallery, here. 

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

St Constantine Ukranian Catholic Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota

new work available on redbubble

Details from Columbarium

Wilhelm Kotarbiński (Polish, 1848-1921)

Oil on canvas

The Lagrangian wall.

Generic Coding Tips

>> Know the intent of your code. What is the purpose of your code? What should the inputs be? What should it output? It can be useful (especially for larger projects) to write out a flow chart that maps how information moves from task to task through the program.

>> Divide your code into sections that fulfill specific tasks, then chain them together. Sometimes it’s worth devoting a code section to its own file to be used by multiple programs rather than coding multiple instances of the same thing into each program. Consider what tasks might be useful for future programs.

>> Create a main project folder and don’t be afraid to use subfolders. Folder hierarchies are your friend when it comes to juggling multiple files in an easy-to-understand manner.

>> Consider having a “resources” subfolder, with pdfs, webpages, etc. of information relevant to your project. For example, I’m currently working on a program to calculate relic densities, so my project folder has a resource subfolder with research papers about relic densities. 

>> Comment your code! Seriously, future you will appreciate it. (I usually also keep a README.txt file in the same folder which describes how to implement the code.)  In the same vein, explicitly state any conventions you’re using and where you’re getting any data you import.

>> Test each section as you build it. Throw in sample values (preferably where you know what the output should be) periodically and make sure it’s doing what you want it to do!

>> SAVE WORKING VERSIONS OF YOUR CODE. Do you have a working build? Save it, then–before augmenting anything–create a new file and work on the next version of the code there. I do this usually via “save” and then “save as”.  Version control is to coding as save points are to video games.

>> Generating a lot of data? Consider saving a sample instance of that data in a subfolder. It can be a massive pain to troubleshoot portions of your program if you have to wait to generate hundreds of data points every time you run it. 

>> Getting an unknown error in a massive amount of code? Isolate the section of code containing the error(s), then create a minimal working example of the section, and keep adding to that example until you either figure out 1. why your original code failed, or 2. until you’ve constructed a new functioning code.

Andromeda over Nashville, if it were bright enough to see with the naked eye [OC]