Yall Arent Ready Yet But One Day Were Going To Talk About How The Young Wizards Series Is Better Than

First-Ever High Resolution Radio Images of Supernova 1987A

On February 23, 1987, the brightest extragalactic supernova in history was seen from Earth.

Image 1: An overlay of radio emission (contours) and a Hubble space telescope image of Supernova 1987A. Credit: ICRAR (radio contours) and Hubble (image.) Image 2: Radio image at 7 mm. Credit: ICRAR Radio image of the remnant of SN 1987A produced from observations performed with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA).

Now 26 years later, astronomers have taken the highest resolution radio images ever of the expanding supernova remnant at extremely precise millimeter wavelengths.

Using the Australia Telescope Compact Array radio telescope in New South Wales, Australia, Supernova 1987A has been now observed in unprecedented detail. The new data provide some unique imagery that takes a look at the different regions of the supernova remnant.

“Not only have we been able to analyze the morphology of Supernova 1987A through our high resolution imaging, we have compared it to X-ray and optical data in order to model its likely history,” said Bryan Gaensler, Director of CAASTRO (Centre for All-sky Astrophysics) at the University of Sydney.

Iris Scott - Lunar Eclipse, 2020 - Oil on canvas

The funny thing about comparing the young wizards books to Harry Potter is that not only did they come way before Harry Potter, not only is the prose massively more competent, not only does the author have morals she holds to - to the point of rewriting the entire ending of one of her books when she was told it was harmful, but she also outlasted the whole Harry Potter phenomenon and is still putting out new books that are actually good in the series. Literally a flawless victory on every front.

(MIKE FUCK OFF WE’VE BEEN OVER THIS ALREADY I H8 U NO LOVE)

im cryin this is what im doing with my life wowowow a ma zing !!

The Journey to Mars Begins Tomorrow

NASA is preparing for the first test flight of the Orion crew vehicle set for an unmanned launch on Dec. 4 at 7:05 a.m. EST from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The Orion spacecraft is designed to eventually take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit to destinations never explored by humans. It will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to distant planetary bodies, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel, and provide safe reentry from deep space.

This mission is the first of three trial runs that the Orion mission must overcome before NASA deems it safe enough for human space travel. 

The next test flights in 2018 and 2021 will use NASA’s Space Launch System rocket (SLS), which is currently in development. When it’s finished, SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built, boasting even more thrust than the Saturn V booster that blasted astronauts toward the moon in the Apollo era.  

The spacecraft will launch atop a Delta IV Heavy, a rocket built and operated by United Launch Alliance. While this launch vehicle will allow Orion to reach an altitude high enough to meet the objectives for this test, a much larger, human-rated rocket will be needed for the vast distances of future exploration missions.

Exploration Flight Test-1, will mark the farthest distance traveled by a human spaceflight vehicle since 1972 made by Apollo 17.

During its grueling four-and-half-hour test mission, NASA’s Orion space capsule must shoot 3,600 miles away from Earth (15 times higher than the International Space Station!), orbit the planet twice, and brave a thick belt of cosmic radiation. 

Upon re-entry it must deploy 11 parachutes to slow down from 20,000 miles per hour to 20 mph, while withstanding 4,000-degree Fahrenheit temperatures before plunging into the Pacific Ocean. 

Check out these incredible photos from the development and testing of the spacecraft.

Countdown, launch and mission coverage will begin at 4:30 a.m. on NASA TV which is available on air and streaming at nasa.gov/nasatv

Fuck It, Let's Talk About Wizards

I currently view this blog as a way for me to rant about math and stories without anyone being forced to be my audience. So let’s get on with it!

I am going to rant about my all-time favorite book series: The Young Wizards Series by Diane Duane.

SHUT UP. I know what you are thinking, imaginary reader, and YOU ARE WRONG. This is totally not a Harry Potter knockoff. The series was actually started way before Harry Potter. But to assuage your worries, I will list all the things this series has in common with Harry Potter:

It’s about people between the ages of 11 and 17.

Said people have some sort of supernatural powers that could be deemed ‘magical.’

That’s it. That’s the only ways they’re similar. 

Weirdly enough, Young Wizards actually has way more in common with Doctor Who than Harry Potter. Even though it’s basically fantasy, the stories feel much more like science fiction. 

All right, let’s get on with this. I know what you’re thinking, because I can read the minds of all my imaginary readers.

SO WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT ANYWAYS?

Basically, magic is real. It’s given out by “The Powers That Be,” basically the gods, to a bunch of people around the Universe. So that they can fight “The Lone Power,” who is basically Satan.

Yes, Satan. Voldemort doesn’t seem so scary now, does he?

Our protagonists, Kit and Nita, are kids that are both chosen for this. “Chosen” actually makes it sound a lot more organized than it really is. Basically, you find a book that tells you how to do magic and what it’s supposed to be used for. If you take the Wizard’s Oath, you now have magical powers. And as a sort of “welcome to the magical powers club” gift, you now have to immediately go fight Satan in a terrifying Ordeal. It’s fucking awesome.

So the first book, So You Want to be a Wizard, chronicles this Ordeal. After that, things get a bit more varied. The protagonists mainly just travel around the Universe, going on dangerous missions, and fighting Satan.

Yes, the Universe. Being basically the warriors of the gods, they are not confined to Earth. This is a fantasy book with aliens in it. Awesome aliens. Some of them are bad, some of them are good, some of them are also wizards. This is, in short, the books you have been waiting for: the books where MAGIC KIDS AND ALSO  MAGIC ALIENS FIGHT SATAN oh shit that sounds kind of like Homestuck.

The reason these books are my favorites of all time is because they never get old. Most kids’ books are awesome as a kid and kind of lame as an adult. I have loved these no matter how old I am. I loved them in elementary school and I still do now, in college. And not nostalgic love either, where I just like them because I used to. They’re still exactly as good.

It’s not even in the Harry Potter ‘they grow up with you’ way. Like, when you read The Philosopher’s Stone now, it’s not as good as it was when you were a kid. The first couple Young Wizards books are slightly more childish than the others. Slightly.  The series starts off fairly dark and stays that way. Shit gets real. People die. Sacrifices are made. Difficult moral questions are confronted.

One of my favorite parts of this setup is that it’s still our universe. The kids have to hide their powers from the world at large and still show up to school and do normal kid stuff. They have to cope with all that crap while constantly risking their lives to fight evil. And the magic isn’t easy either. 

All right, this rant is getting kind of ridiculously long, so I’ll leave you with one last comment. This is the kind of series where you are constantly fistpumping and yelling “HOLY SHIT” (and terrifying the people around you) because crazy awesome stuff goes down a lot. 

Here is the list of the books so far, in case you want to read them (you should):

So You Want to be a Wizard (Kids get powers, go on their ordeal)

Deep Wizardry (There’s no way I can describe this without it sounding stupid, but it’s awesome, trust me)

High Wizardry (One of the ones where a lot of crazy awesome shit goes down)

A Wizard Abroad 

A Wizard’s Dilemma 

A Wizard Alone 

Wizard’s Holiday 

Wizards at War (HOLY SHIT GUYS THIS ONE IS AWESOME)

A Wizard of Mars

remus would have been so good at finding loopholes for the marauders to slip through like i mean as a prefect he would have had to know all of them to an extent and i can just see sirius hopping onto his bed like “hey moony can we do this thing without technically breaking any rules” and remus would be like well no but you could do this and then guess who doesnt have detention despite the fact that all anyone at the slytherin table has had for dinner the past four days is haggis

Cosmic Dance: Creation of Supermassive Black Holes

Evolution of two equal sized galaxies colliding and forming a massive cloud of gas that will collapse into black hole.

Credit: Ohio State University