RECORD BREAKERS

Bioluminescent Plankton

Scientists have only recently discovered that this type of plankton glows when they are moved because of stress - ironic when you consider how relaxing the sight of the shimmering waves are in the dark night. Bioluminescence is used as a defence mechanism to draw predators towards the creature trying to eat the plankton. The tiny flashes of light also disorientate and surprise the predator.

These tiny organisms produce light using a chemical called luciferin. The process of creating a bioluminescent light, which is simply light produced within a living creature, differs between organisms. Some need a particular food or another creature for the effect to happen. But this type of plankton, called dinoflagellates, produce luciferin on their own. The light the tiny plankton emit is called ‘cold light’, meaning less than 20% of the light generates heat.

Huge areas of the ocean can become populated by glowing plankton but the effect is especially common in warm-water lagoons that have narrow openings to the sea. This causes the plankton to gather and become trapped, causing the water to turn orange.

Image credit: Will Ho, Kin Cheung, Landscapes Maldives & eyegami

Source: Kuoni

Hubble Anniversary Image Captures Roiling Heart of Vast Stellar Nursery by NASA Hubble

Say hello to globular cluster 47 Tucanae 👋

This glittery spray of ancient stars is about 16,700 light-years away from Earth toward the constellation Tucana. Globular clusters like this one are isolated star cities, home to hundreds of thousands of stars that are held together by their mutual gravity. And like the fast pace of cities, there’s plenty of action in these stellar metropolises. The stars are in constant motion, orbiting around the cluster’s center.

Past observations have shown that the heavyweight stars tend to crowd into the “downtown” core area, while lightweight stars reside in the less populated suburbs. But as heavyweight stars age, they rapidly lose mass, cool down and shut off their nuclear furnaces. After the purge, only the stars’ bright, superhot cores – called white dwarfs – remain. This weight loss program causes the now lighter-weight white dwarfs to be nudged out of the downtown area through gravitational interactions with heftier stars.

Until these Hubble observations, astronomers had never seen the dynamic conveyor belt in action. The Hubble results reveal young white dwarfs amid their leisurely 40-million-year exodus from the bustling center of the cluster.

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Nightfall

I feel my favorite Sci-Fi story of all times must be Isaac Asimov's 'Nightfall' (SPOILERS ahead btw) (the title in my language is even better, "And Darkness Shall Come").

To quickly summarize from memory, the story is set on a planet where people live in constant daylight because their homeworld is illuminated by one of six suns at all times. By the time of the narrative, they have reached an industrialized, roughly early 20th-century style civilization.

A prophecy speaks of a cycle where the planet will fall into complete darkness, and now scientists have discovered that it is not just a fairy tale - apparently, one day soon another planet is gonna block out all the suns for a period of about 12 hours.

Disturbingly, another part of the prophecy is confirmed as well - archaeologists discover that the planet's cities have been burned to the ground every time the darkness came, resetting civilization, and only returning to the old level of development after thousands of years.

The prophecy says that people will go mad in the darkness, when they look up to the sky and the stars appear.

Now, scientists and governments are alarmed, but not panicked. They look at their technolgical progress and understanding of the universe, and they are confident their civilization will not fall like the others. They know their people are literate, the current level of knowledge about the cosmos is widespread - including the theory that there might even be more than one solar system.

Electrical lights exist, but on this planet they only have niche applications in things like mining operations and bunker construction. Outfitting entire cities with them is not feasible on short notice, and also considered a waste of resources - 12 hours without sunlight should be perfectly survivable for an advanced and enlightened people.

There are experiments to simulate the effects of the darkness on the psyche. One scientists sits in a dark room with a few dozen holes in the ceiling, to simulate these fabled "stars", and declares it's manageable.

Then the big day arrives - or rather, ends.

The suns disappear, and darkness falls across the land.

And people look up, and they see this

And their civilization ends within 12 hours.

Hubble Observes Infant Stars in Nearby Galaxy by NASA Hubble

Look at the bottom gif! The long tentacles are pushed out and parallel to each other while the jelly is motionless. This behavior is predatory, which means that the Marianas Trench Jelly is set in attack mode! 

Read more about the 2016 discovery of the Marianas Trench Jelly

Crow, landing by me like one of those kinetic bombardment tungsten rods: I am ancient. I am all-seeing. I sat on the shoulders of gods, made friends with the wolf and picked clean the eyes of your brothers. I am the ever-shifting trickster and the croak at the back of Death's throat. I am darkness a-wing and night in the day.

Me: Baby! Your lunch is there, go mad.

Crow: ...

Me: ...

Crow: Ooh, raisins!

Jupiter and Moons, January 24, 2014 by Hubble Heritage

Important science info guys.

Pickering’s Triangle