Educa Ciencia

Actividades didácticas y divertidas

[educaciencia]

¿Quieres viajar por el Sistema Solar? 

Ven a visitar nuestro planetario infantil en Juvenalia. ¡Te esperamos!

[rhamphotheca]

The Cave that Inspired Mendelssohn, Pink Floyd, and Matthew Barney

[educaciencia]

Like something out of an epic fantasy novel — or maybe The Lego Movie — Fingal’s Cave, located on the Scottish island of Staffa, is a 270-foot-deep, 72-foot-tall sea cave with walls of perfectly hexagonal columns.

Celtic legend holds that the cave was once part of a bridge across the sea, built by giants to fight one another. (The other end of the bridge is Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, which exhibits the same blocky look.) Science says it formed from enormous masses of lava that cooled so slowly that they broke into long hexagonal pillars, like mud cracking under the hot sun…

¿Qué hay al otro lado del mar, frente a la Calzada de los Gigantes?

[astronomicalwonders]

Why is Pluto now classified as not a planet?

So when Pluto was discovered in he 1840s we didn’t know nearly as much as we do now about our solar system. For example, we didn’t know that there was another belt of objects (similar to the asteroid belt) outside of the orbit of Neptune. Here it is:

We now know that this belt exists and we call it it Kuiper Belt. You see, this is when the problem began. We started discovering hundreds of icy bodies that were the same size as or larger than Pluto. (gif of Pluto):

What were we to do? should we now have a solar system with hundreds of Planets? It no longer made sense to call Pluto a planet when we found objects that were just like it (and in some cases larger than it) and did not classify them as Planets. Pluto clearly did not fit in with the planets, it fit in better with the icy bodies we had discovered.

Pluto is now classified as a Dwarf Planet, and I’m sure it is much happier there. It is no longer the smallest Planet, it is now one of the biggest Dwarf Planets.

Here is a good illustration of some of the larger objects that have been found in the Kuiper Belt sense it’s discovery:

Thanks for the ask!

[sagansense]

Not-so-small correction: Pluto was actually discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Neptune, however, was discovered in 1846.

For further information regarding Pluto’s declassification, I recommend reading Neil deGrasse Tyson’s 'The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet'. In it, you’ll find these wonderful gems below:

PBS NOVA also produced a 52-minute accompanying feature of the same name narrated/hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson himself, which you can WATCH HERE. It’s basically a compressed version of the book, so if you don’t feel like reading, it’s a great overview.

Recently, Neil deGrasse Tyson was a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers, whereby Neil discussed, COSMOS, science literacy, science fiction, comic books, his space-friendly vest, his presidential selfie with Bill Nye and Barack Obama.

The moment that made astronomy and TV history however, was his reconciliation with the now dwarf planet - Pluto.

When Pluto - ironically, an audience member in attendance that evening - confronted Neil about his “dwarf status” (in front of his human lady friend, no less), Tyson explained that the elements and atoms our home star is comprised of, are consistent with all of the precious bodies - large and small - amidst our solar system, including Pluto. This is not to be missed.

[educaciencia]

Plutón fue clasificado como planeta por error. Pluto was classified as a planet by mistake.

[educaciencia]

Parece que los norteamericanos van aceptando que Plutón no es u planeta... Gracias a Neil deGrasse Tysson. ;-)

[pbstv]

Meet Ardi, a 4.4 million-year-old fossil that sheds light on our transition to walking on two legs. Host Neil Shubin joins Tim White and Owen Lovejoy to understand our transition to bipedalism.

YOUR INNER FISH continues Wednesday, April 16 & 23 at 10/9c on PBS.

[educaciencia]

El descubrimiento del ardipithecus ramidus y como deducen que vivía en el bosque, que vivía en los árboles y... Que sabía también andar sobre dos piernas.

[astronomicalwonders]

Why is Pluto now classified as not a planet?

So when Pluto was discovered in he 1840s we didn’t know nearly as much as we do now about our solar system. For example, we didn’t know that there was another belt of objects (similar to the asteroid belt) outside of the orbit of Neptune. Here it is:

We now know that this belt exists and we call it it Kuiper Belt. You see, this is when the problem began. We started discovering hundreds of icy bodies that were the same size as or larger than Pluto. (gif of Pluto):

What were we to do? should we now have a solar system with hundreds of Planets? It no longer made sense to call Pluto a planet when we found objects that were just like it (and in some cases larger than it) and did not classify them as Planets. Pluto clearly did not fit in with the planets, it fit in better with the icy bodies we had discovered.

Pluto is now classified as a Dwarf Planet, and I’m sure it is much happier there. It is no longer the smallest Planet, it is now one of the biggest Dwarf Planets.

Here is a good illustration of some of the larger objects that have been found in the Kuiper Belt sense it’s discovery:

Thanks for the ask!

[sagansense]

Not-so-small correction: Pluto was actually discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Neptune, however, was discovered in 1846.

For further information regarding Pluto’s declassification, I recommend reading Neil deGrasse Tyson’s 'The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet'. In it, you’ll find these wonderful gems below:

PBS NOVA also produced a 52-minute accompanying feature of the same name narrated/hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson himself, which you can WATCH HERE. It’s basically a compressed version of the book, so if you don’t feel like reading, it’s a great overview.

Recently, Neil deGrasse Tyson was a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers, whereby Neil discussed, COSMOS, science literacy, science fiction, comic books, his space-friendly vest, his presidential selfie with Bill Nye and Barack Obama.

The moment that made astronomy and TV history however, was his reconciliation with the now dwarf planet - Pluto.

When Pluto - ironically, an audience member in attendance that evening - confronted Neil about his “dwarf status” (in front of his human lady friend, no less), Tyson explained that the elements and atoms our home star is comprised of, are consistent with all of the precious bodies - large and small - amidst our solar system, including Pluto. This is not to be missed.

[educaciencia]

Plutón fue clasificado como planeta por error. Pluto was classified as a planet by mistake.

[qr7xf-7kw4k-nhydy-0w4z-jtnw-ntr3]

Cassini space probe at Saturn to take rare photo of Earth on July 19

From Earth’s surface, it’s very hard to visualize how much empty space surrounds us. If we could capture photos of Earth from a distant vantage point – say, the outer solar system – we could perhaps begin to picture it, but those opportunities are rare. We humans have acquired only two images of Earth from the outer solar system – ever. The first and most distant was taken 23 years ago by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft from 4 billion miles (6 billion kilometers) away, showing Earth as a pale blue dot . The other opportunity was Cassini’s image in 2006 from 926 million miles (1.49 billion kilometers). But soon another opportunity will occur. On July 19, 2013, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, now orbiting Saturn and weaving in and among its moons, will be aligned in such a way that Saturn will eclipse the sun as seen fron the spacecraft. With the sun’s light blocked, space scientists will capture the third-ever picture of Earth from the outer solar system, hundreds of millions of miles away.

Earth will appear as a small, pale blue dot between the rings of Saturn in the image, which will be part of a mosaic, or multi-image portrait, of the Saturn system Cassini is composing, NASA says.

Image 1 | This image is known as the Pale Blue Orb. The Cassini spacecraft – which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004 – captured it in 2006 when the spacecraft was nearly 930 million miles from Earth.. This image was made possible by the passing of Saturn directly in front of the sun as seen from Cassini. A similar geometry between the Earth, the sun and the Cassini spacecraft will let Cassini take another image of Earth on July 19, 2013. It’ll be only the third such image of Earth ever to be acquired from the outer solar system. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. Read more about this image here.

Image 2 | This is a photo known as the Pale Blue Dot – one of only two images of Earth taken from the outer solar system. The “dot” – our world, Earth – is on the right side of the photo, about halfway down. The Voyager 1 spacecraft acquired this image in 1990, from a record distance of about 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) from Earth. Voyager was, and still is, heading out of the solar system at the time. NASA engineers commanded it to turn back toward Earth and acquire this image at the request of the late Carl Sagan. Image via NASA/JPL. Read more about this image here.

[beatonna]

There’s something wonderful about Marvin Bileck’s minimal illustrations for All About the Stars.  

[the-science-llama]

[educaciencia]

If Earth Had Rings

First off, they would be really pretty to look at. They would also dominate the sky in both night and day at exactly the same place as they would never rise nor set. And at night you would see the Earth’s shadow swing across the rings, like in the 4th photo here.

However, life would be very different on Earth if this were the case. Nocturnal animals would have a hard time being nocturnal, as the light reflecting from the rings would illuminate the night.

Because we are closer to the Sun than Saturn is, the rings would be more rocky than ice, making them less bright but still pretty bright. In fact, you would see far less stars at night (living anywhere other than the equator or the arctic circle) because of the light pollution and not to mention ruin most meteor showers because of that.

During the day the rings would block sunlight in certain regions of the planet creating wild weather cycles and effecting plant life as well. So basically, they would be definitely pretty to look at but they would also make a whole lot of things screwy.

Illustrations by Ron Miller // io9 — Click the photos for captions

Si la Tierra tuviera anillos...

[irakalan]

CAMERA OBSCURA BY  ABELARDO MORELL

Photographer Abelardo Morell - “I made my first picture using camera obscura techniques in my darkened living room in 1991. In setting up a room to make this kind of photograph, I cover all windows with black plastic in order to achieve total darkness. Then, I cut a small hole in the material I use to cover the windows. This opening allows an inverted image of the view outside to flood onto the back walls of the room. Typically then I focused my large-format camera on the incoming image on the wall then make a camera exposure on film. In the beginning, exposures took from five to ten hours”. [see more]

[educaciencia]

¿Qué ocurre si transformamos una habitación entera en una cámara oscura?

[odditiesoflife]

Rare Nacreous Clouds

Also called polar stratospheric clouds or mother of pearl clouds, nacreous clouds are mostly visible within two hours after sunset or before dawn. They blaze unbelievably bright with vivid, iridescent colors. These clouds are rare and occur in the polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15,000–25,000 meters. They are so bright because at those heights, they are still sunlit.

Although incredibly beautiful, they have a negative impact on our atmosphere. They create ozone holes by supporting chemical reactions that produce active chlorine which catalyzes ozone destruction.

[educaciencia]

Hermosas imágenes de nubes noctilucentes.

[qr7xf-7kw4k-nhydy-0w4z-jtnw-ntr3]

Here is an epic song / video of the periodic table! It has every element in order created as a catchy song with hilarious visuals!  I think your viewers would love it.

I loved it Thank you

[educaciencia]

La canción para aprender la tabla periódica de los elementos. Pero poco a poco, que a los niños les cuesta entender el concepto de átomo.

[crookedindifference-deactivated]

First Solar Eclipse Photograph

Berkowski made the first solar eclipse photograph on July 28, 1851, also using the daguerrotype process, at the Royal Observatory in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kalinigrad in Russia). Berkowski, a local daguerrotypist whose first name was never published, observed at the Royal Observatory. A small 6-cm refracting telescope was attached to the 15.8-cm Fraunhofer heliometer and a 84-second exposure was taken shortly after the beginning of totality.

[educaciencia]

La primera imagen captada de un eclipse total de Sol. Se trata de un daguerrotipo que fue tomado desde el Observatorio Real de la ciudad Königsberg (Prusia entonces, Rusia ahora), el 28 de julio de 1851.

El autor de la imagen se llamaba Berkowski y sólo se conoce su apellido. Empleó un pequeño telescopio refractor de 60 mm de diámetro, que se acopló al heliómetro Fraunhofer del observatorio. El tiempo de exposición fue de 84 segundos y se empezó a tomar inmediatamente después del comienzo de la totalidad del eclipse.

[astroperlas-blog]

Imagen compuesta de las nubes interestelares cerca de M42 (ESO).

Vía.

[educaciencia]

La constelación de Orión esconde algunas de las más increíbles maravillas del cielo.

[educaciencia]

[educaciencia]

Talleres de ciencia para niños en el Finde Científico.