#Astronomy

Coming back to using Python and Pandas from GoLang has made me aware of the quirks of using dataframes in the place of typed data structures.

While pandas has great convenience features for basic data manipulations on tables, munging get trickier in places you’d want to use a map or hash in other languages. Actually common, and while pandas has a MultiIndex feature, it is a mistake to try to use these with the common Python iterator pattern for star in stars: syntax. Doing this in pandas on cmplex, large datasets can be inefficient and slow. Functions are the faster, more efficient way to do this.

Stunning spoken word video with some great imagery and music mixed in by Jason Silva on The Biological Advantage of Being Awestruck .

Definitely one of those full screen, dim the lights and turn the volume way up kinda of things. Some very cool sentiment on what it means to be human and awestruck.

(though personally don’t know if I would have gone for the Hubble as the penultimate written expression of awe, though “mainlining the whole of time through the optic nerve” is definitely something I’m filing away for future conversational use at a swanky cocktail party… =] ).

OK, kinda love this to scale comparison of the various planets of the solar system. Kinda cool to remember how much bigger some of the other planets in the neighbourhood are than good old Earth. Despite me starting off in astrophysics, it’s never top of mind how big Uranus and Neptune are.

Pretty fantastic cosmological simulation from the Big Bang to the formation of a Disk Galaxy with “rich merging” and plenty of collisions from NASA’s N-body shop (makers of quality galaxies). Slightly hypnotic to watch and would be much better with a nice soundtrack (and a drink!) to accompany it imho, but cool nonetheless.

Likey? You can also check out a video simulation of a Milky Way like galaxy forming .

Incredible timelapse of ISS photos of our big blue marble. Beautiful. Especially love the way the Aurora Borealis looks with the stitched together shots.

Watch it in full screen in a darkened room with the sound turned way up.

Put together by 18-year-old Croatian Tomislav Safundžić, from photos taken aboard the ISS.

(via Like Cool )

Kinda great four minute video explaining the cosmic background radiation and the origins of the Big Bang.

Oh, and more cosmically awesome learning materials available over at the Big Bang Registry.

Dare Mighty Things.

Is there anyone else who watched this video and had the feeling that when the EDL team explained this to whoever calls the shots on these things at NASA they must’ve exclaimed, “My God! It’s just crazy enough that it might actually work!”

In any case, on 5 Aug 2012 Curiosity will try to land on Mars. Not a trivial feat as this attests.

Godspeed Curiosity. Fair winds and calm seas.

I absolutely agree with xkcd on this one.

It is a really, really exciting time:

Another phenomenal astronomy timelapse of the Milky Way from Dakota. Keep thinking I need to find the equipment these people use to do this and do one from Tasmania or Uluru. Some seriously amazing starfields Down Under.

As usual, place on your largest screen, expand the HD to fullscreen, darken the room and turn up the music. Your Friday moment of zen.

Besides being an incredible piece of work, this video really shows how beautiful the night sky is when you get out of the cities here in Australia. Seriously, I don’t think, outside of the deep woods in Canada, I’ve ever seen so many star as I did when I was at Uluru and in Tasmania.

Yet another one to put on HD, darken the room and turn the speakers up. Oh, and I hope you’re checking this out @catscram.