Milky Way On Kauai Beach

♥ Asexuals and Aromantics are valid and deserve our respect, without our questioning ♥

Why can’t people understand that I can think a person is cute without wanting to have sex with them.

100th Anniversary of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

One hundred years ago this month, Albert Einstein published his theory of general relativity (GR), one of the most important scientific achievements in the last century.

A key result of Einstein’s theory is that matter warps space-time, and thus a massive object can cause an observable bending of light from a background object. The first success of the theory was the observation, during a solar eclipse, that light from a distant background star was deflected by the predicted amount as it passed near the sun.

When Einstein developed the general theory of relativity, he was trying to improve our understanding of how the universe works. At the time, Newtonian gravity was more than sufficient for any practical gravity calculations. However, as often happens in physics, general relativity has applications that would not have been foreseen by Einstein or his contemporaries.

How many of us have used a smartphone to get directions? Or to tag our location on social media? Or to find a recommendation for a nearby restaurant? These activities depend on GPS. GPS uses radio signals from a network of satellites orbiting Earth at an altitude of 20,000 km to pinpoint the location of a GPS receiver. The accuracy of GPS positioning depends on precision in time measurements of billionths of a second. To achieve such timing precision, however, relativity must be taken into account.

Our Gravity Probe B (GP-B) mission has confirmed two key predictions derived from Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which the spacecraft was designed to test. The experiment, launched in 2004, and measured the warping of space and time around a gravitational body, and frame-dragging, the amount a spinning object pulls space and time with it as it rotates.

Scientists continue to look for cracks in the theory, testing general relativity predictions using laboratory experiments and astronomical observations. For the past century, Einstein’s theory of gravity has passed every hurdle.

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Dust filaments of NGC 4217

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Highway to the skyway in Arches National Park

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Disclaimer: I know some asexuals have and enjoy sex. The “sex? No thanks!” won’t apply to every asexual of course.

What Happened to Mars?

Billions of years ago, Mars was a very different world. Liquid water flowed in long rivers that emptied into lakes and shallow seas. A thick atmosphere blanketed the planet and kept it warm.

Today, Mars is bitter cold. The Red Planet’s thin and wispy atmosphere provides scant cover for the surface below.

Our MAVEN Mission

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission is part of our Mars Scout program. This spacecraft launched in November 2013, and is exploring the Red Planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the sun and solar wind.

The purpose of the MAVEN mission is to determine the state of the upper atmosphere of Mars, the processes that control it and the overall atmospheric loss that is currently occurring. Specifically, MAVEN is exploring the processes through which the top of the Martian atmosphere can be lost to space. Scientists think that this loss could be important in explaining the changes in the climate of Mars that have occurred over the last four billion years.

New Findings

Today, Nov. 5, we will share new details of key science findings from our ongoing exploration of Mars during a news briefing at 2 p.m. EDT. This event will be broadcast live on NASA Television. Have questions? Use #askNASA during the briefing.

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

The Orion Nebula Photographed by Gatria

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IC 410 nebula

Pictured above is the IC 410 nebula, a brilliant cosmic dust cloud located approximately 10,000 light years from Earth in the direction of the Auriga constellation. A 4 million year-old galactic star cluster—a region of active star formation—lies toward the center of the image, partially obscured by the nebula itself.

Off to the lower right, two dusty entrails resemble tadpoles. The “heads” of these cosmic squiggles have been sculpted by winds and radiation emanating from the central star cluster. It’s a magnificent sight to behold—even on a primitive 21st century computer screen. (Source)

Daily Affirmation 394.

You are allowed to have trouble accepting your identity. You are allowed to struggle with your asexuality. It is not easy, or comfortable to be questioning or avoiding parts of yourself, but it is normal. It is human. And it does not mean that anyone else is allowed to invalidate who you are.