Yellow Magpie

Dwarf Planet Haumea: The Oblong Goddess Of Childbirth

Yellow Magpie — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:46:22 +0000

Dwarf Planet Haumea And Its Moons Hi’aka And Namaka Artist Impression By NASA

Dwarf planet Haumea is a frozen oblong body much like a misshapen rugby ball. Though very little is know about this remote dwarf planet its most interesting aspect may well turn out to be the fight over its discovery.

Physical Characteristics

Observations from the Keck observatory indicate that Haumea has an average width of just over 1,400 kilometres (under 900 miles). The dwarf planet is just six per cent the mass of our own Moon.

Dwarf planet Haumea orbits the Sun at an average distance of 43 Astronomical Units (AU). One AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun. It takes Haumea 283 years and four months to complete one trip around our star. One day lasts just under four Earth-hours on the dwarf planet. It is this rapid rotation that results in its unusual egg-like shape.

The temperature on Haumea is believed to be less than 50 degrees Kelvin (minus 220 degrees Celsius). The fact that crystalline water ice is present on the surface of the dwarf planet indicates that Haumea recently underwent resurfacing. Its surface is as bright as snow.

Dwarf Planet Haumea’s Moons

Dwarf planet Haurmea has two known moons. Hi’iaka and Namaka were discovered in early 2005. Both were named after the Hawaiiean goddess Haumea’s daughters.

A Discovery Plagued In Controversy

One of the most interesting aspects of Haumea has got absolutely nothing to do with the actual dwarf planet itself. Instead it has everything to do with the fight over its discovery.

Michael Brown, the team leader at Caltech, originally discovered dwarf planet Haumea in December 2004. Brown and his team decided to put off officially announcing the discovery until they could determine the exact nature of what they had found.

Meanwhile at the Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain, Jose Luis Ortiz Moreno and his team announced in July, 2005, that they had discovered Haumea.

The Caltech group originally conceded the credit to their compatriots in Spain but discovered some peculiarities in the accessing of their observation logs. Examining the situation in more detail Brown realised that it was the Spanish observatory that were the ones accessing the logs.

As Brown delved deeper he realised that the files that Sierra Nevada Observatory had downloaded gave enough information to determine Haumea’s location.

Ordinarily this would not be enough to claim skulduggery. However, Brown also found out that Spanish team had scheduled telescope time immediately after accessing the logs. A formal complaint was brought against Ortiz and his team.

Normally the person who discovers a dwarf planet gets priority in naming the body. Nonetheless, the Committee on Small Body Nomenclature ruled in favour of Michael Brown’s suggestion of Haumea. Ortiz and his team were credited with the discovery of the dwarf planet.

Naming The Dwarf Planet Haumea

The dwarf planet Haumea was initially given the temporary name of Santa due to its discovery occurring a couple of days after Christmas Day.

The dwarf planet was eventually named after the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility.

The Origins Of Dwarf Planet Haumea

Dwarf planet Haumea is thought to be the product of a massive collision between two large bodies.

The presence of crystalline water-ice should not occur on a surface as cold as Haumea. This has led scientists to conclude that Haumea is a member of a group of object that formed from a common impact between two bodies. Models suggest that originally dwarf planet Haumea was over 1,600 kilometres in width (1,000 miles) and lost one fifth of its mass after the collision.

Other scientists have put forward the possibility of a second collision that may have caused a much larger Haumea to lose a large portion of its mass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ6uSsWwI7U

Highly Recommended Reading

Visit Wikipedia for more information on Haumea.

Check out Yellow Magpie’s The Kuiper Belt: Home To The Dwarf Planets for more insight into the frozen region of the Solar System.

You may also wish to take a gander at The Solar System And Beyond: A Guide To The Cosmos.

Cosmos is a highly recommended book. It contains large, full-page pictures of the asteroids and writing on the subject by the highly competent author, Giles Sparrow.

Amazon.co.uk
For people living in Ireland or the United Kingdom, you can access: Cosmos from here.

Amazon.ca
For those who live in Canada, you can obtain: Cosmos here.

Amazon.de
For Germany: Cosmos.

Amazon.fr
For France: Cosmos.

Dwarf Planet Haumea: The Oblong Goddess Of Childbirth

The Great Gatsby Film Review: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Masterpiece Sparkles On Screen

Yellow Magpie — Sun, 19 May 2013 20:41:57 +0000

The Great Gatsby Film Review

Director: Baz Luhrman.
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton and Carey Mulligan.

Here is Yellow Magpie’s The Great Gatsby film review.

The Great Gatsby brings a sparkle and a seldom seen sense of decadence to the silver screen. Rarely have we witnessed such excess and hedonism in a perfect film for escapism.

The Great Gatsby follows Nick Carraway, a bond salesman, as he befriends Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is the seldom-seen holder of scarcely believable lavish parties in West Egg. After receiving an invite to attend one of Gatsby’s infamous social events Carraway is whisked into a larger than life microcosm – a place where responsibility takes a back seat to pleasure-seeking.

Finally, Gatsby reveals that he is a former lover of Carraway’s cousin, Daisy. He enlists his new found friend to help him woo his lost love. There is only one snag to the plan Daisy is married to the rich Tom Buchannan.

‘In a sea of well-honed liars and pretentious façades Gatsby stands apart as a sole lighthouse for propriety and sincerity.’

Jay Gatsby, deftly brought to life by Leonardo DiCaprio, is the focal point of the film. Gatsby is an enigmatic and obsessive character. At once a romantic and a fantasist to the point of idealogue, he is a highly driven individual that strays towards recklessness.

Handsome, sophisticated and immensely wealthy, Gatsby retains a warm charm that draws people towards him. In a sea of well-honed liars and pretentious façades Gatsby stands apart as a sole lighthouse for propriety and sincerity. Though like the people he throws parties for Gatsby is plagued by self-doubt and the need to impress others.

DiCaprio delivers a powerful performance as Gatsby the object of fascination. With a character that it is built up before we ever catch a proper glance of him it can be quite easy to be disappointing. DiCaprio has no such worries and adds greatly to an already enigmatic character.

‘His chief task is to highlight the bizarre nature of the events that transpire in The Great Gatsby not to trivialise them.’

Tobey Maguire retains his likeability throughout as he acts as the everyman, Nick Carraway. He is the audience’s surrogate providing a unique access to the alien world of the flappers and the extravagant era of the Roaring Twenties. His chief task is to highlight the bizarre nature of the events that transpire in The Great Gatsby not to trivialise them.

Carraway is a naive innocent outsider with a firm grip on the difference between what is right and wrong. His simplicity and modest means of living offer a stark contrast to the ostentatious, insecurities of those around him. Magure keeps our attention throughout in a good performance.

Joel Edgerton’s Tom Buchannan is infused with raw masculinity. An unscrupulous character, Buchannan has a good grasp on people’s desires and motivations. He is able to manipulate people to suit his whims and suffers none of the baggage that having a conscience normally provides. Edgerton brings physicality and energy to the role as well as an ever-present threat of danger.

Egocentric to the point of solipsism Buchannan is prone to bouts of testosterone-fuelled violence. A racist and a sexist he has little insight into how the world works on a larger scale beyond the individual.

‘Peer beyond the captivating face and you are left with a vapid, selfish materialist.’

Carey Mulligan presents the flapper of the film, Daisy Buchannan. Mulligan’s Daisy initially seems to be a strong-willed, independent character. However, as the film progresses she is revealed to be little more than an pretty object. Peer beyond the captivating face and you are left with a vapid, selfish materialist. Immature and ill-defined, everything revolves around her own needs to the exclusion of all else.

The Great Gatsby is largely faithful to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel. Most of the characters brim with insular self-importance and collective society only exists to further the goals of the individual.

‘Both DiCaprio and Maguire give compelling performances as the two leading men.’

The acting is first rate and this is especially true of the male cast. Both DiCaprio and Maguire give compelling performances as the two leading men. Whereas Edgerton provides a worthy antagonist.

Special mention must go to the 3-D effects in the film which manage to draw you into the world of Fitzgerald that would not have possible with a plain, two-dimensional copy. Layers of differing depths bring you closer to the action. Though it is not without its downsides.

The fact that the film doesn’t appear to be shot in 4K resolution means that it is relatively blurry. A medium such as 3D demands much higher resolutions and will only reach its potential when it is displayed in resolutions of 8K or higher on cinema.

‘It is in this very unnatural setting that we are shown some of the most interesting personalities on film.’

Luhrman’s film manages to perfectly capture the exorbitance of a time and a place where everything was a bombardment of the senses. In doing so, he creates a parallel world that has familiar colours and shapes but is instantly alien, unreal. It is in this very unnatural setting that we are shown some of the most interesting personalities on film.

We never understand any of the characters’ true motivations as the film reinforces the huge gulf between the surface and the impenetrable depths of the inner mind. Like with everything in life we must be content to look at the display for we can only perceive from afar. But what a visually wonderful display we get to witness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuQhprtLJ3k

Recommended Viewing

You may wish to read Revolutionary Road Film Review: Domestic Bliss Cannot Mask Shattered Dreams, Side Effects Film Review: A Thriller With Added Twists and Hugo Film Review: Lost Treasures Come To Life.

The Great Gatsby Film Review: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Masterpiece Sparkles On Screen

Virginia Woolf Quotes: The Writer Of Mrs Dalloway

Yellow Magpie — Sun, 19 May 2013 12:33:02 +0000

Virginia Woolf Quotes Photo By George Charles Beresfold

Here is Yellow Magpie’s pick of the very best Virginia Woolf Quotes quotes.

‘When I cannot see words curling like rings of smoke round me I am in darkness—I am nothing.’

‘I waited. I listened. Nothing came, nothing, I cried then with a sudden conviction of complete desertion, Now there is nothing. No fin breaks the waste of this immeasurable sea. Life has destroyed me. No echo comes when I speak, no varied words. This is more truly death than the death of friends, than the death of youth. I am the swathed figure in the hairdresser’s shop taking up only so much space.’

‘The habit of writing for my eye is good practice. It loosens the ligaments.’

‘I like people to be unhappy because I like them to have souls.’

‘No sooner have you feasted on beauty with your eyes than your mind tells you that beauty is vain and beauty passes.’

‘The world is crammed with delightful things. I think young people make such a mistake about that — not letting themselves be happy. I sometimes think that happiness is the only thing that counts.’

‘I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in.’

‘And if we can imagine the art of fiction come alive and standing in our midst, she would undoubtedly bid us break her and bully her, as well as honour and love her, for so her youth is renewed and her sovereignty assured.’

Thomas Hardy Quotes: A Man Set Apart From The Madding Crowd

Yellow Magpie — Sun, 19 May 2013 12:09:09 +0000

Thomas Hardy Quotes

Here is Yellow Magpie’s pick of the very best Thomas Hardy Quotes quotes.

‘The main object of religion is not to get a man into heaven, but to get heaven into him.’

‘There is a condition worse than blindness, and that is, seeing something that isn’t there.’

‘Everybody is so talented nowadays that the only people I care to honour as deserving real distinction are those who remain in obscurity.’

‘The offhand decision of some commonplace mind high in office at a critical moment influences the course of events for a hundred years.’

‘A resolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil is so far advanced as to make avoidance impossible.’

‘The value of old age depends upon the person who reaches it. To some men of early performance it is useless. To others, who are late to develop, it just enables them to finish the job.’

‘A woman would rather visit her own grave than the place where she has been young and beautiful after she is aged and ugly.’

‘Cruelty is the law pervading all nature and society; and we can’t get out of it if we would.’

‘You can do anything with bayonets except sit on them.’

‘My opinion is that a poet should express the emotion of all the ages and the thought of his own.’

‘The value of old age depends upon the person who reaches it. To some men of early performance it is useless. To others, who are late to develop, it just enables them to finish the job.’

William Faulkner Quotes: The Writer Who Realised Yoknapatawpha County

Yellow Magpie — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:59:29 +0000

William Faulkner Quotes Photo By Nobel Foundation

Here is Yellow Magpie’s pick of the very best William Faulkner Quotes quotes.

‘Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it.

Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.’

‘Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world…would do this, it would change the earth.’

‘Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.’

‘Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain.’

‘It’s a shame that the only thing a man can do for eight hours a day is work. He can’t eat for eight hours; he can’t drink for eight hours; he can’t make love for eight hours. The only thing a man can do for eight hours is work.’

‘I’m bad and I’m going to hell, and I don’t care. I’d rather be in hell than anywhere where you are.’

‘You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.’

‘Pouring out liquor is like burning books.’

‘A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…’

Ernest Hemingway Quotes: The Old Man Who Wrote About The Sea

Yellow Magpie — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:52:03 +0000

Ernest Hemingway Quotes Photo By Lloyd Arnold

Here is Yellow Magpie’s pick of the very best Ernest Hemingway Quotes quotes.

‘The world breaks everyone … those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.’

‘One cat just leads to another.’

‘To me heaven would be a big bull ring with me holding two barrera seats and a trout stream outside that no one else was allowed to fish in and two lovely houses in the town; one where I would have my wife and children and be monogamous and love them truly and well and the other where I would have my nine beautiful mistresses on nine different floors.’

‘The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.’

‘For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.’

‘In Europe then we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also as a great giver of happiness and well-being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary.’

F. Scott Fitzgerald Quotes: Author Of The Great Gatsby

Yellow Magpie — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:45:51 +0000

F. Scott Fitzgerald Quotes Photo By Carl Van Vechten

Here is Yellow Magpie’s pick of the very best F. Scott Fitzgerald Quotes quotes.

‘Boredom is not an end-product, is comparatively rather an early stage in life and art. You’ve got to go by or past or through boredom, as through a filter, before the clear product emerges.’

‘Everybody’s youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness.’

‘A great social success is a pretty girl who plays her cards as carefully as if she were plain.’

‘It is sadder to find the past again and find it inadequate to the present than it is to have it elude you and remain forever a harmonious conception of memory.’

‘Advertising is a racket, like the movies and the brokerage business. You cannot be honest without admitting that its constructive contribution to humanity is exactly minus zero.’

‘Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different.’

‘All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.’

Beaked Whale: The Peculiar Feeders Of The Cetacean World

Yellow Magpie — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:36:13 +0000

Beaked Whale Whale Photo By Dr. Brandon Southall NMFS OPR NOAA

The Beaked Whale has a very peculiar method of feeding that sets it distinctly apart from all the other cetaceans. Beaked whales are a group of 21 known species of whale that are named after their oblong mouths.

Beaked Whale Appearance

The most dominant feature of beaked whales are their snouts which are elongated. Generally one or the sexes is much larger than the other. Whether it is the male or the female depends upon the particular species.

Males have prominent protrusions on their forehead that can be quite an unusual sight.

Though Beaked whales have teeth, unlike other toothed whales, they only possess one set. Males have prominent teeth whereas the females’ do not rise above the gum line. There is also another distinction in that Beaked whales’ teeth are not functional. They do not use them to eat.

It has been put forward that males use their teeth for fighting one another. Scientists point to scars on the bodies of males as evidence to back this up.

Diving Adaptations

Beaked whales are deep divers and some species can dive for periods of over one hour. Beaked whales adapt a streamlined profile tucking in their pectoral fins allowing their body to form a clean profile that has minimal drag. Once they engage in a dive some species can easily surpass 1,500-metre depths. Not fond of the surface, Beaked whales usually come up for air and quickly return to the comfort of the deep.

It is believed that Beaked whales are specially adapted for their underwater lifestyles with proportionally larger livers and spleens than those found in other cetaceans. The spleen is tasked with the responsibility of removing worn-out, oxygen-carrying red blood cells.

Diet And Feeding Habits

Beaked whales feed predominantly on squid. They also eat crustaceans and fish.

Beaked whales use an entirely different method of feeding than any of the other cetaceans. They rapidly withdraw the tongues which creates a pressure difference between the outside water and their mouths. They use this pressure difference to suck their prey into their mouths. Grooves in their throats help to decrease the pressure and increase the suction power.

Beaked Whale Behaviour

Very little is known about Beaked whale behaviour. It it thought that males fight one another for females using their teeth to bite one another.

Of the whales that have been studied small groups of two to four individuals appear to be the norm, depending upon the species. Larger pods of up to twenty or more individuals have also been spotted in some cases. Another species, Longman’s Beaked whale, form very large groups of 100 or more individuals.

Whaling And Conservation

Beaked whales are one of the few groups of cetaceans that escaped whaling relatively unscathed. This was due mainly to the fact that they spend so little time at the water’s surface and as a result are rarely spotted in comparison to other types of whales.

Beaked whales are very vulnerable to pollutants in the water. Fishing nets can also trap the whales causing suffocation.

Nonetheless, one of the most serious threats to Beaked whales is sonar. Oil exploration and military vessel usage of sonar interfere with the whales’ echolocation. There have been several beaching incidents involving Beaked whales that occurred shortly after naval exercises.

Sonar is also thought to be a contributing cause of decompression sickness due to the animal becoming disorientated. This is especially the case when Beaked whales are undertaking long dives as the tolerances become so fine allowing little room for the animal to readjust to sound disturbances.

Vital Statistics

Beaked whales are between three (ten feet) and 13 metres (43 feet) in length.
They can weigh as much as 15 tonnes or as little as 1,000 kg.
Beaked whales are found throughout the Earth’s oceans.
They can live to be as old as 84 years. Nonetheless, they generally live to between 20 and 30 years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtEHjPb18ps

Dysnomia: Dwarf Planet Eris’s Moon

Yellow Magpie — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:20:31 +0000

Dysnomia And Dwarf Planet Eris Photo By NASA And Michael Brown

Dysnomia is a red-coloured moon that provides the companion to the most massive of all the dwarf planets, Eris.

Dysnomia was first discovered in 2005 by the Mike Brown-led team using the Keck observatory in Hawaii.

Dysnomia’s Physical Characteristics

Dysnomia is estimated to be somewhere between 350 and 500 kilometres (220 to 300 miles) across. The moon orbits Eris at an average distance of just over 37,000 km (2,300 miles) taking 15 and a half Earth-days to make a complete circuit.

It is thought that the surface of Dysnomia is a dark red colour in stark contrast to the gleaming white of Eris. Dysnomia becomes the farthest-known moon in the Solar System during the partial course of Eris’s long orbit around the Sun.

Dysnomia’s Name

Interestingly Dysnomia was given the temporary title of Gabrielle after the character in Xena: Warrior Princess. It was later bestowed its proper name Dysnomia after the Greek goddess Eris’s daughter.

Formation Of Dysnomia

Dysnomia is thought to be a captured Kuiper Belt Object that originally collided with Eris and coalesced to form the natural satellite orbiting the dwarf planet.

The Kuiper Belt Objects were formed from the remnants of an accretion disc that was present during the early stages of the Solar System. Lacking the necessary mass to form planets, and spread out over a far great area, smaller Kuiper Belt Objects were created instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rO84eHnEW8

Highly Recommended Reading

Visit Wikipedia for more information on Dysnomia.

Check out Yellow Magpie’s The Kuiper Belt: Home To The Dwarf Planets for more insight into the frozen region of the Solar System.

You may also wish to take a gander at The Solar System And Beyond: A Guide To The Cosmos.

Cosmos is a highly recommended book. It contains large, full-page pictures of the asteroids and writing on the subject by the highly competent author, Giles Sparrow.

Amazon.co.uk
For people living in Ireland or the United Kingdom, you can access: Cosmos from here.

Amazon.ca
For those who live in Canada, you can obtain: Cosmos here.

Amazon.de
For Germany: Cosmos.

Amazon.fr
For France: Cosmos.

Dysnomia: Dwarf Planet Eris’s Moon

Dwarf Planet Eris: The Largest Kuiper Belt Object

Yellow Magpie — Wed, 15 May 2013 21:04:49 +0000

Dwarf Planet Eris And Its Moon Dysnomia Photo By NASA And Mike Brown

The dwarf planet Eris is a recent addition to the long list of Kuiper Belt Objects in our Solar System.

In early 2005 the trio of Chad Trujillo, David Rabinowitz and Michael Brown discovered the dwarf planet after comparing three different images taken over a three-hour period.

Physical Characteristics

Eris is roughly the same size as Pluto at over 2,300 kilometres (1,400 miles) across. It orbits the Sun at an average distance of 68 Astronomical Units (AU). One AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun. The dwarf planet is thought to be occasionally the farthest away from our star of all the Kuiper Belt objects.

It takes 560 Earth-years for a year on Eris to occur. A day on Eris is just longer than one on Earth at 25 hours.

Temperatures on Eris can plummet to as low as 30 degrees Kelvin (minus 240 degrees Celsius). Though it was originally thought that the dwarf planet Eris was larger than Pluto, it is now believed that they are roughly the size size. Eris’s discovery caused Pluto to be reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006.

Nevertheless, Eris is also much denser than Pluto. Observations indicate that Eris is comprised of a rocky core and an outer mantle of most likely frozen water. The dwarf planet is also one of the most reflective bodies in the Solar System with a surface brighter than newly fallen snow.

Dwarf Planet Eris’s Name

Before the dwarf planet Eris was properly named it was initially called Xena after the television series Xena: Warrior Princess. Eris was finally chosen in late 2006. It is named after the Greek goddess of chaos and disharmony.

The Origins Of Dwarf Planet Eris

Like all of the objects in the Kuiper Belt, Eris was formed from the left-over remnants of an accretion disc that surrounded the Sun in the early days of the Solar System. Lacking the requisite size to form a planet, Eris instead coalesced into a dwarf planet.

Eris’s Moon Dysnomia

Eris was discovered to have a moon in 2005. Dysnomia was named after the daughter of the Greek goddess Eris. The presence of the moon has allowed accurate measurements of the dwarf planet’s density to be calculated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rO84eHnEW8

Highly Recommended Reading

Visit Wikipedia for more information on Eris_(dwarf_planet).

Check out Yellow Magpie’s The Kuiper Belt: Home To The Dwarf Planets for more insight into the frozen region of the Solar System.

You may also wish to take a gander at The Solar System And Beyond: A Guide To The Cosmos.

Cosmos is a highly recommended book. It contains large, full-page pictures of the asteroids and writing on the subject by the highly competent author, Giles Sparrow.

Amazon.co.uk
For people living in Ireland or the United Kingdom, you can access: Cosmos from here.

Amazon.ca
For those who live in Canada, you can obtain: Cosmos here.

Amazon.de
For Germany: Cosmos.

Amazon.fr
For France: Cosmos.

Dwarf Planet Eris: The Largest Kuiper Belt Object

Vanth: Moon Of The Dwarf Planet Orcus

Yellow Magpie — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:20:24 +0000

Vanth And Dwarf Planet Orcus Along With Other Kuiper Belt Objects Photo By Lexicon Creative Commons ShareAlike Licence

Vanth is one of the newly discovered moons in the Kuiper Belt. So far it is the only moon of the dwarf planet Orcus.

2005 was the year that Vanth was found. Michael Brown and T.A. Suer are the two who are credited with its discovery.

Physical Characteristics

Vanth is a relatively small moon at just 370 kilometres (230 miles) in width though it may be up to 100 kilometres larger or smaller. It orbits dwarf planet Orcus at a distance of roughly 900 kilometres (560 miles) taking over nine and a half Earth days to do so.

Like all of the Kuiper Belt objects Vanth is unbelievably cold at 44 degrees Kelvin (minus 230 degrees Celsius).

Vanth’s Origins

Vanth is thought to have been a Kuiper Belt object that was captured by dwarf planet Orcus. It is believed that Orcus originally rotated at a much faster rate than it does at present. This would have facilitated the capture of a body as large as Vanth.

The Name Vanth

Sonya Taaffe proposed the name Vanth after Michael Brown asked for suggestions. The moon is named after one of the Etruscan’s gods. These Iron Age people believed that Vanth was a spirit who acted as a guide for the deceased in the underworld.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-rb6c4pNHM

Highly Recommended Reading

Visit Wikipedia for more information on Vanth.

Check out Yellow Magpie’s The Kuiper Belt: Home To The Dwarf Planets for more insight into this frozen region of the Solar System.

You may also wish to take a gander at The Solar System And Beyond: A Guide To The Cosmos.

Cosmos is a highly recommended book. It contains large, full-page pictures of the asteroids and writing on the subject by the highly competent author, Giles Sparrow.

Amazon.co.uk
For people living in Ireland or the United Kingdom, you can access: Cosmos from here.

Amazon.ca
For those who live in Canada, you can obtain: Cosmos here.

Amazon.de
For Germany: Cosmos.

Amazon.fr
For France: Cosmos.

Vanth: Moon Of The Dwarf Planet Orcus

Dwarf Planet Orcus: The God Of The Dead

Yellow Magpie — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:10:50 +0000

Dwarf Planet Orcus Photo By NASA

Dwarf planet Orcus is yet another newly discovered member of the Kuiper Belt. We know very little about this frozen body but we think it may hold one or two fascinating secrets.

February 2004 saw the discovery of a new dwarf planet by Chad Trujillo, Michael Brown and David Rabinowitch. Orcus was born.

Physical Characteristics

At an estimated 900 kilometres in width (560 miles), Orcus is a substantial Kuiper Belt body – though it may be smaller. The dwarf planet orbits the Sun at an average distance of just over 39 Astronomical Units(AU). One AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

It takes a very long time for Orcus to complete one trip around our local star – 245 years and two months. The dwarf planet is an indescribably cold place at 44 degrees Kelvin (minus 229 degrees Celsius).

Though more study is required, it is believed that Orcus is composed of frozen water, frozen methane and carbon-rich compounds.

Oceans And Ice Volcanoes?

Dwarf planet Orcus may be home to cryovolcanoes. A composition of frozen water and frozen methane might allow the presence of cryovolcanoes possibly powered by radioactive decay. If radioactive decay is occurring then it is also possible that the dwarf planet is home to underground oceans.

What’s In A Name?

Orcus was named after the Roman god of the dead who severely punished those who broke their oaths. There was also a secondary reason for choosing this particular name. This was due to the fact that Michael Brown’s wife, as a child, lived on Orcas Island off Washington State, U.S.

Dwarf Planet Orcus’s Origins

Like many objects in the Kuiper Belt, dwarf planet Orcus was formed from the remnants of an accretion disc that originally surrounded the Sun during the early Solar System.

However, Orcus like many other large objects in the Kuiper Belt failed to coalesce into a big enough body to make the grade as a planet.

Dwarf Planet Orcus’s Moon

Dwarf planet Orcus originally was not thought to possess a large moon. It would be more than a year later before Vanth would be discovered. Given the distance Orcus is from Earth and the close proximity of Vanth it is hard to discern the absolute size of both objects.

It is thought that Vanth may be a captured Kuiper Belt object.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-rb6c4pNHM

Highly Recommended Reading

Visit Wikipedia for more information on Dwarf Planet Orcus.

Check out Yellow Magpie’s The Kuiper Belt: Home To The Dwarf Planets for more insight into this frozen region of the Solar System.

You may also wish to take a gander at The Solar System And Beyond: A Guide To The Cosmos.

Cosmos is a highly recommended book. It contains large, full-page pictures of the asteroids and writing on the subject by the highly competent author, Giles Sparrow.

Amazon.co.uk
For people living in Ireland or the United Kingdom, you can access: Cosmos from here.

Amazon.ca
For those who live in Canada, you can obtain: Cosmos here.

Amazon.de
For Germany: Cosmos.

Amazon.fr
For France: Cosmos.

Dwarf Planet Orcus: The God Of The Dead

Star Trek Into Darkness Film Review: A Visually Stunning But Flawed Experience

Yellow Magpie — Sun, 12 May 2013 20:26:37 +0000

Star Trek Into Darkness Film Review

Director: J.J. Abrams.
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Here is Yellow Magpie’s Star Trek Into Darkness film review.

Star Trek Into Darkness is a film with enormous potential. It more than succeeds in creating a mesmeric, living, breathing world that seems within touching distance of our own future. Its mix of old and new technologies is masterfully done and the viewer is transported into a future that we can empathise with despite the clear technological gap.

The crew of the USS Enterprise has lost its captain and first commander due to a reckless move on a planet inhabited by a primitive tribal people. Alerting this stone age culture to the presence of a star ship costs Captain James Kirk his command and First Officer Spock is transferred too in this botched mission. Meanwhile Earth is inflicted with unprecedented terrorist attacks as a former Star Fleet officer rages a one-man war on the space-faring organisation.

‘Surreal colours propagate the screen as we bare witness to aesthetic marvels that continue to delight us throughout the film.’

The opening scene in Star Trek Into Darkness is breathtaking and visually stunning. Surreal colours propagate the screen as we bare witness to aesthetic marvels that continue to delight us throughout the film. The USS Enterprise also appears like we have never seen it before and the coming of age of CGI and visual effects make this Star Trek film sparkle and come alive in ways never viewed before in cinema.

The plot of the film is solidly executed and engrossing however the script itself, and especially the dialogue, is at times sub-par and lets down the high standards the movie creates.

The acting performances in Star Trek Into Darkness are mixed. There is a clear gap between the actors playing the antagonists and those crewing the Enterprise. With one or two exceptions, for the most part the Enterprise actors, hampered by a clunky script, are disappointing.

‘A rare talent, Cumberbatch imbibes the character’s mesmerising disposition.’

Benedict Cumberbatch’s Kahn is the undoubted star of the film. Conniving, feral and magnetic he hoovers up the viewer’s attention. Unpredictable, one moment he manages to effortlessly lure in the viewer with the merest hint of a smile the next his psychotic personality is causing mayhem. A rare talent, Cumberbatch imbibes the character’s mesmerising disposition.

The bulk of the main USS Enterprise cast comprise the weakest actors in the film. Chris Pine comes off poorly compared to the previous incumbent of the James T. Kirk role, William Shatner. Pine just lacks the ability to show commanding authority. His youthful appearance also goes against him as without an aura of gravitas he looks far too young to have even being considered a Star Fleet captain.

Zachary Quinto’s Spock is the most impressive of all the senior Enterprise crew. He gives a disciplined performance as the emotionally suppressed Vulcan.

John Cho’s Hikaru Sulu is unfortunately given far too little screen time. Together with Quinto, he is easily the strongest male actor in the main franchise cast. Playing a likeable character Cho makes a bigger impact than what his paltry screen time would ordinarily merit.

‘it appears Marcus’s main role is to appear in her underwear.’

Karl Urban as Bones, like many others, suffers from having to deliver misplaced quips at the most inappropriate of times. Urban fails to make an impression and his performance is forgettable.

Alice Eve is very lacklustre too in the role of Carol Marcus. In a poorly written part that was probably completely unnecessary it appears Marcus’s main role is to appear in her underwear.

Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov falls victim to the ridiculous need to conform to the original depiction of his character. What results is a ghastly accent that draws zero laughs and completely ruins the credibility of the character. It may have been funny to laugh at a Russian accent in the 1960′s but it certainly isn’t now. Though the writers should take responsibility for this, Yelchin must be culpable too as he is playing the part.

‘It is to Pegg’s credit that he manages to make Scotty likeable but the character doesn’t play to the actor’s strengths.’

Simon Pegg’s portrayal of Scotty leaves a lot to be desired. Tasked with quickly flicking between the serious and the comic Pegg struggles to keep up. Once more this is a case of forcing actors to remain faithful to how other actors portrayed these characters nearly half a century ago. It is to Pegg’s credit that he manages to make Scotty likeable but the character doesn’t play to the actor’s strengths.

Zoe Saldana’s portrayal of Nyota Uhura is one of the strongest. A talented actress, Saldana puts in a good performance. Although it must also be said that Uhura’s onscreen relationship with Spock fails to go anyway and remains underdeveloped.

Peter Weller produces a strong performance as Admiral Marcus. A dominant presence his character remains inexplicably underutilised. Without spoiling the film Marcus is criminally inchoate for someone with such a prominent role.

‘Chris Pine is not a strong enough performer to be given such an authoritative part.’

Star Trek Into Darkness has two major problems that take away from the spectacle of the film. The first is the poor calibre of its leading actor and the second is the ham-fisted attempts to pastiche the original 1960′s series. Chris Pine is not a strong enough performer to be given such an authoritative part. And it seems that he will continue to be a weak link in the franchise unless future scripts are deftly written to compensate.

The second problem is a question of honesty. The original Star Trek was a product of its time. For the 1960′s it was a wonderful television serious but if you were to rerun it on prime TV now the reality is that very few people would watch it. The story-writing and dialogue would be miles away from what is required today. Secondly, the weakness of the actors occupying the secondary roles would be painful to watch for a modern audience.

‘The biggest dilemma is that the film-makers are trying placate the past while producing a film in the present.’

The plot of Star Trek Into Darkness is excellent. It is a pity the script isn’t as well-executed as it should have been. The biggest dilemma is that the film-makers are trying placate the past while producing a film in the present. As we all know you can’t live in the yesteryear.

Even with the scripting flaws and the acting problems this film has so much going for that it can self-right itself. The power of the visceral visuals and the carefully created world with its future setting, that is at once exotic but familiar, contributes to an iconic film. Star Trek Into Darkness is well-worth watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAEkuVgt6Aw

Recommended Viewing

You may wish to read Iron Man 3 Film Review: A High Point In Cinema Blockbusters, Oblivion Film Review: Raising The Bar For Science Fiction Films and Olympus Has Fallen Film Review: Strong Contender For Worst Film Of 2013.

You can obtain Star Trek Into Darkness here from Amazon.

Amazon.co.uk
For people living in Ireland or the United Kingdom, you can access: Star Trek Into Darkness from here.

Amazon.ca
For Canada: Star Trek into Darkness.

Amazon.de
For Germany: Star Trek Into Darkness .

Amazon.fr
For France: Star Trek Into Darkness.

Star Trek Into Darkness Film Review: A Visually Stunning But Flawed Experience

Susan Sarandon Quotes: The Actress’s Thoughts On Acting And Social Politics

Yellow Magpie — Sun, 12 May 2013 15:15:39 +0000

Susan Sarandon Quotes Photo By David Shankbone Creative Commons ShareAlike Licence

Here is Yellow Magpie’s pick of the very best Susan Sarandon quotes.

‘I think I’m an actor because I have very strong imagination and empathy. I never studied acting, but those two qualities are exactly the qualities that make for an activist.’

‘Do you really have to be the ice-queen intellectual or the slut whore? Isn’t there some way to be both?’

‘When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you.’

‘I’m tired of being labelled anti-American because I ask questions.’

‘I think sometimes what happens is that all of this feeling out of control manifests itself in trying to control your body; whether it’s an eating disorder or talking about getting your nose fixed, as if that’s going to be the solution to all the pressure.’

‘So I would hope they would develop some kind of habit that involves understanding that their life is so full they can afford to give in all kinds of ways to other people. I consider that to be baseline spirituality.’

‘We stand a chance of getting a president who has probably killed more people before he gets into office than any president in the history of the United States.’

‘Just because I haven’t yet had any project surgery, I’m not going to knock it, because I think women have the right to do whatever they want to their bodies that make them feel good about themselves.’

‘In the U.S. they just want to know who you’re sleeping with.’

Christine Lagarde Quotes: The IMF Managing Director

Yellow Magpie — Sun, 12 May 2013 15:09:47 +0000

Christine Lagarde Quotes

Here is Yellow Magpie’s pick of the very best Christine Lagarde quotes.

‘I love cooking. Not for myself alone. Cooking is about giving.’

‘Frankly, I think Europe should have no shame given the efforts that have been undertaken, given the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy that was undertaken in 2003 and given the opening of Europe in general.’

‘As far as Athens is concerned, I also think about all those people who are trying to escape tax all the time. All these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax.’

‘I think more of the little kids from a school in a little village in Niger who get teaching two hours a day, sharing one chair for three of them, and who are very keen to get an education. I have them in my mind all the time. Because I think they need even more help than the people in Athens.’

‘You know, when I sit in meetings and things are very tense and people take things extremely seriously and they invest a lot of their ego, I sometimes think to myself, “Come on, you know, there’s life and there’s death and there is love.” And all of that ego business is nonsense compared to that.’

‘I’m very much a believer that it’s action that matters much more so than, you know, the flurry of political promises and statements and slogans that are used during political campaigns.’

‘The financial industry is a service industry. It should serve others before it serves itself.’