Black Hole

Messier 15 

The globular cluster M 15 lies about 36,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Pegasus. It spans nearly 175 light-years across and contains over 100,000 stars as well as a rare planetary nebula, Pease 1, named for its discoverer, the American astronomer Francis Pease. M 15 has one of the densest concentrations of stars within its core region of any cluster in the Milky Way, with an estimated 30.000 stars within an 11 light-year radius of the center. It has been suggested that this severe crowding at the center might be the result of a core collapse due to the mutual gravity of the great number of stars or possibly a black hole.

Harmonograph, H. Irwine Whitty, 1893

“The facts that musical notes are due to regular air-pulses, and that the pitch of the note depends on the frequency with which these pulses succeed each other, are too well known to require any extended notice. But although these phenomena and their laws have been known for a very long time, Chladni, late in the last century, was the first who discovered that there was a connection between sound and form.”

Ring Nebula (M57) - 1600 px x 1313 px

This is one slice of an incredible high resolution, enhanced color image of Pluto, recently released by NASA. You can see the full, larger version here. 

Photographs by Christian Pondella

"Books! Best weapons in the world!"

WORLD BOOK DAY - March 5, 2015, an uncanny tank-like vehicle drove into the streets of Argentina.

The last 600 million years of Earth’s continental evolution in 10 images:

600 Ma: Ediacaran

500 Ma: Cambrian

400 Ma: Devonian

300 Ma: Carboniferous

220 Ma: Triassic

150 Ma: Jurassic

90 Ma: Cretaceous

50 Ma: Palaeogene

20 Ma: Neogene

Present: Quaternary