Wow

Kokabiel, Angel of The Stars

"The silent field of swaying grass waved at the ocean above

The giants march past us by the thousand

By the thousand thousand and many more

Infinite upon infinite

They don't look back

Dragon Eel Large dragon, neutral evil Armor Class 18 (natural armor) Hit Points 189 (18d10 + 90) Speed 20 ft., swim 60 ft. Saving Throws Str +11, Con +9, Wis +5 Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks Senses blindsight 30 ft. passive Perception 11 Languages Aquan, Draconic Challenge 11 (7200 XP) Crushing Charge. If the dragon eel moves at least 10 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a bite attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 18 (4d8) piercing damage. Keen Senses. The dragon eel has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight, hearing, or smell. Magic Resistance. The dragon eel has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Siege Monster. The dragon eel deals double damage to objects and structures. Actions Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 25 (4d8+7) piercing damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be swallowed by the dragon eel. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the dragon eel, and it takes 21 (6d6) acid damage at the start of each of the dragon eel’s turns. If the dragon eel takes 30 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the dragon eel must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the dragon eel. If the dragon eel dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 20 feet of movement, exiting prone.

Dragon eels are terrifying and temperamental creatures that lurk in the ocean, ramming passing ships to smash holes in them, and feasting on the crew as the vessel sinks. Some captains negotiate passage with the creatures, paying a hefty sum of gold; but just as often, the dragon eel reneges on the deal, and the ship is never seen again, at least intact. Dragon eels measure around 20 feet long and weigh about 1,000 pounds.

Possible variations in chemical composition from one part of Saturn’s ring system to another are visible in this Voyager 2 picture as subtle color variations that can be recorded with special computer-processing techniques.

The Kepler space telescope is our first mission capable of identifying Earth-size planets around other stars. On Monday, June 19, 2017, scientists from many countries gathered at our Ames Research Center to talk about the latest results from the spacecraft, which include the identification of more than 200 potential new worlds! Here’s what you need to know:

We found 219 new planet candidates.

All of these worlds were found in a patch of sky near the Cygnus constellation in our Milky Way galaxy. Between 2009 and 2013, Kepler searched more than 200,000 stars in the region for orbiting planets. The 219 new planet candidates are part of the more than 4,000 planet candidates and 2,300 confirmed planets Kepler has identified to date.

Ten of these worlds are like our own.

Out of the 219 new planet candidates, 10 are possibly rocky, terrestrial worlds and orbit their star in the habitable zone – the range of distances from a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of a rocky planet.

Small planets come in two sizes.

Kepler has opened up our eyes to the existence of many small worlds. It turns out a lot of these planets are either approximately 1.5 times the size of Earth or just smaller than Neptune. The cool names given to planets of these sizes? Super Earths and mini-Neptunes.

Some of the new planets could be habitable. 

Water is a key ingredient to life as we know it. Many of the new planet candidates are likely to have small rocky cores enveloped by a thick atmosphere of hydrogen and helium, and some are thought to be ocean worlds. That doesn’t necessarily mean the oceans of these planets are full of water, but we can dream, can’t we?

Other Earths are out there.

Kepler’s survey has made it possible for us to measure the number of Earth-size habitable zone planets in our galaxy. Determining how many planets like our own that exist is the big question we’ll explore next.

The hunt for new planets continues.

Kepler continues to search for planets in different regions of space. With the launch of our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 2018, we’re going to search for planets nearest the sun and measure the composition of their atmospheres. In the mid-2020s, we have our sights on taking a picture of small planets like Earth with our Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).

*All images of planets are artist illustrations.

Hidden Portraits: Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was an inventor, engineer, physicist and futurist. He arrived in the U.S. in 1884 and quickly catapulted his career by working with Thomas Edison, creating more than 700 patents and making major breakthroughs in modern alternating current (AC) electricity.

He’s featured in the Art with Watson series, Hidden Portraits. 15 artists teamed up with Watson to discover and illuminate the unknown essence of seven of history’s greatest thinkers using data. 

What Watson thinks: Watson’s analysis of Tesla’s works revealed a new side of the famed inventor – as an artist at heart.

About the artwork: The Artist Inside was inspired by Tesla’s conflicted, dual personas: the scientist and the artist. The mirrored cube represents Tesla’s mind, with the inner electric grid representing his fame as a well-known scientist. The generative art that come alive inside the cube speaks to Tesla’s lesser-known artistic side, uncovered with Watson.