nasa:

The Island Named After a Satellite

It is so small that you cannot see it on Google maps. It measures 25 by 45 meters (27 by 49 yards), about half the size of a football field. This barren bit of rock off the coast of Canada also has an unusual namesake: the Landsat 1 satellite. The small size is actually what made the island notable in 1973, when it was initially discovered. Well, that, and the polar bear trying to eat one of the surveyors.

Betty Fleming, a researcher with the Topographic Survey of Canada, was hunting for uncharted islands and rocks amidst data from the new Landsat 1 satellite. She was particularly interested in the new satellite’s ability to find small features. Working with the Canadian Hydrographic Service, Fleming scanned images of the Labrador coast, an area that was poorly charted. About 20 kilometers (12 miles) offshore, the satellite detected a tiny, rocky island. Surveyors were sent to verify the existence of the island and encountered a hungry polar bear on the island. The surveyor quickly retreated. Eventually, the island became known as “Landsat Island,” after the satellite that discovered it. Watch the video to learn more about Betty Fleming and how Landsat Island was discovered by satellite and ground surveyors.

For more details about Landsat Island, read the full stories here:

The Island Named After a Satellite

The Unsung Woman Who Discovered an Unknown Island

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

llovinghome:

pouring honey

geographicwild:

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Photo by @yswildlifephotography When a lion cub sits in front of your camera but refuses to look at it in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy. #Wild #Nature #Wildlife #Animals #Igs_Africa #LionCub #Wildeyesa #OlareMotorogi
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5LI2HvA48B/?igshid=e4vmmgko6bkd

npr:

When Rose McAdoo got back to New York after spending several months working as a sous chef in Antarctica, her friends had questions. Are there penguins? How do you get supplies? Are you, like, on an iceberg?

McAdoo set about answering their questions the best way she knows how: with cake.

“Cake is my canvas,” she says. “It’s my way of making big ideas literally digestible.”

The result was a series of descriptive desserts McAdoo developed to tell the story of life and work at McMurdo Station, a U.S.-run research station in Antarctica. She’s says she chose projects that showcase the diversity of the research that’s happening on the continent. She is now releasing photographs of the cakes, and the stories and science behind them, on her Instagram page.

“There’s people shooting laser beams into the upper atmosphere, people putting tracking devices on seals, people digging for fish bones in the desert,” she says. “There’s things out there that I didn’t even know existed, that people have dedicated their lives to studying,” she says.

Antarctic Research Takes The Cake In These Science-Inspired Confections

Photos: Courtesy of Rose McAdoo and Kira Morris

liberalsarecool:

Devin Nunes is a traitor. Not a debate. He works with our enemy and delivers classified intel to Trump.