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  • Composite Moon Map Offers Stunning Views of the Lunar Surface [Astronomy]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Researchers at Arizona State University have stitched together a massive high-resolution map of the moon; seen the moon in astounding detail. Using images fro the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) they carefully stitch a massive map of the moon with a higher resolution than the public has ever seen before: The WAC has a pixel scale of about 75 meters, and with an average altitude of 50 km, a WAC image swath is 70 km wide across the ground-track. Because the equatorial distance between orbits is about 30 km, there is nearly complete orbit-to-orbit stereo overlap all the way around the Moon, every month. Using digital photogrammetric techniques, a terrain model was computed from this stereo overlap. Hit up the link below to check out the images and the process they used. Lunar Topography as Never Seen Before [via NASA] How to Make the Kindle Fire Silk Browser *Actually* Fast! Amazon’s New Kindle Fire Tablet: the How-To Geek Review HTG Explains: How Hackers Take Over Web Sites with SQL Injection / DDoS

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  • Is There a Center of the Universe?

    - by Akemi Iwaya
    From our earliest days mankind has debated what should be defined as the center of the universe, a ‘definition’ that continues to evolve as our technology and knowledge of the universe improves. Follow along with mankind’s historical progress on defining the center of the universe and learn some great facts about the debate with this terrific TEDEducation video. Is there a center of the universe? – Marjee Chmiel and Trevor Owens [YouTube]     

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  • Cosmic Journeys – Supermassive Black Hole at the Center of the Galaxy

    - by Akemi Iwaya
    Even though the center of our galaxy is obscured by thick dust and blinding starlight, that has not stopped scientists from piecing together clues about what may lie there. Sit back and enjoy a ‘cosmic journey’ with this excellent half-hour video from YouTube channel SpaceRip discussing what scientists have learned about the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, and their work on getting a ‘direct image’ of it. Cosmic Journeys: Supermassive Black Hole at the Center of the Galaxy [YouTube]     

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  • No Gentle Galaxy Collision

    - by Akemi Iwaya
    It is hard to imagine a more cataclysmic event than the collision of two galaxies and the effect such an event has on each one as they are ripped apart. See the destructive power of collision at work in this video showing the latest Hubble imagery of Arp 142, a.k.a. the collision of NGC 2936 and NGC 2937. Note: The video also shows stunning imagery of other colliding galaxies. No Gentle Galaxy Collision [YouTube]     

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  • Enjoy 1.3 Billion Pixels of Mars Surface Panoramic Photography from the Curiosity Rover

    - by Akemi Iwaya
    Have you been waiting for more awesome photos of Mars’ surface from the Curiosity Rover mission? Then you are definitely going to love this bit of news! NASA and GigaPan have teamed up to create a truly inspiring 1.3 billion pixel panoramic view of Mars that you can ‘zoom around’ and explore at your leisure. There are two websites that you can visit to enjoy this awesome scenery: NASA’s official website with two viewing options…     

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  • DC Comics Identifies Krypton on the Star Map

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    This week Action Comics Superman #14 hits the stands and DC comics reveals the actual location of Kyrpton, delivered by none other than beloved astrophysicist Neil Tyson. Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy reports on the resolution of fans’ long standing curiosity about the location of Krypton: Well, that’s about to change. DC comics is releasing a new book this week – Action Comics Superman #14 – that finally reveals the answer to this stellar question. And they picked a special guest to reveal it: my old friend Neil Tyson. Actually, Neil did more than just appear in the comic: he was approached by DC to find a good star to fit the story. Red supergiants don’t work; they explode as supernovae when they are too young to have an advanced civilization rise on any orbiting planets. Red giants aren’t a great fit either; they can be old, but none is at the right distance to match the storyline. It would have to be a red dwarf: there are lots of them, they can be very old, and some are close enough to fit the plot. I won’t keep you in suspense: the star is LHS 2520, a red dwarf in the southern constellation of Corvus (at the center of the picture here). It’s an M3.5 dwarf, meaning it has about a quarter of the Sun’s mass, a third its diameter, roughly half the Sun’s temperature, and a luminosity of a mere 1% of our Sun’s. It’s only 27 light years away – very close on the scale of the galaxy – but such a dim bulb you need a telescope to see it at all (for any astronomers out there, the coordinates are RA: 12h 10m 5.77s, Dec: -15° 4m 17.9 s). 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7 HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8

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  • Google Sky Map Turns Your Android Phone into a Digital Telescope

    - by ETC
    Whether you’re an astronomy buff or just somebody looking for a perfect “look how sweet my smartphone is!’ application, Google’s Sky Map application for Android phones is a must have app. If all the application did was show you detailed views of the night sky it would be pretty awesome based on that alone. Where Sky Map dazzles, however, is in linking together the GPS and tilt-sensors on your phone to turn your phone into a sky-watching window. Whatever you point the phone at, the screen displays. Want to see what stars are directly above you despite it being the middle of the day? Point the phone up. Curious what people on the opposite side of the word are seeing? Point the phone down and take a peek right through the Earth. Check out the video below to see the application in action: Google Sky Map is free and works wherever Android does. Google Sky Map [AppBrain] Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Enable User-Specific Wireless Networks in Windows 7 How to Use Google Chrome as Your Default PDF Reader (the Easy Way) How To Remove People and Objects From Photographs In Photoshop Ask How-To Geek: How Can I Monitor My Bandwidth Usage? Internet Explorer 9 RC Now Available: Here’s the Most Interesting New Stuff Here’s a Super Simple Trick to Defeating Fake Anti-Virus Malware The Citroen GT – An Awesome Video Game Car Brought to Life [Video] Final Man vs. Machine Round of Jeopardy Unfolds; Watson Dominates Give Chromium-Based Browser Desktop Notifications a Native System Look in Ubuntu Chrome Time Track Is a Simple Task Time Tracker Google Sky Map Turns Your Android Phone into a Digital Telescope Walking Through a Seaside Village Wallpaper

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  • 9 Gigapixel Photo Captures 84 Million Stars

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    The European Southern Observatory has released an absolutely enormous picture of the center of the Milky Way captured by their VISTA telescope–the image is 9 gigapixels and captures over 84 million stars. From the press release: The large mirror, wide field of view and very sensitive infrared detectors of ESO’s 4.1-metre Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) make it by far the best tool for this job. The team of astronomers is using data from the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea programme (VVV), one of six public surveys carried out with VISTA. The data have been used to create a monumental 108 200 by 81 500 pixel colour image containing nearly nine billion pixels. This is one of the biggest astronomical images ever produced. The team has now used these data to compile the largest catalogue of the central concentration of stars in the Milky Way ever created. Want to check out all 9 billion glorious pixels in their uncompressed state? Be prepared to wait a bit, the uncompressed image is available for download but it weighs in at a massive 24.6GB. 84 Million Stars and Counting [via Wired] How Hackers Can Disguise Malicious Programs With Fake File Extensions Can Dust Actually Damage My Computer? What To Do If You Get a Virus on Your Computer

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  • This Week in Geek History: Morse Code, Mars Rovers, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Birthday

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Every week we bring you interesting facts from the history of Geekdom. This week in Geek History witnessed the first successful demonstration of the electric telegraph, the safe landing of the Spirit rover on the surface of Mars, and the birth of famed fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How To Boot 10 Different Live CDs From 1 USB Flash Drive The 20 Best How-To Geek Linux Articles of 2010 The 50 Best How-To Geek Windows Articles of 2010 The 20 Best How-To Geek Explainer Topics for 2010 How to Disable Caps Lock Key in Windows 7 or Vista How to Use the Avira Rescue CD to Clean Your Infected PC The Deep – Awesome Use of Metal Objects as Deep Sea Creatures [Video] Convert or View Documents Online Easily with Zoho, No Account Required Build a Floor Scrubbing Robot out of Computer Fans and a Frisbee Serene Blue Windows Wallpaper for Your Desktop 2011 International Space Station Calendar Available for Download (Free) Ultimate Elimination – Lego Black Ops [Video]

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  • Earth’s Radiation Belt Sounds like Whale Song [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    The radio frequencies of Earth’s radiation belt have uncanny resemblance to a sort of whale/bird song remix. Check out this video to learn more about NASA’s efforts to explore the belts and listen to the Earth’s song. When we hear the “song” of the Earth, exactly what are we hearing? Science@NASA explains: Chorus is an electromagnetic phenomenon caused by plasma waves in Earth’s radiation belts. For years, ham radio operators on Earth have been listening to them from afar. Now, NASA’s twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes are traveling through the region of space where chorus actually comes from–and the recordings are out of this world. “This is what the radiation belts would sound like to a human being if we had radio antennas for ears,” says Kletzing, whose team at the University of Iowa built the “EMFISIS” (Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science) receiver used to pick up the signals. He’s careful to point out that these are not acoustic waves of the kind that travel through the air of our planet. Chorus is made of radio waves that oscillate at acoustic frequencies, between 0 and 10 kHz. The magnetic search coil antennas of the Radiation Belt Storm Probes are designed to detect these kinds of waves. HTG Explains: How Antivirus Software Works HTG Explains: Why Deleted Files Can Be Recovered and How You Can Prevent It HTG Explains: What Are the Sys Rq, Scroll Lock, and Pause/Break Keys on My Keyboard?

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  • Van Gogh’s Starry Night Rendered in Hubble Telescope Images

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    The process of making a large image out of mosaic of smaller image “pixels” is certainly nothing new; this rendition of Starry Night using images from the Hubble telescope, however, is a particularly fitting use of the technique. Crafted by Alex H. Parker, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, on evenings when cloud cover prevented him from conducting his research, the image is a carefully constructed mosaic of NASA supplied photos from the Hubble telescope program. Hit up the link below to check out the full size image. Starry Night Arranged by Alex H. Parker 8 Deadly Commands You Should Never Run on Linux 14 Special Google Searches That Show Instant Answers How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates

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  • Curiosity’s Descent to Mars in HD [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Thanks to the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) mounted on the fore-port side of Curiosity we’re treated to a high-resolution video of Curiosity’s descent to Mars. The video from MARDI, combined with the video editing of YouTube user DLFitch, yields the above video. He writes: This is a full-resolution version of the NASA Curiosity rover descent to Mars, taken by the MARDI descent imager. As of August 20, all but a dozen 1600×1200 frames have been uploaded from the rover, and those missing were interpolated using thumbnail data. The result was applied a heavy noise reduction, color balance, and sharpening for best visibility. The video plays at 15fps, or 3x realtime. The heat shield impacts in the lower left frame at 0:21, and is shown enlarged at the end of the video. Image source. Complete MSL Curiosity Descent – Full Quality Enhanced 1080p + Heat Shield impact [YouTube] HTG Explains: Is UPnP a Security Risk? How to Monitor and Control Your Children’s Computer Usage on Windows 8 What Happened to Solitaire and Minesweeper in Windows 8?

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  • Coronal Mass Ejection Video Captures Stunning Views of the Sun’s Surface

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    This beautiful HD video, courtesy of NASA, captures the Sun’s August 31st Coronal Mass Ejection with multiple angles and techniques–the surface of the Sun can be quite a turbulent place. [via Boing Boing] HTG Explains: What The Windows Event Viewer Is and How You Can Use It HTG Explains: How Windows Uses The Task Scheduler for System Tasks HTG Explains: Why Do Hard Drives Show the Wrong Capacity in Windows?

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  • NASA Releases Highest Resolution Photo of Mars Ever Seen

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Whether you’re in the mood for a high-resolution extraterrestrial wallpaper or just want to take a very close peek at the surface of Mars, this 23096 x 7681 resolution image ought to do the trick. Courtesy of NASA and Oppurtunity–the Mars Exploration Rover seen in the photo–the panoramic image was captured during the last Martian winter, between the Earth dates of December 21, 2001 and May 8, 2012. Hit up the link below to grab a full-resolution copy as well as read more about the geologic formations seen in the picture and the activities of the rover. ‘Greeley Panorama’ from Opportunity’s Fifth Martian Winter [Nasa] How to Use an Xbox 360 Controller On Your Windows PC Download the Official How-To Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic

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  • How Many People Are In Space Right Now Tells You Just That

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    How Many People Are In Space Right Now is a web site with a very focused mission: to keep you abreast of just how many humans are currently exploring space. Like similar single-function sites–such as Is It Raining Now–How Many People Are In Space Right Now serves up the information with a simple interface, just the number and a link to which mission or program the space explorers are deployed under. We don’t know about you, but we’d certainly like to see the ratio of humans in space versus humans on Earth improve from the current one space explorer to several billion humans ratio. How Many People Are In Space Right Now [via Boing Boing] How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot Our Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 is Now Available Everywhere How To Boot Your Android Phone or Tablet Into Safe Mode

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  • Explore the Earth at Night with Google Maps

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Last week we shared a high-resolution video of the Earth at night. Now we’re back with a mashup that combines that same high-resolution data and Google Maps for an interactive look at a human-illuminated Earth. Hit up the link below to take the Google Maps mashup, titled City Lights 2012, for a spin. City Lights 2012 [Google Maps via Mashable] How to Fix a Stuck Pixel on an LCD Monitor How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot Our Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 is Now Available Everywhere

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  • Tour the Cosmos with 100,000 Stars

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    The newest Google Chrome Experiment, 100,000 Stars, combines web technologies to serve up a 3D star map you can manually zoom about or sit back and enjoy a star tour. From the automated tour that explores the Milky Way with an ever increasing scale to manually moving about the cloud of stars using the zoom and pan feature, the interactive map makes it easy to explore the 100,000 closest stars to our Sun in style. Hit up the link to take it for a spin. 100,000 Stars [Google Chrome Experiments] Why Your Android Phone Isn’t Getting Operating System Updates and What You Can Do About It How To Delete, Move, or Rename Locked Files in Windows HTG Explains: Why Screen Savers Are No Longer Necessary

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  • How Mars Lost Its Atmosphere [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Scientists have long theorized that Mars once had an atmosphere and surface water–but where did it go? This video showcases one of their theories about Mars’ vanished water reserves. Courtesy of NASA and the NASAexplorer channel: When you take a look at Mars, you probably wouldn’t think that it looks like a nice place to live. It’s dry, it’s dusty, and there’s practically no atmosphere. But some scientists think that Mars may have once looked like a much nicer place to live, with a thicker atmosphere, cloudy skies, and possibly even liquid water flowing over the surface. So how do you go from something like this–to something like this? NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft will give us a clearer idea of how Mars lost its atmosphere, and scientists think that several processes have had an impact. For more information about MAVEN, check out the mission page here. NASA – MAVEN: Mars Atmospheric Loss How to Get Pro Features in Windows Home Versions with Third Party Tools HTG Explains: Is ReadyBoost Worth Using? HTG Explains: What The Windows Event Viewer Is and How You Can Use It

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  • Star Trail Photos Taken from the International Space Station

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    While most people have seen a star trail photo or two, seeing a set of star trail photos taken from over 300 miles above the Earth’s surface is a treat. Courtesy of Astronaut and Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Don Pettit, the photos capture star trails from the vantage point of the International Space Station. He explains his technique: My star trail images are made by taking a time exposure of about 10 to 15 minutes. However, with modern digital cameras, 30 seconds is about the longest exposure possible, due to electronic detector noise effectively snowing out the image. To achieve the longer exposures I do what many amateur astronomers do. I take multiple 30-second exposures, then ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure. Hit up the link below for the full Flickr set of the star trails. ISS Star Trails [via Smithsonian Magazine] HTG Explains: What Is RSS and How Can I Benefit From Using It? HTG Explains: Why You Only Have to Wipe a Disk Once to Erase It HTG Explains: Learn How Websites Are Tracking You Online

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  • Titan – The Mystery of the Missing Waves

    - by Akemi Iwaya
    The moon Titan holds a unique distinction…it is the only other known ‘object’ in our solar system with a dense atmosphere and stable bodies of surface liquid. Unlike Earth though, there are no waves on Titan. This mystery has planetary scientists baffled and on a quest to understand this incredible phenomenon. Titan: The Mystery of the Missing Waves [YouTube]     

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  • Watch the Geminid Meteors Tonight

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Tonight is the peak of the Geminid Meteor shower, if you don’t mind braving the cold and have a spot relatively free from light pollution to stretch out in you’ll be able to enjoy one of the more brilliant and busy meteor showers of the year. Sky and Telescope magazine reports on the Geminid Meteor shower: If it’s clear late Thursday night, December 13th, 2012, keep a lookout high overhead for the shooting stars of the Geminid meteor shower. The Geminids are usually one of the two best meteor showers of the year, often beating out the Perseids of August. And this year there’s no moonlight to interfere. Under a clear, dark sky, you may see at least one Geminid per minute on average from roughly 10 p.m. Thursday until dawn Friday morning. If you live under the artificial skyglow of light pollution your numbers will be less, but the brightest meteors will still shine through. Hit up the link below to read the full article and learn more about the Geminid Meteor shower. Secure Yourself by Using Two-Step Verification on These 16 Web Services How to Fix a Stuck Pixel on an LCD Monitor How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot

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  • The Birth and Life of a Disk Galaxy [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    In this video, rendered over a million CPU hours by the Pleiades supercomputer at NASA’s Ames Research Center, we see the birth and life of a massive disk galaxy. Computer Model Shows a Disk Galaxy’s Life History [via Geeks Are Sexy] HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8 How To Play DVDs on Windows 8

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  • Moon / Lunar Phase Algorithm

    - by Scott Bailey
    Does anyone know an algorithm to either calculate the moon phase or age on a given date or find the dates for new/full moons in a given year? Googling tells me the answer is in some Astronomy book, but I don't really want to buy a whole book when I only need a single page.

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  • Interactive Data Language, IDL: Does anybody care?

    - by Alex
    Anyone use a language called Interactive Data Language, IDL? It is popular with scientists. I think it is a poor language because it is proprietary (every terminal running it has to have an expensive license purchased) and it has minimal support (try searching for IDL, the language, right now on stack) . I am trying to convince my colleagues to stop using it and learn C/C++/Python/Fortran/Java/Ruby. Does anybody know about or even care about IDL enough to have opinions on it? What do you think of it? Should I tell my colleagues to stop wasting their time on it now? How can I convince them? Edit: People are getting the impression that I don't know or use IDL. Also, I said IDL has minimal support which is true in one sense, so I must clarify that the scientific libraries are indeed large. I use IDL all the time, but this is exactly the problem: I am only using IDL because colleagues use it. There is a file format IDL uses, the .sav, which can only be opened in IDL. So I must use IDL to work with this data and transfer the data back to colleagues, but I know I would be more efficient in another language. This is like someone sending you a microsoft word file in an email attachment and if you don't understand how wrong that is then you probably write too many words not enough code and you bought microsoft word. Edit: As an alternative to IDL Python is popular. Here is a list of The Pros of IDL (and the cons) from AstroBetter: Pros of IDL Mature many numerical and astronomical libraries available Wide astronomical user base Numerical aspect well integrated with language itself Many local users with deep experience Faster for small arrays Easier installation Good, unified documentation Standard GUI run/debug tool (IDLDE) Single widget system (no angst about which to choose or learn) SAVE/RESTORE capability Use of keyword arguments as flags more convenient Cons of IDL Narrow applicability, not well suited to general programming Slower for large arrays Array functionality less powerful Table support poor Limited ability to extend using C or Fortran, such extensions hard to distribute and support Expensive, sometimes problem collaborating with others that don’t have or can’t afford licenses. Closed source (only RSI can fix bugs) Very awkward to integrate with IRAF tasks Memory management more awkward Single widget system (useless if working within another framework) Plotting: Awkward support for symbols and math text Many font systems, portability issues (v5.1 alleviates somewhat) not as flexible or as extensible plot windows not intrinsically interactive (e.g., pan & zoom) Pros of Python Very general and powerful programming language, yet easy to learn. Strong, but optional, Object Oriented programming support Very large user and developer community, very extensive and broad library base Very extensible with C, C++, or Fortran, portable distribution mechanisms available Free; non-restrictive license; Open Source Becoming the standard scripting language for astronomy Easy to use with IRAF tasks Basis of STScI application efforts More general array capabilities Faster for large arrays, better support for memory mapping Many books and on-line documentation resources available (for the language and its libraries) Better support for table structures Plotting framework (matplotlib) more extensible and general Better font support and portability (only one way to do it too) Usable within many windowing frameworks (GTK, Tk, WX, Qt…) Standard plotting functionality independent of framework used plots are embeddable within other GUIs more powerful image handling (multiple simultaneous LUTS, optional resampling/rescaling, alpha blending, etc) Support for many widget systems Strong local influence over capabilities being developed for Python Cons of Python More items to install separately Not as well accepted in astronomical community (but support clearly growing) Scientific libraries not as mature: Documentation not as complete, not as unified Not as deep in astronomical libraries and utilities Not all IDL numerical library functions have corresponding functionality in Python Some numeric constructs not quite as consistent with language (or slightly less convenient than IDL) Array indexing convention “backwards” Small array performance slower No standard GUI run/debug tool Support for many widget systems (angst regarding which to choose) Current lack of function equivalent to SAVE/RESTORE in IDL matplotlib does not yet have equivalents for all IDL 2-D plotting capability (e.g., surface plots) Use of keyword arguments used as flags less convenient Plotting: comparatively immature, still much development going on missing some plot type (e.g., surface) 3-d capability requires VTK (though matplotlib has some basic 3-d capability)

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  • Sunrise / set calculations

    - by dassouki
    I'm trying to calculate the sunset / rise times using python based on the link provided below. My results done through excel and python do not match the real values. Any ideas on what I could be doing wrong? My Excel sheet can be found under .. http://transpotools.com/sun_time.xls # Created on 2010-03-28 # @author: dassouki # @source: [http://williams.best.vwh.net/sunrise_sunset_algorithm.htm][2] # @summary: this is based on the Nautical Almanac Office, United States Naval # Observatory. import math, sys class TimeOfDay(object): def calculate_time(self, in_day, in_month, in_year, lat, long, is_rise, utc_time_zone): # is_rise is a bool when it's true it indicates rise, # and if it's false it indicates setting time #set Zenith zenith = 96 # offical = 90 degrees 50' # civil = 96 degrees # nautical = 102 degrees # astronomical = 108 degrees #1- calculate the day of year n1 = math.floor( 275 * in_month / 9 ) n2 = math.floor( ( in_month + 9 ) / 12 ) n3 = ( 1 + math.floor( in_year - 4 * math.floor( in_year / 4 ) + 2 ) / 3 ) new_day = n1 - ( n2 * n3 ) + in_day - 30 print "new_day ", new_day #2- calculate rising / setting time if is_rise: rise_or_set_time = new_day + ( ( 6 - ( long / 15 ) ) / 24 ) else: rise_or_set_time = new_day + ( ( 18 - ( long/ 15 ) ) / 24 ) print "rise / set", rise_or_set_time #3- calculate sun mean anamoly sun_mean_anomaly = ( 0.9856 * rise_or_set_time ) - 3.289 print "sun mean anomaly", sun_mean_anomaly #4 calculate true longitude true_long = ( sun_mean_anomaly + ( 1.916 * math.sin( math.radians( sun_mean_anomaly ) ) ) + ( 0.020 * math.sin( 2 * math.radians( sun_mean_anomaly ) ) ) + 282.634 ) print "true long ", true_long # make sure true_long is within 0, 360 if true_long < 0: true_long = true_long + 360 elif true_long > 360: true_long = true_long - 360 else: true_long print "true long (360 if) ", true_long #5 calculate s_r_a (sun_right_ascenstion) s_r_a = math.degrees( math.atan( 0.91764 * math.tan( math.radians( true_long ) ) ) ) print "s_r_a is ", s_r_a #make sure it's between 0 and 360 if s_r_a < 0: s_r_a = s_r_a + 360 elif true_long > 360: s_r_a = s_r_a - 360 else: s_r_a print "s_r_a (modified) is ", s_r_a # s_r_a has to be in the same Quadrant as true_long true_long_quad = ( math.floor( true_long / 90 ) ) * 90 s_r_a_quad = ( math.floor( s_r_a / 90 ) ) * 90 s_r_a = s_r_a + ( true_long_quad - s_r_a_quad ) print "s_r_a (quadrant) is ", s_r_a # convert s_r_a to hours s_r_a = s_r_a / 15 print "s_r_a (to hours) is ", s_r_a #6- calculate sun diclanation in terms of cos and sin sin_declanation = 0.39782 * math.sin( math.radians ( true_long ) ) cos_declanation = math.cos( math.asin( sin_declanation ) ) print " sin/cos declanations ", sin_declanation, ", ", cos_declanation # sun local hour cos_hour = ( math.cos( math.radians( zenith ) ) - ( sin_declanation * math.sin( math.radians ( lat ) ) ) / ( cos_declanation * math.cos( math.radians ( lat ) ) ) ) print "cos_hour ", cos_hour # extreme north / south if cos_hour > 1: print "Sun Never Rises at this location on this date, exiting" # sys.exit() elif cos_hour < -1: print "Sun Never Sets at this location on this date, exiting" # sys.exit() print "cos_hour (2)", cos_hour #7- sun/set local time calculations if is_rise: sun_local_hour = ( 360 - math.degrees(math.acos( cos_hour ) ) ) / 15 else: sun_local_hour = math.degrees( math.acos( cos_hour ) ) / 15 print "sun local hour ", sun_local_hour sun_event_time = sun_local_hour + s_r_a - ( 0.06571 * rise_or_set_time ) - 6.622 print "sun event time ", sun_event_time #final result time_in_utc = sun_event_time - ( long / 15 ) + utc_time_zone return time_in_utc #test through main def main(): print "Time of day App " # test: fredericton, NB # answer: 7:34 am long = 66.6 lat = -45.9 utc_time = -4 d = 3 m = 3 y = 2010 is_rise = True tod = TimeOfDay() print "TOD is ", tod.calculate_time(d, m, y, lat, long, is_rise, utc_time) if __name__ == "__main__": main()

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