Helium

Do you know how Helium was discovered? It is so interesting!

"An unknown yellow spectral line signature in sunlight was first observed from a solar eclipse in 1868 by French astronomer Jules Janssen. Janssen is jointly credited with the discovery of the element with Norman Lockyer, who observed the same eclipse and was the first to propose that the line was due to a new element which he named helium. In 1903, large reserves of helium were found in the natural gas fields in parts of the United States, which is by far the largest supplier of the gas." *

So, there are several key points here:

1) Each element has its own unique way of reflecting light at different wavelengths of the light's spectrum. That is how in fact scientists observe and identify water, fire, soil,... via remotely sensed data of airplanes, satellites, etc. They have spectral signatures/models of different matter and fit the observed data to those models. In this case, what they saw, did not match the spectrum of any known element. So, they declared discovery of a new element.

2) If it was not for the moon, there would not be a solar eclipse, and we would not learn about the Sun's composition, nor could we discover Helium. Helium was discovered because of the moon!


* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium

Boz Ghormeh

Today's lesson is on the important subject of Boz Ghormeh! Thanks to a dear friend, Mohammad, for today's lesson and its picture:

What is the lesson you wonder? Well,

1- There exist a soup with such a name (I did not know about its existence till yesterday).
2- It is originally from Kerman, Iran.
3- It is made of goat, chickpeas, onion, garlic, and Kashk.
4- For English speaking readers: "boz" means "goat", and "ghormeh" means "stew" in Persian.

Yes, I know. Kashk is a Persian word too, and I do not know its English translation and am too lazy to look it up now. Well, not really: here is a chance for you Farsi speaking readers to let us know its English name and provide the fifth lesson:

5- The translation of Kashk to English is : .....

Which makes us reach our final boz-ghormeh lesson:

6- There are many lessons that one can learn from anything! That is the main motivation behind this blog. Keep observing, exploring, learning, and sharing!

There are signs everywhere!

It is possible to discover a moon of a celestial body by first observing its shadow on that body.

Number one natural killer!

According to tonight's meteorologist on CNN, extreme heat has killed more people than tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, lightening, .... combined in the last ten years in the U.S. Stay cool and hydrated!

Related:
http://www.weather.gov/om/heat/index.shtml

مير و ميرزا

دوستان امشب ميگفتند كه "مير" يعنى كسى كه پدرش سيد است و "ميرزا" كسى كه مادرش سيد است. هيچ وقت به معناى اين دو واژه خيلى فكر نكرده بودم و برايم جالب بود.

Goddard's Network Integration Center

With the launch of shuttle Atlantis, the final shuttle mission, we are closing a chapter in man's space exploration in lower Earth orbit and graduating from the Shuttle program. It was only today, and embarrassingly so late, that I learned that the Goddard Space Flight Center has been responsible for all communications to and from the shuttles for every single shuttle that was launched for more than thirty years, and also for communications of the Apollo program thanks to the Goddard's Network Integration Center. Below are some pictures and a video from how the Goddard community observed the final space shuttle launch.

"We all know the words, “One small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind,” but no one on Earth would have heard Neil Armstrong say them on July 21, 1969, if not for Goddard."
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa_goddard/sets/72157627147772740/

"We aren't ending a journey, we are completing a chapter of a journey that will never end" - Commander of Atlantis before today's launch.

Hiatus

Do you know what hiatus means? I did not till today, when I saw it in an email. Yes, English is my second language and there are many words I do not know and keep learning as time passes by. To see what it means and how it is pronounced click here.

What have you learned today?