Word: lightful
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...That's what Kepler is trying to change. The new telescope looks a bit like it could be the Hubble telescope's little brother, measuring 15.3 ft. vs. Hubble's 43.5. Kepler is smaller because it carries just one main piece of scientific hardware: a light imager known as a charged couple device that detects fluctuations in light so tiny they're measured by counting the electrons they produce on a silicon surface. This will allow Kepler to spot planets by the previously invisible change in luminosity they cause as their orbit carries them around the facing side of their...
...Kepler were to look down at a small town on Earth at night from space," says NASA's James Fanson, the Kepler project manager, "it would be able to detect the dimming of a porch light as someone passed in front...
...unblinking look at Cygnus-Lyra is important because even if Kepler were to detect any telltale fluctuations in stellar light, that wouldn't be proof of a planet. The telescope would have to keep looking and see if the flickering is repeated roughly once a year, or about the time it would take an Earth-like planet to circle around its star and pass in front again. Record three or four such passes, and you can be pretty sure you've got a planet - hence the 3½-year mission...
...among 100,000 stars, then factor up to 70 sextillion, and you've got whole lot of warm, cozy worlds potentially cooking up a whole lot of life. On one of those worlds, someone may even be looking back as our own planet passes in front of the porch light...
...standard in casinos in the bad old good old days - just call it whorehouse red. But it works here, with the brilliant red chandeliers, the whole effect muted a bit by judicious use of off-white fabric. The other delicate touches are cast, oddly enough, by natural light streaming in from either end of the casino floor. And not only through windows - the main entrance to the Encore casino takes you through a lush, plant-and-tree-filled atrium over three stories tall. There's a certain amount of whimsy at play here too: for instance, the brightly colored butterflies...