The Big Picture
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The Big Picture: Laser art show puts you inside a virtual flood
What do lasers have to do with an 1651 oil painting? Quite a lot, as it turns out: a new project called Water Light celebrates a Dutch museum's acquisition of The Breach of St. Anthony's Dike by making you feel like you're inside the painting. Using the latest LED technology, creator Studio Roosegaarde says the spectacle gives viewers "the experience and perception... of a virtual flood." While that sounds unpleasant, the images from the exhibition are stunning, with the light seeming to curve like water around Amsterdam's Museum Square. If you're lucky enough to be there, you can catch the show tonight after 10 pm, or lose yourself in the video below.
The Big Picture: NASA's Orion capsule floats inside US Navy ship
It might take some time before space taxis become the real deal. Yet, that doesn't take away from the fact they're extraordinarily amazing in their current stage. One of the most well-known programs is, of course, NASA's Orion capsule, which has been in development for a few years now. Obviously, putting Orion through its paces is key for the space administration. So, what you see above is a test model of the spacecraft while it floats inside the USS Anchorage, a US Navy ship. Reuters snapped the image after Orion was found during a recovery test near the Californian coast, as NASA prepares by simulating different scenarios ahead of the capsule's first official unmanned launch. [Image credit: Reuters/Mike Blake]
The Big Picture: Japan's bullet train turns 50
The bullet train is a Japanese trademark. It is, in other words, a landmark in motion. Today, 50 years to the time it made a trip for the first time, between Tokyo and Osaka, Japan is celebrating a major milestone in the history of its beloved bullet-shaped train. The Shinkansen, as it's known in The Land of the Rising Sun, has had a great run throughout its 50-year tale, like being the fastest high-speed train at one point -- China's CRH380A now holds that title. Even so, Shinkansen is still responsible for carrying more than 300 million passengers every year in Japan, making it one of the most important forms of transportation in the world, not only in its home soil. [Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
The Big Picture: a heat map of the 'entire' internet
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, though, let's say it's worth millions and millions of internet connections. Thanks to John Matherly, founder of Shodan, a search engine which focuses on helping companies locate internet-connected devices, we are getting a pretty detailed look at how the web looks on a map. While Matherly's tweet says the picture shows where "all devices on the internet" were located after he pinged them, that might be a bit of a stretch. Still, the image manages to give us a really good idea of the internet traffic across different parts of the world. And we reckon it's beautiful.
The Big Picture: a 3D-printed castle
Yes, people, this isn't a dream. What you see above is, indeed, a 3D-printed castle. After working on it for a few months, an architect from Minnesota has now finished building a fancy home made out of 3D printing materials. The man behind it, Andrey Rudenko, began his construction adventure back in April, when he decided he wanted to be the one to set a new bar for 3D-printed homes -- there have been some in China, but questions have been raised about the quality of them. "It has been two years since I first began toying with the idea of a 3D printer that was capable of constructing homes," Rudenko told the site 3DPrint. "When I started out, people struggled to believe this project would progress any further." Well, its very real now, and we can only imagine how dazzling it looks in person. [Image credits: 3D Print]
The Big Picture: Neptune's largest moon, Triton
Neptune has more moons than we have planets in our Solar System, with a total of 14 (and counting) orbiting around it. Its largest, Triton, is big enough to practically be considered a planet, so much so that scientists often compare it to Pluto. (You know, the planet which isn't really a planet, but some people think it should be a planet? Yeah, that's the one.) Now, courtesy of old NASA footage from the Voyager 2 spacecraft, we're getting a closer look at Triton and how it looked back in 1989. Not only that, but NASA's taken images from the aged trek and used them to create the best global map of Triton yet, with color schemes which "are a close approximation to Triton's natural colors." The map, according to NASA, features a resolution of 1,970 feet per pixel, which makes for very, very interesting viewing action.
The Big Picture: Gaza conflict as seen from space
Earth's view from the International Space Station always makes for interesting imagery, and the latest to come from up there is no exception. Recently shared by European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, a telling picture shows what Gaza and Israel looked like as the ISS traveled over the troubled region. Gerst wrote in a blog post that, although he could see "explosions occur several times" while this was being snapped, the photo doesn't actually depict any blasts. Originally, previous reports suggested it did, but as PetaPixel pointed out, something like that would be extremely difficult "to capture effectively from space." Either way, Gerst described it as his "saddest photo yet."
The Big Picture: Exobiotanica, a bonsai tree in space
This is "Exobiotanica Botanical Space Flight," the latest project from Japanese artist Makoto Azuma. In tandem with JP Aerospace, self-described as " America's Other Space Program," Azuma set out to create beautiful imagery by sending a bonsai tree and a variety of other plants to space, using giant helium balloons and custom frames as the method of transportation. The results of Azuma's Exobiotanica project, which had its starting point in Block Rock Desert, Nevada, were spectacular to say the least, showing us what it's like for organic life to go where most humans haven't. Simply beautiful. [Image credit: AMKK]
The Big Picture: An astronaut's view of Hurricane Arthur
In view is the solar panel from the ISS as it travels above North America. From this perspective Hurricane Arthur can be seen as it moves up the east coast. Arthur, a category 2 storm, is the first of the season. The ISS captured this image yesterday, prior to Arthur's landfall in North Carolina this morning -- leaving many locals no choice but to put holiday celebrations on hold and evacuate the area. Arthur is expected to strengthen, while astronauts on the Space Station continue to observe from above. [Image: NASA via Getty Images]
