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What an 'oddball' star in the Cygnus cluster can teach us about how masers are made
Researchers with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory may have uncovered a significant insight into how masers (nature's lasers) are formed while conducting a routine study of the "oddball" star MWC 349A.
The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum will close for at least six months in 2022
The Smithsonian will close the Air and Space Museum for at least six months starting in March.
Instagram adds AR exhibits from the Smithsonian to its camera
Instagram is partnering with three museums in the United States and France to bring AR versions of their exhibits into the photo sharing app.
Apple TV Channels offers free Epix until May 2nd without signing up
Apple is joining Roku and others in offering free access to premium TV, albeit with a slight twist. From now until May 2nd, Apple TV Channels is making Epix content free to watch without a subscription -- you won't have to sign up for a trial and risk racking up charges later. You'll also see extended, month-long trials for a host of familiar services that include Showtime, A&E, History Channel Vault and Smithsonian Channel Plus.
Roku is giving away 30 days of premium video
Add Roku to the list of companies offering free premium TV trials to keep people entertained while they stay at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. It's launching a Home Together initiative that provides extended 30-day trials of familiar networks and services. Epix, Showtime, Hallmark and A&E Crime Cental are among the more conventional services on tap. FitFusion, Gaiam and Grokker can help you stay in shape while the gym is closed, while specialty stations like Acorn TV and Smithsonian are also available.
Smithsonian opens up 2.8 million images to the public
The Smithsonian Institution is releasing a whopping 2.8 million high-res, two- and three-dimensional images from its collections to a new Open Access online platform. The material comes from all 19 Smithsonian museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives and the National Zoo, and it's available for free to anyone with a web browser.
Time says its AR depiction of Apollo 11 is the 'most accurate' yet
Time is joining Google in marking Apollo 11's 50th anniversary using augmented reality, although this one is decidedly different -- and may be particularly valuable if you're a history buff. The magazine has introduced a Landing on the Moon AR experience in the Time Immersive app for iOS (coming shortly for Android astronauts; the experience is also available in Engadget sister company Yahoo News's app) that lets you relive the landing (complete with audio), explore the lunar surface and even stand next to Neil Armstrong while he plants the flag.
iOS 12.3 is out now with overhauled TV app
Just seven weeks after rolling out iOS 12.2, Apple has released iOS 12.3. The biggest update this time around is a major refresh of the TV app ahead of the Apple TV+ streaming service debuting later this year. Through the new-look app, you can subscribe to various TV networks through Apple TV Channels and watch their shows all in one place.
Virgin Galactic donates SpaceShipTwo rocket motor to the Smithsonian
You might see a piece of private spaceflight history on display when you visit Washington, DC in the future. Virgin Galactic has donated SpaceShipTwo's (VSS Unity) historic rocket motor to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. This is the powerplant that took the craft into space for the first time this past December, and represents both "technical achievement" as well as proof of what you can do through "entrepreneurial innovation," according to museum director Ellen Stofan.
How Harvard's human computers helped invent modern astronomy
The Harvard College Observatory (now the Center for Astrophysics) in Cambridge, Massachusetts has long been a bastion of astronomical research, its history stretching back to the center's founding in 1839. But for the first forty years of its existence, the HCO was quite literally an old boys club. While amateur female astronomers helped fund and even construct the observatory's telescopes, "it wasn't really seen as proper to allow them out on the roof, in the night, on their own, to actually use instruments," Daina Bouquin, Head Librarian of the Wolbach Library at the Center for Astrophysics and lead of the PHaEDRA project, told Engadget.
Neil Armstrong's spacesuit is wasting away
Plastics are the worst. Some types are killing marine life because they don't break up fast enough, while others are making museum conservators' lives a lot harder because because they fall apart too easily. The Smithsonian's conservators are struggling to keep some of the museum's exhibits intact due to plastics, for instance, including a very important piece of space history: Neil Armstrong's spacesuit.
Wander 'Burning Man' in VR with help from the Smithsonian
Despite hosting tens of millions of visitors annually, the Smithsonian remains inaccessible to anyone unable to physically make the trip to visit. That's why the Smithsonian American Art Museum is partnering with Intel to accelerate efforts in digitizing its 157 million-piece collection. It's first project will allow attendees to virtually wander the site of the annual Burning Man festival.
Museum of African American History is freely digitizing home movies
Humanity has access to more data than ever before, but there's still so much media scattered around the world that might rot away before it can be preserved. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is launching an initiative to save some of the most precious -- home movies -- by digitizing, for free, any and all films that folks want to bring in to the Washington, DC institution.
The Smithsonian art museum dove into VR with Intel's help
Virtual reality and museums are a perfect pair. We've seen plenty of institutions, like the British Museum, dabble in VR over the past few years. But for the most part, the offerings have been fairly basic. The Smithsonian American Art Museum is hoping to go one step further. It teamed up with Intel to develop an experience that takes advantage of room-scale VR's immersiveness to let anyone visit its exhibits from anywhere. While it's only a basic demo at the moment, with just a few rooms and three interactive showpieces, it's an example of how museums can use virtual reality to transform their relationship with the public.
Apollo 11's crew capsule is going on tour
The Apollo 11 space capsule was displayed around the country in 1970 and 1971, shortly after it safely brought Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins back from their iconic 1969 moon trip. Since then, the command module has lived in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Over the next few years, though, the spacecraft will get some fresh air as it embarks on its first national tour in nearly half a century.
Explore a 3D scan of the Apollo 11 capsule
It's been 47 years since NASA first put a man on the moon and you can now get an idea of what astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins experienced. The Smithsonian Institute, working with Autodesk, has created a high-resolution 3D scan of "Columbia," the Apollo 11 command module that carried the astronauts to the moon. Using the online viewer (or downloading the virtual reality or 3D print files) you can visit the hidden corners of the module in much more detail than in person at the museum.
Original USS Enterprise prop restored to its former glory
There's probably enough material about the tragic afterlives of the USS Enterprise models to fill a small book, at least. Until two years ago, the 1701 prop used for Star Trek (1966) had been left hanging in the Smithsonian's basement gift shop. Now, to celebrate the museum's 40th anniversary, the model has been restored as an exhibit in the Boeing Milestones of Flight hall, which opens Friday. A team, led by the museum's chief conservator Malcolm Collum, collaborated with fans and Industrial Light and Magic to restore the model to its former glories. After all, a 50-year-old prop from a '60s TV show was never designed to last this long.
Amazon lets you attach other video services to your Prime account
Those rumors of Amazon letting you attach other video services to your Prime subscription? They're true. The internet giant just kicked off the Streaming Partners Program, an alliance that makes it easier for you to sign up to multiple video services. So long as you have that Prime subscription, you only need your one Amazon account to handle everything. The option even gives you a multi-service watch list and integration with other Prime features, like ASAP playback, voice search and X-Ray. You also receive a discount on pricing, such as the $9 per month you'll pay for early launch partners Showtime and Starz.
How real spacesuits differ from movie versions
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's curator Cathleen Lewis and conservator Lisa Young answered a number of questions from the public via a Reddit AMA session yesterday. The topic? Spacesuits. They recently raised over $600,000 on Kickstarter for the conservation of Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 suit, and now they've begun promoting the project. One of the most interesting tidbits they dropped is the difference between real spacesuits and movie props. The biggest inaccuracy for Lewis is the size of most movie versions' helmets: turns out Hollywood merely exaggerates them to get a clear view of the actors' faces. "If you look at actual Apollo bubble helmets and photographs of astronauts wearing them, you will see that they are actually tightly fitting," Lewis answered the user who asked about movie inaccuracies. "The diameter of the helmets is about 12 inches. No one with claustrophobia would be able to get beyond the initial helmet fit."
Smithsonian crowdfunds preservation of Neil Armstrong's spacesuit
If you've ever wanted to lend a hand preserving a piece of US history, now's your chance. The Smithsonian launched a Kickstarter campaign to gain support for restoring Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit for display at the Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. While the artifact hasn't been on display since 2006, funds raised through the effort would allow it to be properly preserved ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo mission in 2019 and for an upcoming "Destination Moon" gallery that's scheduled to open in 2020. The campaign is seeking $500,000 to cover the cost of the conservation project and a climate-controlled case for the suit. During the course of the preservation, the suit will get faded colors in the American flag patch stabilized to prevent further deterioration, stains removed and a careful cleaning to keep lunar dust in place. Funds will also be used to construct a digital version via 3D scan so that classrooms around the world can examine it in detail for the first time.
