Meet the Twinkie of particle physics: the muon.
The muon is the sponge cake of elementary particles. It’s plump, basic, easy to mass-produce and disappears quickly—much like a Twinkie.
Second, despite our relatively long lifespan, we are nothing like a Twinkie, which seems to have an infinite shelf life.
Much like Wonder Bread, the Twinkie’s expiration date is “You should live so long”
What did the 1882 Transit of Venus look like?
The last [transit] before 2004 was in 1882, recent enough that photography was being used in astronomy. And it so happens that astronomers at Mt. Hamilton in California were able to take a series of 147 (!) images of the transit, 140 of which were used to make this amazing video
Today’s the day! Hoping it’s clear in the late afternoon, because we’re having a family and friends shindig at work, and we don’t want to disappoint.
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