Entomologists have relied on butterfly and moth specimens gathered by amateurs since the 1800s, but the decline of the hobby and a shift to photography could make conservation research more difficult Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2266881-decline-of-butterfly-collecting-hobby-threatens-conservation-research/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Tag: Butterfly
Monarch butterflies are in trouble: Here’s how to help in your own yard
The 2020 annual count of monarch butterflies in the western United States found shockingly few, confirming fears that the insect is on the brink of extinction. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/monarch-butterflies-of-western-us-nearing-extinction-what-you-can-do…
Astronomers dissect the anatomy of planetary nebulae using Hubble Space Telescope images
Images of two iconic planetary nebulae taken by the Hubble Space Telescope are revealing new information about how they develop their dramatic features. Researchers from Rochester Institute of Technology and Green Bank Observatory presented new findings about the Butterfly Nebula (NGC 6302) and the Jewel Bug Nebula (NGC 7027) at the 237th meeting of the American Astronomical Society on Friday, Jan….
How chaos and tendency to reach thermal equilibrium arise from fundamental laws of physics
Normally the word “chaos” evokes a lack of order: a hectic day, a teenager’s bedroom, tax season. And the physical understanding of chaos is not far off. It’s something that is extremely difficult to predict, like the weather. Chaos allows a small blip (the flutter of a butterfly wing) to grow into a big consequence (a typhoon halfway across the world),…
November butterflies!
Lovely photos of November butterflies from an ashram garden in India. Source: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/butterflies-ranchi-ashrama-india-photos…
How planetary nebulae get their shapes
About 7.5 billion years from now, our sun will have converted most of its hydrogen fuel into helium through fusion, and then burned most of that helium into carbon and oxygen. It will have swollen to a size large enough to fill the solar system nearly to the current orbit of Mars, and lost almost half of its mass in winds….
M2 9: Wings of a Butterfly Nebula
Are stars better appreciated for their art after they die? Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html…
Simulating quantum ‘time travel’ disproves butterfly effect in quantum realm
Using a quantum computer to simulate time travel, researchers have demonstrated that, in the quantum realm, there is no “butterfly effect.” In the research, information—qubits, or quantum bits—’time travel’ into the simulated past. One of them is then strongly damaged, like stepping on a butterfly, metaphorically speaking. Surprisingly, when all qubits return to the ‘present,’ they appear largely unaltered, as if…
M6 and M7 in the Scorpion’s Tail
Messier 6 and Messier 7 are star clusters near Scorpius’ stinger. But you’ll need a dark sky to see these faint but stunning stellar aggregations. Source: https://earthsky.org/clusters-nebulae-galaxies/m6-and-m7-deep-sky-gems-by-scorpius-tail…
Iron in the Butterfly Nebula
Can stars, like caterpillars, transform themselves into butterflies? Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html…