Space Weather - and a light show of a special kind.

The image shows a coronal mass ejection (CME) of our home star, a medium-sized yellow dwarf or G-star we call the Sun. A CME is a gigantic energy explosion in which a huge, highly magnetized plasma cloud erupts into space from the solar corona, the Sun's atmosphere. These eruptions occur when the motion of the plasma inside the Sun twists its magnetic fields. When the magnetic fields explosively realign, an immense cloud of magnetized particles, called plasma, is hurled into space.

In the form of massless (m=0) photons, light from the Sun travels at the speed of light (≈300,000 km/sec). It takes just eight minutes to cover the 150 million km to Earth. The plasma cloud travels slower; it can reach our planet in as little as 15-18 hours. Slower CMEs can take several days to arrive. The arrival of the CME at Earth can trigger a geomagnetic storm. Such a geomagnetic storm could damage satellites, power grids and radio communications on a massive scale and cause electrical blackouts that might not be repaired for weeks, months, or even years. ^[ESA]
Image: NASA/GSFC/SDO

Quotes
Inspirational Quote of the Week
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
Anonymous


The advice of the time
"Know thyself"
Oracle of Delphi


Basic rules
What we perceive as the force of gravity arises from the curvature of space and time.
Albert Einstein

 

100+ of the world's most amazing countries

Due to the ongoing travel restrictions,
it might be a good idea to update your travel related bucket list from home.
In the Nations Online Project you will find a wealth of triple-checked information about every country in the world.


All Countries of the World

 

COVID-19
The number of cases is frightening, but it could get much worse; only 0.6% of the world population is affected by COVID-19 today. The virus took only three months to spread around the world and the number of cases is still rising.




According to Johns Hopkins University, the worldwide number of confirmed Covid-19 cases is now more than 229 million.
See a map of the world with all countries with confirmed cases and more information about the virus outbreak (from April 2020).

Source: Johns Hopkins University


Global Travel Warnings. Many countries have initiated or strengthened border controls, introduced visas, and quarantine obligations or closed borders completely.


 

Are you confused by all the conflicting messages that rush at us daily? You are not alone.

But be aware that this also happens to less educated people (like me) who are even less able to understand what interests are behind these messages.
Many people feel more and more helpless or ignore the obvious and run to the next strong man.
How can this be avoided in the future?

Education could help. Give the next generation a better chance. Teach them critical thinking, make them understand the connections.

 

The Heart Breaking News
Organic life on Earth will bite the dust if we do not stop feeding the planet with greenhouse gases. Sorry, there is no beautiful clean coal or clean petrol - only if it stays where it is.


Biodiversity Crisis
Scientists have calculated that by the end of this century at least 550 animal species will follow in the footsteps of the mammoth and the sabre-toothed cat and will become extinct because humans exert an immense predatory impact on the animal kingdom. (Science Advances)


Japanese pollution
According to media reports, Japan is about to release 1 million tons of radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea. (DW)


 

Deadly typhoons in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, devastating wildfires in Australia, Siberia, and the United States, hurricanes are making land-fall with disastrous consequences, and poisonous pollution all over the planet. The oceans suffocate from plastic waste, and madmen promote beautiful clean coal, and they want to sell their "Black Gold" -- oil.

This is our world, thanks to you. Because you can't get enough. There is your limitless greed. My houses, my cars, my boats, my stocks, my women, but it's not enough for you. You want your neighbors' houses, and cars, and boats, and stocks, and wives. And it's still not enough. You just can't get enough.

More, more, more, give it to ME.
You want it all, and you want it now. And you don't give a damn sh..t about others, or your country, or about the environment, or about the children of others. You cheat and twist the facts until they are no longer recognizable, and you ruin others just to satisfy your appetite for more power and influence. You wear expensive fashion brands and ignore that they are made by indentured laborers in a faraway land. You ship your garbage to Third World countries, but you couldn't care less about the fatal consequences for the people there. You ignore the fact that it is ultimately these people who make your luxury life possible.
But this has to stop. And if you get in the way when people try to save the planet, you could get hurt, not necessarily by other people but by the consequences of your behavior. Air and water no longer support life; fires, floods, landslides, tornadoes, devastating hailstorms will come ever closer to your luxurious home with its golden faucets and five cars in the garage. And one day, it will be too late to run away.

 

 

Thanks to all those who have made their photos available to the public and thus also to Nations Online Project.

Images credit: Sri Lanka - High Contrast; Hong Kong - Timon Studler; Mexico - Daniel Schwen; Nicaragua - Phayne; Ghana - Stig Nygaard; Bangladesh - NASA; Saudi Arabia - Aiman Titi; Kenya - Key45; Ireland - Joachim Kohler; New-Zealand - Gobeirne; United Arab Emirates - ykeiko; Egypt - Diego Delso; Argentina - Gavieiro Juan M; Spain - Bernard Gagnon; South Africa - Mike Peel; Philippines - Eric Montalban; Japan - Midori; Nigeria - Ulf Ryttgens; Canada - Saffron Blaze; Pakistan - Ali Mujtaba; Indonesia - Heaven's Army; Brazil - Donatas Dabravolskas; China - J. Patrick Fischer; Australia - Pavel Špindler; France - Michelle Maria; Russia - Grechkina Nadejda; USA - MadGrin; UK - Diliff; Italy - Wolfgang Moroder; Bahamas - Bahamas Government; Chile - visit-chile.org; South Korea - Alexandre Chambon; Israel - Martin Furtschegger; Angola - L. Willms; Switzerland - Chnebelhäx; Norway - Motif Räsänen; Venezuela - Paolo Costa Baldi; Mauritius - Sofitel So Mauritius; Bolivia - Haceme un 14; Benin - Marc Auer; Madagascar - Frank Vassen; Netherlands - Tarod; Fiji - American; Algeria - Zinou de Batna; Costa Rica - Arturo Sotillo; Romania - Calatorinlume; Qatar - Francisco Anzola; Denmark - Sculptor: Edvard Eriksen; Slovenia - Neven Krcmarek; Jordan - David Bjorgen; Bahrain - Wadiia, Panama - Ron Reiring, Papua New Guinea - Anselmo Lastra, Malta - Berit Watkin; Morocco - Annabel Symington; Federated States of Micronesia - Garrett W; Guyana - amanderson; Ecuador - Simon Matzinger; Greenland - Dave Stanley; Belize - Seann McAuliffe; El Salvador - Ramon;
All others images by kk nationsonline.org