Nancy Young, Author at Argyll Free Press

Lenovo Announces a New Projector Smartphone

May 28, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Projector phones aren’t that new – even Samsung had their failed releases; but what’s new is that Lenovo may have just struck gold with their beaming device.

Obligatory – Beam me up Scotty!

Now that I have managed to get that Star Trek reference out of my system, let’s talk about the Lenovo smartphone that can beam almost anything!

Smart Cast was just announced at the Lenovo Tech World conference, and the internet has already gone crazy over it – and for good reasons too! It doesn’t feature the DLP technology that pico projectors use, and in its stead it sports an integrated focus-free laser projector – for the first time on a smartphone too.

It has all the features that a normal smartphone would have, so there’s no need to worry that you won’t be able to play that sweet Candy Crush Saga, or Clash of Clans – barf!

The Lenovo Smart Cast can project a virtual keyboard, or a set of piano keys – how about Fruit Ninja?! Yes, sir!

That’s fantastic, but let’s not get too excited. We don’t really know any technical specifications, and we seriously don’t know what it’s going to be priced at. The only info we’ve got comes from this short video. This short and awesome video. I just love it!

I don’t want to get all that pumped up, but how couldn’t I after watching the promo clip?

Let’s get our feet back on the ground. When Samsung released that meh Galaxy Beam 2 it was priced at $560, and it was a complete disappointment – remember me to not trust Samsung ever again. We’re looking at something along that price range. I’ll be more than happy if Lenovo prices it at $600, heck, even at $700, just don’t cut down on performance.

The gesture based control system will let the device’s user

The built-in kick-stand transforms any possible surface into a smart display so get ready for those lazy Sundays!

Image Source: 1, 2, 3

Build a Mars Habitat for NASA and You’ll be Rewarded!

May 20, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

A proper 3D printed Mars habitat would not only make the lives of the first colonists easier, but also it could ensure their safety. The NASA contest focuses on safety, human exploration, and of course colonisation.

The best design for a printable Mars Habitat will receive $2.25 million – but this is no easy feat to achieve. There are so many factors to take into consideration, and to be honest, you can’t exactly predict what’s going to happen on a planet you’ve never been too. Sure, you may guess, and speculate, but we’re talking about human lives here.

NASA is also looking to reduce the costs of materials needed, and to reduce the amount of materials needed to built shelters on location.

Participants in the The 3D Printed Habitat Challenge will need to demonstrate how someone can actually build their design – quick, and sturdy are pluses.

NASA’s contest has 3 phases.

Phase 1

It’s all about the habitat’s design – no, they aren’t looking for that gorgeous architectural design, they are looking for efficiency. In this phase, participants are tasked to take advantage of what 3D printers offer. 30 plans will be selected to move to the next phase, and the winner of the first round will receive a $50,000 cash prize.

Phase 2

The Structural Member Competition is the next round, and it focuses on building the habitat from what materials can be found on the landing site – discarded parts from spaceships, and other resources that can be found on arrival. In order to do so, we need advanced fabrication technologies – not only those that come with added capabilities have the possibility of moving on, but also those who reduce the cost of materials needed, and are quick to build.

Phase 3

The last round consists of members actually showing NASA how they would construct their design on Mars utilizing the 3D printed technology. It is yet unknown if participants will be needed to construct their habits in a setting that will emulate Mars exactly. The winner of phase 2, and phase 3 will receive a $1.1 million cash prize.

For more information about the contest and its rules go to the official website.

We all know how shelter is important, and on Earth we consider it to be a basic necessity – unfortunately, we don’t consider it a basic human right, but maybe soon mankind will solve this mystery. Building proper shelters on Mars is a top priority to colonists, and if they are poorly made it could mean the death of our pioneers.

Sam Ortega, Centennial Challenges program manager has stated that – ” The future possibilities for 3-D printing are inspiring, and the technology is extremely important to deep space exploration. This challenge definitely raises the bar from what we are currently capable of, and we are excited to see what the maker community does with it.”

Everyone is urged to compete in NASA’s contest – amateur, and professionals alike. You may send submissions until August the 3rd, and the competition will run through September the 27th at the New York Hall of Science.

“If we can solve for the need to ship materials, we can develop solutions for a variety of scenarios, including those for humanitarian and disaster relief efforts on earth, wherever affordable housing is needed and access to conventional building materials is limited.” the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute has reported on their official website.

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Mirror’s Edge Sequel is Due to be Released Early 2016

May 6, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

The sequel to the beloved 2008 Mirror’s Edge is going be released early 2016 – according to EA’s quarterly financial presentation.

It was announced by EA in 2013, but absolutely no info regarding a certain release date, game mechanics, or platforms has been announced – at this point, we only know that it will appear on consoles and on PC sometime between January the 1st and March the 31st next year.

What we do know is that Rhianna Pratchett won’t write for Mirror’s Edge reboot. It saddens and excites me at the same time. First off, because she won’t be on the new team that will tackle the sequel, and secondly because she may be continuing her father’s DiscWorld series – but I’m sceptical about the last one.

According to her Twitter account Rhianna’s script was chopped down at the last minute, and that’s why story-wise Mirror’s Edge doesn’t shine.

“I came in late to ME1, much of it was already designed, my script was hacked up, I wasn’t happy & said so (diplomatically.)” said Rhianna.

And it’s a shame that the producers didn’t let her do some magic – her most notable works include Heavenly Sword, and the latest Tomb Raider.

” Story didn’t seem well regarded well (by reviewers) either. Despite the nature of the project, DICE may blame me for that. Although I think we produced something cool, it was a difficult project for all and I no longer have any contacts there. Let’s face it ME1’s story didn’t review that great (for many reasons). So I consider myself a casualty of that development process.” said Pratchett.

Moving on, if you checked EA’s PDF, you’ll see that Mirror’s Edge isn’t the only video-game to be released next year. A new Need For Speed installment is due to be released sometimes in December of 2015, along with Star Wars Battlefront, that already has a release date planned for November the 17th.

Also a new Plants vs. Zombie game will mark consoles and PC sometimes between January and March of 2016.

Until then, I’ll let you drool over Mirror’s Edge 2014 E3 trailer.

Faith – I can’t wait to see you!

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Grand Theft Auto TV series may star Daniel Radcliffe

April 9, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Daniel Radcliffe may play Sam Houser, the founder of Rockstar Games, in the BBC drama Grand Theft Auto.

The show will be based on real-life events of how Sam Houser fought Jack Thompson, in the early 2000s, over the perceived violence, and sex in video-games.

Jack Thompson constantly attacked Houser and Rockstar Games in the early 2000s for pushing violence, sex, and drugs in their video-games. He was already known as the Florida attorney activist who attacked media companies for promoting rap and sex on radio. When Thompson found out of the existence of Grand Theft Auto he formed an obsession for closing down the company that developed the game. Jack Thompson was disbarred in 2008 due to inappropriate behaviour.

The actor that is supposed to play Jack hasn’t been cast yet.

The TV series will have as director Owen Harris, whom some of you may know to have directed a couple of episodes of UK’s Misfits, and the first episodes of Black Mirror’s season 2.

James Wood wrote the script, and the show was initially known as Rockstar Games – the name may very well change once again. Jim Spencer will be in charge of producing the show, and Mark Hedgecoe will be the executive producer.

The TV show will start shooting on the 20th of April, and it is based on David Kushner’s – Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto.

British co-founder Sam Houser and president of Rockstar Game has garnered a reputation of creating one of the most loved game franchises in the world – also the biggest one.

Grand Theft Auto has amped its portrayal of violence with each new installment – if we take into consideration Max Payne and Red Dead Redemption, we can say that every Rockstar game is about maniacs seeking justice, or revenge, by using sheer force.

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Survey Shows That Smartphones Are In Charge Of Our Lives

April 4, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Smartphones have become as vital as a kidney or a lung. People are hooked on them and their whole life relies on the tiny device as survey shows that smartphones are in charge of our lives.

Statistics made by The Pew Research Centre have shown that there are 64% of Americans that posses a smartphone and 10% out of them do not have an internet connection at home, meaning that their phone is the sole device they use to access the internet based on their mobile data plan.

Another group of 15% out of the American smartphone owners, admitted that their means of accessing the internet are pretty much limited and their only device that they mostly use to do that is their personal phone.

According to the survey, there is one American out of five who doesn’t have internet at home or their internet access is limited when it comes to connections outside their data plan provided by their mobile carrier.

Interesting enough, the survey has shown different numbers and associations when taking people by their race and ethnicity.

It was noticed that 13% of the Latin Americans who own a smartphone rely on them as being the only device trough which they can connect to the internet, 12% of the African Americans are in the same situation while just 4% of Caucasian Americans use their phones as their sole as their only internet connection.

However, statistics have shown different numbers when analysing the economical status of the persons. It was shown that 13% of the Americans who have a yearly income of under $30,000 are 100% depending on their phones to access the internet and at the other pole are the Americans who earn around $75,000 per year who are in a number of just 1% dependent solely on their smartphone to browse the web.

Age is also a defining factor in this situation, as 15% of Americans with ages from 18 to 29 years old are entirely addicted on their smartphones to get online.
Going further with the survey, in America the smartphone use has almost doubled since 2011, when only 35% of people owned a smartphone, compared to 64% presently.

The Americans who have proved to be fully dependent on their smartphones to browse the web, showed not to be owning of owning any other type of device to access the internet, or having a bank account or a health insurance and the chances are that they do not own a house and are renting a place or living with some friends or family.

So what do people al they on their smartphones? Well, according to the study, among others, people are using their phones to kill boredom quite often and sometimes even use it as a tool to avoid people they don’t want to run into.

Other frequent internet phone searches include, looking online for different health conditions, job sites, real estate information. Many of them have been using their smartphones to apply to jobs and subscribe to online courses. But almost all of them are always accessing the news sites and follow the latest headlines and whats going on in the world.

Using only their smartphones as an internet connection can create some financial issues, as many of the have admitted to go trough this. The survey showed that 48% out of them have found themselves in the situation where they had to cancel their data plan as they couldn’t afford it anymore. 30% are consuming all their data traffic and going over the limit almost every month, while 51% go trough this situation quite often.
Image Source: harvest-teens,gwhoffman,huffpost

Facebook Has Released A Scrapbook For Baby Pictures

April 4, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Facebook is constantly coming up with new ways that are indulging us into uploading our life into a more organised manner. This new feature will make parents who want to show off their children very happy, as Facebook has released a Scrapbook for baby pictures.

One of the many addictions Facebook has created in our social lives is for parents to constantly upload pictures of their babies and many of them tend to overreact and have made their profile all about their baby. You can see parents posting pictures of babies, starting from when they were still in the womb of their mother to their birth, and basically the rest of every day of their child life.

Facebook has come up with an idea for the parents who are so eager of showing their babies and has created an option called Scrapbook, which practically is what the name itself says, a virtual scrapbook where parents can share pictures of their babies with their families and friends.

This doesn’t sound like a bad idea, as when the child grows up, he/she will have a database of memories and that is kind of cool. It is like a gift for the soul. The whole idea of the feature is to allow parents to share easier the pictures of their babies or children with their friends and families.

All that parents have to do, is to add a kid to their personal profile and tell Facebook the names of that child’s parents. After that, parents can tag their baby/child in the picture, and you have to know that they are the only ones who will be authorized to tag that child. All the images are stored in a virtual Scrapbook.

As for the privacy settings of the photo albums, they are the same as any other Facebook photo album, and you can choose if you want to make it public or share it only with the close people in your life.

More precisely, what you need to do technically to create this Scrapbook, is to log in into your account, go to the section where it says About, click on Family and Relationship and from there you should be sent to a section where you have “Create a Scrapbook for Your Child” . If you find difficulties during the process, you shouldn’t worry, as Facebook has created a mini tutorial on how to create the Scrapbook.

If you have more than one child and want to create a Scrapbook for each, you just repeat the same process again, but add the name of the other child or children. The Scrapbook will appear on your profile just like any other photo album.If there are certain persons (even friends) that you don’t want to see some of the pictures of your baby/child, just personalize the privacy of each photo from the album.

For your information, the Scrapbook can be also used for your beloved pets. So if you are the proud owner of a cute doggy, kitty or any other animal you can make them their personal Scrapbook.

Before this feature, both of the parents had to tag each other in the photos of their child, which would allow the picture to appear on both timelines. But with the new option, you just have to tag the child and you automatically tagg the parents as well.

The policy of Facebook doesn’t permit children under 13 years old to have an account. So when the kids who will have Scrapbooks will turn 13 and will want to make his/hers own Facebook account he/she will have all those tagged pictures of his/hers childhood.

In case he/she doesn’t want friends to see the photos, they will just have to untag themselves from the image. The picture will remain under the ownership of their parents, so if they want to take any of them down its up to their parents.

Facebook’s new feature has already been released in America for desktops, iOS and Android devices. You should check to see if your account has been updated with the new feature and you can start creating your first Facebook Scrapbook by following the steps.
Image Source:Techlicious, Image Source:omnifeed, Image Source:iDownloadBlog, ImageSource:Endgadget

New Mortal Kombat X Characters Are Awesome

March 26, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

One of the most gruesome movie villains ever created will take its rightful place among the new Mortal Kombat X characters. The developers just revealed that the Predator will be made available as a DLC in the new fighting franchise.

The trailer of the game featuring the Predator also showed that the beloved characters Tanya and Tremor will also appear in the game. The alien will be made available in the $30 Mortal Kombat X season pass along with Jason Voorhees.

It’s clear that the developers of the game, NetherRealm, will spend a lot of time making sure they balance the playing field for the alien. The trophy hunting, agile Predator will be able to resist extreme cold from Sub Zero, extreme heat from Kung Lao, the gunshots from Stryker and the radiation cast by Raiden. The superhuman strength of the alien will probably be on par with Jax’s abilities and the invisibility cloak that it’s able to use will rival Smoke’s skills.

If the alien begins to bleed green and luminous fluids, it’ll mean that your efforts to beat the character are on the right track. It’s entirely possible that the Predator will also have issues with breathing in the case that its respirator will be removed from its face.

About a week before the developers showed off the Predator as a playable character in Mortal Kombat X, they also revealed that Jason Voorhees will be resurrected from the dead in order to start wiping out some foes again.

While the Predator has its invisibility cloak and its spectrum spotting mask, Jason can go on a killing spree with the help of his trusty machete. The cast in Mortal Kombat is well-known for their imaginative ways of de-boning, disemboweling and dismembering their opponents.

Other characters that have been uncovered so far include Sub Zero, Kung Lao, Sonya Blade, Jackson Briggs, Goro, Scorpion, Reptile, Mileena, Raiden, Kitana, Kano and Johnny Cage.

Mortal Kombat X will be launched on April 14 for the PC, PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. There will also be versions of the game for the older Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 that will eventually see the light of day sometime during the summer in 2015. Other playable characters that are rumored to make their appearance in the new Mortal Kombat X include Fujin, Rain, Kabal, Sindel, Erron Black, Smoke, Cyrax, Nightwolf and Stryker.

Below you will find a trailer that reveals the Predator, Tanya, Tremor and Jason Voorhees.

Image source: 1

New Study Links Autism and Gut Bacteria

March 26, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

A new study has found a link between autism and gut bacteria, as many mothers of infants with autism with ages of up to three, have a plethora of GI symptoms, such as diarrhea, constipation and food intolerance or food allergy. The study collected 10 years of data and published in the online journal of JAMA Psychiatry.

The scientists followed infants with ages between 6 months and 3 years and compared gut symptoms in autistic children to the symptoms in children with a typical development.

This particular study is what is called a forward-looking study, which means that it was designed from the beginning to test associations between autism and gut bacteria. A retrospective study is a study that would gather already present data and search for links between two or more factors.

The new study that links autism to gut bacteria was performed by scientists at the Columbia University, New York, headed by Michaeline Bresnahan, PhD at the university.

It was found that gastrointestinal symptoms were more frequently persistent and more common in babies with autism spectrum disorder than in children with a typical development for their age group, or those with a degree of developmental delay.

Bresnahan, along with her colleagues, believe that their study is the first one that examines a population to find links between ASD (autism spectrum disorder), TD (typical development) or DD (development delay) and GI symptoms and disorders.

The aim of the study was to answer the question: are children with ASD at greater risk of experiencing GI disturbances, when compared to the two other groups, TD and DD.

The study looked at data from a whopping 41,000 children with ages between 6 months and 36 months. Out of that number, a total of 195 children had autism spectrum disorder, 40,295 had typical development and 4,636 had a development delay.

After careful examination of the date, the researchers found that, compared with children with TD, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder were more likely to have a food allergy or intolerance and constipation reported by their parents between 6-18 months of age.

Children with ASD were also more likely to have constipation, diarrhea, and food allergy or intolerance in the 18-36 months range.

It was concluded by the scientists that even though gastrointestinal symptoms are quite common in early childhood, doctors should know that children with ASD may be experiencing more GI issues in the first 3 years of their life than children with TD and DD.

Image Source: National Geographic

The Mars One Project – Fact or Fiction?

March 25, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Ever since the Mars One project was announced in 2010, people have been tuning in to find out more about the team that plans to head out to Mars in 2027. But could the Mars One project become a reality, or was it doomed from the beginning? New information released by one of the Mars One finalists is pointing to the latter.

The Mars One project is a bold and one-of-a-kind project that promises to put humans of the Red Planet. The one-way trip is supposed to take place in the year 2027 and its purpose is to colonize the planet. The people heading out to Mars, are not supposed to come back, as it would more than double the price for the mission and defeat the purpose of the mission, which is to colonize and make a habitable spot on the Red Planet.

The Mars One project is the brain child of Dutch man Bas Lansdorp, the CEO of the company behind Mars One. He says the whole mission can happen using the technology that is available to people today.

Needless to say, such a complex and almost unfathomable mission is bound to be plagued by controversy. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has done some research and in 2014 it concluded that the program is not realistic. Other articles that have popped up all over the online media have called into question the ethical, financial and scientific feasibility of the project. With all that around the Mars One, Lansdorp still says that the project is not only feasible, but that it is going to happen at the time when it is supposed to happen.

Mars One and the Science Behind It

In 12 years, Mars One intends to send four people to the Red Planet with the purpose to launch more manned missions and ultimately colonize Mars. This is supposed to be done with the technology that is available to people at the moment. Also, Mars One is not going to design nor manufacture any hardware itself and it is completely dependent on the companies that build systems needed to get and stay on Mars.

What strikes as odd is that, while Lansdorp is a mechanical engineer, he has admitted that he does not understand the scientific details behind the Mars One mission. Mars One plans to outsource every single piece of tech work to various other companies, including Paragon Space Development Corporation that is working on the life-support systems for Mars One. Paragon’s report on the work and science behind Mars One is supposed to come out this April and it is going to be the first attempt at explaining the science behind Mars One.

Andrew Owens and Sydney Do, two of the MIT researchers who performed the study that revealed Mars One’s many flaws, said that the Mars One mission plan is simply not feasible. They concluded that significant technological development is needed before people can walk on Mars, much less support a growing colony of humans.

Dr. Norbert Kraft Says it Isn’t So

Doctor Norbert Kraft conducted research for the Russian Space Agency, NASA and JAXA (the Japanese space agency). He holds an M.D. from the University of Vienna, Austria and he is a fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association. He is the chief medical officer for Mars One and he doesn’t agree with the MIT study that says the mission is not feasible.

Kraft says that the research done by MIT is actually not a research at all. He undermines the scientists’ work and importance by calling them a student and an undergraduate student who just wanted to make a presentation at a conference.

Owens and Do are not undergrads, they are PhD candidates in astronautics and aeronautics at MIT and each of them has a Master of Science in the same fields at MIT. How could Kraft say that the two scientists have not done enough research on the Mars One mission, when he himself has not done enough research on them?

Lansdorp also agrees with Kraft and calls Owens and Do students, but the MIT research didn’t leave Lansdorp all that cold. The MIT research results did change two sections (the goals and the expected amount of plants needed on Mars) on the Mars One website, so Lansdorp and Kraft do believe some of the research results after all, even though they do not want to admit.

Another critic of Mars One is Nobel-prize theoretical physicist, Gerard ‘t Hooft, who says that it would take people 100 years to settle on Mars and at least 10 times the amount of money Mars One is currently listing.

Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian astronaut to walk in space, says the Mars One project is disillusioning people and that it doesn’t address even the most basic ideas about space travel.

NASA did not chime in on the subject of Mars and it is not expected to do so in the near future.

Mars One Finalist Reveals a Plethora of Inconsistencies

Doctor Joseph Roche is a professor at Dublin’s Trinity School of Education and has a PhD in astrophysics and physics. He is also one of the 100 finalists for the Mars One Mission.

Last week Elmo Keep from Medium published an extensive interview with Roche that made took the Internet by storm. The reason behind that is the fact that Roche doesn’t believe Mars One is going to happen and he’s been giving plenty of reasons to support his claim.

The budget for the Mars One mission is very low, at $6 billion and Roche suspected from the beginning that there had to be something suspect about the entire mission. In the interview he revealed that he did not meet a single person from the Mars One project in person. Remember, he was chosen out of, Mars One claimed, 200,000 applicants. Yet, Roche said nobody ever wanted to talk to him in person.

Roche said that the entire ranking within the project is entirely points-based. Once you apply and join the Mars One Community you are given points as you move on to the next level. You get more points if you buy merchandise from Mars One or if you donate money to the project, which means that you’re basically buying your spot on the team.

So how did Mars One intend to get the $6 billion needed to fund the trip to Mars? With a series of reality shows that presented the entire selection process. Endemol, a TV production company, has announced that it has pulled out of the contract, which leaves Mars One scrambling to gather the money.

Roche stated that he has decided to speak out and let the whole world know that the Mars One selection process was a complete farce. Joseph Roche said that he not only did not meet with anyone from Mars One in person, but that all the interviews were done through Skype. He continued to say that the initial plan was for the contenders to travel to Mars One headquarters and take all the tests and interviews there, but that never materialized.

Roche went on to reveal that:

They made us sign a non-disclosure agreement if we wanted to be interviewed, and then all of a sudden it changed from being a proper regional interview over several days to being a 10-minute Skype call.

Roche’s main worry is that the obvious failure of the Mars One project, as he sees it, is only going to lead people to lose faith in NASA and even scientists. He fears that Mars One could potentially damage the people’s perception of science.

What Now?

Roche’s statements chip away at the whole Mars One mission wall, but they are not enough to tear it down. Naturally, only time will tell if people get to Mars through the Mars One project, but the way the whole mission is shaping up, most likely Mars One will not put men and women on Mars in 2027.

Right now, there are too many unknown factors, too much uncertainty and not enough money for anyone to give a final verdict on Mars One.

At the moment, Mars One has narrowed down its candidates to 100 and it’s planning to get down to 24 of them. They will be offered a job by Mars One, they will be trained and out of the bunch, four finalists will be selected. They will leave Earth and head for Mars in 2027.

Lansdorp knows there are many holes in Mars One’s plans and he says that there are solutions for every problem.

An Amazing Week for Skywatchers: Total Solar Eclipse, Supermoon & Vernal Equinox

March 20, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

This week was amazing for sky watchers throughout the world. The “aurora borealis” came first, earlier this week and today we were fortunate enough to witness a total solar eclipse. The first day of spring is upon us and with it came the largest celestial event of this year.

Unfortunately for people in the U.S., the total solar eclipse was not visible from any part in the county. Only folks from some specific far away islands in Northern Europe as well as the residents of the Faroe Islands and of the Norwegian Svalbard got to see the event in all its splendor.

Americans were able to witness it via a live stream hosted by the “Slooth Community Observatory” that managed to send real time images from the beginning until the end of the event. For those of you that did not manage to catch the live stream, you can browse your way to live.slooth.com (here) and see a recording of it.

As mentioned by “Space.com”, a rather partial eclipse was visible across parts of Europe, the Northern part of Asia and Northern Africa. They said that depending on your location in Europe you were able to see from about 50% to almost 99% of the Sun’s diameter covered by the Moon.

The celestial event started at 4:30 AM Eastern Standard Time on Friday the 30st of March, 2015, and it lasted for about four hours. It was the only total solar eclipse this year and the first one since 2013.

What is a solar eclipse?

A solar eclipse happens when a sizable object, namely the Moon, obscures our view of the Sun. The Sun’s light does not reach Earth but instead is projected on the Moon’s surface causing a large shadow to be cast on some parts of our planet sinking them into darkness. Usually it gets so dark that if you were to look at the sky you would swear that it is dusk and not the middle of the day.

Some people believe that during a solar eclipse the whole world darkens but they are wrong and in truth only a few small regions of the world are affected and not even all at the same intensity or time. This is why not everybody got to experience this Friday’s event with their own eyes.

In order for this to be a perfect day for astronomers everywhere, two other significant astrological events occurred. The vernal (spring) equinox, that marks the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as the celestial event known as the Supermoon.

The Supermoon

The Supermoon occurs when a “new moon” (“full moon”) is at its closest to Earth on its elliptical orbit around our planet. This results in the lunar disk being at its largest size as viewed from Earth. The term “Supermoon” was given in 1979 by the American astrologist Richard Nolle and he defined it as: “…a new or full moon which occurs with the Moon at its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit.

In short, Earth, Moon and Sun are all in a line, with Moon in its nearest approach to Earth.”. Because of its size the Moon will completely block out our view of the sun causing a total solar eclipse.

The Vernal Equinox

It happens when our Sun passes exactly over the equator, causing the nights and days to be almost equal. It does not have any impacts on the solar eclipse or on the Supermoon. The term “Equinox” comes from the Latin “aequus” that translates into “equal” and “nox” meaning “night”. It happens twice every year, first roughly on the 20th of March, and second around the 22 of September.

It was an amazing, and at the same time a rare coincidence that a total solar eclipse took place on the same day as the spring equinox. Scientists say that such an event will not happen again for another 18 years in 2034. After that, they estimate that a similar event will take place in the year 2055 followed by another one, 19 years later in 2072.

There will be another solar eclipse in 2015 but this time it will only be viewed by observers from Antarctica and South Africa. The event will take place on the 13th of September. Partial solar and lunar eclipses are not rare at all and they tend to occur about twice a year.

NASA reports that there will be yet another total solar eclipse two years from now in 2017 and this time the event will be visible in the US. Until then, Americans can witness two moon eclipses this year. The first one will take place on the 4th of April followed by another one on the 28th of September.

Today’s total solar eclipse was a spectacular event leaving millions of people across the globe amazed. If you didn’t get the chance to witness it live then jump over to sloth.com or any other web site that has a recording of it and watch it for yourselves. Trust me when I say that you will not regret it.