Atomic Surgery: October 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

Man-Ape! by Don Heck (1954)

Weird Terror #10 (1954); Art by Don Heck

A Halloween Treat from the Atomic Surgeons who've been too busy wrestling with the Iron Curtain of Time in the deep past to post much recently.

The under-appreciated (often maligned) Don Heck was one of the masters of horror back in the 50's, producing some of the most over the top covers of the day reigned in only by his superb sense of design and ink work. Despite Stan Lee's insistence on having him draw some of the top Silver Age Marvel books (The Avengers, X-Men), Heck was always a better fit for stories set in the real world, ala Milton Caniff who was a big influence on his drawing style. With his flair for drawing great looking woman (he defined Iron Man's Pepper Potts) and a noir-like sensibility to his art, Heck would probably have flourished on a comic strip like Secret Agent Corrigan

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My new all-time favourite panel! Great colours!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Life On Other Worlds: Mars (Planet Comics #64, 1950)

Planet Comics #64, 1950

By analyzing carbonate minerals in a four-billion-year-old meteorite that originated near the surface of Mars, the scientists determined that the minerals formed at about 18°C.

Because Mars now has an average temperature of -63°C, the existence of liquid water in the past means that the climate was much warmer then.

The researchers analyzed one of the oldest known rocks in the world: ALH84001, a Martian meteorite discovered in 1984 in the Allan Hills of Antarctica. The meteorite likely started out tens of meters below the Martian surface and was blown off when another meteorite struck the area, blasting the piece of Mars toward Earth. The rock made headlines in 1996 when scientists discovered tiny globules in it that looked like fossilized bacteria. But the claim that it was extraterrestrial life didn't hold up.

The mild temperature means that the carbonate must have formed in liquid water. Could this wet and warm environment have been a habitat for life? Most likely not, the researchers say. These conditions wouldn't have existed long enough for life to grow or evolve—it would have taken only hours to days for the water to dry up.

Ref. Carbonates in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001 formed at 18 ± 4 °C in a near-surface aqueous environment. 2011. I. Halevy, et al. PNAS 108: 16895-16899.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Life On Other Worlds: Venus (Planet Comics #51, 1947)

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From Planet Comics #51, Nov. 1947.

Friday, October 7, 2011

The Dark Side of The Moon Seen for the First Time (1959)

In 1959, the dark far side of the Moon was photographed for the first time (below) and pictures were relayed back to Earth by Russia's Luna 3 spacecraft. After passing the moon, the Luna 3 looked back from a distance of 63,500 km to take 29 photos of the sunlit far side of the moon.

The photos were taken over a period of 40 minutes, developed onboard and then radioed back to earth on Oct 18, 1959. They covered 70% of the far side. Despite the poor quality, they provided the first view ever of this part of the moon.

Nb.: The far side of the moon cannot be viewed from earth because the moon rotates and revolves in such a way that the same part always faces Earth. Taken from Today In Science History

Image and more from Nasa via Wired

Last June NASA released the most complete picture to date of the far side of the moon (above). The picture was made thanks to the data transmitted by the probe Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. link

Nice to see that this anniversary coincides with the latest Pink Floyd catalogue reissues.

Watch the End of the Anthropogene Epoch set to The Great Gig In The Sky by Pink Floyd: