In 2004, the Stardust mission passed through the tail of comet 81P/Wild (aka Wild 2); in 2006, that captured comet dust was returned to Earth. Now, researchers have found glycine, one of the amino acids in proteins, in that cometary material. [more inside]
posted by nonspecialist on Aug 18, 2009 - 34 comments

The ultimate Eamesian (previously, twice) expression of systems and connections, Powers of Ten explores the relative size of things (previously) from the microscopic to the cosmic. The 1977 film travels from an aerial view of a man in a Chicago park to the outer limits of the universe directly above him and back down into the microscopic world contained in the man's hand. But in 1977, this view of the world in leaps and bounds was already 20 years old. Kees Boeke, Dutch educator and pacifist, wrote the essay Cosmic View, which provided the source for Powers of 10. The whole essay was put online 41 years later, and it's still online, if you can't find a physical copy around.
posted by filthy light thief on Apr 23, 2009 - 12 comments

Behold the Cosmic Hand of Destruction.
posted by homunculus on Apr 12, 2009 - 46 comments

Suffering from a bad case of cosmic dread? Have you voyaged too far into the midst of the black seas of infinity? Concerned about invisible abominations stalking you in the dead of night? Fortunately, there's help. (SLYT).
posted by clockworkjoe on Mar 17, 2009 - 20 comments

Nanoreisen. "A virtual discovery journey into the worlds of micro- and nano-cosmos." [flash] A kind of thematic followup to this.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken on Jul 30, 2007 - 6 comments

The universe [flash]. I know, it's on a corporate site, and you have to sit through some pretentious Japanglish while it loads, but being able to use your mousewheel to scroll from femtometers up to the 100 billion lightyear scale is dazzling. I love cosmic zooms. Remember to pray that there's intelligent life in space, because there's bugger-all down here on Earth, except for folks like Metafilter's own kokogiak, who shows us everything in the solar system bigger than 200 miles in diameter.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken on Mar 30, 2007 - 29 comments