A tremendous explosion has occurred in the nearby universe and major telescopes across Earth and space are investigating. Dubbed GRB 130427A, scientists predict the gamma-ray burst may be the glow of a classic supernova (and black hole). The Earth-orbiting Fermi and Swift satellites were the first to detect the high energies and quickly reported the findings down to Earth. Within minutes, the the half-meter ISON telescope in New Mexico, the 2.0-meter P60 telescope in California, the 1.3-meter PAIRITEL telescope in Arizona, and the 2.0-meter Faulkes Telescope North in Hawaii were investigating. The 8.2-meter Gemini North telescope in Hawaii placed the explosion about 5 billion light years away — considered nearby in cosmological terms.

Just after 3:47 a.m. EDT on Saturday, April 27, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected the brightest Gamma-ray burst ever seen. The burst produced radiation at energies up to 94 giga-electron volts, about three times higher than the previous record. It also set the record as the longest GRB ever; the GeV emission from the burst lasted for hours, and it remained detectable by the LAT for the better part of a day. An accurate position by the Swift space observatory allowed detection of the burst by ground-based optical, infrared and radio telescopes, making this one of the best-studied GRBs. This GRB was probably produced by the catastrophic death of a massive star that suddenly ran out of nuclear fuel. When this happens, the core of the star collapses into a black hole. Models suggest that as the black hole at the center of the star accretes matter from the star, a powerful jet forms on either side of the black hole. These jets then rip through the star, blowing it apart. GRB 130427A was so bright because it was one of the nearest bursts ever seen, and astronomers are continuing observations, hoping to find the optical supernova associated with the Gamma-ray burst.

View the Before and After images of the space where the explosion occurred.

View an animation of the explosion.

This is hilarious. What starts out as an elderly gentleman in his small car trying to make a U-turn in a narrow Naples street quickly turns into a traffic jam of major Italian proportion.

First, a car approaches from each direction and start beeping the poor guy, who is obviously having difficulty. Then more cars arrive and the cacophony of beepings rise in volume. Soon, a group on motorcycles arrives, one carrying a large round of ham. As though this comedy is not funny enough, here comes a procession on foot with a priest leading it.

Everyone gets involved, tempers flare, hand gestures not yet approved by Apple punctuate the air. His mom (mother-in-law?) in the passenger seat looks mortified and like she is going to faint. Someone even seems to suggest they all pitch in to lift the car. After all, it’s small enough. The driver looks hopelessly stuck. A woman calls for a miracle.

Finally, the priest takes over, standing precariously in front of the car and gently guides the small car and its driver into freedom. The driver gets a round of applause but seems upset by all the tempest in a teapot. The priest lifts his arms up to heaven.

Mr. Bean could not do better…

Moral of the story (for the drivers): instead of criticizing (beeping), get out and help. You’ll be helping yourself.

Moral of the story (for photographers): always have your camera ready to take a still or video. You never know what a golden opportunity looks like.

Whoever is the manufacturer of this small car (Fiat 500?) would not want this video to go viral. Wait, too late…

How to turn this video into a marketing coup: add automatic parallel parking and u-turn to the car!

I love photographing silhouettes. There is something about dark figures against a colorful background. Second best are shadows and this video starts out simply enough with the violinist’s shadow projected on a board behind her. Everything is fine until the shadow decides to do its own thing! The change happens at around the 0:34 mark but even at 0:17, observant eyes would have noticed a lag, indicating it is not really her shadow (or it is, but filmed separately and edited back together). Beautifully played!

When Lindsey Stirling and The Piano Guys get together, it’s explosive!

I love Google Maps. You can virtually visit the world. But wait, do it in style by listening to some of the songs that are forever attached to the countries. Courtesy of Google Zeitgeist 2012 and cdza. El Condor Pasa, anyone?

I don’t know about you but one of my childhood nightmares was to leave home for school with no pants on. In my dream, I sweated, tried to hide behind chairs and tables and make my way back home without anyone noticing. Maybe, these people are facing some hidden fears?

Somehow I suspect that if passengers were to board subways and buses without shirts, people would get offended, but no pants seems oddly fine.

Read the article and view photos at: thestar.

Even movies are now opting to replace DSLRs with retro looking cameras. Case in point, The Amazing Spiderman reboot [why, oh why?] originally featured Tobey Maguire holding a SLR but the reboot features Andrew Garfield holding a rangefinder camera.

screen grab via Honest Trailers

It’s not what it seems. Everything we see in this picture is true, yet our eyes have been fooled. Richard Wiseman creates an illusion by using perspective and the clever placement of different sized objects in the picture.

If you liked the brain teaser, there’s more at: Quirkology Channel.

via cheezburger

YouTube mashup of the most viewed videos of 2012.

The picture on the left just nails the whole year for me.

Plus, view the top 10 videos everyone was talking about in 2012 (i.e. if you happened to have missed one).

And here’s the behind the scenes video: