geekosystem

In case yesterday's reminder that the universe is a beautiful place wore off, this short piece from Goldpaint Photography is a dreamy look at the night sky. The time lapse video shows off the spiraling stars, the quiet woods, and some tantalizing hints of an aurora. Watch it, and just chill a while.

If you're like me and have lived your entire life in the United States, odds are most of your impressions of Russia come from Cold War-era movies: A bleak sky with people huddling about while some kind of droning chant plays in the background, endless military parades in front of harsh leaders, general dreariness. This amazing little time lapse video from zweizwei completely shatters that image, showing a colorful and bustling metropolis of Moscow. Go on and take a watch if you think your view of Russia could use a bit of a refresher. See the video, after the break.

At first, you might not be inclined to watch a time-lapse movie about the traffic in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Friend, I once thought as you did. What I didn't realize, however, is that said traffic in said city is completely insane. To illustrate: Take a look at the image above, and count how many vehicles there are, and then count how many different directions vehicles are traveling in. Now imagine that, but moving seamlessly and apparently with complete ease. It's astounding.

What does the night sky look like from Earth's point of view? It seems like an obvious question since well, we are on Earth and capable of looking up. But what the night sky looks like as the Earth rotates over time is a particular point of view not often captured on film. Most time lapse footage of the night sky shows the sky and stars moving above Earth, rather than Earth moving below.

But now, YouTube user bulletpeople has taken footage by Stephane Guisard and Jose Francisco Salgado shot at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) observatory and modified it so that the Earth itself moves. The VLT is located in the Cerro Paranal, II Region of Chile and is home to four of the largest optical telescopes in the world. The modified video lets users see what the night sky would look like from Earth's point of view, sped up over time.

(Bad Astronomy via NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day)

Taking turns seems like an easy enough concept (though lets be honest, it's not.) But for the thousands of Emperor Penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) that call Antarctica's vast ice sheets home, taking turns to stay warm is a highly complex affair.

A team of researchers, led in part by scientists from the Department of Physics at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany, set up a time lapse camera to track the movements of a pack of penguins near the Neumayer Antarctic Research Station. When sped up, the video showed subtle movements that hadn't been noticed through observation of the pack with the naked eye. The penguins, in their own way, do a version of the wave with coordinated movements that radiate through the group.

Norwegian photographer Terje Sorgjerd took the above time lapse video of the Spanish sky from El Teide, Spain's tallest mountain, in the Canary Islands. The video features beautiful views of the Milky Way, as well as clouds rolling as if they were water.

(The Awesomer via Gizmodo)

As you're staring out the window at a bunch of trees that look like anorexic vampires, and while we in New York prepare for another impending snowpocalypse, enjoy this look at 2010 in time-lapse form, courtesy of Eirik Solheim. And remember that nice weather may yet still exist. Click through to check out Geekosystem's fancy new wide layout for select videos and images.