Artistic Prime Numbers

This week we posted a video on Numberphile about a very unusual prime number.

In 1996, James McKee was a mathematician departing Trinity Hall, at Cambridge.

Following the tradition of bestowing a farewell gift on the college, McKee devised a prime number with 1350 digits (the college being founded in 1350).

The numbers, when viewed in the configuration below, also depicted the Trinity Hall logo.

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Here's the video:

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Since it was published, I've seen the following number (I assume prime, I've not checked) which depicts the Hello Internet Nail and Gear logo. It was published on the r/HelloInternet subreddit.

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It has 2014 digits, the year of our first podcast episode.

I also noted this prime (?) on the r/geek subreddit, depicting the reddit alien Snoo.

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And it continues, including here and here.

I think it is becoming bit of a craze!

Here's Matt Parker.

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Email me others via numberphile at gmail dot com

Solar Eclipse in 2009

As I write, there is plenty of interest in solar eclipses because they're about to witness one in the United States.

I won't be there, but did travel to see one in China in 2009.

While much of the country was clouded over, we go lucky with clouds and saw it from the University of Nottingham's campus in Ningbo.

While my videos do it no justice, it was one of the most extraordinary things I've seen. Don't miss out if you have the chance!

I also uploaded some raw footage here.

The image below is a favourite of mine because it shows the Moon's shadow over Ningbo, where we were filming (and it shows Australia, my homeland!)

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More pictures from China below. Click to enlarge them.

I traveled with astronomer Amanda Bauer.

ThunderCat Racing

ThunderCats at Clevedon.

Thumbnails are cropped. Click on images for full size.

 

 

A Tim at Base Camp

From Rebecca...

Hey Brady,
Three years ago back in November of 2014 I had the opportunity to attend the Random Acts of Intelligence event in Huntsville, Alabama. I couldn’t believe you all were travelling across the world to a city an hour north of mine (Birmingham, Alabama) and I had a blast at the event. Afterwards there was a signing, but as you and Grey were so popular I got Derek and Henry’s signatures first then waited for yours, but as I got near to your desk the Huntsville center kicked everyone out into the cold fall night, shuffling the lines and causing me to return home before meeting you.
(Jokey story telling following, although it is true I heard about Everest Base Camp first from you on the podcast which sparked my interest)
I was not completely lost though, for I knew another possible way to have a hang out with the H.I. Pod. In true hard as nails fashion I decided to go to Everest Base Camp during the July Monsoon season, for while Grey said about the trip “No, not in a thousand years am I stepping in that helicopter, going to that bridge, in that country” I knew you may have been up for the challenge.
I was first blocked by the 2015 earthquake, but after 8 days trekking this summer through sun and rain and snow I reached the marker with my Random Acts poster ready to be signed and the PVC pipe from that night’s science experiment as proof, but as I looked around there was not a Hello Internet host in sight (photo attached is from a bit lower on the return as is was wet and windy at the top).
Knowing you must have taken the true hard as nails option to instead wait for later this year and actually summit Everest in the dead of winter, I descended with the hope that you’ll know that thanks to you guys I was inspired to take a trip I never imagined possible.
A girl Tim,
Rebecca

Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability

I recently filmed a short interview with Professor Mike Merrifield about Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.

Professor Merrifield - based in the University of Nottingham's Physics Department - nicely described the effect with pencil and paper.

My oft-collaborator Pete McPartlan later did some nifty work to "animate" this description.

But before releasing the video, we started looking at other videos which demonstrated the effect.

The first one we noticed was this, by Professor Grae Worster at Cambridge. I emailed him and he kindly gave his approval for me to use the footage if it was helpful.

But then I found another video - this one - and to my surprise it was filmed by students at the University of Nottingham. (I notice the logo on the lab coats before reading the description)

I contacted them on Facebook and they told me the apparatus still existed in the university's Faculty of Engineering  - they said I should contact Dr Barbara Turnbull.

So it was back to Nottingham for another day of filming. The result is a few videos.

This one is the main interview with Mike, now illustrated by both Pete's animations AND Dr Turnbull's demonstration.

Then a second video just showing how the experiment worked... I thought it was worth it's own extra film.

And for the real diehards, the full slow motions that can pored over in detail.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope

The latest video on Sixty Symbols features Dr Meghan Gray discussing how the Hubble Space Telescope is maneuvered.

But perhaps equally interesting is the "extra footage" posted to the nottinghamscience channel, in which Dr Gray discuses her own experiences using Hubble on the STAGES survey. The relevant section starts from 1 mins 37secs.

Here's an earlier video when Dr Gray discusses the STAGES research.

And for more on STAGES science, visit here.

Like telescopes? Try my telescope tour videos.