You know what "galaxy" means in Latin Greek, don’t you?
Yeah, it’s Saturn, not the Milky Way, but still. That is made of awesome. I want to go to that coffee shop!
Via Reddit.
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Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.
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November 19th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Greek. Not Latin.
Way cool espresso!
November 19th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
You mean in Greek, not in Latin, right? Don’t mind me, i’m just a nit-picky native greek-speaker
Tip o’ the coffee mug to you, Phil!
November 19th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I want one.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
This was my first thought upon seeing it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_latte
November 19th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Pretty impressive. I wish I could say more, but I’m running a bit latte.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
No way that’s not photoshopped.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
@ The Other Ian:
Actually, I saw a report some time ago about a shop that does ‘specialized’ foam on lattes (I don’t know latte from frappuchino… to me, coffee is coffee). They showed the baristas using basically toothpicks to ‘shape’ the foam.
J/P=?
November 19th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Looks real to me. Not thinking ‘shopped.
November 19th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Forgive me if I’m wrong – but I thought” Galaxy” came from Greek? At any rate it’s a great cup to look at and hopefully drink, too. Where was this photo taken? Probably not Italy, I suppose…
November 19th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Those dad gum Greeks where a bunch of know it alls. I wonder if we’ll ever be able to describe something w/o stealing one of their words?(Oh, right, I forgot about Al Je Bra).
Must be from one of our more infamous coffee shops. Peets, anyone?(I’d mention the Other One, but the reference to Stars is just too obvious).
Cool image. Wonder if they do Prof Einstein?
Gary 7
November 19th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Darn work filters. Flickr is apparently okay but photobucket and picasa are not. Will have to wait till I get home… sigh.
November 19th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
And to think that happend naturally just like Mt. Rushmore.
November 19th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Phil Plait is just trying to outdo the people who found Jesus on a tortilla.
November 19th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I’ve seen designs like that produced in latte art competitions here in Australia – baristas get the opportunity to produce later art in a standard cup and a macchiato cup – both of which must be freehand (no toothpick tracing) and then they can produce a signature drink like the one above that can have tracing.
I like anything that combines my two great loves of coffee and astronomy!
November 19th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Are you sure it’s not just pareidolia? :p
November 19th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
γάλα (gala) = milk – in greek – just saying
November 19th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Way OT, but an outlet for woo is coming to an end. Oprah is calling it a day… in 2011. She must be preparing for 2012.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/articles/2009/11/20/1258219954593.html
November 19th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
The small independent coffee shop I go too creates some beautiful mocha and latte patterns but that’s really cool. I printed the picture and will take it in to them for inspiration.
November 19th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
There’s a barista near here (at Fremont Coffee Company, just down the street from Lenin) who does things like this. Today he put Darth Vader on my mocha !
November 19th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Wow – that’s some skill.
November 19th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Looks like tomato soup to me, not expresso.
November 19th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
They took something great and made it better. How wonderful is that?
November 19th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
21. NewEnglandBob Says: “Looks like tomato soup to me, not expresso.”
It’s called “espresso” in the original Greek…
Besides, those concoctions are to real espresso what “Manhattan” clam chowder is to real clam chowder (noting your name).
- Jack
November 19th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
21.) The texture’s not that far off. That coffee would probably kill anyone who wasn’t raised near the Aegean. The further East you head, the more it resembles caffeinated mud. But damn is it good!
November 20th, 2009 at 12:14 am
All it needs is a Milky Way (chocolate bar) on the side of the plate ..
I prefer a good cup of tea to coffee myself but still .. Good one!
I’ve just got one slight quibble – the large moon toSaturn’s right nera the handle is wa-aay too big inproportion to the planet -even if titan is one of the two largest moons inour solar system.
Incidentally – which is bigger – Titan or Ganymede? I seem to get different answers to this question each time its asked .. some saying one others t’other.
November 20th, 2009 at 3:33 am
For those of you who are curious about the etymology of the word galaxy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy#Etymology
The article also contains a very beautiful myth about the origin of the name
Besides being great scientists (and the first who developed the scientific method for that matter), the ancient Greeks were great storytellers as well
November 20th, 2009 at 5:45 am
@ StevoR (25) -
Ganymede is a bit bigger than Titan (roughly 110 km larger in diameter and about 8% more massive).
Source:
hypertext transfer protocol: www[dot]nineplanets[dot]org/datamax[dot]html
November 20th, 2009 at 5:47 am
If it was from Latin, galaxies will be called lactics.
November 20th, 2009 at 7:23 am
@StevoR (25): That’s no moon. It’s a space station.
November 20th, 2009 at 7:31 am
This looks like it could be the work of SkepticBarista.
Twitter: @SkepticBarista
Blog: http://skepticbarista.wordpress.com/
November 20th, 2009 at 8:03 am
If it was from Latin, galaxies will be called lactics.
The Latin is ‘lactea’ (nominative neuter plural of ‘lacteus’, milky) ala ‘Via Lactea’, the Milky Way. English would probably have borrowed it as ‘lacteas’ or ‘lakties’. Luckily for us most Latin speakers used the Greek loan word ‘galaxias’. Both the Latin and Greek words derived from the same PIE root, ‘*glact-’.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Yowzers! The etymology crew is definitely up to snuff!
November 20th, 2009 at 10:11 am
I agree with NewEnglandBob, my first thought was that it looks like tomato soup. Why so red? Yes, my monitor has accurate color.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:17 am
@StevoR (25):
As noted, Ganymede is bigger than Titan. The confusion may stem from the fact that if you count Titan’s atmosphere in its diameter, it is larger than Ganymede. (Practically speaking, one must count the atmosphere is calculating its apparent angular size in a telescope.) And if you consult a pre-1980 source, it will list Titan as larger because it predates Voyager 2′s visit which revealed the thick Titanian (Titanic?) atmosphere.
As for the oversized moon, I just figured it was in the foreground of the image, obviously taken by the Caffeini…er, Cassini probe.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Not to be toothpicking your coffee too much, but it’s (apparently) complicated:
“”The words express, expres and espresso each have several meanings in English, French and Italian. The first meaning is to do with the idea of ‘expressing’ or squeezing the flavour from the coffee using the pressure of the steam. The second meaning is to do with speed, as in a train. Finally there is the notion of doing something ‘expressly’ for a person… The first Bezzera and Pavoni espresso machines in 1906 took forty-five seconds to make a cup of coffee, one at a time, expressly for you. (Bersten (cited below) p. 99) -”
Many latin based countries, such as France, Spain, and Portugal, use the expresso form. In the United States and Canada, both espresso and expresso are used.[1] Italy uses the term espresso, substituting most x letters in latin root words with s; x is not considered part of the standard Italian alphabet.”
OTOH, “The first espresso machines were introduced at the beginning of the 20th Century, with the first patent being filed by Luigi Bezzera of Milan, Italy, in 1901.” [Both quotes from Wikipedia, italics [sic] removed.]
Ouch! Now I don’t dare look up the etymology of ‘cup-of-chinos’. Any takers?
November 20th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Awesome! You visit Reddit! You should do an IAmA (http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/ ).
November 20th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
35. Torbjörn Larsson, OM Says: ” ‘It’s called “espresso” in the original Greek… ‘
Not to be toothpicking your coffee too much, but it’s (apparently) complicated”
Actually, I said that as a joke (per the first few comments, do we *always* have to use those silly smileys?), but thanks for the update. I didn’t realize that “expresso” was a valid variation.
- Jack
November 21st, 2009 at 6:16 am
@ 34. Chris A. & 27. Nigel Depledge : Thanks!
@ 37 Jack Hagerty : do we *always* have to use those silly smileys? Yes!
@ 33. Brock & 21. NewEngland Bob :
… it looks like tomato soup. Why so red? Yes, my monitor has accurate color.
I also see a definite reddishness there but more a sort of reddish brown colour not vividly red like tomato soup.
November 21st, 2009 at 11:27 am
Good thing Jesus didn’t show up in that espresso or the shop would be ovverrun by worshippers.
November 21st, 2009 at 2:30 pm
::makes jerking off motion::
November 21st, 2009 at 3:33 pm
“OMG! It’s full of,,,coffee,,,and stars.”
Oh come on! SOMEBODY had to say it.
Gary 7
November 30th, 2011 at 9:04 am
[...] identifiable. For example, you just poured the cream into your cup of coffee, and you can see a nice pattern of cream floating on top of the dark coffee. Some other configurations will simply be indistinguishable [...]