Sigalon's HowToDoIt Soup

Everyone dreams of having super powers. Flying, invisibility, and x-ray vision are popular, but my favorite is fire power! I've always wanted to be Wheeler from the Captain Planet kids show, and now I can with these handheld fireballs of awesomeness. The fireballs burn at a low temperature, so they are safe to hold in your hand and throw (shoot) at imaginary enemies.

Materials

• Naphtha-based lighter fluid
• Cotton fabric
• Needle and cotton thread
• Matches or lighter

Step 1 Scrunch Up Fabric

Scrunch up your cotton fabric into a tight ball. This is essentially going to be a wick for our lighter fluid. The cotton burns at a higher temperature than the lighter fluid, so it will not catch on fire while the fluid burns.

I made this shirt for my website, but the print ended up off center.

Cut a strip of your cotton cloth about 6 inches long.

Now, scrunch it up into a ball.

Step 2 Bind the Ball

To bind your ball of cotton fabric, pierce the center of the ball with your needle and thread.

Continue wrapping and piercing the ball until it is as tight as possible. To finish, push the needle through one last time and cut the thread where it exits the opposite side of the ball of cotton.

A roughly spherical shape:

Remember to cut off the extra thread.

Step 3 Saturate

Pour lighter fluid on your bound ball of cotton. You do not need to soak the ball in a bath of lighter fluid. A few squirts will do the trick.

I got some on the kitchen counter. Remember to clean up after each step.

Warning!

• Be sure your lighter fluid is explicitly labelled as containing naphtha. The Ronsonol brand lighter fluid commonly recommended for this experiment recently changed their formula to exclude naphtha. I had to order some special online.

Step 4 Light

Light your cotton ball and watch it burn. Try it on a nonflammable surface first. Once you're used to how the flame behaves, quench the fire with your hand or a wet cloth. Hold the ball in your hand and light it again. It should be cool enough to hold in your palm. Depending on personal preference, you may need to pass it slowly between your hands to stay totally comfortable.

Click here to watch the video

The combustible fluid in the mixture burns at around 43-degrees Fahrenheit. This is too low to burn the cotton, but the orange tip of the flame can burn your hand! Avoid putting your hand directly over the flame.

This project is super easy and provides hours of entertainment. We want to see what creative uses you have for these fun fireballs! Post up your videos and pictures on the corkboard. If you need help, don't hesitate to to post in the forum or message me personally. Enjoy your super powers, mad scientists!

Taking apart batteries is one of those things that every adult you've ever known has warned you against. Today, we break the taboo and dive into a lithium battery. Lithium has some pretty cool properties—it burns instantly in water and glows blindly bright under flame. And with just one AA battery, you can make a blinding light beam inspiring supernatural awe in all dictatorial adults who doubted you.

Materials

• AA lithium battery
• Pliers
• Propane torch
• Glass of water

Step 1 Remove Plastic Label

Peel the plastic label from the outside of the battery.

Caution

• For the remaining steps, you will need to wear gloves and eye protection.

Step 2 Get Safe

Move your project outside and continue in a well-ventilated area. The chemicals in the battery are potentially hazardous, but if you follow these safety precautions, you have nothing to worry about.

Step 3 Remove Positive Terminal

Grasp, clamp, wiggle, and pull at the positive terminal of the battery. It will come out just after you have given up. I found that diagonal cutters worked best. When gripping the terminal, try to avoid shorting out the battery by connecting the positive terminal to the outer shell with your pliers. If you short out the battery and it begins to heat up, let it cool in a well ventilated area before resuming.

Step 4 Remove Valve

Beneath the positive terminal is a valve designed to release pressurized gas in the event of a possible explosion. This valve is also part of the positive terminal, so avoid connecting it to the outer shell.

There's no secret here. Just keep bending and prying.

Step 5 Peel Back Casing

Peel back the outer casing, bit by bit, to reveal the core of the battery. A few centimeters of exposure is sufficient.

Step 6 Extract Lithium

Remove the core and unroll it like a scroll. The layer of black film and foil is the negative layer. Discard this. The other layer is the lithium! It will peel off nice and neat. Put your sheet of lithium in an airtight container until you're ready for an experiment.

Lithium corrodes very fast in open air.

Step 7 Set It on Fire!

Place your lithium sheet on a noncombustible surface outside away from sentient beings. Use a propane torch to catch the metal on fire. Once fully on fire, the lithium will glow so intensely that you'll barely be able to look directly at it. You can also drop a piece in a glass of water and watch as a violent reaction creates bunches of hydrogen gas!

Click here to watch the video

This experiment has it all. Scavenging rare materials from cheap consumer products, fire, and chemical reactions! Try it yourself, film your results, and post them on our corkboard. We would love to see how this lithium ember lights up your backyard or laboratory. Try to collect some hydrogen gas from the water reaction and post about your experience on our forum.

The agents of empire do not always arrive with warning. When you are besieged, surrounded, and infiltrated, imagination is often your best weapon against the oppressors. If all you have at hand is some duct tape and a disposable camera, fear not, you have the makings of a powerful taser!

A disposable camera contains a "super cap" aka high value capacitor, which stores up lots of charge to make that bright flash. When you press the flash button, you can hear this capacitor charging up in an increasing high-pitched tone. We're going to take out that flash and replace it with two metal leads. Instead of traveling through the flash bulb, all that stored electricity will travel through whatever we press the leads onto.

Materials

• Disposable Camera
• Wire
• Duct Tape
• Velcro

The best part about disposable cameras is that they're free if you go to your local convenience store and ask for the used ones. I even got a disposable video camera!

Step 1 Open the Camera

Remove the paper covering from the camera. If you plan on disguising your taser as a disposable camera, then do this step carefully and replace the paper shell at the end. It's a double-edged sword. Though stealthy for insurgency, it can also easily kill anyone who's ignorant of it, such as children. Be careful.

With the cover gone, you'll see the AA battery. Remove the battery.

The camera is held together with a series of plastic clasps. Once you unclasp them all, the two sides of the camera will come apart.

This is the inside of the camera:

Warning

• Do not touch anything yet! The super capacitor may be charged. If you accidentally discharge it with your fingers, you will get a very painful and potentially deadly shock!

Step 2 Discharge the Super Cap

Before touching anything, we must safely release any energy stored up in the super capacitor. Use a flat head screwdriver with a plastic or rubber handle. Bring the tip of the screwdriver into contact with the two leads coming out of the side of the capacitor. If you hear a loud pop and see a spark, you have safely discharged the cap. If you hear or see nothing, try again several times. If you still get nothing, your capacitor has probably already been discharged.

Step 3 Hack the Circuit Board

The board is not screwed into the plastic case and should come out with minimal force.

Leave all the metal bits as they are. Locate the flash box at the top of the board. With a pair of wire cutters, cut the leads that connect the flash box to the board. Discard the flash box.

Double check with your screwdriver that the capacitor has been fully discharged. Cut two 7-inch lengths of wire and strip the ends.

Wrap the exposed ends of the wires around the capacitor leads.

It is important to wrap them tightly enough so that they cannot touch each other.

Step 4 Close the Case

Run the other ends of the wires through the empty flash opening on the front of the case. Put the circuit board back into the back case and close the entire case around the board.

It feels good from a design standpoint to create another function for the opening we just made obsolete.

Step 5 Make Shockers

Take the exposed ends of the two wires and tape them at the opposite end of the camera away from the flash charge button.

These exposed contacts are what will shock our enemies.

Warning

• Do not, under any circumstances, touch these contacts. EVER.

Step 6 Test

It is time to test the functionality of your taser on an inanimate metal object. Hold the taser so that the contacts are facing away from your body. Press the flash button to charge up the super capacitor. After a few seconds, touch the contacts to the metal your are testing on.

Click here to watch the video

Step 7 Make a Case

I made a case for mine from bright green duct tape. The bright color ensures you will always be aware of the taser. I felt compelled to add a safety flap to cover the contacts when the taser is not in use. I also added a battery pocket to ensure the taser cannot be charged accidentally in my pocket.

I am very happy with the final look.

Warnings

• This project is deadly! Real tasers use alternating current that turns on and off very rapidly. This taser uses direct current that is constant. If you touch each contact so that the electricity flows across your chest (as it will if you hold a contact in each hand) The voltage traveling across your heart could rip your heart tissue and permanently destroy your heart!
• This tutorial is for demonstration purposes only. Do not try this at home. I am not responsible for any injury or death that comes as a result of making this taser for yourself.

Post up your thoughts on this project in the forum. If you decide to take on this task against my explicit warnings, post up your pictures and video on the Mad Science corkboard, and please be safe!

WonderHowTo is made up of niche communities called Worlds. If you've yet to join one (or create your own), get a taste below of what's going on in the community. Check in every Wednesday for a roundup of new activities and projects.

Thanks to all of our active moderators and contributors from this past week: Christopher Voute, Cerek Tunca, JT Newsome, Andrew Osborne, Leinad 0716, and Ben Cusick.

As always, we would like to remind lurkers on site: WonderHowTo is a community effort, and the site belongs to all of you. The more knowledge we can pool together, the more we can learn from each other. With that said, join in. Write a tutorial. Post to a World. We are a curious bunch, and we want to see what you've got to share!

Below, this week's highlights: A need for your best hobo advice, underground Minecraft worlds, making a smoke bomb at home, making a PVC rocket fly, heated crayon art, and more!

Challenges and Workshops

• WTFoto Weekly Challenge — This week's meme challenge features WTFoto's very first image macro—Hobo Advice! What's your best (and most hilarious) vagrant guidance? Visit the Hobo Advice meme generator to make your own, then post your submissions to WTFoto's community corkboard by Monday, March 12th, 11:59 PM (PST). More details here.

• Minecraft World's Weekly Workshop — Done building the perfect home? What do you furnish it with? What about decorations? Unless you're an interior designer, it's difficult to completely finish a build. Join Kendra on our official Minecraft server this weekend for a community project focusing on decorating the innards of modern mansions. Be there Saturday, March 10th at 12 PM (PST). More details here. If you still haven't joined the server, see how to get whitelisted.

Click here to watch the video

• Minecraft World's Weekly Challenge — If you can't make the workshop, then try out the weekly server challenge! This week, you're going underground and building a subterranean city, complete with backstory. What do you envision underground life as? Post your city to Minecraft World's community corkboard for a chance to snag some server perks. More info here.

• Astronomical Observing News — Stay current on what's going on in the skies above with Cerek Tunca's weekly Astronomy World feature, AON. This week, don't miss out on some great conjunctions with our Moon. Click here for a full rundown of the stargazing events for March 7th through March 13th. And join the World to share your astrophilic knowledge.

• Weekend Homework — Hackers around the world need your help! Check out this week's Weekend Homework for your assignments. Up for grabs still is explaining code injection, using AirCrack, helping out WikiLeaks, and more. Share your knowledge! Simply message Null Byte admin Allen Freeman or post your article directly to Null Byte's community corkboard.

How-To Projects

• Think you've got the power to knock someone down off their feet? Yumi of Secret Tips from the Yumiverse gives you a lessen on perfecting the punch in your punch. Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• Despite what some may think, a smoke bomb is not a terrorist device. It's basic chemistry, and the perfect way to add some color to the sky in your backyard. It's also great for some super cheap special effects for your low-budget indie fare. Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• Help welcome newcomer William Finucane to WonderHowTo and visit his Mad Science World for some amazing (and evil) experiments. In just the past week, he's already shown us how crazy and dangerous science can be with a pulsing jar jet engine, a Leyden jar that shocks cookie thieves (aka roommates), gunpowder substitute from your spice rack, writing secret messages with fire, and making your very own "TV-B-Gone" to silence annoying televisions everywhere.

Click here to watch the video

• Christopher Voute from Fear of Lightning has been away for most of the week, but still found time to show us some amazing flying robots that can actually play real instruments. He also wrote up a post on using a huge Fresnel lens from an old projection television as your very own solar death ray. Make sure to follow Chris in the Fear of Lightning World to see what he comes up with next.

• Missed all of the secret tips revealed in last Saturday's Minecraft Workshop? No need to worry. Kendra outlined them all for you, complete with video demonstrations. So, what are you waiting for? Check out all 20 of the Minecraft tricks. Contact admin Kendra if you're interested in co-instructing a future workshop or taking on a topic of your own.

Click here to watch the video

• Allen is filling up the Null Byte blog with a ton of valuable resources for security specialists and hackers alike. Over the past week, he's shown us how to find hidden metadata in our digital images, protect our hard drives from data forensics, and secure our web servers. He also schooled us on cybercrime laws to keep us from ending up behind bars. More importantly, he showed us what Anonymous really is.

• JT Newsome started a few series in his Invisible Computer World on cryptography and noob hacking. Check out how cryptic messages first began, then move onto understanding how public keys work today. And if you want to start hacking, check out his valuable resource for noobs just getting beginning. Stay tuned to his blog for more great tutorials. Want to see something in particular? Ask in the forum.

• Ben was back in action in NightHawkInLight, this time with a homemade hairspray-fueled PVC rocket cannon that you can launch in your backyard. It's amazing how easy it is. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out.

Click here to watch the video

• Aside from finding (and making) hilarious memes across the web, James from WTFoto also knows how to instruct. For instance, his colorful tutorial on making crayons rain using a blow dryer. If this isn't aren't, we don't know what is.

I Made It

• As always, the folks in our Minecraft server have been diligently working on their builds. There are way too many projects to show off, but we'll showcase a few posted over the last week to Minecraft World's community corkboard below. Want to get in on the action? Join the server.

AMelia silverbug's Minecraft adventure on a mountain.
Click here to watch the video

Also, don't forget to start building your underground cities for the Minecraft challenge this week.

Got Something to Share?

If you've got a relevant How-To, a source of inspiration, or a finished project, post it to the corkboard in one of the applicable Worlds above. If your project is unrelated to these areas, you can publish a How-To article directly on WonderHowTo, or you can start your own World if you've got the passion—or just post directly to the WonderHowTo company corkboard.

Got a question? Comment below or email jmeyers@wonderhowto.com.

Photos by Raven Yu, midnights_ghost, carousel, Lisam, Unsimple Living, BobaJohn

Whether you're in an airport, restaurant or waiting room, the insidious grip of televisions on human life is omnipresent. Sometimes it's nice to talk to other human beings while looking at them directly—actually hearing what they have to say.

Thankfully, there's a DIY device called TV-B-Gone, which can help you bring back this wonderful pastime of acknowledging one another by turning off any and all TVs in the area—at any time! It can also help us prank our loved ones or confuse our teachers.

Materials

• Arduino microcontroller
• Infrared LEDs
• Button
• 220-ohm resistor
• Breadboard
• Jumper wires

Step 1 Understanding the Components

Before jumping right into building the circuit, let's take a look at the components and what each of them does, so you have a basic understanding of what's actually going on.

Arduino

Simply put, the Arduino microcontroller is a tiny programmable computer that can interact with physical objects. In our project, we're going to program the Arduino to interact with the television. To do this, we need to download the Arduino IDE. This is the program that lets us write and load code onto the Arduino controller.

This is a really wonderful platform for beginners, and I urge anyone who thinks it's too hard to get into electronics to start here. Arduino makes it simple to blink lights, make tunes, and use all kinds of sensors. For now, all you need to understand is that the Arduino is programmed via USB using the Arduino software.

Infrared LED

An infrared LED, or light emitting diode, is an electronic component that shines infrared light when current is applied to it. Because infrared light is outside the visual range for humans, we cannot see it. However, most digital cameras can translate this light into a visible purple color.

The IR LED is the only component in this circuit with a polarity. That means that all of the other components can go into the circuit in any orientation, as they work in either direction.

Resistors

A resistor is a component that resists the flow of electricity. It essentially takes in electricity on one side and releases a smaller amount on the other.

For this experiment, we'll need the resistor to protect our infrared LED. The output voltage on the Arduino is too large and would damage the IR LED. By placing the resistor in the circuit with the LED, we reduce the load on the LED to a manageable size. The 10k resistor is a "pull-down" resistor in this circuit. We will use it to make sure the Arduino does not get confused when our button bounces up and down upon pressing.

The colored stripes indicate their values. Check out this chart to determine the values of your resistors.

Button

The button is rather a straightforward component. When we press the button down, two points of metal are connected together and electricity flows through. When we release the button, those metal contacts are separated again and the circuit is broken.

We will be breaking and connecting a circuit to tell the Arduino when we want to turn a television on or off.

Breadboard

A breadboard is simply a means of creating circuits without having to solder wires together. It allows us to make the TV-B-Gone without making permanent mistakes. Along the side of the breadboard is a red rail for positive voltage. This is where power for the IR LED will come from.

Next to it is a black rail for negative or ground. This is where our circuit must end if it is to be connected and allow electricity to flow. The rows coming out sideways from the center of the breadboard are connected horizontally, but not vertically. By selectively placing components in these rows, we can electrically connect the correct pieces and separate the others.

Above, you can see the metal traces that connect the holes underneath the breadboard. Putting two component leads into one of the vertical lines pictured will connect them electrically.

Step 2 Building the Circuit

Set your breadboard and Arduino beside each other. Connect the 5-volt pin from the Arduino to the red power rail on the side of the breadboard. Connect the ground on the Arduino to the black rail on the side of the breadboard.

Place the IR LED on the breadboard so that each leg rests in a different row. The negative side has a shorter lead, while the positive side is longer. Connect the positive side to digital pin 3 on the Arduino. Place the 220-ohm resistor so that it connects the negative side of the IR LED to ground on the breadboard.

Place your push button on the breadboard away from the IR LED. Connect one leg to pin 2 and the other leg to the power rail on the breadboard. Where pin 2 connects to the button, use the 10k resistor to connect to ground.

Step 3 Loading the Code

Connect the Arduino to your computer with a USB cable. Download this zip file containing the code for the TV-B-Gone. Open the TVB.pde file and paste its contents into the main window in the Arduino environment.

On the top right-hand side of the window, there's a button with an arrow pointing to the right. This button creates new tabs in the program's window. Click it and name the tab "main.h". Open the main.h file from the zip folder and copy/paste the contents into the "main.h" tab. Make another tab for the "WORLDcodes.cpp" file and copy paste its contents into that tab. Your program now has all the information it needs to run properly.

To make sure everything is working, press the play button on the top-left of the window. If the code compiles correctly, you should get a "Done compiling" message at the bottom. Click the right facing arrow, this time at the top left of the screen. This is the upload button. Press this button to load your program onto the Arduino.

Step 4 Try It Out!

Now that your code is loaded, bring your TV-B-Gone to the nearest television. Point the IR LED at the TV and press the button.

Click here to watch the video

Infrared communication is a little odd. We could not have simply shone a constant infrared light at the TV. The IR receiver in a television set detects infrared light only when it is blinking at a certain frequency, usually around 38khz or 38,000 times per second. In this way, the TV cannot be interfered with by naturally occurring infrared light from the sun. The variations in the frequency determine which command is relayed to the television.

The TV-B-Gone code contains all of the most common pulses that turn on and off television sets. When you press the button, it plays them all one after the other.

Now that your TV-B-Gone is working, you can unplug it from the computer and power it with a 9 volt battery. Find a cool case to keep your meddling under the radar and have fun! If you find the need for any assistance in following this tutorial, please post in the forum. We are a helpful community! Share your pictures and video of TV mayhem on our community corkboard.

AON is moving to Wednesdays! There are lots of things going on this week in the skies above, so be sure to observe. As usual, there's a lot to see around Jupiter, with its moons eclipsing and transiting. Also, a star from the Virgo constellation will be in conjunction with our Moon.

• March 7: Io eclipse, Europa transit
• March 8: Io transit, full Moon
• March 9: Io eclipse
• March 10: Spica-Moon conjunction, Moon at perigee (362,399 kilometers)
• March 11: Europa eclipse
• March 13: Venus-Moon conjunction

Below I have defined some of the events I will be notifying you about over the course of this repeating feature.

• Transit—When an astronomical object passes in front of another, like one of Jupiter's moons passing in front of Jupiter.
• Occultation—When one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer.
• Moon Phases—It can be fun observing different phases of the moon. These are what fraction of the moon is dark. It is also fun observing the dark side.
• Conjunctions—Two (or more) bright objects in one field of view! This is when two or more astronomical objects are relatively close. Sometimes it is cool to see planets or bright stars pass by or behind the moon.
• Apogee or Perigee—This is when the moon is closest or furthest away from Earth. Not really for observing, but it can be interesting to view the moon when it is large and small.
• Meteor Showers—Easily observed by the naked eye or by binoculars.
• Comets—Not very often do these come around, but are amazing to watch.
• Lunar and Solar Eclipses—Mainly these are lunar eclipses, but if you get to see a solar eclipse you are very lucky!  This is when an astronomical object passes into a shadow of another.  This could be Jupiter's moons passing into its shadow, or vice versa.
• Solstices—This is when the Earth wobbles, or from Earth this is how the northernmost or southernmost point the sun is at. There are two each year. This is mainly for information.
• Equinoxes—This is when the earth is in the middle of its southernmost and northernmost position and it is equal. Again, this is mainly for knowledge.
• Declination of Moon—This is when the moon's path around the Earth is slightly tilted up or down. The declination is the furthest up or down it will go.
• Elongations—  Elongation is the angle of a planet and the Sun.

There may be more to come. When these are included, I will explain what they are.

I'm starting a series on the top astronomers, with probably about eleven astronomers that I will be covering overall. So, let's start out from the top, with the top most important astronomer. In my opinion, Galileo Galilei is the top astronomer.

Galileo Galilei (February 15, 1564 - January 8, 1642)

Galileo was born to a poor family in Pisa, Italy in 1564 to Vincenzo Galilei and Giulia Ammannati. He had six other siblings. Galileo wanted to be priest, but his father forced him to go to the University of Pisa with a medical degree (which turned out to be a good idea).

Galileo talked his father into letting him go into mathematics instead of science. His first big accomplishment was creating a thermometer, called the Galileo Thermometer, which can be seen below. It is truly beautiful and is used mostly as decoration now.

By 1589, Galileo was the top mathematics professor in Pisa. In 1592, Galileo moved to the University of Padua, and taught mathematics and astronomy. He made major accomplishments in the field of physics and astrology during this time period.

Around 1608, Galileo created a telescope with 3x magnification. Over the next few years, he created many other versions of his telescope, eventually boosting the magnification up to about 28x. He demonstrated his telescope to a range of different audiences, too.

Galileo used these telescopes to make a ton of scientific discoveries:

Neptune: All Galileo really did was observe Neptune. He followed it for a while and noticed it moved differently than the stars around it. He then lost track of it.

Venus: After observing Venus for a while, Galileo discovered that it had phases just like the moon. Not only was this an interesting discovery, but it also supported the theory of heliocentrism.

Saturn: Galileo also observed Saturn for a long time. Its rings confused Galileo, making him believe there were three planets. After Saturn lined up with Earth, he thought the rings disappeared. When they appeared again, he was even more confused.

Moon: Basically, Galileo observed the moon for a while, and linked the moon's dark side with topological markers. He pretty much understood what the shadows on the moon where.

Jupiter and its moons: After observing Jupiter for a while, in 1610, Galileo discovered three 'stars' around it. He observed them for a few days, and saw that the way they were moving couldn't be that of a star. He concluded that they must be orbiting around Jupiter. The moons he discovered were Ganymede, Europa, and Io. He later discovered a fourth moon, Callisto. This also proved an important point. Aristotelian Cosmology, which said that all astronomical bodies rotate around Earth, was obviously proved wrong by the discoveries of Galileo.

Sunspots: Galileo was one of the first people to observe sunspots on the sun. He actually grew blind at age 72 due to not using proper equipment while observing the sun.

Galileo, in the early 1630s, defended his theory of heliocentrism. This basically said that Earth rotates around the Sun, not that the Sun rotates around it. In a brief summary, Galileo was put on trial for defending heliocentrism, and although he lost the trial, he afterwards said that he never supported heliocentrism and pretty much walked away with only a house arrest. He would have been sentenced to death, otherwise.

Galileo eventually died on January 8, 1642, at age 77. He died from a high fever and irregular heartbeat. He was buried in a small room close to main body of the Basilica of Santa Croce. In 1737, he was located to the main body of the Basilica of Santa Croce. This is his tomb:

Galileo Galilei was an amazing person and deserves to be remembered for everything he's done for astronomy and beyond.

Photos by PBS, Wikipedia

WonderHowTo is made up of niche communities called Worlds. If you've yet to join one (or create your own), get a taste below of what's going on in the community. Check in every Wednesday for a roundup of new activities and projects.

Thanks to all of our active moderators and contributors from this past week: Christopher Voute, Jomar Fernandez, Ben Cusick, Cerek Tunca, Rex Gordon, Leinad 0716, and Ryan Glasspiegel.

As always, we would like to remind lurkers on site: WonderHowTo is a community effort, and the site belongs to all of you. The more knowledge we can pool together, the more we can learn from each other. With that said, join in. Write a tutorial. Post to a World. We are a curious bunch, and we want to see what you've got to share!

Below, this week's highlights: A crazy new weekly photo challenge, tips for disguising yourself, a 'flamethrower' BB machine gun, an elaborate static electricity shocking prank, and more.

Challenges and Workshops

• WTFoto Weekly Challenge — WTFoto is a new World devoted to hilarious photos and web meme sensations. Run by admin James Carr (who could just be a meme himself), there will be weekly photo challenges every Tuesday, with a simple infographic explaining all the gory details. This week marks his first challenge—finding the craziest, most absurd stock photo out there that everybody's never seen. Post your submissions to the WTFoto community corkboard by Monday, February 27th, 11:59pm PST for you chance to win... bragging rights. More details here.

• Minecraft World's Weekly Workshop — Join our official Minecraft server this weekend for a step-by-step tutorial with Kendra and the rest of the community on building a piston-activated movie theater. If you already know how, then come help everyone else out on the server. Make sure you're there on Saturday, February 25th at 2 PM (PST) / 5 PM (EST). More details here. If you still haven't joined the server, see how to get whitelisted.

Click here to watch the video

• Minecraft World's Weekly Challenge — If you can't make the workshop, at least participate in the weekly server challenge! This week's theme gives you a little freedom of choice. You're presented with three packages containing a variety of blocks. Pick one and see what you can build using only the package's contents. Post your creation (could be anything) to Minecraft World's community corkboard for a chance to snag some server perks. More info here.

• Astronomical Observing News — Stay current on what's going on in the skies above with Cerek Tunca's weekly Astronomy World feature, AON. This week, make sure to catch Garradd before it's too late. And check out all of the conjunctions. Click here for a full rundown of the stargazing events for February 21st through February 27th. And join the World to share your astrophilic knowledge.

• Community Byte — This week, Null Byte will not be holding any community coding sessions. Longtime admin Alex Long has stepped down to focus on his studies. But don't worry—newbie admin Allen Freeman is getting a firm grasp on everything and hopes to bring back the weekly projects ASAP. Stay tuned on Monday for what's in store for the following Friday's workshop.

• Weekend Homework — Just because Null Byte has a new admin, doesn't mean you're free from your weekly homework assignments. Hackers around the world need your help! Continue checking in every Friday for the Weekend Homework. This week's topics include things like how interrogations work, making flashlights with dead computer batteries, batch image conversion in Python, and more. Share your knowledge! Simply message Null Byte admin Allen Freeman or post your article directly to Null Byte's community corkboard.

How-To Projects

• Want to step outside without someone you know noticing you? Or are you looking to escape those dreaded paparazzi? Yumi of Secret Tips from the Yumiverse has the info you need for effectively disguising yourself and staying low-key. Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• Next time you find yourself stranded in the middle of the woods with no water, you can relax, because you know these easy tips for securing drinking water from the wild. It's amazing what you can do with a little plastic. Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• Haven't been keeping up with Christopher Voute in the Fear of Lightning World? You should be! This past week, he continued his electromagnetic weapon series with a post on building basic flashlamp lasers. He also shocked us (literally) with a clever how-to on making your own static electricity and zapping people with just the touch of a finger.

• Ben of NightHawkInLight returns with an ingenious followup to his soda bottle BB machine gun. In this article, he gives us a nice mod that can turn that plastic BB gun into an airsoft driven "flamethrower", complete with backpack tank and all. Also, he offers an even cheaper version of the original gun, involving just a bottle and brake line. Click through to see them in action. Join his World to keep updated on future projects.

• Missed last Saturday's Minecraft Workshop on building redstone elevators? Don't fret. Kendra posted a detailed followup on how to build a redstone-activated elevator, so those that weren't involved can still reach the skies (if you dare build one that tall). Contact admin Kendra if you're interested in co-instructing a future workshop or taking on a topic of your own.

Click here to watch the video

• Even though Alex Long relinquished his admin rights of Null Byte, he still pushed out a ton of helpful articles, which included knowing your rights for unlawful police stops, making homemade pepper spray, revealing the secrets behind brainwashing, and more. Check out the blog roll for a full rundown.

• Allen may be a newbie to the Null Byte world, but he's already written two very helpful articles on using the GNU Privacy Guard for encrypting and decrypting files and messages with 4096-bit encryption and then sharing those files with your friends. Make sure to keep an eye on the blog roll to see what Allen (and the mods) comes up with next.

• Need a little help multiplying numbers by 11? Jomar Fernandez, a newcomer to WonderHowTo, schooled us a neat trick to multiplying 2- and 3-digit numbers by 11 without a calculator. No longer will that first double-digit palindrome number be the culprit of a failed math test.

• Need a ticket to the next big game, but they're all sold out? Ryan Glasspiegel of Sports Rapport gives us the lowdown on scalping the scalpers and coming out on top. Next time you need a ticket for a sold-out sporting event or concert, consider these five steps to success.

I Made It

• As always, the folks in our Minecraft server have been diligently working on their builds. There are way too many projects to show off, but we'll showcase a few posted over the last week to Minecraft World's community corkboard below. Want to get in on the action? Join the server. Also, don't forget to start building your freestyle creations for the Minecraft challenge this week.

Got Something to Share?

If you've got a relevant How-To, a source of inspiration, or a finished project, post it to the corkboard in one of the applicable Worlds above. If your project is unrelated to these areas, you can publish a How-To article directly on WonderHowTo, or you can start your own World if you've got the passion—or just post directly to the WonderHowTo company corkboard.

Got a question? Comment below or email jmeyers@wonderhowto.com.

Photos by Colby, planetcalypsoforum, Getty Images, Dreamstime, 123RF, NASA, molin, gothamist, pureluminessence, cchrint, chamberofwizdom

There's not much going on this week in the skies above, but there are a lot of conjunctions to take a peek at! And of course, there's the comet Garradd that's still showing its tail to us down here on Earth, so make sure to catch it before it's gone. The rest that's going on this week:

• Until March: The Garradd comet is still at its peak! I just viewed it and it's amazing!
• February 21: New moon
• February 22: Io and Ganymede transits
• February 23: Io transit
• February 25: Venus-moon conjunction
• February 26: Jupiter-Moon conjunction
• February 27: Moon at its apogee (404,862 km)

Io always seems to have a lot of events, so here's a really cool picture of it, taken in the tenth orbit of Jupiter by NASA's Galileo spacecraft.

Below I have defined some of the events I will be notifying you about over the course of this repeating feature:

• Transit—When an astronomical object passes in front of another, like one of Jupiter's moons passing in front of Jupiter.
• Occultation—When one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer.
• Moon Phases—It can be fun observing different phases of the moon. These are what fraction of the moon is dark. It is also fun observing the dark side.
• Conjunctions—Two (or more) bright objects in one field of view! This is when two or more astronomical objects are relatively close. Sometimes it is cool to see planets or bright stars pass by or behind the moon.
• Apogee or Perigee—This is when the moon is closest or furthest away from Earth. Not really for observing, but it can be interesting to view the moon when it is large and small.
• Meteor Showers—Easily observed by the naked eye or by binoculars.
• Comets—Not very often do these come around, but are amazing to watch.
• Lunar and Solar Eclipses—Mainly these are lunar eclipses, but if you get to see a solar eclipse you are very lucky!  This is when an astronomical object passes into a shadow of another.  This could be Jupiter's moons passing into its shadow, or vice versa.
• Solstices—This is when the Earth wobbles, or from Earth this is how the northernmost or southernmost point the sun is at. There are two each year. This is mainly for information.
• Equinoxes—This is when the earth is in the middle of its southernmost and northernmost position and it is equal. Again, this is mainly for knowledge.
• Declination of Moon—This is when the moon's path around the Earth is slightly tilted up or down. The declination is the furthest up or down it will go.

There may be more to come. When these are included, I will explain what they are.

WonderHowTo is made up of niche communities called Worlds. If you've yet to join one (or create your own), get a taste below of what's going on in the community. Check in every Wednesday for a roundup of new activities and projects.

Thanks to all of our active moderators and contributors from this past week: Christopher Voute, Ben Cusick, Cerek Tunca, Rex Gordon, Leinad 0716, and Cory Poole.

As always, we would like to remind lurkers on site: WonderHowTo is a community effort, and the site belongs to all of you. The more knowledge we can pool together, the more we can learn from each other. With that said, join in. Write a tutorial. Post to a World. We are a curious bunch, and we want to see what you've got to share!

Below, this week's highlights: Freezing a beer in two seconds flat, a negative ion generator that produces beautiful electrical discharges, a powerful airsoft soda bottle gun, and more!

Challenges and Workshops

• Minecraft World's Weekly Workshop — Need to revamp your redstone elevator? Or learn how to make one? Join our official Minecraft server this weekend for a step-by-step tutorial on building a redstone elevator that will work with multiplayer mode in the 1.1 update. Make sure you're there on Saturday, February 18th at 2 PM (PST) / 5 PM (EST). More details here. If you still haven't joined the server, see how to get whitelisted.

• Minecraft World's Weekly Challenge — If you can't make the workshop, at least participate in the weekly server challenge! This week's theme is a complete reversal of the last few, trading ancient structures for futuristic ones. Post your visionary infrastructure to Minecraft World's community corkboard for a chance to snag some server perks. More info here.

• Astronomical Observing News — Stay current on what's going on in the skies above with Cerek Tunca's weekly Astronomy World feature, AON. This week, make sure to catch Garradd while it's peaking. Also, check out Cerek's moon pics taken with his phone. We think they're pretty great for an iPhone camera. Click here for a full rundown of the stargazing events for February 14th through February 20th. And join the World to share your astrophilic knowledge.

• Community Byte — Both newbie and veteran programmers are welcome to join Null Byte's weekly community coding projects. Coding sessions instructed by Sol Gates take place every Monday and Wednesday at 5 PM (PST) / 8 PM (EST). HackThisSite missions instructed by Alex Long take place every Friday at the same time. This week's mission—hacking a telemarketer's email list to bring back privacy to everyone! Meet up in the Null Byte IRC at the appropriate time! More details here.

• Weekend Homework — Looking for another way to get involved with Null Byte? Then check in every Friday for Alex Long's Weekend Homework. This week's topics up for grabs still: Making a potato launcher, coding a batch image convertor in Python, clever social engineering tips, and more. Share your knowledge! Simply message Alex or post your article directly to Null Byte's community corkboard.

How-To Projects

• Locked your keys in your car? We've all been there before, but some of you lucky drivers can finally skip the locksmith. Yumi of Secret Tips from the Yumiverse shows you how to break into your own vehicle using only your shoelace, but you've got to have those pull-up lock knobs on your door. Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• Show off more than just your beer-chugging skills at your next alcohol-fueled gathering. Amaze partygoers by combining magic and science to freeze beer in two seconds (not counting prep time). Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• Christopher Voute's been pretty busy in his Fear of Lightning World this week expanding his  Making Electromagnetic Weapons series. This time, learn about directed microwave energy weapons, along with CO2 and flashlamp lasers. He also gives us three shocking how-to articles on jolting doorknobs that keep intruders out, a wireless energy transfer array for powering light bulbs, and making beautiful corona discharges with negative ion generators.

• And that's not all Christopher's been up to. He also gave all of us Null Byters a way to gain access to those faux-free wireless internet connections around town. You just have to bypass the local network proxy with a little exploit. Check it out.

• Ben is back to his ingenious inventions at the NightHawkInLight World, and this week he shows us how to transform a simple two-liter soda bottle into an air-driven super machine gun. You won't believe how fast the BBs penetrate. Click through to see the airsoft gun in action—and learn how to make your own! Join his World to keep updated on future projects.

• Missed last Saturday's Minecraft Workshop on building hidden passageways? No worries. Kendra posted a detailed followup on how to build a hidden passageway, so those that weren't involved can still hide their loot. Contact admin Kendra or mod Andrew Osborne if you're interested in co-instructing a future workshop or taking on a topic of your own.

See the secret passageway in action!
Click here to watch the video

• Null Byte admin Alex Long continues to teach hackers everywhere a thing or two. Over the past week, he's shown us how to sneak past web filters and proxies for free internet, how to save your wet smartphone from water damage, how to get free Microsoft Points for Xbox LIVE, and more. Check out the blog roll for a full rundown.

• Interested in building old school robots? Then keep an eye on Rex Gordon and his Robot Realms World. He'll be detailing the entire process behind his ongoing robot build, Magnus, and he's promised to give us some detailed wiring diagrams, so stay tuned for more. And don't forget... feel free to ask any robot-related questions in the forum!

I Made It

• Cory Poole showed off some of his astrophotography skills with a striking image of two bright nebulae in Orion's Sword. He made this great composite image from photos he took using his Panasonic GH2 camera with a 300mm lens. If you've taken any space photos with your digital camera, make sure to share them on the Astronomy World corkboard.

• All of the folks on the Minecraft server has been working hard and building some really amazing creations lately. There are too many projects to show off here, but we'll showcase a few of the ones recently posted to Minecraft World's community corkboard below. Want to get in on the action? Join the server. Also, don't forget to start building your futuristic creations for the Minecraft challenge this week.

Got Something to Share?

If you've got a relevant How-To, a source of inspiration, or a finished project, post it to the corkboard in one of the applicable Worlds above. If your project is unrelated to these areas, you can publish a How-To article directly on WonderHowTo, or you can start your own World if you've got the passion—or just post directly to the WonderHowTo company corkboard.

Got a question? Comment below or email jmeyers@wonderhowto.com.

Photos by umluex, sooper, 2dayblog, hallbuzz, ariel, animewp, tested

The Garradd comet has just about reached its absolute peak! By the way, I took those pictures below of the moon through my iPhone using an adapter. Pretty cool, right?

• Until March: The Garradd Comet is at its absolute peak! Be sure to view it before it's gone!
• February 14: Io transit, 3rd quarter moon
• February 15: Ganymede transit
• February 16: The moon is at its most southern declination
• February 17: Europa eclipse
• February 19: Io transit
• February 20: Io and Europa occultations

Below I have defined some of the events I will be notifying you about over the course of this repeating feature:

• Transit—When an astronomical object passes in front of another, like one of Jupiter's moons passing in front of Jupiter.
• Occultation—When one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer.
• Moon Phases—It can be fun observing different phases of the moon. These are what fraction of the moon is dark. It is also fun observing the dark side.
• Conjunctions—Two (or more) bright objects in one field of view! This is when two or more astronomical objects are relatively close. Sometimes it is cool to see planets or bright stars pass by or behind the moon.
• Apogee or Perigee—This is when the moon is closest or furthest away from Earth. Not really for observing, but it can be interesting to view the moon when it is large and small.
• Meteor Showers—Easily observed by the naked eye or by binoculars.
• Comets—Not very often do these come around, but are amazing to watch.
• Lunar and Solar Eclipses—Mainly these are lunar eclipses, but if you get to see a solar eclipse you are very lucky!  This is when an astronomical object passes into a shadow of another.  This could be Jupiter's moons passing into its shadow, or vice versa.
• Solstices—This is when the Earth wobbles, or from Earth this is how the northernmost or southernmost point the sun is at. There are two each year. This is mainly for information.
• Equinoxes—This is when the earth is in the middle of its southernmost and northernmost position and it is equal. Again, this is mainly for knowledge.
• Declination of Moon—This is when the moon's path around the Earth is slightly tilted up or down. The declination is the furthest up or down it will go.

There may be more to come. When these are included, I will explain what they are.

His name is Don Pettit, but I like to call him Space MacGyver. He's well known for his paper clip fixes and ingenious coffee invention in zero gravity, and we've all seen the NASA astronaut in his Saturday Morning Science videos during his first stay on the International Space Station. And now he's back on the ISS with a brand new physics-related show... Science Off the Sphere.

In his first space video, "Dancing Droplets", Pettit performs a science experiment using three different kinds of knitting needles, a piece of paper, water droplets and a Teflon cannula-tipped syringe. He rubs each of the needles (Teflon, nylon, polyethylene) with the piece of paper to create static electricity, then releases tiny, charged water droplets from the syringe above the needles.

Click here to watch the video

The water droplets head slowly for the needle and into orbit around them, dancing in corkscrew motion, unable to escape. That is, until they get to close and explode on the needle's surface. It's a beautiful demonstration of the attraction between two charged materials in micro-gravity.

For further physics shows on-board the ISS with Pettit, keep an eye on Science Off the Sphere.

My attempt at real astrophotography. The two bright nebula are M 42 and M 43 located in Orion's Sword. I took about 20 images at ISO 800 and 1.6 second exposures using a 300 mm lens and stacked them in Photoshop after repositioning them because of the movement of the sky. This is cropped in just a tiny bit.

I think taking this picture might have just cost me a few thousand dollars... because now I might have to buy some dedicated equipment...

WonderHowTo is made up of niche communities called Worlds. If you've yet to join one (or create your own), get a taste below of what's going on in the community. Check in every Wednesday for a roundup of new activities and projects.

Thanks to all of our active moderators and contributors from this past week: Christopher Voute, Mr. Unknown, Cerek Tunca, Rex Gordon, and Adrian Rossiter.

As always, we would like to remind lurkers on site: WonderHowTo is a community effort, and the site belongs to all of you. The more knowledge we can pool together, the more we can learn from each other. With that said, join in. Write a tutorial. Post to a World. We are a curious bunch, and we want to see what you've got to share!

Below, this week's highlights: Making electron spirographs with an old CRT television, relieving a painful jellyfish sting, picking deadbolt locks, chatting anonymously online, and more!

Challenges and Workshops

• Minecraft World's Weekly Workshop — Have some in-game goodies to hide? Join our official Minecraft server this weekend for a step-by-step tutorial on building hidden passageways using piston doors and redstone. Make sure you're there on Saturday, February 11th at 2 PM (PST) / 5 PM (EST). More details here. If you still haven't joined the server, see how to get whitelisted.

• Minecraft World's Weekly Challenge — If you can't make the workshop, at least participate in the weekly server challenge! This week's theme is a continuation of "Buildings Throughout Time", focusing on Ancient Greece. Post your very best crafted Greek antiquities to Minecraft World's community corkboard for a chance to snag some server perks. More info here.

• Astronomical Observing News — Stay current on what's going on in the skies above with Cerek Tunca's weekly Astronomy World feature, AON. This week, make sure to snag a look at the comet Garradd while it's peaking. Click here for a full rundown of the stargazing events for February 7th through February 13th. And join the World to share your astrophilic knowledge.

• Community Byte — Both newbie and veteran programmers are welcome to join Null Byte's weekly community coding projects. Coding sessions instructed by Sol Gates take place every Monday and Wednesday at 5 PM (PST) / 8 PM (EST). HackThisSite missions instructed by Alex Long take place every Friday at the same time. This week's mission—hacking for animal rights activists. Meet up in the Null Byte IRC at the appropriate time! More details here.

• Weekend Homework — Looking for another way to get involved with Null Byte? Then check in every Friday for Alex Long's Weekend Homework. Know how to make moldable explosives? Can you hot-wire a car? Got the secret to hacking voicemail passwords? Then share your knowledge! Simply message Alex or post your article directly to Null Byte's community corkboard.

• Null Byte's Community Contest — Want to get your hands dirty with a custom-built program? Try out Null Byte's newest activity—a contest to see who can code the best hacking tool. Winner gets bragging rights. Program choices include a spider, email bomber, silent port scanner, and more. Winner will be announced next Wednesday, February 15th, so get coding! Details here.

How-To Projects

• The beauty of jellyfish is unmistakable. So is their poisonous sting. If you've just brushed up against a jellyfish, Yumi of Secret Tips from the Yumiverse shows you the best way to relieve that irritation. And no… it does not include urine. Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• Never have a secret communication intercepted by the enemy again! Below are three super easy recipes for making invisible ink to encode your messages, along with the decoding instructions. Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• Christopher Voute charges up his Fear of Lightning World again this week with three electrifying projects. First up, he schools us on the theory behind EMP generators in the third part to his Making Electromagnetic Weapons series (also see parts 1 and 2). Then he shows us how to make a simple touch-triggered relay and some amazing electron spirographs using an old cathode ray tube, as seen below.

Click here to watch the video

• And that's not all Christopher's been up to. He also gave all of us Null Byters the code for a handy IP change notifier program. Made with Python, it can send you text messages whenever your IP address has changed. Check it out.

• Miss last Saturday's Minecraft Workshop on building suffocation traps? As a followup, Kendra W has put together a nice, detailed step-by-step article on something even better—an inescapable pitfall trap. Contact admin Kendra or mod Andrew Osborne if you're interested in co-instructing a future workshop or taking on a topic of your own.

• Mr. Unknown of Wire Storm Technologies always has your security in mind. His latest articles include keeping your Windows 7 desktop organized, securing your computer with Norton DNS, and chatting online anonymously using Cryptocat.

• Null Byte admin Alex Long is still blasting out the hacking tutorials. This past week he showed us the art of lock picking with padlock soda can shims and deadbolt picking techniques. Also, how to lock down your Android phone, getting free text messages for life, and more! Check out the blog roll for a full rundown.

• Are you interested in building old school robots? Then keep an eye on Rex Gordon and his Robot Realms World. He'll be detailing the entire process behind his ongoing robot build, Magnus, as well as teaching us a thing or two about drive systems and proper power requirements for your robots. Stay tuned for more. And feel free to ask any questions in the forum!

I Made It

• Adrian Rossiter of antiprism.com posted a great link to Mario Marín's incredible polyhedra models and sculptures, which are constructed out of everyday items like compact discs, straws, egg cartons, etc. See more here.

• Everyone on the Minecraft server has been working hard and building some really cool stuff. There are too many projects to show off here, and below showcases just a few of the ones posted to Minecraft World's community corkboard. And don't forget to start erecting some Ancient Greek buildings for the Minecraft challenge this week.

Got Something to Share?

If you've got a relevant How-To, a source of inspiration, or a finished project, post it to the corkboard in one of the applicable Worlds above. If your project is unrelated to these areas, you can publish a How-To article directly on WonderHowTo, or you can start your own World if you've got the passion—or just post directly to the WonderHowTo company corkboard.

Got a question? Comment below or email jmeyers@wonderhowto.com.

Photos by M Jaeger, wired, Emma Hack, ITN, bdsecurity, Marín, MJ/TR, QuinnDombrowski

What happens when you combine a passion for astronomy and a love of wine? Cabernet that's out of this world. Literally. It's called Meteorito, and has a berry, nutty flavor with just a hint of iron and nickel. The wine was made by oenophile and amateur astronomer Ian Hutcheon, who runs his own vineyard and established an observatory in Chile called Centro Astronomica Tagua Tagua.

Meteorito is a Cabernet Sauvignon infused with the 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite measuring three-inches long, believed to have crashed about 6,000 years ago in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile where it was found. The small space rock was submerged with 25-day fermented Cabernet grapes in a wooden barrel for 12 whole months. After that year, it was blended with another batch of Cabernet to make about 10,000 liters, to be sold at just over 11 bucks.

The inspiration?

Hutcheon said, "The idea behind the project was to blend my passion for both astronomy and enology in a real, physical way rather than just a symbolic one, and give everybody the chance to touch an element of space and taste particles of the birth of the solar system via a very good handcrafted wine."

Hopefully the taste is a little light on the metallic side, because I'm sure the rusty flavor might space you out. A wonder how it'll effect Cabernet Sauvignon's normal tannic taste? Surprisingly, I'd say a lot, since his grapes were planted on top of an old gold mine. Though I can't see how a single small meteorite could effect 10,000 liters.

Gimmick? Definitely. But a very cool one at that.

Photo by Wine Wild West

The comet Garradd is almost at its peak now, plus there's plenty more events going on this week, so be sure to observe!

• Until March: The Garradd comet has almost reached its absolute highest magnitude! This comet is bright and easy to follow, so be sure to check it out!

• February 7: Io transit, full moon
• February 8: Io eclipse, Europa and Ganymede transits
• February 9: Venus-Uranus conjunction
• February 11:  Moon at perigee (367,919 kilometers)
• February 12: Spica-Moon conjunction
• February 13:  Io and Europa Eclipses

Below I have defined some of the events I will be notifying you about over the course of this repeating feature:

• Transit—When an astronomical object passes in front of another, like one of Jupiter's moons passing in front of Jupiter.
• Occultation—When one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer.
• Moon Phases—It can be fun observing different phases of the moon. These are what fraction of the moon is dark. It is also fun observing the dark side.
• Conjunctions—Two (or more) bright objects in one field of view! This is when two or more astronomical objects are relatively close. Sometimes it is cool to see planets or bright stars pass by or behind the moon.
• Apogee or Perigee—This is when the moon is closest or furthest away from Earth. Not really for observing, but it can be interesting to view the moon when it is large and small.
• Meteor Showers—Easily observed by the naked eye or by binoculars.
• Comets—Not very often do these come around, but are amazing to watch.
• Lunar and Solar Eclipses—Mainly these are lunar eclipses, but if you get to see a solar eclipse you are very lucky!  This is when an astronomical object passes into a shadow of another.  This could be Jupiter's moons passing into its shadow, or vice versa.
• Solstices—This is when the Earth wobbles, or from Earth this is how the northernmost or southernmost point the sun is at. There are two each year. This is mainly for information.
• Equinoxes—This is when the earth is in the middle of its southernmost and northernmost position and it is equal. Again, this is mainly for knowledge.
• Declination of Moon—This is when the moon's path around the Earth is slightly tilted up or down. The declination is the furthest up or down it will go.

There may be more to come. When these are included, I will explain what they are.

WonderHowTo is made up of niche communities called Worlds. If you've yet to join one (or create your own), get a taste below of what's going on in the community. Check in every Wednesday for a roundup of new activities and projects. 

Thanks to all of our moderators and contributors this past week: Christopher Voute, Mr. Unknown, Mr. Falkreath, Cerek Tunca, Rex Gordon, and our newest Math Craft contributor, Adrian Rossiter of antiprism.com.

As always, we would like to remind lurkers on site: WonderHowTo is a community effort, and the site belongs to all of you. The more knowledge we can pool together, the more we can learn from each other. With that said, join in. Write a tutorial. Post to a World (all community corkboards are public!). We are a curious bunch, and we want to see what you've got to share!

Below, this week's highlights: Constructing complex, mathematical playing card sculptures using free software, Minecraft activities galore, hiding a USB in everyday items, making your own electrifying Jacob's Ladder, and more!

Challenges and Workshops

• Minecraft World's Weekly Workshop—Join the WonderHowTo Minecraft server this  Saturday, February 4th at 2:00 pm PST, 5:00 pm EST for a step-by-step tutorial on creating your own suffocation trap (with an extra added surprise!). More details on the workshop here; if you still haven't joined the server, there are details on getting whitelisted here.

• Minecraft World's Weekly Challenge—If you can't make Saturday's workshop, then participate in the weekly server challenge! This week's theme is "Buildings Throughout Time", so post your very best medieval masterpiece to the Minecraft World community corkboard for a chance to snag some server perks. More info here.

• Astronomical Observing News—Cerek Tunca's Astronomy World is a community hub for posting astronomy inspired pictures, art, news, and more. This week's AON (Astronomical Observing News) highlights stargazing tips from February 1st through the 6th. Click through now for the full rundown!

• Community Byte—Both newbie and veteran programmers are welcome to join Null Byte's weekly community coding projects. Held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:00 pm PST, 8:00 pm EST, coding sessions take place on Mondays and Wednesdays (instructed by moderator Sol Gates), and HackThisSite walkthroughs take place on Fridays (instructed by admin Alex Long). Meet up on the Null Byte IRC at the appropriate time! More details here.

• Weekend Homework—Looking for another way to get involved with Null Byte? Then check in every Friday for admin Alex Long's Weekend Homework. Up for grabs this week: Are you up for compiling a brief overview of the history of hacking? Or putting together a guide to binary numbers? Do you know how to create a simple port scanner in Python? If you're willing to contribute your knowledge, simply message Alex or post an article directly to the community corkboard.

How-To Projects

• Vodka is good for more than just drowning your sorrows. If you're not much of a drinker, Yumi of Secret Tips from the Yumiverse shares 11 ways to make use of that old bottle you've had lying around forever. Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• Gearing up for the dreaded all-nighter? We've all suffered through our fair share of them, and unfortunately, we don't always make it to the finish line. Pick up some handy tips below for ensured future success. Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• Fear of Lightning World admin ChristopherVoute never ceases to amaze with his prolific and electrifying projects. This week: Parts 1 & 2 of an ongoing guide to making electromagnetic weapons, and the WonderHowTo staff's personal favorite, a step-by-step tutorial on creating your own Jacob's Ladder. Don't know what that is? It's sick—see it demonstrated below.

Click here to watch the video

• Remember when Cory Poole posted instructions for creating the platonic solids out of playing cards? Well, Adrian Rossiter of antiprism.com joined Math Craft this week with a thorough guide on designing your own playing card sculptures using his software program Antiprism 0.20 pre-release (download here). If you take a stab at it, post your results to the Math Craft community corkboard.

• Did you miss last Saturday's Minecraft server workshop? No sweat. Instructed by admin Kendra W and moderator Andrew Osborne, Kendra has generously summed up all the tips the team presented in an accompanying How-To article. Contact Kendra or Andrew if you're interested in co-instructing a future workshop or taking on a topic of your own.

• Mr. Unknown of Info Security World invites his readers to migrate to his newly created World, Wire Storm Technologies. Interested in becoming a WS Technologies contributor? More information here. This week: How to keep your computer clean and running at its optimal performance, and how to find out who unfriended you on Facebook.

• Do you find nothing more beautiful and epic than the Hubble Space telescope? Then why not build your own proportionally correct model? Astronomy World's Cerek Tunca shares step-by-step instructions for crafting your own mini version with inexpensive materials you can pick up at your local hardware store.

• If you're interested in the process behind building robots, keep an eye on Rex Gordon's Robot Realms. Rex has posted two parts in a series on his ongoing plan to build Magnus, a 250-pound robot-in-progress: Part 1, Intro & Materials; Part 2, Designing the Drive System.

• Everybody runs into a nasty virus once in a while. If you're a Windows user looking for a surefire cure, Mr. Falkreath has you covered with a thorough step-by-step on scanning for viruses using a Linux Live CD/USB. To keep up on future articles, visit Mr. Falkreath's profile and click on "Follow" or check in time to time on Null Byte.

• Null Byte admin Alex Long posted several fascinating How-To's this week: Advanced social engineering techniques (1, 2), how to make thermite at home (safety first!), how to conceal a USB flash drive in everyday items for stealth hacking on-the-go, and more! Check the blog roll for a full rundown.

I Made It

• In addition to his guide to designing your own playing card sculpture using free software, Adrian Rossiter of antiprism.com posted an image of his handcrafted zigzag tensegrity based on a small stellated dodecahedron. Made with thirty units, the tensegrity consists of pairs of barbecue sticks secured with elastic and woven into a complex model. Insane!

• The folks on the Minecraft server have been busy this week! There are too many cool builds to list here, so I'll just highlight the WonderHowTo staff favorite of the week, Gussefant's steam fortress (check out the Minecraft community corkboard to view all—I'm also a huge fun of the Fibbonaci Tower). The fortress is full of all sorts of cool gadgets and gizmos, including a mail notifier, a doorbell with killer arrows, a "sun roof" that opens and closes, a secret escape route, and more. Check out a few select pics in the gallery below, click through to see more.

Got Something to Share?

If you've got a relevant How-To, a source of inspiration, or a finished project, post it to the corkboard in one of the applicable Worlds above. If your project is unrelated to these areas, you can publish a How-To article directly on WonderHowTo, or you can start your own World if you've got the passion—or just post directly to the WonderHowTo company corkboard.

Got a question? Comment below or email rmansur@wonderhowto.com.

Image credits: Anonymous9000, Cayusa, TweetBuzz, 8N KatuM8, ahcmachinist

This week's AON might be a little short, but finally, the Garradd comet's peak has come! I picked the Garradd comet to follow because it's a bright and easy-to-follow comet. Be sure to observe it! If you need help finding it, you can find more information here.

• Until March: The Garradd comet's peak is this month! Be sure to observe it!

• February 3: Moon is at its most northern declination.
• February 4: Io occultation, Europa transit.
• February 6: Io and Europa eclipses.

Below I have defined some of the events I will be notifying you about over the course of this repeating feature:

• Transit—When an astronomical object passes in front of another, like one of Jupiter's moons passing in front of Jupiter.
• Occultation—When one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer.
• Moon Phases—It can be fun observing different phases of the moon. These are what fraction of the moon is dark. It is also fun observing the dark side.
• Conjunctions—Two (or more) bright objects in one field of view! This is when two or more astronomical objects are relatively close. Sometimes it is cool to see planets or bright stars pass by or behind the moon.
• Apogee or Perigee—This is when the moon is closest or furthest away from Earth. Not really for observing, but it can be interesting to view the moon when it is large and small.
• Meteor Showers—Easily observed by the naked eye or by binoculars.
• Comets—Not very often do these come around, but are amazing to watch.
• Lunar and Solar Eclipses—Mainly these are lunar eclipses, but if you get to see a solar eclipse you are very lucky!  This is when an astronomical object passes into a shadow of another.  This could be Jupiter's moons passing into its shadow, or vice versa.
• Solstices—This is when the Earth wobbles, or from Earth this is how the northernmost or southernmost point the sun is at. There are two each year. This is mainly for information.
• Equinoxes—This is when the earth is in the middle of its southernmost and northernmost position and it is equal. Again, this is mainly for knowledge.
• Declination of Moon—This is when the moon's path around the Earth is slightly tilted up or down. The declination is the furthest up or down it will go.

There may be more to come. When these are included, I will explain what they are.

This article will show you how to make a proportionally correct 1/187 (about) size Hubble Space Telescope. I tried to add as many details as possible, but it was hard at such a small size. It was really easy, but it did take a while to make.

Here are some specs for the real Hubble Space Telescope:

• Length: 43.5 ft (13.2 meters), about the size of a school bus.
• Weight: 24,500 lbs (11,110 kg)
• Maximum Diameter: 14 ft (4.2 meters)

The Hubble space telescope was the first space telescope. Funding for it began in 1977. The idea was that if we could send a telescope into orbit around the Earth, there would be no interference with the atmosphere. Finally, on April 24, 1990, Hubble launched into orbit in the Space Shuttle Discovery. Right after launch, there was a problem in the mirror. While the pictures were better than the ones from ground observatories, they were still fuzzy.

Hubble's mirror had a problem. The mirror was slightly distorted, which caused the point of focus to be on a slightly different are than it should have been. This sometimes happens in the eye, making the point of focus a little too far or close to the point it should be at, which is why you need glasses.

So, was NASA going to put glasses on Hubble? No, but they had a idea.

Some new mirrors could be placed on the inside of the telescope to bounce the light in the right direction. The COSTAR (Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement) would be installed to do this. The astronauts would also replace some of the other instruments.

NASA spent nearly a year training for one of the hardest space missions ever attempted. The Space Shuttle Endeavor sent astronauts into space for nearly a week of repairs on Hubble in December 1993. They removed the High Speed Photometer and replaced it with COSTAR. They replaced the original Wide Field/Planetary Camera with the newer WFPC2. They also replaced a few other instruments including the solar panels. On December 9, they were finished. On January 13, 1994, they released the first new images from Hubble's fixed mirror—they were flawless.

Hubble was repaired several times afterwards, too. In February 1997, lots of instruments were replaced or upgraded. Also, in December 1999, they replaced some instruments and all six gyroscopes.

Hubble's next servicing mission was scheduled for 2006. After the Columbia broke apart, all shuttles were grounded. On October 31, 2006, it was announced that Hubble would be serviced again. Servicing Mission 4 took place in May 2009. Astronauts replaced a ton of equipment including batteries and the gyroscopes. Astronauts also removed the COSTAR instrument. Through all of the replacements, it had eventually become unnecessary.

Now, how to build the model.

Tools

• Scissors
• X-Acto knife
• Glue
• Hacksaw
• Paint

Materials

• Card stock paper
• Thin plastic sheet
• Thin silver-colored metal sheet
• Thin piano wire
• Aluminum foil
• 2 sizes of PVC (more on this later)
• A large paperclip
• A drill bit the diameter of your paper clip and a drill bit about the size of your piano wire
• Tape—clear and duct tape (or similar)
• Glue—various types

Step 1 Sizing

Okay, after about 10 minutes of math, I came up with some accurate rounded sizes for the telescope. So, here it is:

Solar Panels

• 0.5 inches by 1.6 inches
• I made these with the plastic sheet.
• The paperclip holding the solar panels should stretch across the 0.5 inches and 0.25 inches should be exposed.

Telescope

• 3 inches by 0.9 inches at the thickest—I used the closest PVC pipe size there is to that and then one size smaller.
• The larger PVC should be 2/5 of the total length (which is 3 inches, so 1.2 inches). I accidentaly made mine about half the total size.
• You should start by cutting out the PVC and gluing them together.

This picture may help you with the sizes and details:

Step 2 Solar Panels

First, straighten out the paper clip. Drill a hole the size of the paper clip on the smaller PVC close to the jump to the larger PVC.

Glue the paper clip halfway down the solar panel with all of it sticking out on one side of the panel. Thread the paper clip until 3/4 of an inch is showing (including the part already on the panel). Measure 3/4 of an inch on the other side of the paper clip and cut it off there.

Glue the other panel to this side with the paper clip halfway across. I put a dab of Elmers glue on both sides of the paper clip so it wouldn't slide back and forth. I will be talking about the details and coloring the telescope and panel later.

Step 3 Aperture Door

I made the door out of a thin metal sheet, probably from some electrical part. I easily cut it into its circle with a flat edge shape using scissors.

I also notched a part of the PVC and placed a magnet there so it could hold the door closed.

I simply made the hinge out of a piece of electrical tape glued in place for extra reinforcement.

Step 4 High-Gain Antennas

The high-gain antennas are the two antennas with the disks on the end. I made the disks out of painted card stock paper. I think I made them a little too large, though. I cut circles out, cut a slit down the middle, and made sort of a flat cone.

I then painted it and cut it down a little smaller. I drilled a hole the size of the piano wire perpendicular and very close to the paper clip. I had to guess at the size of the antennas through pictures. I threaded the wire through the hole and then glued the disks in place.

Step 5 The Back

Since the PVC was still open on the back, I needed to make a back. I cut a circle out of the plastic sheet and glued it to the back with Gorilla Glue.

Right after I did this, the back fell off. Luckily, since Gorilla Glue expands it had made a perfectly flat back.

Step 6 The Foil

Let me warn you, this the longest and most painstaking step of the project. Amazingly, foil does have a right and a wrong side. For the larger PVC and the back, you will want to use the wrong side (the dull side) of the aluminum foil. Also, the larger PVC and the back should be as smooth as possible with little to no wrinkles. You can rub the wrinkles out by smoothing it with your fingers. I also cut two separate pieces for the back and the large shaft. Now just glue the foil in place with some Elmers glue or something—you don't need any heavy duty glue for this part of the project.

 For the second piece of foil, you want to crumple the foil before placing it.

Now this is where it gets a little tricky. For the smaller PVC, you must get past the wires sticking out of the telescope. Before I glued it, I cut four slits where the four wires are sticking out. Then I simply glued the foil around the wires. 

Step 7 Panel Details

For the panels, I made sort of a diagram that looks like solar panels that you need to print out. You will need to size the diagram to 1/4 of an inch. You will need to print 2 copies of the diagram. Here it is:

After you print this out, cut the black squares out and glue them on either side of the panels. After I did this, I wrapped the panels in packaging tape to give it a glossy look. I also heated the excess tape on either side of the telescope so it was the perfect side.

Step 8 Extra Details

I made a few extra details to make the telescope look more real. The first thing I did was make some instrument panels on the telescope. Take a look at this picture:

There seems to be six sections of instrument panels on the larger section of the telescope. I cut them out of the plastic sheet. I painted some details on them.

The second detail I made were the small orange disks on either side. You can see them on either side of the aperture door in the picture above. I cut the disks out of the plastic sheet and painted it orange. I bent the piano wire into a square to hold the disk up.

The third and final detail I made was adding some textures to the back. This step was really easy. I made a circle out of some aluminum foil and glued it to the back. This circle is for the robot arm to attach to while the Hubble Space Telescope is eventually being decommissioned. Also, I added a small piece of plastic painted grey. The piece of plastic is shaped like an LED. Here is the robot arm circle I added:

Finished Pictures

Well, now you're done! Now here's some finished pictures:

Thumbnail by Ruffnax

WonderHowTo is made up of niche communities called Worlds. If you've yet to join one (or create your own), get a taste below of what's going on in the community. Check in every Wednesday for a roundup of new activities and projects. 

First off, thanks to all of our moderators and contributors this past week: Cerek Tunca, Mr. Unknown, Mr. Falkreath, Christopher Voute, Matthew Herman, and Andrew Osbourne. We would also like to extend a warm welcome to Rex Gordon, admin of the newly launched World, Robot Realms.

Lastly, we would like to remind all lurkers on site: WonderHowTo is a community effort, and the site belongs to all of you. The more knowledge we can pool together, the more we can learn from each other. With that said, join in. Write a tutorial. Post to a World (all community corkboards are public!). We are a curious bunch, and we want to see what you've got to share!

Below, this week's highlights: Photographing face spasms, playing with Python, making Minecraft pixel art, tips for living out of your car, and more.

Challenges and Workshops

• Phone Snap!—Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and with that said, this week is our very last Phone Snap challenge. (But don't fret too much, we have another photo-based World in the works, and it's gonna be good... keep your ear to the ground for pre-launch murmurings...) To close off the last in our series of cell phone photography challenges and How-To's (special thanks to admin Elaine Chang!), our final Phone Snap challenge is one to remember. Post your freakiest, funniest phone-snapped face to the community corkboard by Monday, January 30th, 11:59pm (PST) for a chance to win a giant gummy bear on a stick! More details here.

• Minecraft World's Weekly Workshop—Are you a miner with epic architectural ambitions? Then log on to the WonderHowTo Minecraft server on Saturday, January 28th at 5:00 pm EST (2:00 pm PST, 4:00 pm CST) to pick up some extra aesthetics for your castle walls, towers, buildings, and more. More details on the workshop here; if you still haven't joined the server, there are details on getting whitelisted here.

• Not enough Minecraft for you? Then check out Minecraft World's first weekly server challenge. This week's theme is pixel art, so if you've got the design chops, post your most inspired pixel-crafted masterpiece to the Minecraft World community corkboard for a chance to snag some server perks. More info here.

• Astronomical Observing News—Cerek Tunca's Astronomy World is a community hub for posting astronomy inspired pictures, art, news, and more. This week's AON (Astronomical Observing News) highlights stargazing tips from January 27th through the 31st. Click through now for the full rundown!

• Community Byte—Both newbie and veteran programmers are welcome to join Null Byte's weekly community coding projects. Held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:00pm PST, coding sessions take place on Mondays and Wednesdays (instructed by moderator Sol Gates), and HackThisSite walkthroughs take place on Fridays (instructed by admin Alex Long). Meet up on the Null Byte IRC at the appropriate time! More details here.

• Weekend Homework—Looking for another way to get involved with Null Byte? Then check in weekly for Alex Long's Weekend Homework. A couple pending articles up for grabs this week: Can you create a simple port scanner in Python? Or code an SMS bomber with the Gvoice API? If you are up for kindly contributing your knowledge, simply message Alex directly or post an article directly to the community corkboard.

How-To Projects

• Out of water balloons? No problem. Yumi of Secret Tips from the Yumiverse demonstrates how to fold an origami water balloon with just a square piece of paper. Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• Whether you've come upon hard times, or you're planning a cross-country road trip, Yumi's got some tips for making squatting on-the-go more bearable. Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• If you've been attending Sol Gates' weekly Python sessions, it's time to put your knowledge to the test. Null Byte contributor and Fear of Lightning World admin ChristopherVoute published two articles on the topic this week: How to send SMS messages + How to make a Gmail notifier, both utilizing the language. For more articles from Christopher, check out the Fear of Lightning blog roll (don't miss this past week's awesome step-by-step on making your very own prank stun-baton!).

• Minecraft World moderator Andrew Osborne posted the first article in a series on preparing builds; click through for a full rundown on terraforming. Contact Andrew or admin Kendra if you're interested in contributing How-To articles on any Minecraft topic of your choice.

• Having trouble coming up with a funny face for Phone Snap's very last weekly challenge? One word: jowler. It's easy; put your camera on flash mode, relax all of the muscles in your face, and proceed to violently shake your head from side to side as you snap a photo. More details here.

• Mr. Unknown of Info Security World has kindly offered his services in the form of tutorial requests. Post any questions or ideas directly to the forum, or contribute info security related links or articles to the community corkboard. This week: Learn how to create a partition in Windows 7; check out the blog roll for more useful articles.

• As mentioned above, this week we welcome Rex Gordon of WonderHowTo's newest World, Robot Realms. Rex has some pretty ambitious projects planned out, and we're anticipating some epic upcoming How-To's. Join the World now to stay updated. Pictured below, Rex's base platform for his 250-pound robot in the works, Magnus.

• Aside from the many Null Byte community contributions in the past week, admin Alex Long posts several notable How-To's. This week: The penny pincher's guide to eating extremely cheap (without relying on ramen!), how to make your own cell phone jammer, how to hack together your own portable, battery-powered USB charger, and more. Check the blog roll for a full rundown.

Got Something to Share?

If you've got a relevant How-To, a source of inspiration, or a finished project, post it to the corkboard in one of the applicable Worlds above. If your project is unrelated to these areas, you can publish a How-To article directly on WonderHowTo, or you can start your own World if you've got the passion—or just post directly to the WonderHowTo company corkboard.

Got a question? Comment below or email rmansur@wonderhowto.com.

Image credits: Jowlers.com, Minecraft Forum, zortrium, shannonkodonnel, nasmac, Have Fun Forever, icedsoul photography .:teymur madjderey