Okay so I'm a day late, but I'm keeping with my contract. I started this on my i-Phone because my computer had been absconded for other purposes so I do have an excuse!
In celebration of Earth Day what could be better than the New York Times' front page photo of our planet from the Cassini Orbiter through the rings of Saturn?
Certainly puts perspective on things. Our daily battles are so small in the splendid vastness of space. The Cassini Orbiter is a joint project of NASA and ESA the Italian space program. It launched nearly twenty years ago in October 1997 and reached Saturn July 1st 2004 after doing fly-byes of other planets including Mercury and Jupiter. It has been circling Saturn and it's moons for years now collecting data and spectacular photos. Remember my previous post about Enceladus and the possibility of earth like life forms? Cassini is now in its final phase. By September it will have run out of fuel and will be pulled into the gravity field of Titan, Saturn's biggest moon, where it will vaporize into nothingness.
I'm reminded of the Morrison and Eame's book The Power's of Ten which explores the universe in increments of ten thru high power telescopes and regular camera lens and electron microscopes. The revelation being that the structure of stars and galaxies at a distance are almost identical to molecular structure of cells at the microscopic level.
Thinking of the big bang theory and how particles that were once tightly bound together in the beginning of time may now be billions of miles apart and yet according to quantum theories of the multiverse (multiple universes) it is mathematically possible that there are life forms out there that exactly mirror each one of us. Particles that might be drawn together because of their resonance or which could be engaged in mirror actions even light years apart because of their molecular similarity and joint origins. Physicists call this "spooky action at a distance." I think of another me sitting at an identical computer typing these words in reverse.
What draws us to each other in our own dimension? I witnessed a wedding couple in the throngs at Grand Central yesterday having their photos taken among hundreds of absolute strangers. What draws them together? How might they be seen from outer space - 85 light years away?
It is quite something to be given this perspective to imagine ourselves 2.2 billion miles away, 85 minutes at the speed of light, observing our home as if we were some where else. But we are not somewhere else. We are here and we must take care of it. Thousands marched yesterday in defense of our planet - for the benefit of those whose vision is too small to see how fragile and remarkable our earth is.
In celebration of Earth Day what could be better than the New York Times' front page photo of our planet from the Cassini Orbiter through the rings of Saturn?
 |
| Earth below the rings of Saturn |
Certainly puts perspective on things. Our daily battles are so small in the splendid vastness of space. The Cassini Orbiter is a joint project of NASA and ESA the Italian space program. It launched nearly twenty years ago in October 1997 and reached Saturn July 1st 2004 after doing fly-byes of other planets including Mercury and Jupiter. It has been circling Saturn and it's moons for years now collecting data and spectacular photos. Remember my previous post about Enceladus and the possibility of earth like life forms? Cassini is now in its final phase. By September it will have run out of fuel and will be pulled into the gravity field of Titan, Saturn's biggest moon, where it will vaporize into nothingness.
I'm reminded of the Morrison and Eame's book The Power's of Ten which explores the universe in increments of ten thru high power telescopes and regular camera lens and electron microscopes. The revelation being that the structure of stars and galaxies at a distance are almost identical to molecular structure of cells at the microscopic level.
 |
| Earth is the tiny speck to the right. |
Thinking of the big bang theory and how particles that were once tightly bound together in the beginning of time may now be billions of miles apart and yet according to quantum theories of the multiverse (multiple universes) it is mathematically possible that there are life forms out there that exactly mirror each one of us. Particles that might be drawn together because of their resonance or which could be engaged in mirror actions even light years apart because of their molecular similarity and joint origins. Physicists call this "spooky action at a distance." I think of another me sitting at an identical computer typing these words in reverse.
What draws us to each other in our own dimension? I witnessed a wedding couple in the throngs at Grand Central yesterday having their photos taken among hundreds of absolute strangers. What draws them together? How might they be seen from outer space - 85 light years away?
It is quite something to be given this perspective to imagine ourselves 2.2 billion miles away, 85 minutes at the speed of light, observing our home as if we were some where else. But we are not somewhere else. We are here and we must take care of it. Thousands marched yesterday in defense of our planet - for the benefit of those whose vision is too small to see how fragile and remarkable our earth is.
A poem in honor of earth day:
ON THE FIFTH DAY
by Jane Hirshfield
by Jane Hirshfield
On the fifth day
the scientists who studied the rivers
were forbidden to speak
or to study the rivers.
the scientists who studied the rivers
were forbidden to speak
or to study the rivers.
The scientists who studied the air
were told not to speak of the air,
and the ones who worked for the farmers
were silenced,
and the ones who worked for the bees.
were told not to speak of the air,
and the ones who worked for the farmers
were silenced,
and the ones who worked for the bees.
Someone, from deep in the Badlands,
began posting facts.
began posting facts.
The facts were told not to speak
and were taken away.
The facts, surprised to be taken, were silent.
and were taken away.
The facts, surprised to be taken, were silent.
Now it was only the rivers
that spoke of the rivers,
and only the wind that spoke of its bees,
that spoke of the rivers,
and only the wind that spoke of its bees,
while the unpausing factual buds of the fruit trees
continued to move toward their fruit.
continued to move toward their fruit.
The silence spoke loudly of silence,
and the rivers kept speaking,
of rivers, of boulders and air.
and the rivers kept speaking,
of rivers, of boulders and air.
In gravity, earless and tongueless,
the untested rivers kept speaking.
the untested rivers kept speaking.
Bus drivers, shelf stockers,
code writers, machinists, accountants,
lab techs, cellists kept speaking.
code writers, machinists, accountants,
lab techs, cellists kept speaking.
They spoke, the fifth day,
of silence.
of silence.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/04/18/jane-hirshfield-on-the-fifth-day/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=bf344a7af3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_20
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