Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Well, It's Also Got Some of My Favorite Colors

Phthalocyanine green and blue, Alizarin Crimson... And No moslem vermin at all.

Click the picture to go to the APOD site and read a description of the image written by smart people, then click the picture a couple of times to make it much larger for detailed exploration.  If you want to of course.

Enjoy the Pelican.



22 comments :

  1. Did your grandkids get into the finger paints again, and spill the red all over the garage floor?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No Grandkids Fredd though I do have some Great Nieces and Nephews.

      Delete
  2. No moslem vermin at all

    The best part of all!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I LOVE that dark turquoise and orange-red...GORGEOUS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Z, Yes, we mere mortals only pretend to be artists.

      Delete
  4. God is the Architect of the Cosmos and He has made of it a the Greatest of All Works of Art. A few of us -- damned few -- are able to comprehend and capture tiny little pieces of His Miraculous Handiwork and transform that understanding into what-we-are-pleased-to-call "Works of Art." But how minuscule and relatively insignificant is even the great of human achievement compared to vastness, immense beauty and unfathomable mystery of the Cosmos!

    Thanks once again, Kid, for helping us gain a better sense of proportion and perspective in our feeble understanding of Reality.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 100% agreed, Fredd. The heavens proclaim His handiwork.

      Delete
    2. FT, Thank you. I need the big picture stuff. Have you seen Pale Blue Dot? Carl is an atheist but he can sure tell a story.

      Delete
    3. Sagan focused on a lot of fascinating worthwhile stuff about the physical universe and our place in it, Kid, and I'm grateful to him for that. However, his palpable disdain for humanity and his tendentiousness, and too obvious belief in the innate superiority of his perceptions betray a lack of humility that seems out of phase -- directly at odds even -- with his famous blue dot example of how very tiny we, our concerns and most of our achievements really are in the great scheme of things.

      I prefer Wordsworth's perhaps-fanciful, but essentially truthful view of the Cosmos as expressed in "Intimations of Immorality" [To see a world in a grain of sand, and Eternity in a flower ...[ or Blake's "Auguries of Innocence," or Dickinson's "Arcturus is his other name, I'd rather call him Star" and hundreds of other poetic and literary bits that capture a sense of awe and wonder that generates true humility.

      Somewhere -- currently far beyond our reach -- I am certain that Music, Art, Poetry, Science, Mathematics, and Mysticism all meet and realize each is but a singe facet of SOMETHING infinitely larger, greater, finer, freer, more powerful and more beautiful than any person living or dead could fully conceive.

      I choose to call that "SOMETHING" God, but what anyone calls "it" may not matter, because "it" is bound to be inadequate in trying to describe "it" accurately.

      I think this is something like what the psalmist must have had in mind when he wrote:

      "I will lift up mine eye unto the hills from whence cometh my help.
      My help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
      He shall not suffer thy foot to be moved.
      Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall nether slumber nor sleep.
      The Lord is thy keeper, He is the shade upon thy right hand.
      The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
      The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul.
      The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in
      From this time forth, and even forevermore."


      Needless to say, I hope, "Israel" refers not to a particular geographical location, or even to a group of people who believe themselves chosen by God and therefore special -- above all other men -- but to a sacred attitude -- a blessed condition of the heart, a kind of purity and dedication to affection in our dealings with others we need to do everything possible to instill and renew in ourselves every day of our conscious lives.

      I hope this does not sound arrogant or "too far out?" Your pictorial references to The Big Picture stimulate such to-me-inspirational thoughts, Kid, and for that I thank you.

      Delete
    4. FT, You're neither arrogant or far out. I'm always open to new ideas and info. Still learning. What more accurately describes my feeling about Sagan was he had a wonderful ability to simply explain complex science. I always appreciate simplicity and bottom lining.

      Delete
  5. Have t say I was a little disappointed to learn the gorgeous colors have been artificially induced.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wouldn't it be great to look through a telescope and see these colors. We're not that far off form doing that. By filtering, oxygen comes out blue, sulfur red/orange, helium green. Our eyes simply don't process the various wavelengths of these elements. If they did, we'd see it just like this.

      Delete
    2. More proof that we should keep our minds open, and hope always for new knowledge that adds another piece to the jigsaw puzzle depicting the Mystery of Existence, Kid. If we continue to trust only the narrow scope of what we human beings can comprehend through our five physical senses, we will never make real progress.

      It seems only men of Vision gifted with great Insight and the courage of their convictions have been able to move us forward from mere animal existence towards Civilization.

      It's good to know things look a great deal better in the true Reality that surrounds and extends beyond the limits of human perception.

      The arrogant know-it-alls who presume they have either a Right or a Divine Mandate to seize the authority to design our lives and chart our course for us want to believe that what they think they know is all there is to know.

      If it had been up to me, I would have made an eleventh commandment: Cherish, respect, maintain, and strive ever to enhance your natural curiosity.

      I think the Lord covered that pretty well, however, when He said, "Ye must become as a little child to enter the kingdom of Heaven," or don't you agree?

      Delete
    3. FT, I agree. Children have it together. At least those not born with evil out of the gate. Unfortunately this is not a world for children.

      And yes, the 5 senses. We come to know our minds construct images all the time for us that do not represent reality. The other senses don't do much better. :)

      The more you know the less you know !

      Delete
    4. Yes, Kid, but INSIGHT, which seems an irrational phenomenon, occasionally produces a "quantum leap" -- a "spark of genius" in the consciousness of men and women of extraordinary intelligence and sensitivity -- and from that spark revolutionary changes in the way we conduct our daily affairs and enjoy our leisure time are born.

      How could we explain that? What could be the source of these flashes of intuition that lead to such things as the discovery and development of Language, Geometry, Algebra, Biology, Physics, Architecture, Agriculture, Drama, Poetry, Literature, Art, Song, Polyphony, and the miracles wrought by Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Wagner, Strauss, Mahler, Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, and all the others? How could we 'explain" the emergence of Jazz? Where did THAT come from -- and WHY? Etc., etc., etc.

      Delete
  6. FT, I have no idea where that stuff comes from except out of the blue.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly, and that is why I persist in my belief in God. Until someone can come up with a better verifiable explanation for the origins of the Cosmos and the many evolving life forms past, present and future, God makes good sense to me. I sure s hell know WE did not create the elements, the stars, the planets, the solar systems, the galaxies, etc. The idea that all of it just happened by accident seems preposterous.

      Delete
    2. I sometimes wonder if what-we-think-of-as the Cosmos is merely ONE tiny ATOM in something infinitely larger?

      I've thought about that since I was in my teens. Most people accuse me of being "sophomoric" even to raise such a thought, but I still can't help wondering. Even at my advanced age, I still get goose bumps thinking about it.

      Could Reality be as infinitely small as it is infinitely large?

      Delete
    3. FT, Sagan believed infinity in size in both directions. Seems reasonable.

      Delete
    4. FT,
      I sometimes wonder if what-we-think-of-as the Cosmos is merely ONE tiny ATOM in something infinitely larger?

      Mankind will not know the answer this side of eternity.

      Delete