Thursday, December 1, 2016

Well, It's Been a While


29 Trillion Miles Across

Click the Picture for a description.





28 comments :

  1. Why do you keep posting that dirty granite counter top? Is it to drive my OCD of the charts? Well, it's working.

    All kidding aside - it really is beautiful, Kid.

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    1. Adrienne, Dang, I thought I cleaned that counter top !

      Glad you like it too. :)

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    2. Still looks like paint spilled on my garage floor.

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    3. Fredd, you must be a heck of a paint spiller.

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    4. I've spilled my share of paint.

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  2. Brings back memories of my astronomy classes in college. Thought I was going to spend the evenings looking through that expensive university telescope---well I did have two cracks at it, unfortunately the professor was an air force captain from a nearby air base and he saw fit to teach us celestial navigation for the semester. Of course in the days before GPS's!

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    1. Navigation sounds kinda boring unless you're planning a trip across the ocean in a rowboat..or a Kon Tiki raft.

      We have a telescope. 8" Celestron, but the images you get from this new equipment and filter processing doesn't make us even want to bother to set the thing up. Maybe if we get away from the light pollution and can see the Milky Way again..

      Enjoy the big picture though.

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  3. I look forward to visiting there someday.

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    1. If someone said "we're taking you there next month!", my feet would immediately grow roots into the concrete below me! :-) Not the adventuresome type! I admire the courage of both of you!

      if I had been an astronaut, gone thru all the training, when I was finally buckled in I'd be saying "Wait! Wait!" I changed my MIND" the second after blast off! :-)

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    2. Z, I'll tell you I sure wouldn't go to Mars no matter what your paid me.

      Ed and I are planning on exploring in the after-life.

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  4. "Nah, there's no other life out there. Move along, nothing to see here."

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    1. Timothy, They recently estimated 20 Trillion galaxies in the universe. I'll put my money on oodles of life. And it's a good thing we're separated.

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  5. ___ COULD IT BE ___

    Could it be
    We need our fantasies
    And fond illusions
    More than we need
    Mundane reality?

    Did ancient astronauts
    Visit Earth aeons ago,
    Plant Colonies - perform
    Wondrous Feats of Engineering

    Still unexplained?

    The eternal Mystery of
    The Pyramids - The Sphinx
    Stonehenge - Gigantic Chalk Figures,
    Discernible only from great heights -
    Easter Island - Machu Pichu?

    The Origin of Man -
    The miracles of Music -
    Painting - Sculpture -
    Poetry and Thought.

    The Star of Bethlehem -
    The Virgin Birth - The Magi -
    Betrayal, Death and Resurrection?

    Patterns of Migration?
    Courtship Rituals?
    Attachment - Dependency -
    Illness - Abandonment -
    Grief - Tedium -
    Decline - Decay -

    The eternal Search
    For Acceptance - Appreciation -
    Affection - Understanding -

    ESCAPE!


    ~ FreeThinke

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    1. FT, Good one. Well, I figure that things like the pyramids got built because mankind is adventurous and requires a challenge. Plus there wasn't much else to do.

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  6. Twinkle, twinkle, Little Star.
    How I wonder what you are.

    Up above the world so high
    Like a diamond in the sky.

    Twinkle, twinkle, Little Star.
    How I wonder what you are!

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  7. Arcturus his other name,—
    I ’d rather call him Star!
    It ’s so unkind of science
    To go and interfere!

    I pull a flower from the woods,—
    A monster with a glass
    Computes the stamens in a breath,
    And has her in a class.

    Whereas I took the butterfly
    Aforetime in my hat,
    He sits erect in cabinets,
    The clover-bells forgot.

    What once was Heaven, is Zenith now.
    Where I proposed to go
    When time’s brief masquerade was done,
    Is mapped, and charted too!

    What if the poles should frisk about
    And stand upon their heads!
    I hope I’m ready for the worst,
    Whatever prank betides!
          
    Perhaps the Kingdom of Heaven’s changed!
    I hope the children there
    Won’t be new-fashioned when I come,
    And laugh at me, and stare!
      
    I hope the Father in the Skies
    Will lift his little girl,—
    Old-fashioned, naughty, everything,—
    Over the Stile of Pearl!


    ~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

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  8. This is my Father's world,
    And to my listening ears
    All nature sings, and round me rings
    The music of the spheres.

    This is my Father's world:
    I rest me in the thought
    Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas ––
    His hand the wonders wrought.

    This is my Father's world:
    The birds their carols raise,
    The morning light, the lily white,
    Declare their Maker's praise.

    This is my Father's world:
    He shines in all that's fair;
    In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
    He speaks to me everywhere.

    This is my Father's world:
    O let me ne'er forget
    That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
    God is the Ruler yet.

    This is my Father's world:
    Why should my heart be sad?
    The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
    God reigns; let earth be glad!


    ~ Maltbie D. Babcock (1858-1901)

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  9. THis is a GORGEOUS Nebulas...or whatever Nebula? A Christmas Nebulas..or nebula :-)

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    1. If anything, it has to be a FLAMINGO nebula.

      I've never seen a SHOCKING PINK Christmas tree, have you? };^)>

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    2. Z, Nebula is the correct word. It's great they came up with a way to false color these images based on the content of the item. Blue for oxygen, reds and oranges for Sulfur, etc.

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  10. Z, nebulas is the plural form of the word although nebulae is also acceptable.

    Kid, to me it looks like some galactic Pepto Bismol spill. Beautifully chaotic.

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    1. Cube, Chaotic is God's Plan. If I were God, Chaotic would be my plan. Who wants boring?

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    2. My email contains the word "entropy"... something an old thermodynamics professor of mine found delightful.

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  11. Thank you. In the decades I've had that email handle, with the exception of my husband, my old professor and a Chinese student who was assigned to my group for a project where we had to communicate via email, no one has ever appreciated the word 'entropy' in my email. Congratulations. You're #4 :)

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    Replies
    1. Cube, Thank you for the mention :) Given we're complete strangers, #4 is quite a compliment.

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