∞
What is Earth Made of
One aspect of astronomy that I have grown to love and appreciate is the tie in to the other areas of science. For example, planetary geology which, in turn, ties into our study of our own Earth’s geology. Of course this also ties into chemistry. And biology. And on on and.
This morning as I browsed Apple News1 I came across this very nice introduction to the geology of our planet.
∞
Story of a sunset
As the sun begins to set the world around me begins to dance.
As my feet crunch along the rock road below, dragonflies spin through the air just above my head. There are so many of them feeding in the fading light of the day that they form a small swarm. Higher in the air the night hawks perform their own acrobatic maneuvers above the fields, also in search of an evening meal.
∞
Earth — Shot on iPhone with Carl Sagan narration
Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot is fantastic and this is a good use of it.
See it on YouTube
∞
Precarious
As is my usual routine I took my dog Cosmo out for our walk to the mailbox yesterday. Along the way I had a thought about the precariousness of our existence on Earth. We live in this sort of illusion as our daily life is wrapped in an assumption of stability. For the most part our human brains encounter the same environment everyday. Most of us wake up in the morning and are active during the day.
∞
Cosmic Dance
A few weeks back I wrote about viewing the supernova in M82. It was first observed around the same time that an article was circulating about the continuing and drastic decline of Monarch butterfly populations. I had both the supernova and the threat to the Monarch on my mind when I sat down to write about my observation of M82 but I couldn't quite make the connection I wanted to make.
∞
Of Monarchs and Birthdays
It’s Royal’s birthday so I’ll put on a happy face. But this. This. I’m having a real hard time imagining a summertime without Monarchs. What else will we kill off because we don’t know how to live within limits, don’t know how to live as species that recognizes the needs of other species. Every grass lawn, every golf course is a problem. Prime example, I’ve just had a bit of a family kerfluffle because now that I’m not living at the lake they are making changes.