Tag / Space

by Greg

I Love The Sky!

Full Moon over Palmyra
I am simply captivated by the sky. I always have been. I love looking at the night sky the most, I’d say… but really anything that happens in the vast expanse is just mesmerizing to me. Various cloud formations, beautiful colors at sunset (not too many sunrises in the ol’ memory banks…), and I do especially love the slightly transparent looking moon in the bright blue daytime sky.

Over the past couple weeks there have been some stunning sky-scapes. From the aforementioned dazzling sunsets, featuring a darkening blue sky splashed with orange and pink and purple fades that I would have a hard time duplicating in Photoshop, to some just astounding sun rays. When you have a clear sky except for one fantastically puffy, white cloud… which floats directly in front of the sun… and it’s a hazy, humid day… you can get some phenomenal sun rays blasting out from every side of that cloud!

Beautiful Rainbow!
We also saw that rainbow! After a late evening shower, the sun came out again in full force and as the rain passed to the east, the sun setting in the west dazzled all around with a full rainbow that was as vibrant as any I have ever seen. The contrast against the dark blue/gray sky was incredible. I literally was transfixed upon it for the entire 25 minute highway trip home. It was probably a bit dangerous… I couldn’t take my eyes off of it!

Then tonight, I took a bag of trash outside and happened to see the nearly full moon. (It’s full tomorrow.) Spectacular! Super clear night… the moon was lighting up everything! I decided to try and snap a couple photos, and the above as well as the two below were the best of the bunch! It’s pretty hard to get a good clear photo of the moon, I guess!!! I tried various shutter speeds, and the auto modes on the camera… finally got the best photo (I think) when I stood under the street light! Ha! Must have balanced the brightness of the moon somehow.

Well, I don’t usually post so many photos, but… had to share these. Hope you enjoy them. Photos can not capture the grandeur of the real thing though.

I do love the sky. 🙂

Beautiful Rainbow!
Full Moon over Palmyra
Full Moon over Palmyra

by Greg

A Long Time Ago… In a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Talk about fireworks… Wired News today posted this article about some 4th of July fireworks from what is now known as the Crab Nebula. But this was not a recent 4th of July… it was in the year 1054!!! Ha! Awesome.

We’re hoping to catch some more modern fireworks tonight… if the rain lets up. Then off to visit family in Ohio for the weekend tomorrow!

Enjoy the article, and happy 4th of July!

by Greg

From The Earth To The Moon

Earthrise
We just finished watching “From the Earth to the Moon”, an HBO mini-series, and it was fantastic. The language was too much for our tiny kids (and, well, I didn’t like it much either…) but the story form of this incredible time in history was very well done. It’s 12 parts on 4 discs. And, it’s great! 🙂 We highly recommend.

The one very cool thing I noticed was just how many people it took to make that happen. They did a great job of conveying that. From the 3 astronauts per mission each having vital, essential roles, to their fourth astronaut (Mission Control in Houston, which was a couple dozen MORE people who were each vital to the mission) … it was all about team work. It could not have happened without all of those people.

And of course you can go beyond that… lots more people involved, including the companies who made the stuff that got us to the moon, and all of the people that worked together to make that happen.

It was just very obvious that even though only 24 men made the trip to the moon (so far), it was hundreds, maybe thousands? who made it possible. Life is not meant to be lived alone, and you certainly can’t do super cool things like go hang out on the moon by yourself! It was a cool, vivid example of team work in action.

So, if foul language is offensive, perhaps you can borrow someone’s TV Guardian… but it’s an amazing reenactment of history. Incredible history. Add it to your Netflix queue today!

(A little side note. As you are probably aware, I am a big fan of space exploration. I really believe that NASA is getting ready to do this again. We don’t have a “Cold War” to fuel public interest as much as in the 60s, but we are going to do some pretty amazing things in the next decade or two. In the coming decade, NASA plans to go back to the moon… and set up camp there. In the 2010s (and into the 20s) NASA is planning to send people to MARS. It could be much the same as July 20, 1969 when Neil Armstrong first put his boot on the moon. Stay tuned…)

by Greg

Race To The Moon

Earthrise photo taken by Apollo 8 Astronauts
Last night I watched an hour-long PBS special (via Netflix) called “Race To The Moon”. It’s certainly another recommended addition to your queue. The story is just incredible. How in the world did we pull that off in the sixties… and we’re not going back till 2013 or so???

The video is about Apollo 8, the mission where 3 astronauts went to the moon, orbited 10 times, and returned safely home. The famous Apollo 11 was just 7 (or 9?) months later, when they went the remaining 69 miles to the lunar surface.

A pretty cool part of the trip to the moon was just before they were going to break orbit and head home, they read Genesis chapter one via live broadcast to … the world, I think! The creation story probably sounded a LOT different from the moon. What a vantage point!

Someday… it would be neat to visit there…. but Jen says I have to wait until she dies. She doesn’t want me going while she’s still here… 🙂

Anyway, regardless of whether I get to visit the moon or not, watching the story of those guys who DID… fascinating.

Add it to the queue today!