Interesting week in the cosmos. The largest planet in our solar system gets hit by a comet or an ice chunk and receives a divot the size of earth or the Pacific Ocean, depending on who you believe.
You are just walking down the street minding your own business and you look up in the sky and Whammo, no more worries about the kid's tuition or the fading 401k. Life is so tenuous and can disappear in the wink of an eye. If a planet gets vaporized in the forest and no one hears it, well, you know...
The scale of the cosmos is incomprehensible. And we are in orbit around a relatively small sun. The average distance from the Sun to the Earth is 1,496*10¹¹m. Thats 149 million kilometers or 92.58 million miles. Jupiter's diameter at the equator is about 88,700 miles (142,700 kilometers), which is more than 11 times the diameter of Earth. It would take 1,000 earths to fill up Jupiter. Jupiter is about 391 million miles from earth at it's closest approach. As they said when I was a kid in Texas, that's a fur piece.
You are just walking down the street minding your own business and you look up in the sky and Whammo, no more worries about the kid's tuition or the fading 401k. Life is so tenuous and can disappear in the wink of an eye. If a planet gets vaporized in the forest and no one hears it, well, you know...
The scale of the cosmos is incomprehensible. And we are in orbit around a relatively small sun. The average distance from the Sun to the Earth is 1,496*10¹¹m. Thats 149 million kilometers or 92.58 million miles. Jupiter's diameter at the equator is about 88,700 miles (142,700 kilometers), which is more than 11 times the diameter of Earth. It would take 1,000 earths to fill up Jupiter. Jupiter is about 391 million miles from earth at it's closest approach. As they said when I was a kid in Texas, that's a fur piece.One of the favorite books of my youth was Eames Powers of 10. Take a journey from outer space to the proton with this modern day link.
An amateur astronomer in Australia, Anthony Wesley, noticed the collision near the south pole of Jupiter last thursday. Like the bruise you would find on an apple that has fallen off your counter. Let's hope nobody got hurt.
The human dream doesn't mean shit to a tree.
Eskimo Blue Day - Jefferson Airplane
7 comments:
(With apologies to Mssrs. Rado and Ragni)
When the moon is in the 7th house,
and Jupiter aligns with.....Venus
Then peace will guide the planets,
and love will steer the.....penis.
Ciao Babe
Uranus would have made an easier target - congratulations, Millard.
The Blast
Stardate 1535-9.8,...69
Captain, we are carrying out orders, Operation Toilet Paper.......circling
Uranus, looking for Klingons.
(why do you think they call it anonymous?)
Nice photo of Jupiter. Did you use a telephoto lens?
i love The Planets, always have; Holst(1874-1934) wrote it during "the Great War", for large orchestra; it received it's premiere in London in 1920; a transcription for two pianos was published in 1949, and it's mind boggling; the recording i have is Naxos 8.554369; check it out.
Grumpy has hit a worm hole..........
dear anon: i doubt if a lot of folks are aware of the piano version of "The Planets"; i know i wasn't, until i stumbled upon it, not too long ago; it's available, if you care to check it out; cheers-g
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