Ponder Sunrise Over Ryugu

Four years and 3,200 million kilometers ago, JAXA ( Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ) launched Hayabusa2, a sample return mission targeting asteroid 162173 Ryugu. Hayabusa2 found Ryugu on June 27, 2018. For several weeks Hayabusa hovered 20 kilometers above tiny Ryugu in anticipation of deploying two diminutive 18 centimeter diameter rovers. On September 22 JAXA mission control cheered when rovers 1A and 1B dutifully hopped across the surface of Ryugu. 17 minutes later first images of Ryugu found their way home.

https://tecake.in/hayabusa2-successfully-deployed-two-rovers-on-asteroid-ryugu-on-saturday

http://earthsky.org/space/jaxa-confirms-2-rovers-landed-asteroid-ryugu?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=c24ffba034-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-c24ffba034-393970565

Hayabusa2 plans to crash impact rover MASCOT ( Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout ) to form a crater on Ryugu’s surface. Before embarking on the journey home in December 2019, Hayabusa2 will land on Ryugu to retrieve rover MASCOT, returning to Earth in 2020 with samples collected from a 1 kilometer wide asteroid 313 million kilometers away. Ponder sunrise over Ryugu, cosmic wonder captured by a space agency and mission few people knew existed.

 

 

Spider Beach

On the morning of September 19, 300 meters of shoreline in Aitoliko, Greece woke to a gossamer siege of Tetragnatha spider web. Commonly called stretch spiders for their elongated bodies, over 300 species of harmless Tetragnatha inhabit our world. Partial to low vegetation at waters edge, stretch spiders thrive on mosquitoes and water born insects. Every few years a perfect storm of warm moist weather and mosquito bloom spark a stretch spider orgy. But for carefree visual grandstanding, arachnid party-goers mating with wild abandon while gorging on mosquitoes would remain nature’s secret.

https://greece.greekreporter.com/2018/09/18/massive-spider-web-covers-an-entire-beach-in-greece-photos/

 

Tetragnatha Spider

Mexico City Streets

Ponder Mexico City through my husband’s lens. Photographs documenting vibrant textures, mesmerizing beauty and pulse of a city beyond definition. My apologies for posting photographs that can’t be enlarged by a click. Please follow the link below for full screen viewing – each and every image a work of art. Viva Mexico.

Jesus in Wonderland.

A Tale Unfolds

Ignorance is one the greatest allies of  those who promote lies under the guise of truth. In fact, I would venture that, many of these Liars for Jesus are, in many respects, just as ignorant as the sheep they would shear.

Archaeology, while not an exact science, is often replete with enough evidence that a conclusion can fairly confidently be drawn: for example, it’s not too difficult what conclusion can be drawn from the fact there are no pre-Cambrian fossilized rabbits!

And this short video might illuminate certain areas of geographical ignorance some of you might have regarding the stamping ground of everyone’s favorite god-man, Jesus of Nazareth.

Grab a coffee and a sandwich, and take ten minutes to brush up on your ”Jesus Geography”.

Ark.

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Home In Body Not Mind

Few places are harder to leave than Mexico City. Home after nine days, decompression won’t come easily. Much as I’d like to dangle poetic eloquence worthy of honoring the cadence of Mexico City, I need a few days to understand it myself. Meanwhile a gallery of cell phone images taken September 16, Mexican Independence Day.

We don’t need a reason to visit Mexico City, this year it happened to coincide with Independence Day. Over the next few days I’ll try to explain why this city is worth pondering.

Mexico City Notes

The countdown is on – in 28 hours we fly to Mexico City, a city that takes our breath away. Twice traveling for Day of the Dead, this year to experience Independence Day celebrations

Mexican Independence Day marks September 16, 1810, the day when priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla urged Mexicans to rise up against the colonial government of Spain. The call today is often referred to as the Grito de Dolores, or Cry of Dolores, named after the town of Dolores—now Dolores Hidalgo—where the cry was originally uttered. (According to the Library of Congress, Hidalgo is believed to have said, “My Children, a new dispensation comes to us today…Will you free yourselves? Will you recover the lands stolen 300 years ago from your forefathers by the hated Spaniards? We must act at once.”) Independence was not won immediately, but that day—and its uprising—is typically considered the beginning of war that eventually brought the country independence in 1821.

Official celebrations begin at 11 p.m. on September 15 when Mexico’s president rings a bell at the National Palace in Mexico City, repeating Hidalgo’s words to crowds gathered at the Plaza de la Constitución ( aka Zócalo, one of the largest public plazas in the world). After each line, many of which tout key figures in the revolution, an estimated 500,000 citizens and tourists chant back, “Viva.”

On September 16 a military parade, the likes of which would make Trump cream his pants, thunders through the heart of Mexico City. I’ll have my own images soon, meanwhile watch the video clip above

Random internet images are no match for personal experience. I’ll be back in a few weeks, bursting with Independence Day ponders and Mexico City exuberance.

667 Sins

According to howtorepent.org good Christians have some work to do. It seems the Bible lists 667 sins. From birth God records every transgression in his Book of Sins. Failure to repent even one of those 667 sins guarantees a one way ticket to Hell. God’s sin list is staggering, as is the preamble and content contained in the link below.

Click to access 667-Sins-List.pdf

Ponder 667 sins, then name a single Christian who rises above the sin test. Why is it that theists claim moral superiority yet spend a lifetime repenting sin?

Sneaky 2018 RC

Asteroids make no apology for sneakiness. February 2013, Chelyabinsk Russia, a unknown 20 meter wide meteor traveling at 18 km/second began to tear apart at an altitude of 35 kilometers. Beneath the meteor’s path shock waves knocked people off their feet. In the city of Chelyabinsk windows in over 3,600 building shattered. Over 1,200 people treated for injuries, a fireball 30 times brighter than the sun arriving without warning. A swath of destruction unleashed by a rogue 20 meter space rock.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor

Five days ago the ATLAS sky survey in Hawaii discovered 2018 RC, a near earth asteroid estimated at 32-71 meters. Later today 2018 RC will come within 220,000 km, roughly half the distance between earth and the moon. As potentially hazardous asteroids go that’s freaking close. There’s no chance 2018 RC will hit earth. That said, asteroids are sneaky.For all the eyes cast at all the skies astronomers detected 2018 RC 5 days ago, Chelyabinsk came without warning.

The Virtual Telescope Project invites us to ponder2018 RC live.

https://www.virtualtelescope.eu/webtv/

At 6 pm eastern daylight time the Virtual Telescope Project invites everyone to watch live images of 2018 RC. To participate click on the link above.

I Want To Break Free

Seventy two years ago today Farrokh Bulsara was born in British colonial Zanzibar. Eight year old Farrokh started calling himself Freddie when sent to a British boarding school near Bombay. At twelve Freddie formed The Hectics, a rock cover band with schoolmates. In 1964 the Zanzibar Revolution forced Freddie’s family to flee Zanzibar for England. The Bulsaras settled in Feltham, Middlesex, Freddie enrolled at Isleworth Polytechnic in West London to study art, eventually graduating from Ealing Art College with a degree in graphic design. Freddie sold second hand clothing at Kensington Market, fell in and out of bands and worked as a baggage handler at Heathrow. In 1970 he met Brian May and Roger Taylor, in 1971 John Deacon made it four. Dismissing reservations of band-mates and management company Trident, Freddie named the band Queen and officially changed his name to Freddie Mercury.

https://www.biography.com/people/freddie-mercury-9406228

March 11, 1977 I stood front row at Pacific Colosseum in Vancouver for Queen’s Day at the Races concert. To this day the spectacle of Freddie Mercury gives me chills.

For weeks, baggage handlers at Heathrow practiced dance moves to celebrate Mercury’s birthday. Astonished travelers passing through Heathrow today were treated to a heart warming spectacle. Never mind amateur hour, this clip made my day and I hope it does yours.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/freddie-mercury-birthday-heathrow-bagge-handlers-commemorate-queen-star-a3928571.html

Solar Sector Boundary Crossing Coincides With Historic 150th Anniversary

September 2nd marks a historic 150th anniversary. On this day in 1859 miners in Virginia woke at 3 am thinking glowing skies signaled sunrise. From the North Pole to Cuba, Hawaii, most of Mexico, parts of Central America and Colombia, China and Japan, brilliant auroras delivered a electromagnetic circus. All across Europe and North America telegraph wires sparked, stations caught fire, some operators reported sending and receiving messages even after disconnecting power lines.

150 years ago British astronomer Richard Carrington witnessed a unprecedented solar flare – today we know it as the Carrington Event. A similar event today would devastate life as we know it. Ponder weeks, months, possibly years without electricity, internet, ATMs, GPS, power to pump water and fuel, air, road or rail travel. Space weather is real and it matters.

https://www.history.com/news/a-perfect-solar-superstorm-the-1859-carrington-event

On September 3rd space weather predicts a solar sector boundary crossing.

Our sun produces wind (currently 316.9 Km/second) blasts across the cosmos. Just like Earth, the Sun has a magnetic field – known as the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF).  Whipped into spiral rotation, wind driven IMF rotates in one direction. It divides into spiral sections pointing to and away from the sun along the ecliptic plane ( a direct line between Earth and the Sun). The edge of this swirling mass has a surface separating polarities of planetary and solar magnetism called the heliosphere current sheet.

http://spaceweather.com/glossary/imf.html

Earth’s magnetic field points north at the magnetopause (the point of contact between our magnetosphere and the IMF). If the IMF happens to point south at contact (scientific term, southward Bz) the two fields link causing partial cancellation of Earth’s magnetic field – in other words, opening a temporary door for solar energy to enter our atmosphere. Welcome solar sector boundary crossing – a phenomenon born of high solar wind and coronal mass ejections (CME’s – aka solar flares).

It takes 3 or 4 days for magnetism to sort itself out – during that time expect occasional high frequency radio wave disruption,  wonky GPS and cell phone service peppered with sudden power grid failure events. On the upside, we’re treated to kick ass auroras.

Space weather really does matter.