Equinox!
Posted at 5:13 AM on September 22, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(35 Comments)
Today is the day of our autumnal equinox, and that's an important moment here on Earth. You can almost feel the change in the angle of the light day by day as we slide into Fall and then on to everyone's favorite - Winter.
But a most remarkable interplay of light and dark came in a photo posted yesterday on the Cassini Equinox Mission website, showing Saturn and its rings during Saturn's equinox back in early August.
This is a mosaic of 75 photos taken by Cassini the day after the sun appeared to be directly over Saturn's equator - an event that happens once every 15 years. At equinox, the sun lines up with the edge of the rings and shines directly across them, so from our vantage point, they seem to disappear. But the Cassini spacecraft was able to take a different angle and catch the rings mostly illuminated by light reflected off the the planet.
It's a beautiful image. Almost nice enough to make me want to go into space to see more. Almost.
If you could go into orbit, would you?
Comments (35)
Good Morning! First to post today -- couldn't sleep. Dale, that is an amazing photograph. It looks like art.
Actually, I think it would be cool to go into space. If only it were safer and easier ... wearing those clunky white suits that make you look fat ... I don't know.
I would go for the amazing view and perspective of our blue orb floating in space. I'm looking forward to a beautiful autumn!
Joanne, that's a fascinating concept - that the spacesuit makes you look FAT. I wonder if any of the astronauts have asked for something a little slimmer. Would it help you look more svelte if the suits were black? But then I suppose there would be a problem of simply getting lost against the black background of space.
But then again ... with the entire universe as a backdrop is it even possible to look fat? Consider that Jupiter could be right behind you.
Good Morning RH,
I would not go into orbit. I don't like heights.
I do like the color scheme in that photo of Saturn and its rings. Resembles my winter coat/scarf/gloves ensemble.
Let's help Joanne in Big Lake out with her insomnia. This may sound counterproductive Joanne, but when I try praying, I usually fall asleep midway.
i'm glad there are folks who are adventurous, like Dale and Joan, who would love to take long trips and drink Tang. some other time i might be willing to do same, but right now i'm where i want to be - getting ready to go out to milk the Girls while Spot and Opie make comments from the peanut gallery and their dad, T, yells from the Gentlelmens' Club - "ME WANT GIRLS!!" - it's an autumnal event also - "rut" in bucks accompanied by "obsessive interest in does" (wow, is that an UNDERSTATEMENT) and that sweet, funky aroma that Cynthia from Mahtowa loves so much. i'm taking a "buck rag" over to Cynthia for her "Venery" doe so that she will get the notion to start her cycle. a buck rag is just a piece of towel or other absorbant material that i rub on Mr. T, especially on his head where those scent glands are. the rag is then put in a jar to protect its bouquet and when it is opened it's like "buck in a jar" - it will help Cynthia know when Venery is ready to be bred and then she will be brought over here to T for a conjugal visit. or a speed date.
there, that's our autumnal routine :-) no orbits for us, thanks, Dale. sorry this is so long. good morning, All!
Barb - I think the length of your post may help Joanne with her insomnia. I really appreciate your details though, I really do. Especially when they include buck and doe action!
Donna - thanks for the idea, but actually it's not insomnia (not today anyway). Just woke up early and felt good! So I finally heard the first set on RH this morning with Dale. Lovely songs, by the way.
Dale, I guess if Jupiter is behind me, I would not look fat -- good idea!
Barb, it's always fascinating to hear about the sex life of goats. That just makes my day!
fall, space, sex... who could ask for a better way to start the day? great blog gang. excellent topic of the day dale thanks. great photo. i would love to be in space for an extended period of time. jupiter would take a couple of years i think but if i had the reading material and good company on the internet (does it work if there is no atmosphere to carry the radio waves. i'll bet the downlaod time is slowwwwww) and maybe figure out a way to pipe in radio heartland i would thing it an ideal way to spend a chunk of time. how could you bet an adventure like that?
I just thought of a way to go into space and look thin, too! For some reason, I thought of Mae West. In her old movies w/WC Fields, her very clever costume designer created black hourglass panels in the sides of her dresses that were very slimming.
Mae West was actually very short and voluptuous (read chunky in our thin-obsessed culture). Wearing stiletto heels gave her ~that walk~ and a well-designed dress gave her a great figure.
So, I propose that all white, fully functional spacesuits are designed with black hourglass side panels for a slimmer look against the beautiful black backdrop of space. Ta daa! No need to stay home on Earth when you can look fabulous in spacesuits!
I would go into space at least to orbit the Earth - don't know that I'd be willing to spend a couple of years getting to a destination like Saturn, though (even though it is really pretty).
And I think I'm glad there are people like Barb and Cynthia to deal with buck rags and such - goats are pretty cool creatures, but I think that's more personal than this city kid has a desire to get to anything four-legged. ;-)
I like it where I am, too, but I like to visit the North Shore once in a while and my parents in Iowa. I like to go farther, too, when I can afford the air fare and time away from work. So yes, while I don't particularly like heights, either, I do think I would like to go into space if only to get that beautiful view of earth that I remember the astronauts sent to us for the first time in the 70's. Beautiful picture, Dale. I thought it was a painting at first.
Happy Equinox, all!
Darcy
I go into orbit almost everyday and think of the first lyric of Somewhere Out There sung by many artist but I hear James Ingrand and Linda Ronstadt.
All this talk about looking fat in space! Dale, can you play the Monty Python song about the universe from The Meaning of Life? It seems appropriate for this conversation. Although, this song talks about feeling small in terms of significance, not jeans size.
Have a great morning!
I think that tim already knows, but you don't need atmosphere to carry radio waves. They call it being "on the air" to confuse us. It's electromagnetic radiation and you probably could pick up RH if you had a REALLY GOOD antenna. There would be a delay in the broadcast, as Dale's talking would only travel at 186,000 miles per second.
Yesterday was the dentist and my HD radio in Northfield no longer connecting to RH. Bummer! Today is the equinox and a coffee shop with free wi-fi and streaming RH. Life is once again good.
I think my computer just ate my comment before I could post it. I will make another attempt. If my computer "spits up" my first attempt, I might end up with two postings.
I think going into space would be great and I wouldn't mind the big space suit, but I would need and easier and safer way to go there as Joanne suggests.
I'm seeing some seasonal changes in the garden with cool weather crops, like spinach, enjoying the change and warm weather crops, like melons, slowing down. No activities such as Barb is reporting for the goats, but bees are still visting the flowers.
Donna, my husband sleeps very long and well probably because of the way i go on about the goats :-)
Dale, the Randy Newman/Dr. John song was so great. following Donna's lead i looked up "come see about me" in the Urban dictionary. nothing! i think when T is braying at the Girls he is saying "Come see about ME!!" not?
Barb -- how about the bucks saying "Come up and see me sometime" (another Mae West reference).
I'm wearing my luggage...let's go! My wife and I love to travel. We'll take our laptops and finally get caught up on our writing en route. I once calculated that I'd need to live to be about 300 to get all of the story ideas I currently have down on paper.
No problem looking slim in space suits. Just let the air out of the waist section. Nothing like the vacuum of space to provide a quick, easy, non-surgical, and completely organic tummy tuck!
I usually love to go new places, but I'm afraid I am not patient enough to last the length of time it would take to get there. Can you imagine thinking "Are we there yet?" 78 gazillion times?
Joanne - at the risk of leading us down a path that Dale would feel uncomfortable with... i wonder if Mae West didn't begine that whole "see" thing? she certainly was a master of double entendre.
Doug, how are you doing?
and Dale, it's probably too late, but a throat singer would help folks experience the sounds emanating from the Gentlemens' club lately........ beautiful!
Here's a story that is fitting for today's blog topic...while listening to the Galaxy Song.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/21/space.camera.icarus.ireport/index.html
I hope the link works. If not just Google, Students launch camera to edge of space, snap pics of Earth.
Barb - yes, she was quite naughty in her day. Actually, in the movie "My Little Chickadee," W.C. Fields never says "my little chickadee" -- he uses all kinds of other endearments, "my kumquat, my apple blossom," etc. And Mae West never says the whole phrase "come on up and see me sometime." She just leaves it hanging ...
But she does say "Next time you've got nothing to do and plenty of time to do it. come on up ..."
I will try one more time....
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/21/space.camera.icarus.ireport/index.html
now I think the link will work.
I’d definitely take a ride into orbit. Astronomy and space has been one of the interests since early grade school. One of my internet home pages is the Astronomy Picture of the Day –
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
I tried posting this twice earlier, got a Wordpress message both times saying it was being held for approval by the blog owner. I'm trying it without the link HTML this time.
Try link again:
Joanne, I'm doing okay. Thanks for asking and thanks to all for the nice comments last week on my new jobless state. This provides me the great opportunity to listen to more of RH. Life doesn't get much better than that! This is a great opportunity to explore some of my other various interests.
And Dale, thanks for the song (last Thursday).
Nope, I wouldn't.
Have only returned to my fattening pen from the data center just now. Time to hear some good music.
Doug - glad to hear you're doing fine. Being un- or underemployed is quite nice -- it's just the money thing that gets in the way.
Actually, Barb in Blackhoof inquired about you in her post. But we're all concerned for your welfare, too! Enjoy it while you can, and I'm glad you see it as an opportunity to explore other adventures.
I know -- I'd certainly go if we could just get that BEAMING thing down from Star Trek, remember? Beam me up, Scotty... In fact, that would solve all kinds of dilemmas.
Did anyone else see the NYTimes profile of Dr. Carolyn Porco, head of the Casini orbiter camera team? She is portrayed as quite a remarkable person.
It's online at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/science/space/22prof.html
Good point, Ken.
I noticed that profile this morning but couldn't work it into the post - you might need to be registered with the NY Times to be able to view the article. I am especially intrigued by the time Dr. Porco spent as majorette for a Buddhist marching band. That's a great resume.
oh, my goodness, i'd go in a heartbeat!!! just being in orbit would be an amazing experience, and going farther would be fascinating too. (yes, with enough books and good companion or two--i'd want some animal companions, too)
hope all are well out in RH! keep up the good work, dale!
one thing i really like out in utah is how brilliant the stars are, due to less light pollution, and i see falling stars often...so i think about "outer space" more often now.
Kay,
You should check out the night sky out on Martha's Vineyard. Same situation with almost no light pollution. The stars look enormous...like you could literally reach out and grab them. And the glowing micro-jellyfish are really cool too...the beach sparkles...
When I was a kid I expected we'd be out in space like in the movie 3001. I actually thought we'd be that advanced by then. So did Arthur C. Clarke I assume since he picked that year for his space adventure. No such luck. But we take what we can get and what is offered. I once thought we would For Sure know about life off the planet in my lifetime. I'm 57 so that sort of information might, as it looks now, be just out of reach for me. That's the way it goes!
I know what you mean, Guy and Larry--when we were kids, we always did the countdown to blastoff while on the swings, getting higher and higher, and said we were going to the moon---
hoping to go to Bryce Canyon this coming weekend, a place famous for its darkness :-)
Dale - actually that link to the NY Times article works fine. I just read the article no problem without subscription -- what a fascinating woman!
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