Friday, December 28, 2007

A Different Moon

Erica and Joan have moon posts up. So I thought I'd share mine. Their eloquence is much greater than mine, so you'll have to settle for pretty pictures. Erica shares her memories of the moon and Joan shares her magic with words. I want to share my love of our universe with you. Here are a few different moons. I like to imagine what it would be like if one of these satellites were orbiting our planet.
But first:
Our moon is quite lovely, even if we only get to see one side of her. Here, for you, is the dark side of the moon:

See all those bright spots? Impact scars. Many more on the Dark Side that our view. There was a evil villain, Dark Seid, that tried to take over the world by moving the moon with a big engine, but Batman stopped him. Holy Impact Craters! What would we do without the moon? Alas, that's for another post.

Jupiter, on the other hand, has at least 16 moons. Imagine seeing that at night. Makes me very still and quiet to think about.


These are Jupiter's biggest moons, in no order:

Here's Callisto: which might have salt water oceans




And Ganymede: With all its cracks






And Io: See all those bumps? They look at bit like zits? Those are active volcanoes. This image is color enhanced to show topographical differences.


And Europa: The white is ice and the brown is uncovered rock. There might be water under all that ice, too.



And Saturn has many moons, too. Here is a composite:


Imagine sitting on your back porch, your favorite mug/glass of your favorite drink, staring at the night time sky to see 4, or 8, or even 16 moons in the sky. Lit against a back drop of billions and billions of stars. And somewhere in the background would be Earth.

You know, if this whole teaching thing doesn't work out I think I'll be an astronaut.

11 comments:

Erica said...

This was awesome!! And the pictures are gorgeous!

I always wondered what it would be like to be Luke Skywalker, and stand on Tatooine gazing at two suns off in the distance. Can you imagine how insane that must be?

As for "Imagine sitting on your back porch, your favorite mug/glass of your favorite drink, staring at the night time sky to see 4, or 8, or even 16 moons in the sky. Lit against a back drop of billions and billions of stars. And somewhere in the background would be Earth."

I would LOVE that more than anything, but I think I'd rather be doing it from Earth, with all that other stuff in the sky. Sheesh -- you trying to scare the shit outta me or what??

:-)

Great post.

Anonymous said...

awesome. i love a brainy lady, you make my laze retreat. teach me your ways, wise one.

Joan of Argghh! said...

First, fuckoff to the spoof troll posing as supergurl.

Second, remember the scene in Star Wars, the first one, where there was two suns low in the sky? I think that's what I remember. Totally cool.

Anonymous said...

Uhm, Joanie....I'd never ever mean to undermine you in a public forum, in any way, but I think that might have actually been the legit, for real supergurl.

I could be wrong, but we could always ask her a trick question, like, what is the "Embrace the Suck" of the New Year?

The real supergurl would know the answer straight off. The bot could fuck off and die.

And the rest of us could be like Like Skywalker and gaze imaginatively at the double suns on Planet Tatooine, hopefully without burning our pupils.

i heart you, supergurl. And you, too, Joanie & Holder!

Erica said...

Oh, crap, it's me -- Erica. Why'd I come up as anonymous??

Anonymous said...

erica & joan, it was me. dang prosperity now! we good?

y'all crack me up. these blogger comments don't link my site, it's tough to comment.

Anonymous said...

shite

now i want to hear saturn by stevie wonder. my songs in the key of life bit the dust before the digital age.

prosperity now!

Erica said...

Prosperity now!

:-)

Holder said...

well, least I haven't been assimilated into the Bot yet. Hope I stay under its/his/her radar.

Anonymous said...

holder, resistance is futile. the correct response is "fuckoff to the spoof troll" like joan, it made me stand at attention. i'm like shit, clarity now, ya know?

Anonymous said...

holder, resistance is futile. the correct response is "fuckoff to the spoof troll" like joan, it made me stand at attention. i'm like shit, clarity now, ya know?