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.