Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Eclipse of the Century

THIS...



is a picture of what the sun looked like this morning rising above the water in the Pacific.

'The event begins at the crack of dawn on Wednesday, July 22nd, in the Gulf of Khambhat just east of India. Morning fishermen will experience a sunrise like nothing they've ever seen before. Rising out of the waves in place of the usual sun will be an inky-black hole surrounded by pale streamers splayed across the sky. Sea birds will stop squawking, unsure if the day is beginning or not, as a strange shadow pushes back the dawn and stirs up a breeze of unaccustomed chill.'

If we'd been in Asia we would have witnessed the most awesome eclipse of the century.

And another bit of space news - an amateur photographer identified a scar on the side of Jupiter that wasn't there before. Nasa astronomers verified that what he saw was indeed a strike, most likely by the 1994 comet. It brought back memories of nights I stayed glued to my telescope watching for any 'changes' that might take place in the universe in my miniscule place in time. I'd have been waiting a long time. It took 15 years for this scar to show up on Jupiter's surface, and that's a planet in our solar system.

Since we are the center of our own personal universe, it's difficult for us to fully grasp how insignificant we are in the grand scheme.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Marley, that is truly awesome.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Otherworldly. I may have to use it since I couldn't see it in person.

Leah Braemel said...

I just realized your blog posts aren't showing up on my Google Reader when they're updating. I've definitely got to figure that one out. I've missed a lot!

Beautiful pictures, Marley