Current Events

The Grandfather of our Solar System in all its Coronal Glory!

Near Earth Asteroid Eros!

This is a stunning composite image of Eros from the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft. A not too distant cousin of the Earth, Eros is believed to be a remnant of our Solar Systems' formation. The Planetary Society was accepting names for landmark identification from the general public. Since Eros is named for the God of Love, all naming had to follow in that convention. I came up with the name "Sore", which is Eros spelled backwards, and it's what you get when you get too much Love!

Aurora Borealis!

This photo is from a recent geomagnetic disturbance in the Earths' magnetosphere. Everyone always enjoys seeing the aurora, or photos of it at least, but I wonder how many really understand the reason they occur. This is a beautiful reminder to us that so much of who we are originates in the Sun. For that matter, so much of everything originates in the stars. It's so wonderful to be able to understand that and to see how we have been shaped by our origins.

Ice Rafts of Europa.

In case you've been living in a cave for the past few years, here is a photo from the Galileo spacecraft of the Jovian moon Europa. See the nice blocks of ice. See how they all fit together like a puzzle. The true puzzle, however, is what lies beneath the ice? Current measurements and theory show an ocean of water near the moons surface, covered by the ice you see here. Sounds to me like Arthur C. Clark may have been pretty close to the truth with his sequel to '2001, A Space Odyssey', '2010', in which Jupiter becomes a star to facilitate the development of species on Europa.