Nov 6 2023 - Europa is everywhere

 

Europa was a Pheonician princess who was abducted and taken to Crete by Zeus.  He was disguised as a white bull. Europa means wide face, and is considered to refer to the full moon.   After Europa the princess comes Europe the continent.  The first reference as a geographic term is by Homer,  The Greeks divided the world into Europe, Asia and Libya. Then we move to space and Europa is one of the four moons of Jupiter discovered by Galileo in 1610. It was named after the Phoenician princess Europa. The Galiliean satellites were all named after lovers of Zeus.  Supposedly he had quite a few, so it isn't clear how they chose just four.  The other moons are Io, Ganymede and Callisto.  NASA's spacecraft searching for life beyond Earth is named the Europa Clipper.  Its main purpose is to determine whether there are places below the surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa that could support life.   Then couldn't they be named Europeans?

Now that's a moon shining down on Sunnylea.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May 15 2022 - The Big Moon

 

Our May moon is called the Super Flower Blood Moon lunar eclipse.  Tonight's the night. That starts at 10:28 on Sunday and reaches its peak on Monday May 16 at 12:16am EDT.  Being a super moon it will be bigger and brighter, and then it will feature a total lunar eclipse. which ends at 1:55am. The simple question is whether we are in the path of the eclipse.  Most of North America, all of South America, Western Africa and part of Western Europe will see the lunar eclipse.   And the name? Flower Moon has been attributed to the Algonquin peoples, confirmed by Christina Ruddy in Pikwakanagan, Ontario.  Another site says that the Penumbral eclipse beings at 9:32pm  - given the duration is 5 hours, 19 minutes, there's a lot of time to check it out. Unlike PD13 that just completed with about 75,000 people there in mid-day to celebrate the only day this year, we get another blood moon lunar eclipse in November 2022.   There's a motorcycle store in Grimsby and there were special bikes parked out front yesterday.  I am glad they weren't the ones in the Hamilton Spectator pictures - wearing only a thong - pictured from the back, thank goodness.   Here's the chart from the date and time website. This is Dodecatheon, Shooting Star. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 13 2021 - Artificial Trees

 

We're planning for next year's Fantasy of Trees and will need to buy some artificial trees.  We typically are able to get them from the big box stores at a reduced sale price if we buy all the leftover stock.  I wondered what happens to leftover stock and put my question into the google search engine with this answer: "Many are chopped up, ground down and fed to plants and animals, according to Rocco Malanga, the owner of Cedar Grove Chrismas Trees in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. "On a commercial level, they become wood chips that are made into mulch," Malanga said. "That's very common. Aside from that, they go to farms for livestock." As for artificial trees, there weren't any answers for what big box stores do with leftover stock. There are lots of questions about Christmas trees on goggle that made me think might be asked for immigrants experiencing Christmas in North America for the first time. Q What plant looks like a Christmas tree? A Norfolk Island pine trees (Araucaria heterophylla) are commonly used as those cute little houseplant Christmas trees that you can buy around the holidays, but then the holidays end and you are left with a seasonally dated, living plant. Q What are the trees called that look like Christmas trees? A Fir trees are a genus of the evergreen coniferous trees and are also a popular choice for the holiday season. The most popular fir trees used for Christmas include the noble fir, fraser fir and balsam fir. Today we have an abstract image.

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Dec 13 2021 - Christmas Trees

 

We're planning for next year's Fantasy of Trees and will need to buy some artificial trees.  We typically are able to get them from the big box stores at a reduced sale price if we buy all the leftover stock.  I wondered what happens to leftover stock and put my question into the google search engine with this answer: "Many are chopped up, ground down and fed to plants and animals, according to Rocco Malanga, the owner of Cedar Grove Chrismas Trees in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. "On a commercial level, they become wood chips that are made into mulch," Malanga said. "That's very common. Aside from that, they go to farms for livestock." As for artificial trees, there weren't any answers for what big box stores do with leftover stock. There are lots of questions about Christmas trees on goggle that made me think might be asked for immigrants experiencing Christmas in North America for the first time. Q What plant looks like a Christmas tree? A Norfolk Island pine trees (Araucaria heterophylla) are commonly used as those cute little houseplant Christmas trees that you can buy around the holidays, but then the holidays end and you are left with a seasonally dated, living plant. Q What are the trees called that look like Christmas trees? A Fir trees are a genus of the evergreen coniferous trees and are also a popular choice for the holiday season. The most popular fir trees used for Christmas include the noble fir, fraser fir and balsam fir. Today we have an abstract image.

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Nov 22 2021 - Watching it on Pockocmoc

 

There was a lunar eclipse a few days ago, and the Weather Network had a little video of it.  The video was courtesy of POCKOCMOC.   Who is that?  It is the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, commonly known as Roscosmos.  It is the Russian Federations state corporation for space flights, cosmonauts programs and aerospace research.   As the main successor to the Soviet space program, Roscosmos' legacy includes the world's first satellite, first human spaceflight, and first space station. Its current activities include the International Space Station, where it is a major partner. Do you know how many employees it has?  There were 170,500 employees in 2020.   Compare that with NASA, where there are 17,000 people working.   What would it be like to work at ROSCOSMOS?  I have no knowledge of Russian corporate culture.  I imagine it to be autocratic with a command and control style.  But that's just my imagination of how state-run organizations would work. I find out there are a lot of organizations in this area. I checked out the jobs at the space-careers.com website. It covers news such as the Russian ASAT Test blowing up a satellite and creating a debris field.  Back to the job market, there are Recruiters and Candidates sections.  It says there are 20,515 CVs in the system and 697 jobs listed.  The Latest CVS are listed with the job title, country, and last update - countries include USA, Italy, Spain, UK and Russia.  The current job, preferred job location, date available are indicated.  All personal data is withheld.  The Clients section has the alphabetical list of companies in the "Space Business."  There are many looking for employees.   We all know the top 3 biggest private space companies.  They've been in the news lately -  SpaceX (Elon Musk) has 9,500 employees. Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos) has 3,500 employees, and Virgin Galactic (Richard Branson) has 823.  What about the these organizations and their top executives. You can see the ratings of the CEOs of space companies HERE, with the CEO of Virgin Galactic having a 75/100 rating, Blue Origin's CEO has 71/100, and Elon Musk has 83/100. Out of the 10 shown, there are four in the over 70 range. The other six listed are in the 55 to 66 range.  We're not likely going to see a rating of the CEO of Roscosmos - Dmitry Rogozin.  There are stories of a big salary much higher than NASA's CEO, fancy cars, and a dacha.  The expose is HERE.  Here is the moon over Sunnylea Crescent.

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June 15 2020 - Moon vs Luna

Where does the name Moon come from?  Why do the moons around other planets have names and ours is just Moon? Can you imagine finding out that Jupiter has four moons?  That's what Galileo discovered in 1610 - he'd only gotten a telescope in 1609.  Then astronomers discovered five moons around Saturn.  All of these newly discovered moons were given names to identify them -typically named for Greek myths - Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.  The name Moon comes from Old English: "mōna, which (like all its Germanic cognates) stems from Proto-Germanic *mēnōn, which in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *mēnsis "month" (from earlier *mēnōt, genitive *mēneses) which may be related to the verb "measure" (of time). Am I right to imagine that the name stuck because things were written down and archived in libraries and so we have a reference.  Ancient peoples had names for the Moon before the Romans and Greeks, but their culture and languages are lost to us.  I wonder what they would have called it. Would it have been named in relation to time similar to the  Romans and Greeks? It is Luna in Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Russian and Bulgarian.  Why don't we call it Luna?  I assume the answer has to do with how old 'Old English' is.  The many groups that made up Anglo Saxons had various dialects that are referred to as Old English - around 550 - 1066.  Then Middle English evolved from the 8th to the 12th century.  Then we're into Early Modern English 1500 to 1700.  Galileo lived from 1564 to 1642.   My curiosity of whether Galileo used the term luna leads me to a Galileo manuscript showing his observations of the Moon, Jupiter, Venus and the Sun.  Is anyone able to translate to find the reference to the Moon?   Yesterday our image was Butchart Gardens, and today our images are Marion Jarvie's garden in Toronto. We visited it yesterday. There seems a great similarity in design style between the two with the beautiful complex compositions.

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April 11 - The Moon Has So Many Places in the Sky

When I look up out the window I see the moon ver the computer in the south.  Just a few days ago, during the Supermoon it was in the west over the back garden.  It is always somewhere different.  I never know where to look.  What makes it do this? "To keep the Moon in the same place at the same time every night, (i.e. to be able to say “It’s 2am - so the moon must be over the church”), the Moon would have to have an orbital period that was a fixed fraction of a day (i.e. a whole day, half a day etc). It doesn't." The moon orbits around the earth every 27.322 days.  And it orbits west to east and the earth rotes west to east, so all things in the sky move east to west. I hadn't thought about our rotation. Why don't I experience the earth move in its rotation when I jump up?  Here's a 'smart version' of my question: "If I'm standing at the equator, jump, and land 1 second later, the Earth does NOT move 1000mph (or .28 miles per second) relative to me, since my velocity while jumping is also 1000mph.  However, the Earth is moving in a circle (albeit a very large one), while I, while jumping, am moving in a straight line.  How much do I move relative to my starting point because of this? I realize it will be a miniscule amount, and not noticeable in practise, but I'd be interested in the theoretical answer." I don't need to look further - the question itself is sufficient to answer my own sufficiently. Here are some jumping jokes: My neighbor tried to wager money on whether I could jump the row of bushes between our properties... But I don't like to hedge my bets What do you call it when a thousand rabbits jump backwards? A receding hare line What does a janitor say when he jumps out of the closet? Supplies! We see a lovely bed of peonies blooming at Winterthur last May.  Winterthur is near Longwood, both south of Philadelphia.  Winterthur has America's greatest naturalistic garden and foremost Museum of American decorative and fine art objects.

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Apr 3 2020 - That Moon Magic

The moon this morning was pink.  And it was big.  It is a Super Pink Moon event on April 7th.  The preview I saw this morning tells me it is worth going out to see when it is fully out.  The name comes from pink wildflowers - creeping phlox - that bloom in early spring.  Other names for an April full moon include Sprouting Grass, Egg, and Fish moon, all names that supposedly evoke thoughts of early spring - fish?. This year’s super pink moon is also a paschal moon because of its closeness to Easter, which is April 12. The supermoon we had in March is called a Worm Moon. I thought you might enjoy this from the article, written March 30th.  The author seems to have missed the current situation's scope: 'staying at home' isn't 'for those' but is 'for all': "For those staying at home, April will bring a number of other moon- and stargazing events to see outside at night. This Friday, Venus will be visible near a cluster of stars called the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters, according to Alan MacRobert at Sky & Telescope. And as Brian Lada writes for AccuWeather, the Lyrids meteor shower peaks on April 22 and 23." What a time  to buy a telescope online and get started.  There are 13 full moons, 2 supermoons, and a Halloween blue moon.  In no time, you will be referring to the supermoon by its astronomical name: “perigee-syzygy.” Here are some Supermoon jokes: Supermoon cancelled as moon distances itself from earth The Supermoon was ok.  But according to Rotten Tomatoes, still is better than Supermoon vs Batmoon.  What do you call it when Clark Kent shows someone his butt? Supermoon Don't forget, tonight the moon will be visible from earth.  The last time this happened was last night. These popped up on Pinterest.  I wonder how they are related to the supermoon.     Another train day, this one in the tropics.

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Water Bears are now on the Moon

I recognized the microscopic 'water bears' right away.  They are also known as 'moss piglets'.  Both are excellent names.  However, the Israel spacecraft crash landed on the moon with thousands of water bears on board. They are considered practically indestructible. From CNN: "In an attempt to create a "Noah's ark" or a "back-up" for the Earth, non-profit organization The Arch Mission sent a lunar library -- a stack of DVD-sized disks that acts as an archive of 30 million pages of information about the planet -- to the moon. Along with the library, Arch Mission sent human DNA samples and a payload of tardigrades, which had been dehydrated, into space. Researchers hope that along with the tardigrades, the majority of the information from the lunar library survived the impact of the crash -- and could be used to regenerate human life in millions of years." From Mashable India: "Now in case you’re wondering, if it’s actually legal to carry and spew around the DNA and water bears on the moon, it totally is. In fact, Spivack wants to incorporate more DNA into the future lunar libraries on the moon surface. Arch Mission Foundation would also be launching a campaign to take DNA samples from human volunteers and endangered species." Aren't you fascinated by this activity and organization? You can find out about the Arch Mission Foundation HERE.  I haven't seen a 'mission' like this:  Humanity's backup Plan - a non-profit organization that archives the knowledge and species of Earth for future generations.  The solar system wide project is called The Billion Year Archive - that's trademarked.  They have another project named Moonhug. Nova Spivack is the voice behind the project.  Here's his website.  Who is he the grandson of?  Legendary management theorist Peter F. Drucker (on his mother's side).  He must have this first name genuinely.  His parents are poet Kathleen Spivack and inventor Mayer Spivack. On Nova's site is a memoir of his father who passed away in 2011.  Here is a hilarious excerpt: "When we were children in the 1970’s in Boston, my father got a great deal on a World War One field ambulance. That was our family “car”... My poor brother and I would have to be dropped off every morning at elementary school this way: We would pull up in an an antique white ambulance — a big man in an orange emergency jumpsuit, sunglasses, and silver moon boots would get out, tromp through the snow, and open the rear doors (where the stretcher would normally be) and then my younger brother and I would pop out, much to the shock and awe of our fellow schoolmates. Thus were the origins of my own life as an alien and outsider. While these experiences were a source of horror and embarrassment for us growing up, today we laugh hysterically when we remember them — they are what we are made of and I wouldn’t trade them back for anything." I am always so amazed at the things that exist - I could never make this up - it is so bizarre and wildly entertaining. Our Gazania flower looks like a star today.

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Did you watch the anniversary shows about the July 20 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing?  

Nasa marked the anniversary by streaming footage of the launch online. The original was watched by half a billion people 50 years ago.  There is a picture of Pope Paul VI watching the landing.

Michael Collins, the "third" crew member, told Fox News that it's "not very often" he thinks about the mission.

"I lead a quiet life," he said. "I'll be walking along down my street at night, when it's starting to get dark, and I sense something over my right shoulder - and I look up and see that little silver sliver up there and think, 'Oh, that's the Moon! I've been there!'"

Here are a few more quotes from them to remind us of how remarkable they were:

"Your mind is like a parachute: If it isn't open, it doesn't work."
~Buzz Aldrin

"I thought, well, when I step off it's just going to be a little step — a step from there down to there — but then I thought about all those 400,000 people who had given me the opportunity to make that step and thought it's going to be a big something for all those folks and, indeed for a lot of others that weren't even involved in the project, so it was kind of a simple correlation."
~Neil Armstrong on his famous quote

"I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of, let's say 100,000 miles, their outlook would be fundamentally changed. The all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument suddenly silenced."
~Michael Collins on Twitter

"I am alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life. I am it. If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two over on the other side of the moon, and one plus God knows what on this side."
~Michael Collins on orbiting the moon alone

"I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer — born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in the steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace, and propelled by compressible flow."
~Neil Armstrong on being an engineer

A pretty garden flower - Bergamot, Bee Balm, Monarda - it has a few names.

Was Nancy Reagan a Lunatic?

The Globe and Mail's moment in history yesterday was about Nancy Reagan telling the press that she was guided by astrology and horoscopes. Wouldn't we call this an alignment of the stars?  I hadn't known of the coincidence of the topic. What about alignments with the stars?  We've heard the expression 'It must be a full moon'.  We call madness 'lunacy', so this has been an association for hundreds of years.  Lunacy was most popular in the late 1800's. But think of Shakespeare “It is the very error of the moon. She comes more near the earth than she was wont. And makes men mad.” —William Shakespeare, Othello It turns out that the moon is NOT necessarily closer to the earth for a full moon. The Moon can be full and close – supermoon. Or it can be full but farther away – minimoon. Scientificamerica.com asks why the urban legend is so widespread.  The article suggests it can be attributed to 'illusory correlations'.  This is our mind's propensity to attend to and recall most events better than nonevents.  When there's a full moon and something decidedly odd happens, we notice it, tell others about it and remember it. The psychiatrist Charles L. Raison poses the explanation that it is a 'cultural fossil' from the long-bygone era when we slept outdoors and the full-moon was linked to psychological conditions, such as bipolar disorder and most observable then. Our picture today is the back garden, packed with plants that will go off to the Grimsby Garden Club plant sale on Friday.