Stars
Category archives for Stars
What we learn just by being here
Posted by Ethan on January 2, 2013 
“Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts. Do the unexpected. Find the others.” -Timothy Leary Here we are, on planet Earth, the product of generations of civilization-building, maybe four-billion years of evolution on our world, around 13.7 billion years into the existence of our…
Messier Monday: The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, M13
Posted by Ethan on December 31, 2012 
“I’d rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I’d rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might have-been has never been, but a has was once an are.” -Milton Berle Welcome to Messier Monday, where we pick…
A relic from the primitive Universe… in our own backyard!
Posted by Ethan on December 26, 2012 
“We have been forced to admit for the first time in history not only the possibility of the fact of the growth and decay of the elements of matter. With radium and with uranium we do not see anything but the decay. And yet, somewhere, somehow, it is almost certain that these elements must be…
Messier Monday: The Beehive Cluster / Praesepe, M44
Posted by Ethan on December 24, 2012 
“This holiday season is about remembering that the greatest gift was not laid under a tree, but in a filthy manger.” -Unknown But it isn’t the manger you’re thinking of that I want to share with you this Messier Monday. Although Charles Messier’s catalogue of 110 deep sky objects — designed to pinpoint nebulae that…
The Science of the Real End of The World
Posted by Ethan on December 20, 2012 
“I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.” -Eric Roth, screenwriter Forget the prognosticators, the fortune-tellers and the mediums. Pay…
The Nearest Sun-Like Star May Be As Miraculous As Our Own!
Posted by Ethan on December 19, 2012 
“Death comes to all, but great achievements build a monument which shall endure until the sun grows cold.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson In the great cosmic ocean, there’s only one planet that we know — for certain — has the right conditions and history to result in intelligent life: our own. Life — or even intelligent life —…
Messier Monday: A Reflection Nebula, M78
Posted by Ethan on December 10, 2012 
“My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.” -John Lennon Welcome to the latest edition of Messier Monday, where each week we…
Weekend Diversion: Science Book Reviews for the Holidays
Posted by Ethan on December 2, 2012 
“A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.” -Henry David Thoreau Every day that we have free or leisure time, there’s this great conflict as to how we spend it:…
Messier Monday: A Straggling Globular Cluster, M30
Posted by Ethan on November 26, 2012 
“The man’s a born straggler… another lucky exception to the rules of natural selection. A million years ago he would’ve been an easy snack for a saber-toothed tiger.” -Carl Hiaasen Welcome to the latest Messier Monday, where each week we take a look at one of Charles Messier’s original catalogue of 110 deep-sky objects that…
Giving thanks for our place in the Universe
Posted by Ethan on November 21, 2012 
“We live in an atmosphere of shame. We are ashamed of everything that is real about us; ashamed of ourselves, of our relatives, of our incomes, of our accents, of our opinions, of our experience, just as we are ashamed of our naked skins.” -George Bernard Shaw All that is real about ourselves is nothing…
