Quote of the day, mostly related to astronomy.

[Graeme1858]

Hello Jean-Yves

Did you have a nice holiday?

Graeme

[GCoyote]

Thank you all for taking the time to write.
I'm glad to see you here again Gary C.

Good to see you too!

[GCoyote]

“There is a wide yawning black infinity. In every direction the extension is endless, the sensation of depth is overwhelming. And the darkness is immortal. Where light exists, it is pure, blazing, fierce; but light exists almost nowhere, and the blackness itself is also pure and blazing and fierce. But most of all, there is very nearly nothing in the dark; except for little bits here and there, often associated with the light, this infinite receptacle is empty.

This picture is strangely frightening. It should be familiar. It is our universe.

Even these stars, which seem so numerous, are, as sand, as dust, or less than dust, in the enormity of the space in which there is nothing. Nothing! We are not without empathetic terror when we open Pascal’s Pensées and read, 'I am the great silent spaces between worlds.'

[From an undated, handwritten piece of text from the early 1950s which Sagan wrote when he was an undergraduate at the University of Chicago]”
― Carl Sagan

It's a recurring theme in Sagan's writing but he's typically rather subtle about it. To adopt a fully scientific world view requires courage.

[messier 111]

Hello Jean-Yves

Did you have a nice holiday?

Graeme

yes, a fantastic trip.
35 degrees, wall to wall sun.
no rain .
thanks for asking .

[messier 111]

“I look forward to the day when the solar system becomes our collective backyard—explored not only with robots, but with the mind, body, and soul of our species.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson, Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier

[messier 111]

“Science . . . has opened our eyes to the vastness of the universe and given us light, truth and freedom from fear where once was darkness, ignorance and superstition. There is no personal salvation, except through science.”
― Luther Burbank, The Harvest of the Years

[messier 111]

“The contemplation of celestial things will make a man both speak and think more sublimely and magnificently when he descends to human affairs.”

— Marcus Tullius Cicero

[messier 111]

“More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind.”

— Marcus Tullius Cicero

[messier 111]

“The universe will never force a mindset on you. You have complete free agency to choose fear and suffer unnecessarily if you want to.”
― Kimberly Giles

[messier 111]

“Weak people revenge. Strong people forgive. Intelligent People Ignore.”

— Albert Einstein

[messier 111]

. “Be strong, but not rude; Be kind, but not weak; Be bold, but not bully; Be humble, but not timid; Be proud, but not arrogant.”

— Zig Ziglar

[messier 111]

“Being both soft and strong is a combination very few have mastered.”

— Yasmin Mogahed

[GCoyote]

"One moonless night, while flying a routine training mission over the Pacific, I wondered what the sky would look like from 84,000 feet if the cockpit lighting were dark.
While heading home on a straight course, I slowly turned down all of the lighting, reducing the glare and revealing the night sky. Within seconds, I turned the lights back up, fearful that the jet would know and somehow punish me. But my desire to see the sky overruled my caution, I dimmed the lighting again.
To my amazement, I saw a bright light outside my window. As my eyes adjusted to the view, I realized that the brilliance was the broad expanse of the Milky Way, now a gleaming stripe across the sky. Where dark spaces in the sky had usually existed, there were now dense clusters of sparkling stars Shooting stars flashed across the canvas every few seconds. It was like a fireworks display with no sound. I knew I had to get my eyes back on the instruments, and reluctantly I brought my attention back inside.
To my surprise, with the cockpit lighting still off, I could see every gauge, lit by starlight. In the plane's mirrors, I could see the eerie shine of my gold spacesuit incandescently illuminated in a celestial glow. I stole one last glance out the window. Despite our speed, we seemed still before the heavens, humbled in the radiance of a much greater power.
For those few moments, I felt a part of something far more significant than anything we were doing in the plane. The sharp sound of Walt's voice on the radio brought me back to the tasks at hand as I prepared for our descent."

Brian Shul - SR 71 Pilot

[messier 111]

“Any second can be the beginning of anything; any second can be the end of anything! Welcome to our universe!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

[messier 111]

“The universe is talking. All we have to do is stop and listen.”
― Joseph Inzirillo

[messier 111]

“The more of us that feel the universe, the better off we will be in this world.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson

[messier 111]

“You live in a grim universe.”
“That’s risk management for you.”
― Max Gladstone, Two Serpents Rise

[messier 111]

“every particle being connected with every other; you can't fart without changing the balance in the universe. It makes living a funny joke with nobody around to laugh.”
― Philip K. Dick

[messier 111]

“We are but a speck in the Universe
Oh, but what a lucky speck to be...”
― Kehinde Sonola

[messier 111]

“Science literacy is being plugged into the forces that power the universe. There is no excuse for thinking that the Sun, which is a million times the size of Earth, orbits Earth.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson, Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier