#space thoughts

[eclipse89]

really hate when mainstream astronomy journalism does this

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saturns-rings-disappear-from-view-march-23-2025-nasa-expert-says/

this entire article feels like it's written from the perspective of a space skeptic getting confirmation from nasa that it's real

even in the title, they say "nasa says" like the new york times says "palestinians say"

the entire article would come off so much better if any of this (correct!) info was said with like 1% confidence in it, it legit feels like they intentionally included the "nasa says" parts to feed into pseudoscience. it comes off so horribly to anyone with some knowledge of astronomy

"Saturn's rings will seemingly disappear from view in 2025" the addition of "seemingly" here is totally unnecessary and only adds more apparent skepticism from the author (and by extension, the reader)

"Saturn won't actually lose its rings in 2025, but they will go edge-on, meaning they will be essentially invisible to earthlings, NASA confirmed to CBS News." correct info, but adding "nasa confirmed" instantly makes us think this was just a random theory before nasa told them that it's true, when it is not by any means a random theory

the article gets noticeably more scientific as it goes on, which makes it even worse that they put the most clickbaity skeptical stuff in the headline and opening paragraphs

it perpetuates the weird idea that info about astronomy in particular is like, sacred to people that are in the field, and can't be reported on without contacting 5 people at nasa to confirm it in your article

it's so wrong because most stuff about basic astronomy is totally definitive and can be predicted 100% of the time using basic math, we shouldn't need top scientists at nasa to confirm that there's a full moon coming up on the day the moon will be full (something i have actually seen happen!)

and overall, it also perpetuates the general stigma on astronomy as somehow harder or more complex than most other fields, something that average person can't get into and that's reserved for genius level intellects

not great stuff cbs!

[theofficialastronomy101]

The first photo shows the Sun's chromosphere in stunning 250MP 8K. This is the hydrogen alpha wavelength and requires a very narrowband filter that notches out every other wavelength except Ha. In this view you see solar flares, prominences on the limb and surface activity. The second is a photo of the Sun's photosphere, which is the view we get using a regular broadband filter. In this view, we see sunspots, granulation and faculae.

[fandomibatrix]

Camina Drummer, S06E05

Something about Drummer makes you want to commit to her..fiercely

[carionto]

Gaze above - what do you see?

From our insignificant vantage point, with our limited time here, what do we see when looking up - beyond our current reality, beyond what we know?

Do you see the vastness of space? Uncaring and ever changing, yet from our perspective it is the picture of eternal stability, forever locked in the known rhythm of orbits and phases and patterns.

Do you see the countless stars? Each with a promise of something new, infinite possibilities, unending discoveries and, dare I say - adventure. The true final frontier, for it has no end.

Or do you see the empty void between? That which is truly unknown. Perhaps even unknowable. Impossibly endless and unfathomably deep. What lay beyond where light has never reached?

Whatever it may be, one thing I know is that we can look up and see. We are not at the beggining, if there is such a thing, nor are we at the end, also something that may never come.

To use flowery language, we are blessed to exist with the capacity to see, in a time with countless things to see. At some point we could not see, and thus at some point we will no longer be able to see again.

Will we blind ourselves? Will we be blinded? Or will there no longer be anything left to see? Nobody can answer that truthfully, each of us can only look above and wonder.

[springtimebat]

Hyperspace (A Poem)

A friend talked to me about space the other day

How they are excited about human exploration

Expansion beyond earth and amongst the stars

I suppose it brought to mind settlements to them

New technology, charity, relief to the sick 

But all I could focus on 

Was how much I hated the possibility 

Of a McDonald’s on the moon

Of space and stars being really real places

Venues only a bus-ride away

What are your dreams for the future?

They will ask me next time

Women are machines for suffering 

I scoff, Pablo Picasso said that once

And I suppose once space is finally reached

In all its immeasurable possibilities 

Its pathways branching out like the old, oak tree

The Pablo Picassos that grasp at the corners of the earth

Will naturally expand their ambition

I suppose I am worrying over nothing

After all

We will get some great art out of their

Literary tyranny

Besides 

Feminism is boring, so boring

In the way sleep is boring

Hypersleep in our shuttle caskets

Who needs feminism, civil liberties 

When we can go to space in our sleep

Just take misogyny, double standards,

Rape culture, wars; their causes and their strife, 

And just put them on Mars, Jupiter, Venus, 

Craters floating in hollow sky

Put them on Mars all together

I never intend to go there 

While they work out the early-stage bugs 

I’ll exile myself in my angst

There’s something bizarre about earth’s rain

Full and free and bright

That enlightens a heavy heart

Especially once you have seen the moon

Turn soft, melt in demon hands 

And so, reluctantly,

Let them turn space to sand 

My sorrow for what might have been

Couching in its emptied place

Chemicals fume and form

A hole in the bursting planes of the sky

And the world will end, reduced to

Underground bunkers floating to nowhere

[spacegirlie]

can someone with powers greater than mine make an eric andre x david lynch collab… pls?

[mindfulhavens]

Don’t let anything or anyone else feel like you’re just matter.

The stars in space don’t even know who they are. We are the only matter in the universe that experiences itself.

You aren’t just matter.

You matter.

[wildfyrevalkyrie]

y’all ever think about how we have a mini solar system just vibing out past the asteroid belt?

[freebagels]

Do you ever think about how far apart from each other the stars are? And yet we can see so many of them from one place

[twolongcows]

Why do I like space stories so much:

DISTANCE - The problems of earth appear inconsequential and so the story can serve as a means of dissociation.

HUMANITY - It is often a storytelling genre filled with human emotion, emphasising the miniscule kindnesses between creatures in the vastness of space (see: the golden record, videos of loved ones across space, etc)

TRUST - Because of the general cruel and fair threat of constant death, trust between crew members/fellow astronauts is paramount. Working apart is assured mutual destruction, rather than one party at least benefitting.

IMAGERY: space is one thing that is almost objectively beautiful. Even if the aesthetics dont please one's eyes, you can't help but have your breath taken away by the sheer magnitude of planets or moons, or by the shattering unimaginable miles until the next star.

MECHTO AMORE: The romance of mechanics. There is beauty in the sheer and unforgiving practicality of a spacecraft, and then there are the little spaces for keeping personal belongings/places for comfort/recreation. Things that a team thought about being nice for another person and implemented in their design.

Additionally: the romanticism of the noble robot.

+ Cassini - a probe who after years of taking pictures and transmitting data was sent into a death spiral through the atmosphere of the planet it was built for.

+ Opportunity - "My battery is low and it's getting dark."

+ Voyagers - probes sent out to reach further into the universe than any human has gone, equipped with a message from us made in compassion and good faith, alone and cold and soon to "die".

Dying for them is objectively power failure and the end of transmission - emotionless and without pain, since there was none to begin with. But we still feel for these incredible pieces of engineering whom we tasked with being our eyes, our minds, our hands, out where we cannot be, not just yet.

FELLOWSHIP: The irrational and ridiculous idea that somewhere out there is a society filled with beings who would feel compassion toward us. If you take the realistic concept of a near identical species existing, and assume the human hierarchy with them, then the people in charge of their society would have two things in mind: personal gain and fear.

But we chose not to believe this. We believe that maybe, against all odds, this kind of society could exist who is run by the voices of reason and compassion amongst humanity. Who would treat us as we would wish to be treated.

It's foolish, but that is what we are.

[eclipse89]

i'm guessing most of you know what the constellation orion is. and i'm guessing most of you picture it like this

a pretty basic constellation. a few of you may know that the middle "star" in the sword is actually the orion nebula, or that betelgeuse is the orange star at the top and may go supernova sometime in the near future

yet there is so much more in this constellation than what your eyes can see, even from the darkest sky.

this is what orion 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 looks like, with all of its innumerable and insanely vibrant nebulosity!

now onto some highlights:

firstly, the great orion nebula of course (along with its smaller twin, the running man nebula on the left) [image by Vishva Patel]

and here's a closeup: hubble's majestic shot of it taken in 2004-2005

the next main attraction here is a double viewing:

the flame nebula and the horsehead nebula, both next to the star alnitak. the flame is the brighter of the two, while the horsehead is mostly an H-alpha object

another hubble close up, the horsehead in infrared, taken in 2013

these three make up the main bright nebulae of orion, but there's still more faint stuff to be seen

namely, barnards loop; the large H-alpha emission surrounding orion's belt and sword

and secondly, the lambda orionis ring:

a large molecular cloud, also seen mostly in H-alpha

before we leave, there's one more sight to see slightly outside of the formal constellation itself

the very faint but incredibly beautiful witch head nebula!

coming to a close, i hope this post gave some insight onto just how much awesome stuff there can be in an otherwise innocuous patch of sky.

our universe is just full to the brim with really cool stuff everywhere

[theofficialastronomy101]

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

[rhysands-rightknee]

night rants but the fact that I just got my first space force recruitment ad (I’m based in the United States) + nasa officially made a committee October 21st, 2022 on ufo investigations has me questioning everything rn

[pulsar-ray]

i have no idea if it's plausible. (as i've never studied the specifics of mars) . but if there's like on there it's gotta be in the caves. assuming it came long before intelligent life on earth. and their planet was ruined for some reason for another. in an . apocalypse . sort of way but likely due to another celestial interaction. they would've likely migrated to the caves. i don't know how life and/or society/culture and/or technology would've developed in caves but. i wonder about it

[alagaisia]

Hey. Why isn’t the moon landing a national holiday in the US. Isn’t that fucked up? Does anyone else think that’s absurd?

[spacegirlie]

Hello, this is my first post here, but not even close to my first experience on Tumblr. I’ve missed it. The times when I spent hours on here, brimming with excitement to hear new fan theories or share my art with the world. I’d like to experience that again.

While I was absent the world has changed, I have changed. It’s been about half a decade and while my view on life isn’t too different, it’s enough to make me introspective and nostalgic. I don’t know how I want to go about this, as my work and my life are inescapably tied yet I constantly try to separate them for the “betterment” of my image and wallet. I’m tired of that.

I want to experience freedom of thought, of words, of expression in one place. Tumblr was where I was free once, and I’d like that again.

Anyway, enough of the sappy nonsense.

My name is Soleil. I am 21 years old and I’m from the southeastern coast of the United States. I am a Cancer, and my Meyer’s Briggs is INFT/J depending on when I’ve taken the test. None of that matters in comparison to how you perceive me and my art, but it does matter to some. I’m open to questions, engagement, and interactions (minors dni).

In this blog I will be discussing myself and my issues along with other things I find interesting. I have CPTSD, ADHD, and I’m probably autistic according to my doctor, but I haven’t gotten the full diagnosis yet. If those things bother you, this probably isn’t the blog for you, but I have no problem tagging things so others can avoid it.

In terms of my art, I enjoy gouache, watercolor, digital art, colored pencils, oil painting, acrylic, mixed media, and really anything else I can get my grubby little hands on. I also have random bursts of fanart energy. Stay tuned!