I love staring at the night sky. If I had my way, I'd spend half a year at the North Pole doing nothing but staring at the heavens, night after night. Till then..
And thus this little celestial circular. Fellow night-sky lovers, do not forget to open your window tonight. Every year on the twelfth night of August, the earth enters the orbit of the comet Swift-Tuttle. A stream of the debris from the comet streaks our sky across the constellation Perseus. That's why this beautiful phenomenon is also called the Perseid meteor shower. The lunar shine usually gets in the way of seeing any meteor showers in their entirety, but the Perseid meteor shower is special. If you see the sky tonight between nine and eleven p.m. you will know why.
"Earthgrazers are meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond," explains Cooke. "They are long, slow and colorful — among the most beautiful of meteors." He notes that an hour of watching may net only a few of these at most, but seeing even one can make the whole night worthwhile.
(Source)
And thus this little celestial circular. Fellow night-sky lovers, do not forget to open your window tonight. Every year on the twelfth night of August, the earth enters the orbit of the comet Swift-Tuttle. A stream of the debris from the comet streaks our sky across the constellation Perseus. That's why this beautiful phenomenon is also called the Perseid meteor shower. The lunar shine usually gets in the way of seeing any meteor showers in their entirety, but the Perseid meteor shower is special. If you see the sky tonight between nine and eleven p.m. you will know why.
"Earthgrazers are meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond," explains Cooke. "They are long, slow and colorful — among the most beautiful of meteors." He notes that an hour of watching may net only a few of these at most, but seeing even one can make the whole night worthwhile.
(Source)
I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW. But. We. Cannot. See. It. From. Here.
ReplyDeleteI want to be in North America RIGHT now.
DId I mention that I miss you? And that I miss you?
Or, er, so I've heard. I CANT SEE ANYTHING!
ReplyDeleteEverything in the universe works in a logical rational fashion. I'm talking macro, and more importantly micro as well.
ReplyDeleteFor eg. You wanna be an English teacher. You like to take topics and widen the gamut of answers obtainable. So in a class of 40, ideally, you'd like 40 varied interpretations. I believe, that if its natural, your night sky obsession stems from that same inherent characteristic. See?
"I miss you" ??? (awwww)
What are you, down with swime flu? :D)
Sharan,
ReplyDeleteThat's something I skipped over while reading the website. But I still think I could have caught something if I had the insight to go on my terrace. Oh well.. the next step would be to stay updated on the next meteor showers. I'm sure we keep spinning into comet orbits pretty often :)
Anonybloof,
ReplyDeleteA ha, an Aristotelian in our midst. Well, to quote you back, the smartass once said that it is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. (Credits also to my teacher for discussing this quote in class in the first place.) So I'll entertain your thought, but I won't accept it. I can think of three quick examples where (according to me) the universe doesn't work in a logical rational fashion - imagination, love (broadly speaking, human nature) and the universe.
I think this may sound silly, but I read your example again and again and I couldn't understand it. I did try, though so now I'm really curious. If you could explain what you meant in a different manner, maybe I'll be able to figure it out.
You like to expand the canvas withholding the ideas. The Universe and English have a common trait: Their both vast and infinite and there's no limit to the ideas that can be generated wrt them.
ReplyDeleteAs opposed to something like Maths, where the objetive is to all converge on one partiular answer.
Inherently, you accept my hypothesis. You just dont know it :)
@ Anon:
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your point about math's objective being to converge on an answer. Math is SO MUCH more than that! It's the first proof of divinity, because we didn't INVENT math, we discovered it. It's all worked out, and it holds secrets we still don't know. The Divine Proportion. Prime Numbers. Rules in Geometry. Math requires imagination, it requires creativity and perseverance as much as any language/humanities subject does. It's not merely about working out a sum, it's also about HOW you do it, and the bigger purpose behind the sum, and how it fits into the fabric of our existence. In this Universe.
@ Sharanya
ReplyDeleteWell said. Now lets get back to real reality.
In a class of 10, when you ask for the answer of 2+2, you'd want everyone to say 4. Unless someone comes along and proves that 2+2 is actually equal to 5, we accept 4 as the immutable answer. True, the 10 kids can devise various ways of getting 2+2=?...But at the end, the answer must be 4.
However, lets assume you're conducting a Eng Lit class on Caesar. One bright boy gets up and says, "Caesar could have avoided his death, but he cannot be blamed for it". 9 other kids think, well, i never thought like that. So they all start thinking on their own, and try their best to give their own varied interpretations of given facts ie 10 different answers from 10 different boys. As an Eng Lit tutor, i'm sure that'll make your day.
Essentially, convergence vs divergence. 10 roads leading to the same shady motel. 10 roads leading to 10 different motels. Yeah?
My point is your view can always be either macro or micro, but never both. Vini is macro and says macro even though she may not know it. You are really macro but mixing it with micro and thats never a constructive concoction.
I like your argument nonetheless. Its intrinsically flawed Yes, but atleast you find it coherent. Good enough.
OK. I'm not even going to enter this conversation about maths and logic etc. I don't like math, much less thinking about it. ;)
ReplyDeleteAt least you're in the right HEMISPHERE to see the meteor shower! We don't even get a glimpse :(
I love staring at the stars. You can't see them so hot from Melbourne (though I appreciate our pollution is far less than somewhere like LA) but when I'm at home they're beautiful, just so amazing and overwhelming and awe-inspiring. I do remember (faintly) getting up in the middle of the night when I was young to watch a meteor shower. It was pretty awesome. :)
x
JAG
PS: Vini I'm sorry but I totally promise to reply to your email super soon!!