Just Before Full

By Divine Ms. Moon

Just Past Full

Just past full moon
September 2, 2012
By Divine Ms. Moon

Full Moon

By Divine Ms. Moon

No longer throne of a goddess to whom we pray,

no longer the bubble house of childhood’s
tumbling Mother Goose man,

The emphatic moon ascends–
the brilliant challenger of rocket experts,
the white hope of communications men.

Some I love who are dead
were watchers of the moon and knew its lore;
planted seeds, trimmed their hair,

Pierced their ears for gold hoop earrings
as it waxed or waned.
It shines tonight upon their graves.

And burned in the garden of Gethsemane,
its light made holy by the dazzling tears
with which it mingled.

And spread its radiance on the exile’s path
of Him who was The Glorious One,
its light made holy by His holiness.

Already a mooted goal and tomorrow perhaps
an arms base, a livid sector,
the full moon dominates the dark.

             Full Moon by Robert Hayden (born August 4, 1913)

In Quest of Imagination

"Apollo 1"

From Tom Hanks' HBO Presentation

"From the Earth to the Moon"

On July 21, 1961, Astronaut Virgil (Gus) Grissom became the second American to fly in space. His mission was suborbital, lasting only a few hours. Having been sandwiched between the inaugural American space flight of Alan Shepard, Jr., and the first American orbital flight of John Glenn, this highlight of Grissom's career might have gone largely without historical notice, except for two important and star-crossed footnotes. 

The first footnote is that Grissom lost his capsule to the sea when he landed it at the end of that 1961 mission, sparking some controversy as to whether it might have been Grissom's fault. Luckily, Grissom survived and was rescued, but the incident remained a cloud over him afterwards. 

Grissom wasn't so lucky on the fateful day in January, 1967, that he and Roger Chafee and Ed White (who coincidentally was the first man to walk in space) lost their lives in a fiery accident on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. They were killed during a training mission that would in retrospect be given the denomination Apollo 1. This clip, from Tom Hanks' outstanding HBO production, "From the Earth to the Moon," not only explains and re-enacts the accident in a rather graphic way, but it also depicts the agonizing. finger-pointing aftermath that followed the accident, in which the entire future of manned spaceflight was held precariously hostage to political debate, much like we see now, on just about every important issue. The debate over Apollo 1 eerily foreshadowed the blame game that followed the first space shuttle disaster (Challenger) in 1986, which killed 7 astronauts, including Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian (teacher) in space.

I have always been particularly moved by Frank Borman's conclusion that Apollo 1 accident was caused mostly by a "failure of imagination." Indeed. One could say that same thing about the Challenger disaster as well, and it might even be said about the recent Aurora shootings. When will we ever learn? One of the best things about visiting Cape Canaveral is being able to see the memorial that was erected for the crew of Apollo 1 and all the other astronauts who have sacrificed their lives in furtherance of our collective imagination. 

It would be nice if we were worthy of their sacrifice, wouldn't it?

"I touch the future. I teach."

~ Christa McAuliffe

Moon x Moon

The crescent moon
with Jupiter and the Gallilean moons
Io, Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede
Astronomy Picture of the Day, July 20 (2012)
(anniversary of the first moon landing)

Sapphire Sky

By Divine Ms. Moon

"I see the moon and the moon sees me.

God bless the moon and God bless me."

The Untranslated Stars

"Under the Milky Way"
Steve Jurvetson
From Wikimedia

Eruptive lightnings flutter to and fro
Above the heights of immemorial hills;
Thirst-stricken air, dumb-throated, in its woe
Limply down-sagging, its limp body spills
Upon the earth. A panting silence fills
The empty vault of Night with shimmering bars
Of sullen silver, where the lake distils
Its misered bounty.—Hark! No whisper mars
The utter silence of the untranslated stars.
             ~ e.e. cummings ("Summer Silence")

If I Never Knew

"If I Never Knew You"

from Disney's "Pocahontas"

"Bend low again, night of summer stars.
So near you are, sky of summer stars,
So near, a long-arm man can pick off stars,
Pick off what he wants in the sky bowl,
So near you are, summer stars,
So near, strumming, strumming,
So lazy and hum-strumming." 
~ Carl Sandburg

Nothing You Can Think

By Divine Ms. Moon

"There is nothing you can see

that is not a flower; 

there is nothing you can think

that is not the moon."

~ Matsuo Basho

Shells

The "shells" of Centaurus A
Astronomy Picture of the Day, July 1, 2012
Image Credit: E. Peng and H. Ford (JHU),
K. Freeman (ANU), R. White (STScI), CTIO, NOAO, NSF
From NASA

"Most cynics are really crushed romantics: they've been hurt, 

they're sensitive, and their cynicism is a shell that's protecting this tiny, 

dear part in them that's still alive."

~ Jeff Bridges

Transit of Venus

Transit of Venus across
the face of the Sun
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day
Image Credit: JAXA, NASA, Lockheed Martin

Evening Stars

By Divine Ms. Moon

The Last Galactic Dance

What happens when worlds collide? Peanuts to what happens when galaxies collide. I don't know about you, but I plan to be there for this one, no matter how many lifetimes it takes.

Artist's Conception of what will happen
when the Milky Way Galaxy collides with
the Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day
Illustration Credit: NASA, ESA, Z. Levay and R. van der Marel (STScI), and A. Mellinger

Leaving the Celestial Light On

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

~ Carl Sagan

The Rotten Egg (Calabash) Nebula
Hubble Space Telescope
From NASA

A friend of mine mentioned at Facebook that this protoplanetary nebula called Rotten Egg (or Calabash) (OH 231.84 +4.22) resembles a light bulb. I say, good eye -- or good idea. 

What Galileo Knew

"If Galileo had said in verse that the world moved, the inquisition might have left him alone."

~ Thomas Hardy (born June 2, 1840)

Jupiter and the four moons discovered by Galileo

Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, and Io

From here

The Greatest Poetry

“In the power and splendor of the universe, inspiration waits for the millions to come. Man has only to strive for it. Poems greater than the Iliad, plays greater than Macbeth, stories more engaging than Don Quixote await their seeker and finder.” 

~ John Masefield (born June 1, 1878)

The Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101)

Composite image. Today's NASA Image of the Day

Image Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; IR & UV: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Optical: NASA/STScI

Inner Glow

"The glow of one warm thought
is to me worth more than money."
~ Thomas Jefferson

Saturn, glowing from within

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day

(Credit:  VIMS Team, U. Arizona, ESA, NASA)

Angels

Leaves of Grass

"I believe a leaf of grass is no less

than the journey-work of the stars."

The words are by Walt Whitman

who was born on May 31, 1819.

The photograph is called "Dew III," by Orlandas Butkus
From Pixdaus.

Lights in the Sky

The Large Magellanic Cloud

Astrophotographer: Robert Gendler

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been -- to put it mildly -- obsessed with the "lights in the sky." This particular blog will be devoted to that subject and other natural wonders, and the close connections between these phenomena and the alternative worlds of literature and mythology, into which I fold religion. From time to time, art and music may also be involved. Won't you join me on my ongoing quest for understanding.