"To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright."
- Walter Benjamin
Clusters, Hartley, and the Heart
Credit & Copyright:
Explanation:
An alluring Comet Hartley 2
cruised through
planet Earth's night sky on October 8,
passing within about a Full Moon's
width of the famous double star cluster in Perseus.The much anticipated
celestial photo-op
was recorded here
in a 3 frame mosaic with greenish comet and the
clusters h and Chi Persei
placed at the left.The well-chosen, wide field of view spans about 7 degrees.
It extends across the constellation boundary into Cassiopeia,
all the way to the Heart Nebula (IC 1805)
at the far right.To capture the cosmic moment, a relatively short 5 minute exposure
was used to freeze the moving comet in place, but
a longer exposure with a narrow-band filter was included in the
central and right hand frames.The narrow-band exposure brings out the fainter
reddish glow
of the nebula's atomic hydrogen gas, in contrast
to the cometary coma's
kryptonite green.In the past few days,
comet watchers have reported that Hartley 2
has become just visible to the unaided eye for experienced observers
from dark, clear sites.On October 20, the
comet will
make its closest approach to Earth,
passing within about 17 million kilometers.On November 4, a
NASA spacecraft will fly by the
comet's small nucleus
estimated to be only 1.5 kilometers in diameter.
by citisven [Subscribe]
via dailykos.com
This morning I hopped on my bike, took the BART train to North Berkeley, and rode the Ohlone Greenway to participate in a 350 work party to restore and clean up Codornices Creek on the border of Albany and Berkeley. Organized by Friends of Five Creeks and Ecocity Builders, the task was to thin the willows, remove bindweed and fleshy white roots, and bag any trash. Being someone with a fascination for what comes out the other end of our consumer society I wasn't surprised to end up in the garbage crew.
For those who may ask yourselves what this has to do with climate change, my brief explanation goes like this: Creeks and rivers are the arteries of the planet we live on. If they're clogged, buried, polluted or cut off, the natural ability of the ecosystem to cleanse and restore itself is severely impeded. More creeks = less concrete = more biodiversity = less CO2.
