Namjoon Being Candid And Open

A planet called HD 114762 b is so big that when it was first discovered, scientists thought it was a star.

BTS | The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas : A Short Story

Always incredible to witness something like this. Shoutout to everyone that pulled an all nighter to see this. Captured just outside of Wichita, Kansas.

10 Things: Why Cassini Mattered

One year ago, on Sept. 15, 2017, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft ended its epic exploration of Saturn with a planned dive into the planet’s atmosphere–sending back new science to the last second. The spacecraft is gone, but the science continues. Here are 10 reasons why Cassini mattered…

1. Game Changers

Cassini and ESA (European Space Agency)’s Huygens probe expanded our understanding of the kinds of worlds where life might exist.

2. A (Little) Like Home

At Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, Cassini and Huygens showed us one of the most Earth-like worlds we’ve ever encountered, with weather, climate and geology that provide new ways to understand our home planet.

3. A Time Machine (In a Sense)

Cassini gave us a portal to see the physical processes that likely shaped the development of our solar system, as well as planetary systems around other stars.

4. The Long Run

The length of Cassini’s mission enabled us to observe weather and seasonal changes over nearly half of a Saturn year, improving our understanding of similar processes at Earth, and potentially those at planets around other stars.

5. Big Science in Small Places

Cassini revealed Saturn’s moons to be unique worlds with their own stories to tell.

6. Ringscape

Cassini showed us the complexity of Saturn’s rings and the dramatic processes operating within them.

7. Pure Exploration

Some of Cassini’s best discoveries were serendipitous. What Cassini found at Saturn prompted scientists to rethink their understanding of the solar system.

8. The Right Tools for the Job

Cassini represented a staggering achievement of human and technical complexity, finding innovative ways to use the spacecraft and its instruments, and paving the way for future missions to explore our solar system.

9. Jewel of the Solar System

Cassini revealed the beauty of Saturn, its rings and moons, inspiring our sense of wonder and enriching our sense of place in the cosmos.

10. Much Still to Teach Us

The data returned by Cassini during its 13 years at Saturn will continue to be studied for decades, and many new discoveries are undoubtedly waiting to be revealed. To keep pace with what’s to come, we’ve created a new home for the mission–and its spectacular images–at https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/cassini.

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NEUTRAL COLOR PALETTE I can’t go on, I’m laughing like I’ve never done 😂

Debussy - Prelude no. 10 “La Cathédrale Engloutie”

For Debussy’s birthday I want to pay more attention to one of my favorite preludes by him. I fell in love with the Sunken Cathedral back in high school mostly for the evocative imagery, a great Gothic church under a blue hue, choral gently waving around it, fish swimming up in the buttresses and rafters like birds, a familiar building in an alien world. It is based off of a Breton legend of a city named Ys which sunk into the ocean, and every morning the cathedral of Ys would rise up and one could hear its bells, its organs, its singers. This prelude is full of chords and passages trying to evoke the sound of muted church bells and organ music. The melodies are gorgeous over mostly pentatonic harmonies, and the passages act like a chorale and are bursting with energy.

ASTRO FACT: Jupiter is well known for being the fastest spinning planet in our solar system. Many wonder why this speedy spinning occurs. Inside the gas planet lives its guardian, the Speedo-Torpedo whaleshark. This majestic being is about 1/8th the size of the actual planet and is able to swim inside of it. To keep adventurers away from its treasure, the whaleshark swims in a circular pattern around the outer border at incredible speeds to keep it spinning on its axis so quickly. This also causes the storms which make it increasingly difficult for anyone to get to the center.

I’ve been a busy witch today✨

My parrot has a vague understanding of the word “no.” He knows to stop doing what he’s doing when he hears it, and he knows how to say it.

He knows it’s a word that is used when he’s doing something he shouldn’t be doing. However, being told “no” doesn’t make him stop doing it in future.

If he’s ever out of my sight or if I’m not paying attention, I know exactly when he’s doing something bad.

Because he says “no” to himself as he does it.

It’s hard to imagine the Italian renaissance without Botticelli; the artist responsible for bringing Spring to life and whose frescoes reside beneath Michelangelo’s in the Sistine Chapel. But for over 300 years one of the most celebrated sons of Florence remained largely unknown. It was the Pre-Raphaelites, in their rejection of academic convention in art and attempt to return to a golden age of painting, who resurrected Botticelli to his modern fame. Today The Birth of Venus and Primavera receive over 1.5 million visitors annually at the Uffizi Gallery. 

While Botticelli has achieved a posthumous fame equal to that of Raphael or Michelangelo much of his life remains in obscurity. One detail that can be confirmed is Botticelli originally apprenticed as a goldsmith with his brother, Antonio. The influence from these early years are a defining component in several of Boticelli’s works. Minute details become transformed into items of fantasy and wonder, and the audience is reminded that they are looking at the other worldly. Goddesses are the ones born in a swirl of shimmering flowers and gilded forests, not you or I. Mary was born a mere mortal, but now she is wholly divine. The Virgin is golden haired, radiant, and draped in fabrics spun with gold; unattainable luxury worthy only for the Queen of Heaven. 

(paintings shown: Madonna of the Book, Birth of Venus, Mary with the Child and Singing Angels, Madonna of the Magnificat, Adoration of the Magi)