Tag: Earth

Green skies

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The Aurora borealis is something I’ve never seen but always wanted to. When I see photos of it I’m amazed that electrons from the suns solar wind can cause such beauty.

The electrons and other particles travel along the magnetic lines of force at the North Pole (and South – the Aurora Australis I think it’s called). As they interact with the magnetic field they glow. The different colours denote different elements. I think Green is Nitrogen and Pink is Oxygen.

The Aurora occur at the poles because they are where the magnetic field is at its weakest and drops down towards the pole. If you have seen iron filings round a bar magnet you can see how the field curves round and down.

So what is solar wind? It is the matter that pours out from the sun when there is a hole in the corona (upper atmosphere of the sun). There are coronal mass ejections where the sun spews out masses of ionised electrons which interact with Earth’s atmosphere.

There is a lot more about aurora’s but my knowledge is not good enough to explain more.

 

Contact

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I’m just watching the film ‘Contact’ starring Jodie Foster. It’s about an astronomer who is searching for alien life. Her search leads her to find an alien signal and the story continues by exploring the affect on humanity.

The story was originally written as a novel by the astronomer Carl Sagan. He was also involved in the NASA Voyager programme, and suggested the spacecraft turned its camera back towards Earth as it headed out of the solar system. He coined the phrase ‘Pale Blue Dot’, when the image showed a single pale blue pixel where Earth sat in the darkness and infinity of space.

I love Sci-fi, and am interested in the possibility of contact with another civilisation. Who knows what might actually happen.

Moth

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Moths are not as common as they used to be, like many insects they are in decline. I rescued this one from our bathroom yesterday. Released into the back garden. I hope it found a safe haven.

Moths  and butterflies are important creatures, they help fertilise flowers and often their 🐛 caterpillars are food for birds. Like everything else in an ecosystem butterflies and moths play an integral part. Without one part others may fail. The same is true of other ecosystems throughout the world. I hope the people of the Earth can sort things our before it’s too late.

Sunrise, Sunset.

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I’ve looked at maps all my life, but never noticed that it gets dark earlier in the South East in summer than in the North West. Of course I know the Earth is tipped at an angle, something like 22° and I know that at the equator day and night are about the same length and that sunrise and sunset are about 6pm. But I hadn’t noticed the angle that the terminator of day and night is at.

As we are on the Greenwich longitude line I assumed the shadow would run straight up and down the globe. But of course it can’t be if the Earth is tipped. That also explains why we have seasons in the North and South hemispheres.

Enthralled

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Apollo 11

50 years on,

Watching the landing,

Seeing the moon

In another light.

I was young when it happened

I was allowed to stay up.

Marvelling at Man’s bravery

And ability

To fly to the moon.

Hold up my thumb

Moon has gone.

If they did the same

earth was gone too.

Infinity of space

We are miniscule.

Apollo as insect jumping to a new stone.

Taking a tiny step into the void.

Perhaps we will go further,

But life remains precious,

Our bubble got bigger

But remains tiny

In the shape of space.

Why do I write and what am I writing?

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It struck me that my writing is as mixed up as my painting and art. I’m interested in poetry and short stories, documenting life and writing about esoteric stuff like why the earth isn’t flat.

I sometimes ramble on around similar subjects, then get bored and throw something else into the mix – like writing about bread making, or my cats and garden.

I have a lot of thoughts flowing round in my head. I didn’t ask for them to be there.  I’m irritated when Sci-fi shows have sound in the vacuum of space, or someone tells a lie about something that is clearly not true.

I was talking to my hubby about this earlier. I do not want to be different, I was going to write “normal” but perhaps I am. Maybe writers are those people that stick to a specific narrative or genre? Or maybe not. I know I don’t do much research about things, most of my writing is imagined or recollected from books and TV programmes.

I started out thinking it would be purely an art blog, a way of selling my paintings, but it’s morphed. I write mors here than anywhere else and I hope it doesn’t get snatched away. I never check how much content I’m creating. It just flows….. And I was once asked why I don’t have adverts… I don’t like them! I keep seeing photos of lemons, or some green gunk that clears up skin problems…. No, sorry, I’m not happy to sell it….