All The Feels for Cosmos

  
Source / Source

Something happened to me as I watched the "Sky Full of Ghosts" episode of Cosmos.  While cool science guy forever, Neil deGrasse Tyson, was talking about the most recent discovery of the oldest cluster of galaxies picked up by the Hubble Space Telescope, I felt tears stream uncontrollably down my face.

Why?

I've always loved science and space and the Universe in general.  My horrible math skills prevented me from exploring my love for space at the college level, so I'm here on the amateur level.  But all the stuff that has been featured on Cosmos so far, I've always known - thanks to my wonderful science teachers - and other stuff I've picked up through the original Cosmos (on Netflix, y'all!), regular Google searches, the Star Walk app, The Universe, the History Channel and its sister channel, H2 and, dare I say it, Ancient Aliens.  Why was the information about how fast light travels making me cry?  Because the way it was presented on the show was mind-boggling.

I know the star light we see in the sky is older than we think it is but the way it was said and expressed on the show was too much for me to handle.

I think it was a mix of the knowledge of the oldest object in space picked up by the Hubble, the fact that it's going to take the Voyager1 40,000 years to fly by the next star, the fact that the "ghost" images of supernovae are thousands of millions of years old but we're JUST NOW seeing them and the fact that we're looking into the past every time we look into the night sky...that's just mind-blowing.

Anyways - I hope you have been enjoying this new version of Cosmos as much as I have.  I mean, anything with Neil deGrasse Tyson means it's going to be AWESOME.

How is your week going?

Comet ISON: #missedubro

There was a lot of talk about ISON burning up as it made its way around the sun.  The gif below suggests there might be some of it still floating around...


Source

I'm so happy I updated my Star Walk app because the pop-up notifications and the links to the VITO Technology blog kept me pretty tuned in to ISON's journey through our solar system.  I was looking at purchasing a telescope right before I got my notification that ISON was visible to the naked eye (via Start Walk) but nothing really caught my eye...and I would've had a tough time seeing it because of all the light pollution and...well...the sun is kind of a LARGE obstacle.  My old man and I had talked about going to the mountains for a nighttime viewing of the stars (and possibly ISON during sunrise or something) but November was just TOO BUSY!!!  I didn't even get to put in "FADE OUT" on the script I was working on during NaNoWriMo.  UGH!  I'm not upset, though, because November was a blast!  I just wish I could've been able to contribute to the Flickr pool.  Oh well.  You can check out the photos here!

I think the reason why this was kind of important to me was because I remember being able to see the comet Hale-Bop in the 90's.  It was kind of a huge deal for me, my friend, and her neighbors.  They bought a fancy camera with a long, fancy lens and had a Comet Party.  It was pretty magical and I guess that's what I was kind of expecting for ISON since it was kind of a biggish deal.  But I guess not since it wasn't really all over the news or anything.  Either way, I'm glad I was still able to track it with Star Walk and their blog - which made it a different kind of magical.

So now that ISON has burned through our Sun, what's up with the Black Knight satellite???

Stargazing

Since I blogged about my middle-of-the-night stargazing adventures on Nate Day, I've been itching to stargaze some more!  Enter StarDate.org!  They have great tips and tricks for the beginner stargazer - like me - all the way up to the most experienced!  They also have a list of places holding Star Parties.  That's where I found a link to the Atlanta Astronomy Club!  Score!



Granted, I've been sick the past few days and that has put a real damper on my hankering to get out and watch the stars but it's about to ramp up in late-November / early-December when comet ISON passes by the Sun.  Why is that such a big deal?  If ISON doesn't get obliterated by the Sun's heat, it will be the most visible object in the night sky!  Imagine!  It'll be like all my sci-fi movie visual dreams coming true!

Even though I live OTP (that's Outside The [285] Perimeter to you non-Georgia folks), I don't live far enough OTP that it's fairly easy to get someplace rural for some stargazing.  Sure, the Enota Mountain Retreat was nice but it was also 2 hours away!  Maybe it wouldn't hurt to secure a campsite in a non-wooded area for mid-December for some ISON-watching?  What a fun weekend excursion!  All I need is to check off some items on StarDate's helpful checklist and I'll be ready!

Err...maybe.

I still need to check which areas around me (preferably on a mountain top) would be ideal for stargazing - and that they AREN'T affected by the Government Shutdown...I guess I don't really need to limit it to Georgia, if I don't have to.  I could venture out to Tennessee, North Carolina, or even Kentucky!  They're all a reasonable drive away - except, maybe, Kentucky.  We could stay on the Appalachian Trail and pretend we're living the way of the pioneers using only the night sky to guide us.
A bit much, huh?

Maybe I should just stick to possibly joining the Atlanta Astronomy Club and see if there's going to be an ISON-watching star party in the near future, perhaps?

Wednesday Gif Party!

TOMORROW!!!!  BLAINE-MANIA!!!
Err...I mean, Beatle-mania on the season premiere of Glee!



Walter White and Jesse Pinkman terrorize Jimmy Fallon


See the gif set here

Our beautiful Earth from Space!


See the gif set here


Started from the bottom now we here




Elie Saab Haute Couture Fall 2013



Can't wait!!!  American Horror Story: Coven!!!



Fight Club




What are you doing here?




Who else upgraded to iOS7?  I like it but there are some things I need to get used to...
 This post reads "Reblog if u remember"



Me when I'm making these posts ^__^

 

Wednesday Gif Party!

For this week's gif party, I'll start on what gave me severe panic attacks on Sunday:

That nod that Walt gives as the "okay" to shoot Jesse was terrible and Jesse's reaction was heartbreaking! UGH...

 

MOVING ON

Here's a pug being cute



I think Tina might be my spirit animal...


For more Tina-isms, see the full gif set (and watch Bob's Burgers!)

The lovely model Barbra Palvin...



Hey Saturn!



Cool gif interpretation of the Milky Way



I wanted some gore so here's part of Peter's transformation from human to werewolf on Hemlock Grove



Since I got my Wavves tickets in the mail for the 10/8 Masquerade show (the day after my birthday, y'all!), here's Stephen being...sexy...(?)


Watch the Afraid of Heights music video HERE

Secret book art!  Check it out!



And purely for fun, here's Nicolas Cage's face on Miley's body in the Wrecking Ball video




Nic Cage version  /  Miley Cyrus version

The Transit of Venus

I started writing this really emo post yesterday and I deleted it because why would I be all sad panda about life when beautiful things like this happen?



 

I wasn't able to catch this in my neck of the woods but it definitely snapped me out of my bad mood. Probably because Venus is my ruling planet and crossing over the Sun probably re-energized my spiritual self - which I am very grateful for.
But it's not only that that I was enjoying. Look at how gorgeous space it. The Sun is so gorgeous.  And the majesty of seeing these wonderful images from NASA is just so amazing to me and I am even more grateful for everything around me.  Sure, things might get me down from time to time but I always try to remember never to sweat the small stuff.  Life is far more precious than we care to acknowledge on a daily basis and I'd just like to take this moment to appreciate life and all of the things around me because it's all special and wonderful and magical.



See some more beautiful photos from NASA here