Starship Asterisk*

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It is a treemendous picture. Sorry for that! :oops: :)

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The gift that keeps on giving.

[quote=" http://atheism.about.com/od/greekmythologyreligion/ig/Sounion-Temple-Poseidon-Greece/Sounion-Temples-Athena.htm"]

<<According to Greek legend, Athena had to compete for the role of patron of the Attica region generally and Athens specifically. Poseidon wanted that authority as well so the gods decided that there should be a contest: the role of protector would go to whomever gave mortal men there the best gift. Poseidon struck the rocky ground on the Acropolis with his trident and a salty spring appeared. Athena, however, brought forth an olive tree. The gods deemed Athena's gift best because it required care, attention, patience, and cultivation from humans - it was, in a sense, [b]a symbol of civilization[/b]. Thus Athena became the patron of Athens, but the Athenians never forgot Poseidon's interest in them and honored him on the Acropolis as well (their dependence on sea trade didn't hurt, either). By the north porch of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis of Athens, Greece, is the Sacred Olive Tree. Pausanias wrote that the day after the Persians burned the Acropolis in 480 BCE this tree sprouted a new branch four feet long. Legend also says that this olive tree can be traced back to the tree originally planted by Athena here. Every invader cut it down and every time someone saved a sprig to be planted later. The most recent replanting was done by members of the American School in 1952 who saved it bit from what the Germans destroyed in 1942.>>[/quote]

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[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091223.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_091223.jpg[/img] [size=150]December Sunrise, Cape Sounion[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] The Sun is a [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmHwyQwn0Sg]moving target[/url]. Its [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081221.html]annual motion[/url] through planet Earth's sky tracks north and south, from solstice to solstice, as the [url=http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/Sseason.htm]seasons change[/url]. On December 21st, the solstice [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081220.html]marking[/url] the first day of winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the south, the Sun rose at its southernmost point along the eastern horizon. Earlier this month, looking toward the Aegean Sea from a well-chosen vantage point [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080620.html]at Cape Sounion[/url], Greece, it also rose in [url=http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Solar-Scenes-Sounion-03.htm]this dramatic scene[/url]. In the [url=http://www.stoa.org/metis/cgi-bin/qtvr?site=sounion&node=2&pan=330&tilt=5]foreground[/url] lies the twenty-four hundred year old [url=http://tars.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Greek/sounio.html]Temple of Poseidon[/url].

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