Starship Asterisk*

APOD Robot wrote: Home from Above

What do you see in this APOD? There is a goodly amount of response to the Earth geographic challenge in the discussion thread but I thought it might be interesting to discuss other aspects of the image. What do you see... beyond the pale perhaps... beyond the image... embedded thoughts anyone Personally, I think this may be the best APOD yet.

Here are some posts from the image discussion along this line...

Ann wrote:It's a fantastic image. It speaks of achievements that humanity only a hundred years ago could only dream of - humans actually orbiting the Earth, looking down on this amazing planet from a height of about 350 kilometers.

But at the same time, this image speaks of how closely bound we humans are to the Earth. Yes, we have travelled 350 kilometers away from the surface of the Earth, and we have travelled even farther - humans have, after all, walked on the Moon. But the distance to the Moon, while more than a thousand times greater than the distance to the International Space Station, is still only about 450,000 kilometers. In the universe, where most distances have to be measured in lightyears or better yet, in kiloparsecs or megaparsecs, 450,000 kilometers is nothing.

I once saw a black and white movie that may have been from the early forties. Here some brave humans were struggling heroically to make their spaceship overcome the Earth's gravity. But once they had climbed out of the Earth's gravity well, the universe was literally theirs for the taking. They could go anywhere, to Mars, to Saturn, to Sirius, because they were no longer bound by the Earth's gravity.

But that is not how it works. We are so incredibly bound to the Earth, this little blue speck in the universe that sustains us, and that hosts all the life that we know of.

Ann

bystander wrote:There is a wonderful poem, Blue, by Stuart Atkinson inspired by today's APOD image posted on Universe Today.

Stunning Image, Heartfelt Poetry Could Become Icons of Space Age

Puddock wrote:
I loved this image too. Reminded me of Jodie Foster in Contact somehow. Inspirational picture!

• ..................................................................
  Palmer Joss: What are you studying up there?
  
  Ellie Arroway: Oh, the usual. Nebulae, quasars, pulsars, stuff like that. What are you writing?
  
  Palmer Joss: The usual. Nouns, adverbs, adjective here and there.
  ..................................................................
  [Witnessing a celestial light show up close]
  
  Ellie Arroway: Some celestial event. No - no words. No words to describe it. Poetry!
  They should've sent a poet. So beautiful. So beautiful... I had no idea.