By popular demand (one request), here is last night’s gif of Ganymede entering and exiting an eclipse, without the pause in the middle. Photographed by Voyager 1, 26 Febuary 1979. (It’s a pity that Voyager didn’t keep taking photographs for all of the eclipse entry.)
🍂- When was the last time you felt any variety of sadness?
🍎- What is the longest you’ve gone without eating?
🎉- When was the last time you went to a party? How was it?
🎹- What are your favourite sad songs?
🚿- What is the longest you’ve gone without showering/bathing?
😁- When is the last time you’ve been with a friend?
🐈- Do you have any pets?
🎭- How do you cope with sadness?
🚲- Have you ever tried to run away?
🏥- Have you/did you harm yourself?
🌃- What was the last time you went out by yourself?
⌛️- What is your biggest concern about time?
💉- How do you think you will die?
🔫- What would be the worst way to die for you?
🚫- What are your biggest fears?
💊- Do you have any illnesses?
♥️- When was the last time you felt loved and appreciated?
😞- Are you still hurt over something/someone?
💥- What do you dislike about yourself the most?
🎯- What’s the worst thing you’ve said to someone?
💔- What’s the worst thing someone has ever said to you?
Now focused on the echo flowers, Callisto seemed to relax a bit. They wondered what Gaster had been about to suggest, but they were more excited that he wanted to take a look at their journal, and their findings.
“Yeah, of course! I mean, it’s not very organized, but,” They babbled on a bit excitedly as they handed the journal over, scratching the back of their neck.
“I figured there was about three or four ways the magic could be flowing through the flowers, but they’re all mostly... Theoretical. I don’t have anything to test it with, y’know?” Callisto was glad Gaster hadn’t come any closer than he already had. They were still fairly wary of the stranger, and keeping their personal bubble intact was helping to calm their nerves.
Gaster took their words as permission to approach and across the bridge to their side. He didn’t exactly tower of Callisto, nor did hover over their shoulder. Still, he was close enough for the aroma of buttercups and chemicals to waft from his fur.
At just the sight of the journal he clapped his paws together in glee. “My! You must be a very curious child. Perhaps you could…” His brow furrowed. Initial glee wavering he cut himself off before he could finish the suggestion. “Ah, no, perhaps not. You’d be better off as you are now. Studying echo flowers is perfect for a young one such as yourself.”
Again smiling Gaster motioned towards their notebook. “May I see your research?” He requested politely, “I’d love if you’d show me your theories. I understand if you would rather not though, of course.”
Procyon-Vulpecula’s Space and Astronomy Advent Calendar
December 16th
WORLDS OF FIRE AND ICE Original full-sized image link: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/images/JEGIC_520x306.jpg In 1610, Galileo Galilei looked up at Jupiter with the telescope, which had just been invented, and saw that it was surrounded by four moons which orbited around it. This proved that not everything had to orbit the Earth, as Aristotle and the Church had taught for centuries. The four Galilean moons of Jupiter were central to a major change in our understanding of our place in the Universe 400 years ago - and one of them may lead another major revolution in our understanding of our place in the scheme of things, if life is discovered there. Io, the closest of the four moons to Jupiter, is the one that looks like a multicoloured pizza. It’s made of rock and metal, like Earth, and is about the size of our Moon. By all rights it should have frozen solid inside, and cooled to the point where no surface activity was possible. But Jupiter’s intense gravity keeps flexing and stretching Io, heating it up like a squeezed stress ball, and melting its interior to make Io the most volcanically active body in the Solar System. Maps of Io are impossible to make, as the surface features change in a matter of years as they all get paved over by lava and ash! Some volcanoes spew molten silicate rock, like on Earth, while others spew molten sulphur - yes, brimstone. Io really is a lot like the traditional picture of Hell! Ganymede, the third of the four moons, is the largest - and the largest moon in the Solar System. Just bigger than Saturn’s Titan, Ganymede is much bigger than Mercury (but not as massive, as Mercury is made mostly of metal and Ganymede is made of ice and rock.) Ganymede’s icy surface is a mixture of ancient, cratered plains that haven’t been touched for aeons, and recently resurfaced areas that have been folded and faulted and had slushy ice from inside welling up below. Perhaps the gravitational effects of the other moons can occasionally squeeze Ganymede enough to produce a limited amount of heating inside. Ganymede is also the only moon in th Solar System to have an appreciable magnetic field, too… Callisto, the last of the four moons, is the second largest. This ball of ice is dead and cratered, and covered in impact scars. Enormous ringed basins mark its surface, and craters look white where they penetrate the dirty surface and let fresh ice from inside well up. This moon hasn’t seen any major changes besides meteorite impacts for over four billion years - the oldest surface of any planet or moon. Callisto also lies outside the radiation belts of Jupiter, so if humans ever visit the Jovian system, Callisto will be the safest place for us to set up camp. Europa, however, is the most intriguing. Europa is the second of the four major moons from Jupiter and the smallest. It is mostly made of rock, but covered in a thin shell of ice. Jupiter’s tidal heating cracks and flexes the ice, and new ice wells up from below to fill the cracks. Europa shows powerful evidence that something warm is moving beneath the ice - maybe warmer, slushy ice, or maybe an ocean of liquid water? The Galileo probe, which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, examined Europa closely and found evidence that the icy surface was thin - maybe a few hundred metres. But we know that some sort of water must go down deeper than that - a deep, liquid ocean? Europa may contain more liquid water than all the oceans of Earth combined. Clinching evidence for the ocean came in 1998, when the Galileo probe detected changes in Jupiter’s magnetic field when Europa passed through it. This implied an electrically conducting liquid was sloshing about under Europa’s icy plates - like a saltwater ocean. And the dirty, reddish-brown colour of the cracks? That appears to be organic molecules of some sort. With warm water, an energy source, and organic matter in abundance, Europa seems like one of the most likely places in the Solar System to look for life. If that happens, the Galilean moons will again overturn our understanding of our place in the Universe. Image credit: NASA/Galileo For more on the Galilean moons, go to: lasp.colorado.edu/education/outerplanets/moons_galilean.php Or, go look at them yourself! All four Galilean moons are easily visible through binoculars. Go find out where Jupiter is in the sky, and turn your binoculars to it. You’ll almost certainly see a few specks of light on either side of it - those are probably Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
“It’s midnight, where the hell were you?!”
“Stop keeping your phone in silent, you got me worried!”
“Blood? Are you bleeding?”
“I don’t like the idea of you walking down the streets all alone.”
“I thought I would never see you again…”
“We should get you to hospital.”
“Where did all those bruises came from?”
“I have the right to be worried!”
“Have you been drinking? You look terrible.”
“Sleep at my place tonight.”
“I don’t feel safe letting you be alone when you’re in that shape.”
“Please talk to me about it.”
“Let me take care of you.”
“You need to rest now. Don’t move.”
“How many times have I told you to not go there?”
“You could’ve died, you know…”
“I don’t care if you don’t want my help, I’ll do it anyways.”
“You really need to stop drinking. I’m serious.”
“This time you got yourself into a hospital. I think that’s a sign.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“You need to stop doing stupid shit like that or you will get yourself killed.”
“I’m your friend, of course I care!”
“You know I’m always here for you, right?”
“You’re not okay.”
“I’m just trying to help you.”
“Let me clean your wounds…”
“Why did you do it? Tell me.”
Send me 😈 for a thread where my muse is a demon.
It was a little worrying to see Gaster so blank looking. At first, Callisto had thought he’d tell them it was a silly idea; that there was no way they could guarantee that they could find anyone else to come back with them, that they couldn’t even guarantee that they weren’t just using this to get out of the Underground scot-free.
Callisto felt their heart leap at how excited Gaster was, smiling widely as he bounced. A genius. They were a genius! It made them bounce a little too, though less animated than Gaster. Not having to think of anyone else dying for this was making them feel a lot better--and knowing Asgore didn’t want to kill them was relieving.
They laughed as they were lifted off their feet, wrapping their arms around Gaster’s neck and hugging him tightly in return. Burying their face in the crook of his neck, they let their laughter collapse into joyful giggles.
“You don’t h-have to repay me,” They managed to splutter out, “it’s what friends are for!” They squeezed their eyes shut to avoid getting dizzy, though it was a little late for that.
The thought that all their poorly-executed backyard experiments would be a thing of the past, though, was extremely excited nonetheless. And not having to put out the money for a telescope would be nice, too.
For a minute he was entirely devoid of expression. Gaster blankly blinked at the child, his mind processing their plan.
“Callisto…You’re a genius!” All at once the scientist all but bounced with elation, laughter bright and buoyant, wistfulness lost in light of the thought of freedom.
“I’ve never thought of that before! No one has! With all that’s happened, no one’s even considered a human willing to set us free, but you, Callisto, you are a genius! An absolute genius!” He was gesturing passionately, a myriad of other hands popping up and following along in fervor. “No one else will have to die and we’ll be free to see the stars and feel the wind! Asgore must listen to you, dear young one, he must! He loathes the death of others more than any monster, you know.”
Gaster snapped his fingers at a sudden thought; the hands behind, beside, and all around him snapped in sync. “We’ll have to study a bit of course - cold, hard facts will convince anyone that your plan will surely work - but I’m certain it would work!”
Again, he laughed, the joyous sound resonating throughout the bundles of echo flowers, and twisted around to face Callisto once more. “And once the barrier is no more I’ll give you a telescope! One made by myself - it’ll be better than anything money could buy, I promise you. Oh, dear child, you have no idea how happy this makes me!”
With hardly a second thought Gaster plucked Callisto off the ground and spun them ‘round and ‘round, mirth warm in his grin. “We’ll go star gazing together! I can always assist you with any lab equipment, and anything else you need! It’d be the least I could do to repay you, once you set us all free!”
“David Hardy ‘Callisto’ from the book Futures- 50 Years in Space by David Hardy & Patrick Moore (2004) #davidhardy #spaceart #scifi #scifiart #astronomy #space” by @scifi_art on Instagram http://ift.tt/1ULvMyx
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