SMILE FOR THE CAMERA: Today, NASA released a mosaic they created to commemorate their "Wave at Saturn" event from July 19. On that day, the Cassini spacecraft, which is orbiting Saturn, took a photo of Earth. NASA suggested Earthlings wave at the camera around 3:30 p.m. on that day, so their image could be captured. Of course, every living thing on Earth was captured in the photo Cassini took that day, as we're all on this pale blue dot (above the white arrow below), to borrow a Sagan phrase.
Image: NASA, naturally
Pretty cool shot of our lil ol' planet, isn't it?
Fun and posterity, NASA also asked people to send in images they captured during their "Wave at Saturn" moment, and boy did people respond. Earthlings from more than 40 countries and 30 U.S. states shared a total of more than 1,400 images, via Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Google+ and email.
Here are the two we emailed in ...
News that NASA's mosaic was complete hit the Interwebs around noon today, and as soon as I saw it, I wondered if I'd ever be able to spot our photos if, per chance, they were included.
I figured if they were included, it would be in the bright blue area of the mosaic, as we had blue skies that day and the sky figured largely in our compositions. I decided I'd invest 5 minutes, no more, in trying to find us.
So, I opened the 30 MB version of the mosaic in Photoshop, hit CTRL + a couple of times (to zoom in), and I'll be darned if I didn't see our photos immediately!
It was a hectic day when we took those photos - we were headed to the Seattle Center at the appointed 'wave at Saturn' time because we had to participate in one of our feedback sessions at the Pacific Science Center that afternoon, and later that night it was the Paul McCartney concert. All in all, a very memorable day!
A little background info on Cassini, the spacecraft which took this photo. ... It launched on my birthday in 1997, and reached Saturn's orbit on July 1, 2004. The craft included a Saturn orbiter (that's what took the photo back toward Earth), as well as a lander for Saturn's moon Titan, called Huygens. Huygens landed on Titan in 2005.
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: We certainly enjoyed the bright, full "blue" moon hanging over Seattle (and the rest of the world) last night.
I was happy I actually managed to take a photo of it that looked like the moon (with craters and all) instead of just a bright white orb in the sky. It's grainy, because my 'big' lens isn't that big, but it's a start.
I need to learn how to do long exposure photography with my Nikon. ...
Christian managed to cue up a nice view of the moon in our telescope, too. We took turns looking at it over and over. And then at 9:08, we were back upstairs for an ISS flyover. Good times.
BIG BOAT: As we've driven across the Magnolia/Garfield bridge the last couple of days, we couldn't help but notice this little boat docked at Terminal 90, which is at the foot of our hill.
"That's the biggest yacht I've ever seen!" I marveled the first time I spied it.
Christian snapped this photo of it using his cell phone, on his way to work this morning. (He even managed to capture the Blue Moon in the photo!)
I was happy I actually managed to take a photo of it that looked like the moon (with craters and all) instead of just a bright white orb in the sky. It's grainy, because my 'big' lens isn't that big, but it's a start.
Christian managed to cue up a nice view of the moon in our telescope, too. We took turns looking at it over and over. And then at 9:08, we were back upstairs for an ISS flyover. Good times.
BIG BOAT: As we've driven across the Magnolia/Garfield bridge the last couple of days, we couldn't help but notice this little boat docked at Terminal 90, which is at the foot of our hill.
"That's the biggest yacht I've ever seen!" I marveled the first time I spied it.
However, the photo doesn't do the ship justice, because you can't judge the scale of this monster in it.
Turns out the lil' ship is named Serene. It's the 440-foot personal yacht of a Russian (Stoli) vodka titan Yuri Scheffle. Sources say it's the ninth largest yacht in the word, with seven decks and nearly 50,000 square feet of interior space. It employs a 52-person crew, and features a large saltwater pool, two helicopter landing platforms (clearly one is not enough) and there's a storage spot for a submarine which can dive to 300 feet (dinghys are so bourgeois). The ship, built in Italy, was launched in 2011. It has 24 state rooms, numerous lounges, as you'd expect, and a room with a glass floor called the "Nemo Room." There's also reportedly a "snow room" for kids to play in the powdery stuff if the blue skies and sunshine become to boring.
Turns out the lil' ship is named Serene. It's the 440-foot personal yacht of a Russian (Stoli) vodka titan Yuri Scheffle. Sources say it's the ninth largest yacht in the word, with seven decks and nearly 50,000 square feet of interior space. It employs a 52-person crew, and features a large saltwater pool, two helicopter landing platforms (clearly one is not enough) and there's a storage spot for a submarine which can dive to 300 feet (dinghys are so bourgeois). The ship, built in Italy, was launched in 2011. It has 24 state rooms, numerous lounges, as you'd expect, and a room with a glass floor called the "Nemo Room." There's also reportedly a "snow room" for kids to play in the powdery stuff if the blue skies and sunshine become to boring.
The Seattle Times has some lovely photos of it here: http://seattletimes.com/html/picturethis/2021651774_theserenevisitsseattle.html
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