Sunday, May 13, 2007

Absolutely Awesome Images of Space

The technical and theoretical aspects of space and space travel are fascinating to me and most likely many others but, sometimes it's nice to just step back and take a look at why going to space would be awesome for the view alone. I have compiled several of my favorite images of space. Many were taken by Hubble but not all.


Known as the "Pale Blue Dot," this image was taken on February 14th, 1990 by Voyager 1. Four billion miles away from Earth, it is the longest distance away from Earth that a picture of Earth has been taken.

We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.
-Carl Sagan
The above quote by Carl Sagan is one of my favorite quotes of all time. It really puts things into perspective.

Another "Pale Blue Dot" taken by Cassini that is perhaps even more stunning (though not as far).
Explanation Courtesy NASA.gov:
In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear. The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn recently drifted in giant planet's shadow for about 12 hours and looked back toward the eclipsed Sun. Cassini saw a view unlike any other. First, the night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Next, the rings themselves appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn and slightly scattering sunlight, in the above exaggerated color image. Saturn's rings light up so much that new rings were discovered, although they are hard to see in the above image. Visible in spectacular detail, however, is Saturn's E ring, the ring created by the newly discovered ice-fountains of the moon Enceladus, and the outermost ring visible above. Far in the distance, visible on the image left just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable pale blue dot of Earth.

The Helix Nebula. I like this one because it reminds me of the Eye of Sauron from "The Lord of The Rings" trilogy.



From the Ashes of the First Stars. Above is one of the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen. It is an artist's impression of a primordial quasar surrounded by sheets of gas, dust, stars and early star clusters.

The Jupiter's 4th largest moon IO. The spectacular surface is dotted with volcanoes and as a result of the many volcanoes its appearance is created by the sulfur and silicates released. The bluish cloud seen coming from the surface is known as the Prometheus Plume and is the result of a volcano. It is speculated that the plume has been active for over 18 years (from 1997).



The Vela Supernova Remnant. It is referred to as a remnant because it is left over from a supernova that exploded 10-12 thousand years ago.

The Flame Nebula. The beautiful array of light is caused by excited gas particles (primarily Hydrogen).
The Eta Carinae Nebula (aka the Great Nebula in Carina or simply the Carina Nebula). Breathtaking is the only way to really describe this photo.

I hope you all enjoyed these as much as I did when I first stumbled upon them.

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1 comment:

梁爵 said...

戲劇《華燈初上》引發條通酒店打工熱潮,但酒店公關生活卻是 2021年未來大人物胡筠筠 真實版人生。解密真華燈人生系列,邀來胡筠筠與其創立的「娛樂公關經紀職業工會」理事、也是條通日式酒店媽媽桑席耶娜,帶著我們闖條通,揭開下海或上岸的神秘面紗。
19歲那年,胡筠筠開始在條通日式酒店上班,別人看似沈淪的「酒店小姐」
酒店工作、卻是解決筠筠北漂生活經濟與照護生病母親的出口。爾後的日子經歷台式酒店、經紀人、甚至成立了「酒與妹仔的日常」酒店應徵粉絲頁,還在疫情急迫下成立「酒店小姐經紀職業工會」,她靠酒店工作、卻不懼怕大聲說,筠筠努力對外發聲,希望真有那麼一天,社會能更多一點平等眼光來看酒店行業。
點亮的條通華燈酒店消費,是北漂無助的接口
影集《華燈初上》裡,承接酒店上班的蘇媽媽與剛出獄的Rose媽媽、帶著四處求職碰壁的更生人花子,為了求生計在條通酒店展開新的人生。世俗眼光裡,被視為的墮落、卻是他們的重生!
林森北路、條通,在台北繁華都市裡自成一格的神秘地區,是過往日本客人的異國溫柔鄉、是男性商務談生意滾紅塵之處,酒店工作在這短短的一條街、幾條巷弄中隱晦地流轉著。
那年18歲的胡筠筠,職科畢業後從中壢北上求職求學,學習廣告設計專業的她一方面要承擔學業學費、一方面也一肩擔起患有思覺失調症母親的經濟來源,在被沈重經濟壓垮自己前,筠筠透過朋友介紹,一腳踏入林森北路花花世界,在日式酒店工作當起酒店公關。
儘管沒有人教導、儘管規矩只能慢慢學,筠筠卻在當時的阿姨(媽媽桑)與姊姊(同事)之間學到日式酒店的規矩與明哲保身的方法。後來因為經濟需求、也因為日式酒店逐漸式微,筠筠又再兼職到台式酒店上班,從日式酒店學到優雅談話技巧、溫柔體貼客人的款待;再到台式酒店的閃酒與避掉酒客「手來腳來」的鹹豬手。
一開始還能以體力與賺錢精力支撐天天醉茫的生活,下午2、3點在台式酒店酒店兼差到晚上8點,接著再到條通上班到凌晨2點,台式一週3天、日式則是天天上班,休假永遠是補眠不夠、醒來永遠在解決宿醉……兩年下來筠筠身體終究也不堪負荷胃出了狀況,逼迫她要停下腳步休息一年。被迫停下腳步那年,筠筠的人生起了一些化學變化,她嘗試一面接設計案、一面考上保險執照後開始擔任保險員,但經濟壓力仍在,「我吃得飽嗎?媽媽吃得飽嗎?」的迫切需求依然日日緊追。有沒有能夠好好接住這些姐妹更安全的做法在酒店工作第二年,筠筠開設了「酒與妹仔的日常」粉絲專頁,一開始是為了讓酒店工作不再被污名化而設,但卻因為工作日日酒醉關係疏於管理發文。恰巧休息這一年筠筠有了契機重新開始發文,也讓她在書寫的逐字逐句間思考著。回頭望向這幾年的酒店人生,因為自己的警覺性高、防備心強,幸運地沒發生什麼遺憾與不好的事情,但其他姐妹、公關們面臨到百百款問題,酒店工作的危險、複雜、自身還債、想創業、到處找不到工作、未婚媽媽求職無方等,卻慢慢地讓筠筠心想,是不是能夠有另一種除了在網上發聲的方式,更能保護與幫助以及「接住」小姐們的方法?停下酒店小姐工作,她卻想著的是,好想捍衛這些不得已的人生。於是筠筠決定轉往酒店經紀人角色,過去自己與姐妹被無助對待、在酒店經歷的那一切風風雨雨、如何應對進退、如何能好好教導保護自己安全的訓練、經紀人與小姐之間經費的剝削化,這些都成了筠筠想解決與保護自己「直屬」小姐的課題。理念就是不想他們被騙、不想他們被坑、被欺負、給他們好一點的待遇、試著把工作正常化,上班時一有不對勁就會趕場「救」小姐,下班後小姐情緒沒有出口,還要擔任聆聽與抒發的角色,筠筠自己笑說,擔任經紀人,根本就是就是酒店公關「男朋友」的角色!除此之外,「酒與妹仔的日常」在志同道合的好姐妹一起努力下,開始對外發聲,第一場在輔仁大學公開的「真酒店文化」的演講,筠筠與6個酒店公關一字排開登場接受學生與老師的眼光,不是為了耍酷、也並不是因為酒店工作多好多值得驕傲,她們用自己的角色立場,說明每個人進入這個「工作」都是有原因與理由。與其他工作一樣,這就是一份勞動,打扮得宜、以溫柔與笑容與貼心來給予客人溫暖,如此而已。勇敢面對第一線聽眾,酒妹的講座開始大受歡迎,至今已經辦了近90場。後續更有以「酒聞不如一件」的酒店公關服裝設計秀,斜槓的酒店公關們創作17套服裝,衣服概念從小姐正常上班的禮服、小姐心情、小姐職場傷害、如何抵禦傷害等議題,依照自己生命故事做創作而展出的服裝,是衣服、也是刻在公關心裡的聲音。接著更有「酒聞不如二見」的活動,邀請民眾來擔任公關與客人的沈浸式體驗,活動內設有暗樁,許多劇情、意外之戲就在觀眾不知道之時爆出來,很多人甚至在當了一小時後就喊著好累好想放棄,直呼公關工作真的辛苦!
疫情下催生工會起而行向體制抗爭
除了軟性的「酒與妹仔的日常」對社會大眾除汙名化活動外,2020年疫情再度來襲、酒店又再度被停業時,筠筠邀集條通內更多元化聲音,如男公關、日式酒店媽媽桑等成員,短期內組成了「娛樂公關經紀職業工會」。工會的誕生讓他們更能有組織性地發起幫忙與請求社會協助,也在這群妹仔的努力之下有了反饋的效果,透過各方捐贈的物資,工會幹部們陸續把奶粉、尿布送到每個需要姐妹的手中,少量的金錢應援,也避免了時時刻刻擔心隨時要被趕出屋子的家庭免於受風雨受寒。那段疫情期間,儘管筠筠與幹部們流程也都不懂,卻還是努力搞清楚紓困程序,一個人一個人地專案解決,幫助了70幾個同樣被停業困住的人。條通的酒吧空間裡堆成小山的物資、工會成員們拉著露營推車穿梭在條通冷清的街道上,適時地送上一碗熱湯與物資、尿布奶粉,這是條通疫情第一線的寫實樣貌。