It finally happened for me last night, (even though the sky was partly cloudy)! As I captured the conjunction of planet Jupiter with planet Venus - Keep in mind that this can be observed on Earth once in 2000 years only!!! I even shot some video of it too, which I will stitch together and upload on my YouTube and Vimeo channels! Don't know what astrologers will say about this, (as whatever they ramble about doesn't make much sense to me)... But for both astronomers, and amateur astronomers (like myself), this was a great and unforgettable moment to look up in the sky! It by the way can still be seen no matter which part of the world you are located in - As June 30th and July 1st is the peak of this conjunction! So if you too are able to take a picture of it, do please share it here!
Yes, I'll admit to being a Trekky, (obsessed with the popular "Star Trek" TV show). So you along with everyone else can freely blame Paramount Studios for me turning out this way!!! But seriously Frank, are we not all gardeners and thus nature lovers? And since gardening or farming is nature, and is very deeply dependent on the changing seasons - And the only way of accurately predicting seasons is by doing some astronomy. Then I guess it is only natural for gardeners to be astronomers too... In the old days as well when human civilization was in it's infancy, collective farming and accurate predictions of the seasons (through astronomy), is what laid the foundations for progress - Which is why it is not at all uncommon for archaeologists to constantly unearth forgotten objects and structures which were aids for astronomical observation. From ancient China and their observational tools, with which they calibrated their calendars. To the ancient Egyptians and their structures, the Pyramids being the largest example of them, to the Greek invention of the astrolabe (which was the early form a of navigational tool we today know as the sextant) - To the famous structure known as the Stonehenge in UK. All were platforms from which astronomical observations (for calibrating seasonal calendars) were made from... So if we look at it this way, then how can gardening and astronomy be seen so far apart? Of course, our modern mindset seems to be obsessed with dividing and categorizing everything with no end in sight, so that it can all be conveniently confined to it's own little box, (so to speak)... But in the end, are we all not also made out of star dust? Before even when our sun's nuclear core was condensed, and then compressed by it's own gravity, and was eventually ignited by nuclear fusion - There had to be at least 2 major supernova explosions in this very same area of space, billions and billions of ears ago. Which produced all the elements we today have on Earth, (from Hydrogen to Uranium). So this leftover star dust (from at least 2 supernova explosions) started spinning around our young sun, thus forming a cloud like disk of matter. However in this rotating disk also, matter started to clump together, and that is how planets were formed, one of which being this Earth! It first was all molten rock, but later it cooled down substantially, and so all the lighter elements floated to the surface and attained a gaseous forms (this creating an atmosphere), while other heavier compounds (like hydrogen and oxygen combining into water) created the oceans, while the heaviest of them all (like iron) sank to the care of the Earth, where it is still a lump of spinning molten rock - Which by the way is how we have a very strong natural magnetic field of the Earth as well! Next step was how life started here, which also can be answered by the fact that it was brought over by falling asteroids, some of which brought water (in the form of ice) while others brought some trace elements bunched together in the form of amino acids. These falling asteroids, when they encountered the undersea volcanoes, is where the seeds of life were initiated, or call it the starter pistol which kicked off evolution! All taking place in some hot clay like mud, under the surface of the sea. So if I start to see things like this, then the whole universe (to me at least) starts to feel like one giant garden with no limits, and each solar system a tiny patch of it where some seeds have been planted. Now exactly what these seeds will mature into, is an open question (in the cosmological sense). But in either case, it is and forever will be damn interesting to observe!
Thanks for the interesting reading S-H. The universe is infinitely interesting to me. I've recently started to rediscover Star Trek also. I watched Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan when I found out its soundtrack composer James Horner died and now I think I'm getting hooked on the lore. Hadn't watched those movies since I was a kid but I never forgot Spock's funeral.
James Horner passed away? I'm really sorry, I had no idea. Guess I must have missed the news... Googled it up just now, very sad indeed... Anyway Frank, I forgot to mention that when (not if but when) humanity will go out into space - We also will have to take with us some type of a garden, to grow our own food. So it will be like coming full circle, and the link between gardening and space exploration (the tiniest branch of it is astronomy) will be solidified even further! Also, the first colonists on Moon, Mars, and on other places in outer space - Will have to be farmers, (exactly how it was when humans migrated from one continent to another, carrying with them seeds to plant in the news world)! Which is the reason why I always gave a seed, (now a like) whenever our forum members (specially KK) show us their hydroponic experiments. As I know that is exactly what the future will be like! Now please see this interesting video also - As seeing is believing, that plants really can grow very well in lunar soil. It's something not many people know about, even though this fact was widely reported at the time... See this one also:
