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Monday, December 22, 2008

"Humbling...Hubble"

Cetus refers to a sea monster in Greek Mtyhology. In kayaking it is an ocean kayak made by P & H Kayaks. The name refers to a whale by today's standards I guess. The two Galaxies above however lie in the Constellation Cetus, 900 million light years away from Earth....a lengthy paddle astronomically. These two Galaxies are oriented to mark the number 10 which is ironic because the Hubble was off line for a while and when it came back on in October 2008(tenth month) it snapped this image. Call it alignment, call it all in the stars, or simply call it star gas: there are a few things for sure,1. we are all descendents of stars and you really don't need drugs to realize this; 2. we are insignificant astronomically and if other life exists they probably avoid us for our lack of intelligence; 3. I thnik "Cetus X" would be a good name for a kayak (especially if it was made in October of 2008); 4. There probably isn't such a thing as time and space as we know it; 5. and you think think Black Holes on Earth are bad!; 6. when the spaceman..creature commeth back ...I hope he travels in a kayak and brings us a new composite; 7. if the Hubble continues to Humble will we inevitably see intergallactic first descents?; 8. when will there be a kayaking constellation named....will it be called "Freya"?; 9. are whales really our unknown medium for communicating beyond our planet and if so can kayakers be the "Priests" and purchase kayaks and gear tax-free? and 10. the next time a comet goes by can you stop the world and let me off to catch a ride because there is a methane wave on Europa off Jupiter I haven't surfed yet. And I'll continue to keep my head in the clouds....stars again for next year.

There are unbelieveable pictures from the Hubble Telescope posted on the web by NASA. They are beautiful images of the outer reaches of our universe. When you gaze on them it would be so arrogantly human to suppose we were alone.

2 comments:

Tony said...

Very interesting thoughts Stan. More than once I've stopped on paddles, thankful for a beautiful day, wondering if there was anyone on another world in a kayak and thankful for the same thing.

There is repetition in nature all around us and there's no reason why similar conditions weren't created in other planetary systems.

We are not alone. David Bowie said so on "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars".

Tony :-)

Stan Mac Kenzie said...

Too funny Tony. Sometimes it is good to think "out of the box" so to speak. As humans we have done some pretty stupid things, maybe that is what makes us human, I also believe we have done some pretty intelligent things, but I still believe there are "worlds without wars!!!" and those who instigate them. Hello out there!!


Stan