Eye on Faith

Monday, December 14, 2020

The Very Big Apple

Moby Dick Illustration (by Augustus Burnham Shute)

There’s something way bigger than an apple in New York City these days.

A humpback whale recently bounded right past visitors to the famed harbor. As videos were taken of the Statue of Liberty, this Moby Dick wannabe photobombed frame after iconic frame.

Although astonishing, such occurrences are far from once-in-a-lifetime events. Whales have been spotted around New York City more and more during recent times.

Resources

https://gulfnews.com/world/americas/humpback-whale-spotted-close-to-new-yorks-statue-of-liberty-1.75805374

Clearing Space

A Drifting Thermal Blanket (1998 NASA photo)

It isn’t enough to have junked up our home planet – we’re now well on our way to clogging up space. Outer space.

Which accounts for ClearSpace-1, an attempt to safely remove the garbage that humans have launched upward. This Swiss initiative has been contracted by the European Space Agency to begin such a sweeping endeavor.

Unfortunately, space debris does not just sit there like a dust bunny in the bedroom corner. It moves about quickly, and the trick is to catch it. This is a bit more challenging than pushing a broom across the linoleum.

Resources

https://spacenews.com/clearspace-contract-signed/

Paleolithic Sailors

Kuroshio Current (NOAA Image)

Although “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” wasn’t published until the 1800s, people were paddling across oceans way before that.

Stone Age folks made their way from Taiwan to south-west Japan more than 30,000 years ago. This was likely done by island-hopping their way over on bamboo rafts.

Researchers from the University of Tokyo suspect that such trips were undertaken deliberately. Regional ocean currents wouldn’t have naturally swept the rafts in that direction.

Resources

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2261813-stone-age-humans-chose-to-voyage-to-japanese-islands-over-the-horizon

Two Big Christmas Stars

(Woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld)

Normally we think of Christmas stars as celebrities like Bing Crosby or Mariah Carey.

This year, however, the luminosity will be even greater. Two of the largest planets in our solar system will be coming together for a Christmas special. Jupiter and Saturn will align closely enough to resemble the traditional Star of Bethlehem.

This type of conjunction hasn’t occurred since 1226 CE, and won’t occur again until 2080. So keep your eyes to the skies, and hitch your wagons to these Christmas Stars.

Resources

https://omaha.com/news/science/article_2daacbbd-2186-5f5b-82cb-9785460977db.html