Month: September 2022

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Feeling a Little Nostalgic Today

These three albums—and to be honest, probably dozens more—were my soundtrack as I transitioned to life in San Franisco in the late 1980s.

Ancient Dreams and Keys to Imagination were gifts from my ex the first Christmas we were in The City. I discovered Desires of the Heart on my own (probably via KKSF) and Chris Spheeris is one of the few artists who  have responded—with a handwritten note, no less—to a letter I sent him after hearing his CD for the first time.

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Because It's True

While I hated having to sit through it—even though the teacher himself (Frank Armenta) was amazing—I am still so grateful that one of the requirements for graduation was taking American Government in my junior year of high school.

It afforded me—unlike apparently the majority Republicans in, or running for office—at least a rudimentary knowledge of how our government is structured and supposed to work.

 

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The James Webb telescope turns its eye close to home by capturing its first image of Neptune, revealing the ice giant planet in a whole new light. This is the clearest view of this peculiar planet's rings in more than 30 years.

The new image, taken by Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), shows the crisp view of the planet's dynamic rings. The Webb images also clearly show Neptune's fainter dust bands.

Methane gas found inside Neptune is so strongly absorbing that the planet is quite dark at Webb wavelengths (0.6 to 5 microns) except where high-altitude clouds are present. Such clouds are prominent as bright streaks and spots, which reflect sunlight.

Webb also captured seven of Neptune's 14 known moons. Dominating this Webb portrait of Neptune is a very bright point of light sporting the signature diffraction spikes seen in many of Webb's images; it's not a star, but Neptune's most unusual moon, Triton.

Triton reflects an ~70 percent of the sunlight that hits it and orbits Neptune in a backwards orbit, leading astronomers to believe this moon was a Kuiper Belt object that was captured by Neptune. Additional Webb studies of Triton and Neptune are planned this year.

[Source]