#presence of planetary snow

[science-criticaltheory]

Using MODIS data to visualize the presence or absence of snow on a global scale - Audrey Payne

The NASA Terra satellite, equipped with a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, launched in December 1999. — Credit: NASA

Each day, the NASA Terra satellite, which launched in December 1999, orbits the Earth, passing north to south across Earth's equator in the morning. The Aqua satellite, which launched in May 2002, also circles the planet simultaneously, crossing the equator from south to north in the afternoon. The orbits of these satellites are sun-synchronous, meaning they pass over the same spot of the Earth at about the same local time each day. Each satellite is equipped with a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), a remote sensing instrument designed to collect atmospheric, land, and ocean imaging in a single device. The instruments image the same area of Earth three hours apart, and in combination, they view the entire Earth’s surface every one to two days. While the satellites were initially intended to last six years, they are still in orbit and collecting data to this day.

Because these satellites have polar orbits, the information they gather helps to track changes occurring to the cryosphere, or the frozen parts of the planet, and they provide a continuous global record since the Aqua satellite launched. This includes collecting information about snow. 

The NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) manages a range of MODIS data, making a suite of snow cover and sea ice data products freely accessible to the public. These data can be used to investigate how snow and ice cover have changed over time, to study Earth’s energy balance, and to feed global and polar climate models. Recently, the NSIDC DAAC published a new MODIS data set, MODIS/Terra Global Annual 0.01Deg CMG Snow Cover Climatology, Version 1. 

This data set focuses on global snow cover climatology from 2001 to 2023 using data from the Terra satellite and presents information using global maps. Parameters include:

Snow cover duration

Snow cover duration climatology

Core snow season length

Core snow season length climatology

Full snow season length

Snow persistence

Snow persistence climatology

Snow season persistence

Snow season persistence climatology

MODIS snow cover seasonality classification

Snow seasonality class climatology. 

One parameter that users may find particularly interesting is snow class climatology, which shows how much snow different areas of Earth have during the snow year. The snow year spans from October through the following September. The map, which comes with a default color scheme that can be changed to reflect individual needs like emphasizing specific data points or trends, increasing accessibility, and making visualizations more user-friendly, classifies areas as having: 

(0) No Snow

(1) Ephemeral Snow

(2) Transitional Snow

(3) Seasonal Snow

(4) Perennial Snow. 

It can be used to find out where snow is sometimes, always, or never. It can also be used to view the changes in snow over time. This information is valuable for water managers, policymakers, and scientists for a myriad of reasons. For example, because snow is white in color, it is highly reflective. The majority of the sun’s energy that hits snow is reflected back into space, helping to keep the planet cool. In addition, snow is a major water source for communities around the world. As the snowpack changes because of global warming, water managers need to be aware and ready with mitigation strategies.

This plot shows global snow class climatology, with no snow in red, ephemeral snow in orange, transitional snow in yellow, seasonal snow in green, and perennial snow in blue. — Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center

These data can be downloaded from the NSIDC DAAC and explored using various analysis or visualization tools such as Panoply or QGIS. With these two applications, users can zoom in or out, changing their focus from regional to global, alter the color schemes of the maps, and change the time period covered. They can also be used to compare each snow year from 2001 to 2023 to the average. Several tools can be used (e.g., software programs such as Python or R) to explore and analyze these data. 

Access data through the NSIDC DAAC

Users looking to work with NSIDC data are invited to explore our help articles, data tools, documentation, training, and on-demand support. 

Johnston, J.M., J.M. Jacobs, and E. Cho. 2024. MODIS/Terra Global Annual 0.01Deg CMG Snow Cover Climatology, Version 1. [Indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/9R1AM6NNZLTV. 

[hoodreader]

astrometeorology theories

astrometeorology is exactly what it sounds like: using planetary transits to predict weather & climate conditions. i’m new to it, but all of the coverage regarding the recent hurricanes (rest in peace everyone, i pray y’all get to safety in the affected locations) had me thinking… we should use astrology to protect ourselves during natural disasters or other dangerous weather conditions.

so this is part one. gradually, i hope to learn wayyy more! right now… we’re merely addressing different variations of weather.

sunniness strong sun. this doesn’t really need an explanation

wind the wind varies. mercury is wind, so i think u should read for aspects or conditions of mercury. moon to mercury will cause a chill. mars to mercury might cause a fast wind

rainless clouds saturn, being both dry and cold, obscures/blocks the sun without actually resulting in moisture… the gas giants overall might be able to be read for clouds anyways tho?

rain the moon is moisture. aspects between moon and other planets will determine the type of rain, for example, moon-saturn can be a drizzle. moon-jupiter/moon-neptune may be a downpour/heavy rain?

fog neptune is wet and obscuring so i think neptune itself is the planet of fog. i feel like saturn-jupiter or saturn-neptune is what indicates fog just bc saturn represents low things; things close to the earth & clouds are jupiter/neptune. neptune adds wetness & moisture… maybe moon-neptune or moon-jupiter can be an indication of fog

snow snow is both cold and wet. so moon (cold & wet) is indicated here. the weakness of the sun in the chart (sun as the sun aspecting malefics especially saturn, or being in detriment) can show snow (the heat of the sun is was prevents snowfall. lack of heat = snow). as snow is just frozen rain, the astrological conditions which correlate to rain can be read for snow however they must also have the conditions that cause frozenness. saturn freezes things, as it is traditionally the furthest from the sun. but u may also possibly read frozen things for pluto too, pluto is largely ice & it’s the only solid outer planet as well as it is modernly the furthest from the sun

rain storm we addressed that rainfall would be the moon. but a storm of rain would be read with uranus as a storm is an atmospheric disturbance and uranus does disturb. i can also see jupiter, bc it is known for its eternal storm. so moon-uranus or moon-jupiter can be read as a storm of wetness[?]. jupiter can be used to interpret the presence of thunder or lightning. i also see mars bc storms are defined as ‘violent.’ so moon-mars but with jovial influence nonetheless (like a moon-mars conjunction in pisces) but that could be read for any water related disaster

snow storm essentially, as i stated above, influence of uranus over what would indicate snowfall can result in a storm. mars as well, mars is also a cold planet in hellenistic however the condition of mars needs to cause coldness instead of warmth. uranus-saturn, uranus-moon in saturnian signs or with saturnian influence, etc

hail the indications are similar to that of snow. maybe stronger mars or uranus with saturn

floods flooding is going to be plutonic, neptunian, and lunar. as moon is what we read for moisture, read the moon’s conditions to understand the degree of moisture. uranus simply shows things we are unprepared for. pluto is where things are overbearing. neptune causes water disasters. jupiter causes abundance

tornado saturn and mercury maybe..? saturn is the planet of cycles and spinning things so maybe. i also see uranus and mercury. a tornado is a storm of clouds so that’s why i say that lol… tbh uranus will be read for any storm relating to wind. there’s a variation in temperature which causes the vortex so i think the sun is significant though i’m unsure how to connect that

tropical depressions, tropical storms, & hurricanes again, water disasters will be neptune. uranus is storms, especially storms of the sky.

tropical storms are no joke!!! so let’s stay together and stay educated: gofundme “how to help people affected by hurricanes” & gofundme for directly aiding helene victims! if you send a donation to the gofundme of a marginalized helene victim (at least $5USD) and send proof, i’ll provide a mini chart reading for u (word count: 1000-2000) 🤍 also, my general readings are open so if u want to just get a reading lmk, i’ll donate 25% to helene relief.

** marginalized people are the most disposed during the event of a natural disaster, war, or disease… so this is why i specify them. marginalization included but is not limited to blackness, queerness, and disability. **

please dm with inquiries! i hope this post was interesting.

[bestworstcase]

This is apropos of nothing but I was curious about your approach to worldbuilding for your stories

i don’t really have A Method and to an extent it sort of Just Happens through an organic process of thinking about how things work in the real world and why and what conditions exist in the fictional world and how that might change things. 

for example i have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about fortifications in TDT/burnt roses because, historically, the purpose of any fortification is to defend against an attacking group of other people; so e.g. until the advent of explosive artillery you do not see a lot of fortifications being built with robust overhead protection—because it wasn’t needed. 

so, what do fortifications look like in a world where the primary threat is monsters, some of whom can fly, and some of whom can burrow underground? we haven’t gotten there in the story yet but there’s a bastion fort with anti-bird spikes twice the size of the average human lining the top of every wall, to deter nevermores. and that sort of detail just comes from thinking about okay, this is a fort that was built with human warfare in mind (pre-great war) in a place that had at the time minimal grimm presence but is presently the first line of defense against the grimm, the territory to the north having been lost during the war; how do they cheaply retrofit it to keep the giant monster birds from trying to nest on the bastions?

<- a lot of worldbuilding is just creating problems and thinking about how people might try to solve them.

the world itself is also a character, sort of: the world of bitter snow isn’t a planet, it’s the carcass of a dead cosmic god and that has implications for things like geography and climate (<- not shaped by plate tectonics and planetary spin but rather by magic and the form of the primordial god); the world of TDT is a planet with three moons, people figured out powered flight hundreds of years before they figured out travel by sea, and there’s an average of one volcanic eruption somewhere in the world daily. and then stuff just kind of ripples out from there

in terms of what goes in the story, that gets decided thematically and narratively / what is important for the readers to know? what do the characters know? what do the POV characters notice and what do they think about whatever? it’s like sculpting but with ideas

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Research team finds evidence of hydration on the asteroid Psyche

Using data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, a Southwest Research Institute-led team has confirmed hydroxyl molecules on the surface of the metallic asteroid Psyche. The presence of hydrated minerals suggests a complex history for Psyche, important context for the NASA spacecraft en route to this interesting asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter.

At about 140 miles in diameter, Psyche is one of the most massive objects in the main asteroid belt. Previous observations indicate that Psyche is a dense, largely metallic object that could be a leftover core from a planet that experienced a catastrophic collision. On Oct. 13, 2023, NASA launched the Psyche spacecraft, which is traveling 2.2 billion miles to arrive at the asteroid in August 2029.

"Using telescopes at different wavelengths of infrared light, the SwRI-led research will provide different but complementary information to what the Psyche spacecraft is designed to study," said SwRI's Dr. Tracy Becker, second author of a new Planetary Science Journal paper discussing these findings.

"Our understanding of solar system evolution is closely tied to interpretations of asteroid composition, particularly the M-class asteroids that contain higher concentrations of metal," said Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian's Dr. Stephanie Jarmak, the paper's lead author, who conducted much of this research while at SwRI. "These asteroids were initially thought to be the exposed cores of differentiated planetesimals, a hypothesis based on their spectral similarity to iron meteorites."

The Webb data points to hydroxyl and perhaps water on Psyche's surface. The hydrated minerals could result from external sources, including impactors. If the hydration is native or endogenous, then Psyche may have a different evolutionary history than current models suggest.

"Asteroids are leftovers from the planetary formation process, so their compositions vary depending on where they formed in the solar nebula," said SwRI's Dr. Anicia Arredondo, another co-author. "Hydration that is endogenous could suggest that Psyche is not the remnant core of a protoplanet. Instead, it could suggest that Psyche originated beyond the 'snow line,' the minimum distance from the sun where protoplanetary disk temperatures are low enough for volatile compounds to condense into solids, before migrating to the outer main belt."

However, the paper found the variability in the strength of the hydration features across the observations implies a heterogeneous distribution of hydrated minerals. This variability suggests a complex surface history that could be explained by impacts from carbonaceous chondrite asteroids thought to be very hydrated.

Understanding the location of asteroids and their compositions tells us how materials in the solar nebula were distributed and have evolved since formation. How water is distributed in our solar system will provide insight into the distribution of water in other solar systems, and because water is necessary for all life on Earth, will drive where to look for potential life, both in our solar system and beyond.

IMAGE: An SwRI-led team used NASA's Webb telescope, shown in the bottom right corner of this illustration, to confirm the presence of hydrated minerals on the surface of Psyche, a massive and heavily metallic body in the main asteroid belt. These findings suggest a complex history for this interesting asteroid, which many scientists think could be the remnant core of a protoplanet, including impacts with hydrated asteroids. Credit: Southwest Research Institute

[yaenvs3000w24]

Nature Interpretation through Music

The boundary between music and the natural world blurs, revealing a symphony of nature that uncovers an innate harmony linking Earth's rhythms with our musical compositions. My recent exploration into how music interprets nature has uncovered the deep interconnection between these two realms, each reflecting the essence of the other.

Nature's orchestra, from the whispering winds in the trees to the rhythmic waves against the shore, inspires countless artworks. These sounds forge our connection with Earth, evoking emotions and memories that transcend cultural and linguistic barriers. Similarly, music, with its capacity to convey complex emotions and stories, offers a unique way to interpret and connect with nature. Music serves as a universal language, reflecting the diversity and complexity of life and our shared experiences.

Music is found in nature, and nature is often mirrored in music. The two need one another. The sad cry of a dusk loon, the raw orchestra of a rainforest, and the quiet hush of falling snow, all nature's works have sparked the imaginations of countless artists. Music often tries to echo these natural noises. It creates tunes that take its listeners right into the wild. It helps to boost our bond with nature.

"Country Roads" by John Denver is an instant ticket to the outdoors for me. Its tune stirs up a longing for home. The song connects me deeply to a unique place. It brings to mind gentle hills, curving roads, and the calm beauty of rural areas. The song, rooted in a profound respect for nature, exemplifies how music can bridge our environmental consciousness, urging reflection on our planetary relationship and the importance of preserving its beauty for future generations.

This exploration reveals the reciprocal presence of music in nature and nature in music, emphasizing the significant impact of this relationship on our appreciation and admiration for the surrounding world. By integrating music into our engagement with nature, we deepen our appreciation for the land's beauty and complexity.

Drawing on insights from recent research, it's evident that music and nature's interconnectedness spans across species and cultures. The songs of humpback whales, structurally similar to human and bird songs, showcase nature's innate musicality (Gray et al., 2001). These marine mammals compose using rhythms and themes that mirror human music, demonstrating a universal capacity for musical expression that transcends species. Additionally, birds' songs exhibit rhythmic effects and melodic patterns found in human music, suggesting a shared evolutionary heritage of musical tradition (Gray et al., 2001).

This inquiry into nature's musicality not only broadens our comprehension of the universe, but also sheds light on the universal language of music. As we explore deeper into nature's symphony, we discover the profound links that bind us together, reminding us of our joint obligation to respect and safeguard this planet for future generations.

References:

Gray, P. M., Krause, B., Atema, J., Payne, R., Krumhansl, C., & Baptista, L. (2001). The Music of Nature and the Nature of Music. Science, 291(5501), 52. https://link-gale-com.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/apps/doc/A69270354/AONE?u=guel77241&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=fb9366a8

Hooykaas, A. (2024). Unit 7: Nature interpretation through music. University of Guelph. https://courselink.uoguelph.ca/d2l/le/content/858004/viewContent/3640021/View

[snehagoogle]

Within that thick belt

Within that thick belt, which stretches from about 330 million kilometers from the Sun to 478.7 million kilometers, there must be occasional collisions between fast-moving and slow-moving asteroids.

Doesn't the disturbance of Mars or the solar system occur due to the bodies scattered from the asteroid belt?

Do comets or asteroids scattered from the asteroid belt set off a chain of collisions in the solar system?

Yes, asteroids scattered from the asteroid belt, primarily due to the gravitational influence of Jupiter, can set off chain reactions of collisions within the solar system, where one collision can produce debris that then collides with other objects, creating a cascade of impacts across different planetary regions; this is especially true in the early stages of solar system formation when the density of objects was much higher. 

Key points about this phenomenon: 

Jupiter's role:

Jupiter's strong gravity significantly affects the asteroid belt, often flinging asteroids out of their original orbits and potentially towards other planets or moons. 

Collision fragments:

When asteroids collide, they break apart into smaller fragments which can then collide with other objects, creating a chain reaction. 

Impact craters:

Evidence of these collisions can be seen on planets and moons as impact craters. 

Comets and chain reactions:

While comets can also collide with other objects, their highly elliptical orbits make them less likely to initiate sustained chain reactions within the asteroid belt compared to asteroids. 

Asteroid Belts at Just the Right Place are Friendly to Life

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (.gov)

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov › news › asteroid-belts-at-just-...

1 Nov 2012 — Asteroid Belts at Just the Right Place are Friendly to Life

Solar systems with life-bearing planets may be rare if they are dependent on the presence of asteroid belts of just the right mass, according to a new study.

PASADENA, Calif. -- Solar systems with life-bearing planets may be rare if they are dependent on the presence of asteroid belts of just the right mass, according to a study by Rebecca Martin, a NASA Sagan Fellow from the University of Colorado in Boulder, and astronomer Mario Livio of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md.

They suggest that the size and location of an asteroid belt, shaped by the evolution of the sun's planet-forming disk and by the gravitational influence of a nearby giant Jupiter-like planet, may determine whether complex life will evolve on an Earth-like planet.

This might sound surprising because asteroids are considered a nuisance due to their potential to impact Earth and trigger mass extinctions. But an emerging view proposes that asteroid collisions with planets may provide a boost to the birth and evolution of complex life.

Asteroids may have delivered water and organic compounds to the early Earth. According to the theory of punctuated equilibrium, occasional asteroid impacts might accelerate the rate of biological evolution by disrupting a planet's environment to the point where species must try new adaptation strategies.

The astronomers based their conclusion on an analysis of theoretical models and archival observations, including infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

"Our study shows that only a tiny fraction of planetary systems observed to date seem to have giant planets in the right location to produce an asteroid belt of the appropriate size, offering the potential for life on a nearby rocky planet," said Martin, the study's lead author. "Our study suggests that our solar system may be rather special."

The findings will appear today in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.

Martin and Livio suggest that the location of an asteroid belt relative to a Jupiter-like planet is not an accident. The asteroid belt in our solar system, located between Mars and Jupiter, is a region of millions of space rocks that sits near the "snow line," which marks the border of a cold region where volatile material such as water ice is far enough from the sun to remain intact. When Jupiter formed just beyond the snow line, its powerful gravity prevented nearby material inside its orbit from coalescing and building planets.

Instead, Jupiter's influence caused the material to collide and break apart. These fragmented rocks settled into an asteroid belt around the sun.

"To have such ideal conditions you need a giant planet like Jupiter that is just outside the asteroid belt [and] that migrated a little bit, but not through the belt," Livio explained. "If a large planet like Jupiter migrates through the belt, it would scatter the material. If, on the other hand, a large planet did not migrate at all, that, too, is not good because the asteroid belt would be too massive. There would be so much bombardment from asteroids that life may never evolve."

Using our solar system as a model, Martin and Livio proposed that asteroid belts in other solar systems would always be located approximately at the snow line. To test their proposal, Martin and Livio created models of planet-forming disks around young stars and calculated the location of the snow line in those disks based on the mass of the central star.

They then looked at all the existing space-based infrared observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope of 90 stars having warm dust, which could indicate the presence of an asteroid belt-like structure. The temperature of the warm dust was consistent with that of the snow line. "The warm dust falls right onto our calculated snow lines, so the observations are consistent with our predictions," Martin said.

The duo then studied observations of the 520 giant planets found outside our solar system. Only 19 of them reside outside the snow line. This suggests that most of the giant planets that may have formed outside the snowline have migrated too far inward to preserve the kind of slightly dispersed asteroid belt needed to foster enhanced evolution of life on an Earth-like planet near the belt. Apparently, less than four percent of the observed systems may actually harbor such a compact asteroid belt.

"Based on our scenario, we should concentrate our efforts to look for complex life in systems that have a giant planet outside of the snow line," Livio said.

The Sagan Fellowship Program is administered by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., whose purpose is to advance the scientific and technical goals of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program. The Exoplanet Exploration Program is managed for NASA by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

More information about exoplanets and NASA's planet-finding program is at http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov .

JPL manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech.

For more information about Spitzer, visit http://spitzer.caltech.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer .

News Media Contact

Whitney Clavin

Caltech

626-395-1944

wclavin@caltech.edu

Cheryl S. Gundy

410-338-4707

gundy@stsci.edu

2012-345

By the way, Earth itself is also a Trojan

Well, after Earth, there is the paradise of Mars

Translate Hindi

सूर्य से लगभग 330 मिलियन किलोमीटर दूर से 478.7 मिलियन किलोमीटर दूर तक क�� वो मोटी बेल्ट के अदर द्रुत दौड़ने वाली और धीरे दौड़ने वाली क्षुद्रग्रहों के बीच शायद कभी कभार टक्कर तो जरूर बनता होगा

क्या मंगल ग्रह या सौरमंडल में हलचल वाली परेशानी पैदा नहीं होता है क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट में से बिखड़ने वाले पिंडों के कारण

क्या क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट में से बिखड़ने वाले धूमकेतू या क्षुद्रग्रह सौरमंडल में टक्कर का सिलसिला कायम करता है

हां, क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट से बिखरे हुए क्षुद्रग्रह, मुख्य रूप से बृहस्पति के गुरुत्वाकर्षण प्रभाव के कारण, सौर मंडल के भीतर टकराव की श्रृंखलाबद्ध प्रतिक्रियाओं को शुरू कर सकते हैं, जहां एक टकराव से मलबा उत्पन्न हो सकता है जो फिर अन्य वस्तुओं से टकराता है, जिससे विभिन्न ग्रह क्षेत्रों में प्रभावों का एक झरना बनता है; यह सौर मंडल के निर्माण के शुरुआती चरणों में विशेष रूप से सच है जब वस्तुओं का घनत्व बहुत अधिक था।

इस घटना के बारे में मुख्य बिंदु:

बृहस्पति की भूमिका:

बृहस्पति का मजबूत गुरुत्वाकर्षण क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट को महत्वपूर्ण रूप से प्रभावित करता है, जो अक्सर क्षुद्रग्रहों को उनकी मूल कक्षाओं से बाहर फेंक देता है और संभावित रूप से अन्य ग्रहों या चंद्रमाओं की ओर ले जाता है।

टकराव के टुकड़े:

जब क्षुद्रग्रह टकराते हैं, तो वे छोटे टुकड़ों में टूट जाते हैं जो फिर अन्य वस्तुओं से टकरा सकते हैं, जिससे एक श्रृंखलाबद्ध प्रतिक्रिया बनती है।

प्रभाव क्रेटर:

ग्रहों और चंद्रमाओं पर प्रभाव क्रेटर के रूप में इन टकरावों के साक्ष्य देखे जा सकते हैं।

धूमकेतु और श्रृंखला अभिक्रियाएँ:

जबकि धूमकेतु अन्य वस्तुओं से भी टकरा सकते हैं, उनकी अत्यधिक अण्डाकार कक्षाएँ उन्हें क्षुद्रग्रहों की तुलना में क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट के भीतर निरंतर श्रृंखला अभिक्रियाएँ शुरू करने की कम संभावना बनाती हैं।

बिल्कुल सही जगह पर क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट जीवन के लिए अनुकूल हैं

NASA जेट प्रोपल्शन लेबोरेटरी (.gov)

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov › news › asteroid-belts-at-just-...

1 नवंबर 2012 — बिल्कुल सही जगह पर क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट जीवन के लिए अनुकूल हैं

एक नए अध्ययन के अनुसार, जीवन देने वाले ग्रहों वाले सौर मंडल दुर्लभ हो सकते हैं यदि वे बिल्कुल सही द्रव्यमान वाले क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट की उपस्थि��ि पर निर्भर हैं।

पासाडेना, कैलिफ़ोर्निया -- बोल्डर में कोलोराडो विश्वविद्यालय से नासा सागन फेलो रेबेका मार्टिन और बाल्टीमोर, मैरीलैंड में स्पेस टेलीस्कोप साइंस इंस्टीट्यूट के खगोलशास्त्री मारियो लि��ियो के एक अध्ययन के अनुसार, जीवन देने वाले ग्रहों वाले सौर मंडल दुर्लभ हो सकते हैं यदि वे सही द्रव्यमान के क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट की उपस्थिति पर निर्भर हैं। वे सुझाव देते हैं कि क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट का आकार और स्थान, जो सूर्य की ग्रह-निर्माण डिस्क के विकास और पास के विशाल बृहस्पति जैसे ग्रह के गुरुत्वाकर्षण प्रभाव से आकार लेता है, यह निर्धारित कर सकता है कि पृथ्वी जैसे ग्रह पर जटिल जीवन विकसित होगा या नहीं। यह आश्चर्यजनक लग सकता है क्योंकि क्षुद्रग्रहों को पृथ्वी को प्रभावित करने और बड़े पैमाने पर विलुप्त होने की उनकी क्षमता के कारण एक उपद्रव माना जाता है। लेकिन एक उभरता हुआ दृष्टिकोण प्रस्तावित करता है कि ग्रहों के साथ क्षुद्रग्रह टकराव जटिल जीवन के जन्म और विकास को बढ़ावा दे सकता है। क्षुद्रग्रहों ने प्रारंभिक पृथ्वी पर पानी और कार्बनिक यौगिक पहुँचाए होंगे। विरामित संतुलन के सिद्धांत के अनुसार, कभी-कभी क्षुद्रग्रहों के टकराने से किसी ग्रह के पर्यावरण में व्यवधान उत्पन्न हो सकता है, जिससे जैविक विकास की दर में तेज़ी आ सकती है। इस हद तक कि प्रजातियों को नई अनुकूलन रणनीतियों को आजमाना होगा। खगोलविदों ने नासा के स्पिट्जर स्पेस टेलीस्कोप से अवरक्त डेटा सहित सैद्धांतिक मॉडल और अभिलेखीय टिप्पणियों के विश्लेषण के आधार पर अपना निष्कर्ष निकाला।

अध्ययन के मुख्य लेखक मार्टिन ने कहा, "हमारे अध्ययन से पता चलता है कि आज तक देखे गए ग्रह प्रणालियों के केवल एक छोटे से हिस्से में ही विशाल ग्रह हैं जो उचित आकार के क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट का निर्माण करने के लिए सही स्थान पर हैं, जो पास के चट्टानी ग्रह पर जीवन की संभावना प्रदान करते हैं।" "हमारा अध्ययन बताता है कि हमारा सौर मंडल काफी खास हो सकता है।" निष्कर्ष आज रॉयल एस्ट्रोनॉमिकल सोसाइटी के मासिक नोटिस में दिखाई देंगे: पत्र। मार्टिन और लिवियो सुझाव देते हैं कि बृहस्पति जैसे ग्रह के सापेक्ष क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट का स्थान कोई दुर्घटना नहीं है। हमारे सौर मंडल में क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट, मंगल और बृहस्पति के बीच स्थित है, लाखों अंतरिक्ष चट्टानों का एक क्षेत्र है जो "हिम रेखा" के पास स्थित है, जो एक ठंडे क्षेत्र की सीमा को चिह्नित करता है जहाँ पानी की बर्फ जैसी अस्थिर सामग्री सूर्य से इतनी दूर है कि वह बरकरार रहती है। जब बृहस्पति बर्फ रेखा से थोड़ा आगे बना, तो उसके शक्तिशाली गुरुत्वाकर्षण ने इसकी कक्षा के अंदर आस-पास की सामग्री को एकत्रित होने और ग्रहों का निर्माण करने से रोक दिया। इसके बजाय, बृहस्पति के प्रभाव के कारण सामग्री टकरा गई और टूट गई। ये खंडित चट्टानें ��ूर्य के चारों ओर एक क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट ��ें बस गईं। "ऐसी आदर्श स्थितियों के लिए आपको बृहस्पति जैसे विशाल ग्रह की आवश्यकता होती है जो क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट के ठीक बाहर हो [और] जो थोड़ा सा विस्थापित हो, लेकिन बेल्ट के माध्यम से नहीं," लिवियो ने समझाया। "यदि बृहस्पति जैसा बड़ा ग्रह बेल्ट के माध्यम से विस्थापित होता है, तो यह सामग्री को बिखेर देगा। दूसरी ओर, यदि कोई बड़ा ग्रह बिल्कुल भी विस्थापित नहीं होता है, तो वह भी अच्छा नहीं है क्योंकि क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट बहुत विशाल होगा। क्षुद्रग्रहों से इतनी बमबारी होगी कि जीवन कभी विकसित नहीं हो सकता है।" हमारे सौर मंडल को एक मॉडल के रूप में उपयोग करते हुए, मार्टिन और लिवियो ने प्रस्तावित किया कि अन्य सौर मंडल में क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट हमेशा लगभग हिम रेखा पर स्थित होंगे। अपने प्रस्ताव का परीक्षण करने के लिए, मार्टिन और लिवियो ने युवा तारों के चारों ओर ग्रह बनाने वाली डिस्क के मॉडल बनाए और केंद्रीय तारे के द्रव्यमान के आधार पर उन डिस्क में हिम रेखा के स्थान की गणना की। फिर उन्होंने स्पिट्जर स्पेस टेलीस्कोप से 90 सितारों के सभी मौजूदा अंतरिक्ष-आधारित अवरक्त अवलोकनों को देखा, जिनमें गर्म धूल थी, जो क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट जैसी संरचना की उपस्थिति का संकेत दे सकती थी। गर्म धूल का तापमान हिम रेखा के तापमान के अनुरूप था। मार्टिन ने कहा, "गर्म धूल सीधे हमारी गणना की गई हिम रेखाओं पर गिरती है, इसलिए अवलोकन हमारे पूर्वानुमानों के अनुरूप हैं।" इसके बाद दोनों ने हमारे सौर मंडल के बाहर पाए गए 520 विशाल ग्रहों के अवलोकन का अध्ययन किया। उनमें से केवल 19 हिम रेखा के बाहर रहते हैं। इससे पता चलता है कि हिम रेखा के बाहर बनने वाले अधिकांश विशाल ग्रह, बेल्ट के पास पृथ्वी जैसे ग्रह पर जीवन के उन्नत विकास को बढ़ावा देने के लिए आवश्यक थोड़े बिखरे हुए क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट को संरक्षित करने के लिए बहुत दूर अंदर की ओर चले गए हैं। जाहिर है, देखे गए सिस्टम में से चार प्रतिशत से भी कम वास्तव में इस तरह के कॉम्पैक्ट क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट को आश्रय दे सकते हैं। लिवियो ने कहा, "हमारे परिदृश्य के आधार पर, हमें उन प्रणालियों में जटिल जीवन की तलाश करने के लिए अपने प्रयासों को केंद्रित करना चाहिए, जिनमें हिम रेखा के बाहर एक विशाल ग्रह है।" सागन फेलोशिप प्रोग्राम को कैलिफोर्निया के पासाडेना में कैलिफोर्निया इंस्टीट्यूट ऑफ टेक्नोलॉजी में नासा एक्सोप्लेनेट साइंस इंस्टीट्यूट द्वारा प्रशासित किया जाता है, जिसका उद्देश्य नासा के एक्सोप्लेनेट एक्सप्लोरेशन प्रोग्राम के वैज्ञानिक और तकनीकी लक्ष्यों को आगे बढ़ाना है। नासा के लिए एक्सोप्लेनेट एक्सप्लोरेशन प्रोग्राम का प्रबंधन कैलिफोर्निया के पासाडेना में नासा की जेट प्रोपल्शन प्रयोगशाला द्वारा किया जाता है। कैलटेक नासा के लिए जेपीएल का प्रबंधन करता है।

एक्सोप्लेनेट और नासा के ग्रह-खोज कार्यक्रम के बारे में अधिक जानकारी http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov पर है।

जेपीएल नासा के विज्ञान मिशन निदेशालय, वाशिंगटन के लिए ��्पिट्जर स्पेस टेलीस्कोप मिशन का प्रबंधन करता है। विज्ञान संचालन कैलटेक में स्पिट्जर विज्ञान केंद्र में किए जाते हैं। डेटा को कैलटेक में इन्फ्रारेड प्रोसेसिंग और एनालिसिस सेंटर में रखे गए इन्फ्रारेड साइंस आर्काइव में संग्रहीत किया जाता है।

स्पिट्जर के बारे में अधिक जानकारी के लिए, http://spitzer.caltech.edu और http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer पर जाएँ।

समाचार मीडिया संपर्क

व्हिटनी क्लेविन

कैलटेक

626-395-1944

wclavin@caltech.edu

चेरिल एस. गुंडी

410-338-4707

gundy@stsci.edu

2012-345

वैसे खुद पृथ्वी भी तो ट्रोजन ही है

खैर पृथ्वी के बाद ही है मंगल ग्रह की जन्नत

[ammg-old2]

Cracks, crusts and ridges in Martian sand dunes point to the presence of water near the planet’s equator as recently as 400,000 years ago, according to an analysis of data from China’s Zhurong rover, published in the journal Science Advances.

While the rover did not gather any direct evidence of water, the findings suggest that liquid water may have flowed in this region of the Red Planet much closer to the present than previously thought.

“We’ve seen these features before,” Aditya Khuller, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who did not participate in the research, tells Science News’ Allison Gasparini. “But they’re usually much older.”

Water in some forms does exist in and around Mars today. The planet’s atmosphere contains small amounts of water vapor, for example. Mars also has water ice caps at its poles, and salty water may sometimes flow down hillsides and crater walls, according to NASA. During the Martian winter, water frost may form, and water-based snowflakes drift through the atmosphere, turning to gas before they hit the ground.

Scientists also think that bodies of water once existed on Mars’ surface, but they evaporated billions of years ago.

Currently, China’s Zhurong rover is not communicating with Earth, as dust has likely coated its solar panels, starving it of energy. But for the study, scientists examined data the rover had already collected in Utopia Planitia, a basin north of Mars’ equator where it landed in May 2021. For nine months, the rover studied the structure and chemical makeup of four sand dunes around its landing site.

The rover found depressions, ridges and cracks on the surface that could not be explained by wind, which would have eroded the crust instead of creating these features. And frost made from carbon dioxide could not be the cause, since it wouldn’t have formed that close to the equator.

Instead, the team hypothesizes that water vapor condensed as frost and snow on the surface of the dunes, then melted when it mixed with sand. High temperatures during Martian mornings would have evaporated that salty water, leaving salt and minerals that combined with the planet’s sand to create a hard crust, writes Space.com’s Sharmila Kuthunur. With more heat, this crust eventually cracked.

The paper estimates that the dunes’ geological features formed 1.4 million to 400,000 years ago, suggesting that Mars’ climate at that time could have been more humid than previously thought, the authors write.

The dunes’ geological features indirectly show that liquid water could have existed when they formed, Manasvi Lingam, an astrobiologist at the Florida Institute of Technology who did not contribute to the research, tells USA Today’sTerry Collins.

“The phenomenon was documented at one site, but it should be applicable to a fairly large fraction of Mars’ surface at similar latitudes,” Lingam tells Space.com.

The study provides “evidence that there may be a wider distribution of this process on Mars than previously identified,” Mary Bourke, who studies Mars’ geology at Trinity College Dublin and did not participate in the study, tells Marcia Dunn of the Associated Press.

Since Mars’ atmospheric conditions today are similar to those of 400,000 years ago, the findings suggest liquid salt water may currently exist near the equator, Xiaoguang Qin, a co-author of the study and a geologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, tells Science News. As space agencies on Earth turn their attention to the Red Planet, such water sources would be crucial for future Mars-bound astronauts.

[helpinghandsrpc]

literary sexts vol. 2 poetry meme

PART ONE

Inspired by the Vol 1 meme by @lizzyisameme , I have decided to make an unofficial sequel with various quotes from Literary Sexts Vol 2, found here on Amazon, as edited by Amanda Oaks & Caitlyn Siehl. As always, if you like what you read, please consider supporting the authors and buying the book yourself! 

Not all poems from the book will be found here, as this is only from the first half, and I’m still leaving a good chunk out. A second meme may be in the works to cover  some of the last half.

Content warning for some religious themes and imagery. 

The waters are rising. We build a submarine from scrap metal and blown glass. The land is eaten by the sea. We love in the entrails of our metal beast rough and water-rocked, four-limbed creature of the deep. 

Our orthodoxy is a fistful of bedsheet, and me on my knees before your alter of flesh and salt.

We slip our clothes off, slide carefully through the yard’s dripping body. Snow melts under warmth. Air licks legs. We are fresh want. 

I want you to take a deep drag from me. I want you to pull me apart like a wishbone and whisper my name like it’ll save you.

And then there’s the path we followed, the tree that helped me hold you while we kissed minutes at a time - so sure the earth would swallow us whole. 

There are groaning pine trees outside of my house and I can hear them breathing. There are words inside of you that spilled out of my mouth and I can feel them fluttering in your chest, all shaky: “I love you, I love you, touch me.”

I stumbled to your thighs - pink sunset hills of no man’s land. Let me get lost. Let me bring you alive.

I want you graffitied in the color of my lipstick - tag every contour of your ribs with the words, “GOD IS DEAD BUT HE STILL SAVED ME. HE WAS REBORN IN THE SOFTNESS OF YOUR SKIN.”

I think I still look for you on the tip of strangers’ tongues like a word that I know the meaning of but can never remember how to spell.

If you’re dark inside, I’ll open the windows, & we’ll be golden drenched. Outside, the grass aches for the backs of your knees. I’ll lay you down on honey colored. I’ll tell you the sun peaks. I’ll show you how. 

If you were here, I’d drive you to Sweetheart Circle. We’d eat fruit salad from a big bowl. Come here, tell me again about the time we kissed, how we tumbled through the October night. 

You, my dark pocket of spinning, my deep joy against the side of your carport; tonight under the fool moon I long for your brutal pull. I want to not-touch until our hearts explode. 

Open your mouth, all wet green trees and lightning inside, touch yourself storm in an endless sky. 

Our bed is desert; we meet each other with sand-filled mouths and find 100 different places that are synonymous with “oasis”.

The first time I saw you, I remembered you. Your presence was planetary, I was caught in your orbit. How long did we circle, dancing, before we realigned? 

I am becoming bilingual; I understand the language of your hands as if it was my native tongue. You are my Tower of Babel.

I watch you laugh with the sunlight spilling through your teeth; you throw your head back and suddenly I am covered in morning. 

The warm lift of water and your arms, the hiss and pull of ragged breathing beneath a slivered moon, stifled against your neck. Your eyes.

I crave your breath. Your eyes, firelight on velvety cave walls. Your smile, the sun through October leaves. You move like the heartbeat of a mountain.

It is the ozone of you. The sea salt spray and crashing waves of you. The thunderous cloudbank of you, rolling over me. Pulling my tides.

I am baptized in your water eyes. My body is new again in the river of you. 

I live inside the second before we kissed for the first time all day, lips barely brushing, breath against breath, hunger burning like a million linked stars pulsating, close to death, under my skin. 

Our soft bodies in my tiny bed. Our teeth tap dancing while your left leg dangles above the floor. Your clumsy mouth is my favorite place to laugh into. 

Let’s order one last round and kiss in front of god and the rest of the drunks, then pour ourselves out into the night, following the moon anywhere but home. 

[thechembow]

Operation Canadian Mongoose

Aug. 7, 2022 - by Shelly Bonneau

Editor’s note: Occasionally, a fellow orgonite gifter shares photos for this blog. This time, the photos came with an awesome written account! Coincidentally, Shelly was gifting on a large scale in Saskatchewan while we worked in Utah. Being an unorganized network, we didn’t know that we were both engaged in massive strikes against the weather weaponry at the same time in two very strategic locations. This may have something to do with the wild weather in North America this week, with rain records being shattered across the continent, and even a snow storm for Alaska.. in August!

First day/night (Saturday, July 30th) was in Saskatoon, gifting along the way, taking notes of the northbound towers I would get on the way back. You know from gifting cities that the amount of panels on top of buildings is astounding. I was a bit over whelmed at first, but then determination set in and I became very friendly with alleys. I knew the city fairly well; it's three hours south of us and it's the "city" to go to when anything "upscale" is needed. The better medical care (not anymore mind you), shopping and eating, etc. Then I headed east on 16 and then south on 6 to the capital of Saskatchewan, Regina, gifting along the way. When I got into Regina, I was immediately struck with how awful I felt. Nauseated, headachy and it was like my head was swimming a bit. It's almost like the TBs were going to work in the car, they couldn't wait to get out and go to work! I spent my second night (Sunday, July 31st) in Regina. And after my last gifting of a retirement apartment complex that had many panels on it, I treated myself to The Milkyway ice cream joint. There were lines at each of the three windows so it promised to be good. The best part was making small talk with a young mom with two rowdy young boys. She told the youngest to watch for lightning. My ears perked up and I asked if rain was expected (snort) and she shrugged saying, "The clouds have been weird today." I smiled. And then I really sensed something. I think I was in “go” mode and when she said that, other senses kicked in while other ones relaxed. When I got back to my hotel, I opened my curtains in my room (4th floor) and watched the storm roll in. I took pics and videos. It lit up the sky. I squealed in delight and kept uttering “WOW” as I chatted with my hubby back home. It's so humbling to be a part of this planetary healing. Monday (August 1st), I left Regina and headed home, by way of Moose Jaw. And though I only gifted three towers, I was almost in tears, seeing the remains of the storm the night before, all the puddles. The farmers have said this area had not received much rain the last two years. Here in much of SK, they don’t have farm irrigation. Whatever falls from the sky is what the farmers rely on to water their crops. I gifted up through Davidson, which is a town a friend said is in need of rain for their crops. This trip is different from my May 2020 trip to Washington State. That was my first big gifting trip and I was encouraged experiencing the torrential rains after the energy flipped, seeing my first chembow and black helicopters. This trip also had many firsts. This time, I especially felt the presence of the birds. I saw crows and magpies a LOT. They seemed to direct me and be there when I was leaving an area and I was distinctly aware of their “voices.” And I saw four... FOUR jack rabbits and twice it was in the city! Well, the burbs, but still, in Saskatoon and Regina both! And let’s not forget the storm Sunday evening. So, I really sensed a love from nature this trip. Flying solo, there’s only so much one can do and being a time frame to do it in. Luckily, with many towers along the highway, I was able to toss some from the car (remembering to roll down the passenger window before throwing!) and only went off the highway if it looked like the towers were less than 20 minutes down a road. I didn’t get to all the towers I saw, but I felt peaceful that there was more help for the Earth than before. The TBs would do their work. I was just the willing taxi for them. I did almost get “caught.” Before I turned off the highway to what looked like a short road to the tower, there was a car that came out to the highway from the road. No biggie, cars pull off to rest in these spots. But, as soon as I turned off, I discovered a shared driveway. I quickly tossed my TB, turned around and just as I was getting back onto the highway, the car came back. It was their property next to the tower and wondered what I was doing. I immediately went into “Where am I?” lost traveler mode! Which, was true, I wasn’t sure where I was. So, it’s helpful to have a camera and map in the front seat. Lost traveler, nature lover, you can play many roles! We are doing covert work and sometimes, a “guise” is needed. Here's a few shots from my trip. I'm so glad it finally happened. I'd been saving TBs for two yrs! I took 120 and came back with ten. I didn't come across too many grey skies. The clouds were stunning, so the OR was pretty high, it just needed a little boost I think.  Today is three days post trip and Alberta and Saskatchewan have seen torrential weather. Alberta was pummeled with the biggest hail they’ve ever had. And tonight a massive storm rolled thru Saskatchewan, with tornado alerts going off left, right and center.

I’ve shared with a few select friends that I may have had a hand in this. But, I know the earth is happier with the energy flip. Us, maybe not so much, as it flips. But, I will BUST ON.

[itsagrimm]

Changing tides

I. EBB

Walon Vau X OC

CN: violence, abuse, abuse of children, injury, mentions of blood, BAD mental health and teenage angst, mentions of contemplation of suicide, spiralling negative thoughts. also shameless amounts of damsel in distress

Mando’a translation at the end.

The alarm was loud, he knew that. But the adrenaline and the static rush in his ears made it a background noise he hardly noticed. Every imaginable screen and light flashed warnings at him. His hands were sweaty and shaky from the stress. Space was new. It was so different from the planetary horizon, from the sea, from home.

He gazed through the front. One planet was close, habitable according to his instruments.

His saving island.

He pushed a few buttons, making the spacecraft jerk forward under metallic protest and entered the atmosphere. It got hot. Desperately he tried to slow his descent. The machine only wheezed and gave out completely.

He bared his teeth into a grimace and concentrated. Every ship, may it be for space or sea, worked the same in the end. He could steer manually if he managed to unfold the solar sail wings. Wiping sweat off his face he ran into the back of the hull of the ship and grabbed a bar lying on the floor. He knew that the wings controlled the air flow when entering the atmosphere like an alba to sail through the air. Working from memory he started hammering against the hull wall where he placed the left folded wing. It took an entity before the hull cracked. Ignoring his tired protesting muscles, he reached into the crack and felt for the mechanical wing. It was hot from the burning freefall through the atmosphere but intact. With something between his strong muscles and sheer force of will, he pushed the wing and unfolded it. With a fluttering sound in the solar sail the wing stretched out and tensioned up from the headwind. He ran into the cockpit and checked the instruments. He had slowed the fall.

But not enough.

He ran back, picking up the bar and started hitting the right hull. His arms protested and the cold wind from the broken left-hull-side made him stumble. But he kept swinging the bar. He had to. He could not die here. The bar, already rusty and broken just like the rest of the ship, shattered into pieces. He did not even hesitate and started hammering against the hull with his own hands until there was blood. But he hardly made a dent in the enforced wall. He felt his hands seizing in pain but ignored it. He had to survive. He would not die like a lesser man.

Before he could make it through to the other wing, he felt a blow go through the ship. Everything became detached. In instinct he covered his head with his bleeding hands, feeling his body getting tossed around in the ship. Another blow. He kept his eyes closed to shield them from small debris and prayed that for once in his kriffing life he would get lucky. He needed to.

One last blow and he fell, his body battered and bruised. Carefully he opened his eyes and slowly started to move. He had blood on himself. But he could feel all his limbs. He felt no pain – yet. He knew he would, sooner than later. The ship had stopped moving. Winds were howling and snowflakes danced into the hull through the crack. He smelled ozone. Kriff. He started crawling out of the hull, tearing holes from the cracked metal into his clothes before collapsing on the snow. Behind him he heard the core of the spaceship imploding from the ozone leak. He tasted blood but ignored it and got on all fours again. He had to keep moving. He had to survive and return - to her. He would not die here. He was not going to allow himself to.

XXXXX

- INVITATION FOR THE HONORABLE WALON VAU -

SON OF COUNT OF GESL

To celebrate PRINCESS MARITA OF ERIO’s 19th Birthday, a ceasefire between Gesl and Erio has been agreed on. It is with great joy that the princess coming of age will be celebrated with the beginnings of peace talks and dance.

Your presence would be of utmost importance and value to us.

XXXXX

He wakes up from the sound of someone wading through the deep snow. It’s cold. His torn clothes give little protection against the elements. Kriff, he doesn’t know if the clothes hold his shattered body together or the other way around.

The snow is painfully white in his eyes, and he squints at the figure approaching him and the wreckage of the ship, drawing his little fibro blade from his belt. Before he can call out, something jumps out of the snow and knocks him back. It has teeth and an inconceivable number of limbs blocking his every move and growls at him. He looks at the beast on top of him: golden fur, an unimaginable stench and patient eyes observing him.

“Mird! Ba’slanar!”

The Animal jumps off him and he stumbles up, his little knife ready and drawn.

The armored figure stands before him, the strange animal stalking in anticipation behind them.

“Who are you?” He calls out.

The Armored chuckles and a voice, modulated through the helmet, answers. “It takes guts to draw this ridiculously small toothpick of a knife against a Mandalorian.”

He eyes at the knife in his hand. Irmenu navy standard. Ideal to cut ropes and gutting fish, but hardly for a fight. He deepens his combat stance and looks back at the Armored before him.

“What are you going to do? Fight me with this? You can barely stand, ad’ika.” The Armored shakes their head in amusement. “Tell me instead, who are you and why I should not cut you down here?”

He bares his teeth. “I am Walon. My ship crashed. I had no intention of being here. It just was the best option when my engines gave out.”

“Walon, ey?” The armored looks back at the scrap-pile that is his ship. “A wonder you survived that. This ship looks ancient. Where are you from?”

“Irmenu.”

“My condolences. Point-no-more on Mandalore definitely is a step up from that miserable rock.”

“Can’t say I had a pleasant time here so far.”

The helmet leans to the side.

“Tell you what, Walon.” The Armored speaks. “Lower your little toothpick. You can’t fight me anyway. And you need help. You will bleed to death, or freeze to death, or one of the mountain lions will get you.”

He keeps his knife up.

“Why should I trust you?”

The golden animal stalks closer in anticipation of a fight.

“Di’kut. Because you have little choice. Lower your weapon.”

He hesitates. He needed to survive and the Armored was right. But Walon had his difficulty trusting a faceless stranger.

The furred animal stepped closer. Walon aimed his knife in its direction.

“Adi’ka, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. The strill is a kind animal but it would take you down and I don’t want to clean your blood out its precious fur.”

Walon’s eyes darted between the animal called a strill and the Armored. In panic and pain, he froze in his position, knife up.

“Alright then, adi’ka. I am getting impatient.”

Something blue washed over Walons vision and everything went black.

XXXXX

Walon, my love.

I miss you. It has been hours since the last time we saw each other. But it’s already too long ago. I am writing to you because paper is more patient. The governess rolls her eyes every time I mention you. I fear one day she rolls them too far back and they get stuck. Paper it is.

Papa is very busy. I haven’t seen him since the ball. But I will ask him about marriage plans for me once I do. Maybe I can convince him that it would be most beneficial for the Kingdom if it’s princess would marry the future Count of Gesl. I am sure you can only agree to my political scheming.

I love you and I long to be with you.

Mari

XXXXX

Walon woke up from a wet snout sniffling his face. He tried to move up, but pain made him fall back immediately.

He looked around. He was in a small but cosy hut. The animal with the golden furr was sitting next to a small cot where Walon was laid on, staring at him curiously. There was a fireplace with warm bright flames dancing in it and a pot above with something bubbling inside.

He looked down at his body and tried to move more carefully. He was stripped off his clothes and his wounds were bandaged. A simple blanket was keeping him warm.

A door opened and the armored figure entered from the snow, carrying wood inside.

“You’re awake. Finally, I started to worry you wouldn’t wake anymore and that I dragged you up the slope for nothing.” The armored said with that modulated voice.

Walon opened his mouth to say something, but he only managed a miserable croak.

“Don’t worry. We can have insightful conversations some other day. Let me help you.”

With that the armored removed their helmet and stepped to the pot. Walon’s eyes widened. The powerful armored warrior with the fearsome beast and reflexes like a predator was an elderly human woman. She laughed at his reaction and started pouring soup from the pot into a bowl.

“On Irmenu the old women might be pushed into submission and silence. On Mandalore however we all are shabla Mandalorians, and we stay so for life. Now, open your mouth. You need nourishment.”

Walon obeyed and the elder fed him the bowl of soup he couldn’t hold. After he was done, she got another bowl for him and helped him again.

He felt the tasty warmth of the liquid run through his body and a pleased moan escaped his lips before he fell asleep from exhaustion again.

He woke up to the familiar pain. His eyes darted through the hut. The strill, as the woman had called it, was rolled into a furry ball and soundly asleep making cute snoring sounds in front of the fireplace. The old woman was sitting in a chair next to it. She had gotten rid of her armor and was knitting. With her gray hair, simple clothing, and wrinkled face she nearly passed for an ordinary grandmother – except for the blaster at her hip.

Walon cleared his throat, testing his ability to speak.

“Feeling better?”, she continued knitting while looking at him.

“Hmmm.” He managed.

“Good.”

More knitting.

“I-“He tried with a raspy voice. “I don’t understand why you helped me. Thank you.”

She put down her knitting yarn.

“Adi’ka.” The woman said with a kindly scolding voice. “I saw that you are no danger for me or my people. You clearly were nothing but an unlucky traveler on your last leg. Your ship and equipment gave that away. Or at least what was left of it. For me you are nothing but a child in need. A foundling. And I follow my people’s way and protect the children in my care.”

“I’m not a child.”

Her eyes gleamed in amusement. “What are you? 18 years? 20? Shab. Please. You are a child to me. An Adi’ka.”

He tried to follow her explanation but couldn’t.

“What’s your clan’s name, adi’ka?” She asked.

“Vau. Walon Vau.”

“My pleasure, Walon Vau. Call me Amaia of Clan Mereel. Care for some soup, Walon?”

XXXXX

The clicking sounds of the broad receiver on the old two-master war ship woke up the captain. Tired he stumbled over to the table, fumbled with his glasses and started reading the little morse coded words.

-Beginning of message – stop - Alert – stop - Breach of ceasefire between Gesl and Erio - stop - All forces are called to caution – stop - Reserve Forces are ordered to their units - stop - may the saints bless and protect us from the storm - full stop - end of message-

XXXXX

It was cold outside. The snow crunched under his borrowed boots and the reflecting sun was painful in his eyes. Amaia was walking next to him. Slowly, supporting his weight and helping him walk after days of being indoors and bedridden. Despite his lanky height and presumably weight, she moved sturdy and unforgivingly just like her armor.

“I am taking too long to heal.”

She turned her head, only the reflecting visor facing him.

“Di’kut, you are lucky that you survived. What did you expect? To jump up and start running again?”

“I need to-“

She moved her elbow and slightly touched his side through his coat. Walon cried out in pain and stumbled, with clenched teeth he kept up and muffled and further cry. Only weak men cry.

“Proves my point, adi’ka. Look at you.” Amaia grumbled like a cat at her kitten. “You are in pieces. What you need to do is rest and heal up. You can’t do much else anyway.”

Walon closed his eyes and fought back the pain. His wounds, especially the one Amaia had touched, throbbed intensely. His mind swirled around, unable to think about anything else but the pain. And her.

As much as he hated to admit. Amaia was right. He had to heal first.

“Let’s go back, Walon.” Amaia called him back. “You start to look not just wounded but also like a frozen scarecrow. Let’s not add something fun like pneumonia or frostbites to your problems and get you into the warmth again.”

He nodded grimly and turned back to the hut barely meters behind them.

Feeling like he fought his body for every minuscule move, he started walking. Slowly.

Lord Mirdalan, the golden strill, purred at the sight of Amaia and Walon returning so fast, as if it was asking how their pathetically short walk went.

Walon nodded at the animal. He felt rude not to and collapsed back onto the cot. His body was tired as if he had marched for days. Yet Walon forced himself up again and started getting out of the borrowed boots and coat.

After he was done, he placed them in orderly fashion at the door and returned to his spot.

“Thank you for the clothes, Amaia.” He said, remembering his strict upbringing.

“You are welcome. They used to belong to my youngest. Was a scarecrow like you. But we’ll change that and get some good healthy fat on your thin frame.”

Walon nodded, unsure how to respond to that.

Amaia was looking at him, her helmet off.

“You are a strong lad, Walon.” She said. “Surviving a crash like that, standing up against me with your wounds, pushing yourself even now … it's reckless but that’s the mando spirit.”

“I don’t even know what the mando spirit is supposed to be?”

“The Mando spirit is the stuff that makes warriors strong, friends everlasting and parents …well, busy.”

Amaias words punched him in the gut in the least expected way.

“No.” He just replied. “My father said I wasn’t good enough.”

Amaia just raised her eyebrow.

“I was not born a Mandalorian. I was born a Vau on Irmenu. I am not enough.” He insisted.

“So what? Mandalorian is a way of life, not necessarily a birthright.”

“Those born Mandalorian are not considered Mandalorian?”

“If they don’t claim their heritage, then no. Everyone gets a choice.” Amaia sat down in her chair at the fire and started adding wood.

“I am not saying that you are or need to become anything.” She continued. “But I have seen many warriors, many Mando’ade in my life. You are enough and you are a fool not to believe me.”

Walon leaned back. The mention of his family and his constant disappointing was a harsh memory. On Irmenu he was the son of a Count. And yet he felt like the most miserable creature on that rock. Not good enough for his family. Not good enough to join the Navy according to his father. Barely good enough to be beaten over and over and over again for his many failures as the miserable existence that he was.

There was only one being on Irmenu that made his life bearable – her.

He would return to her. He would find a way.

Despite all his failures and weaknesses, he would free her.

Maybe, and Walon barely dared to consider it, Amaia was right and there was something useful and admirable in him.

XXXX

My Love

I fear for us. The war that brought us together threatens to part us again. Papa will never agree to a marriage between us now. The governess agreed to keep us a secret and will relay my letters to you. They are my lifeline in these wild waters.

Brother left the castle to take command of the western armada. And you too, I fear, will be called to battle sooner than later. My heart aches. As much as I know that you want to join the battles and that you consider it your duty, I only wish for you to be safe and with me. Forgive my selfishness but I am the one left behind wondering if my brother and my love are facing each other in fight.

Be safe, I beg of you my love, and return to me. We will find a way.

Love,

Mari

XXXXX

Mird jumped through the snow like a strilling seeing snow for the first time. Happy little whines and cries escaped the strills maw, always turning back to Walon and making sure the human was keeping up.

Weeks had passed. Walon had recovered enough to start moving on his own again, helping Amaia around the hut and exploring the area around their little home. The slope they lived on was covered in new snow, the trees were low and knotty. Their roots exposed by the howling wind and the ever-changing elements.

The young man made his way through the odd forest, further up the slope he had ever managed to climb.

“Wait for me!” He called after Mird and the strill howled in response.

Finally, they made it up and Walon stopped to look from the edge of the slope down into the next valley. It was full of the same low trees, covered in snow, and in the middle was the wreck of his ship. It was in pieces, most of it sooty and black from the implosion. Nothing but a pile of ash and garbage.

He felt a whimper escaping his lips and tears starting to flow.

How was he to make it back to Irmenu with his ship in shatters? How was he to save her? All the accumulated hope from the last days due to his rising strength and recovery, left him in one nearly suppressed sob.

He staggered and fell to his knees, finally crying.

All his efforts and all his pain were worth nothing if he was stuck here. He felt helpless, a failure, a waste of space.

He should just stay here and freeze to death.

A snout licked over his face.

Mird, the strill with its unbearable stench, nudged Walon as if to ask what was going on.

Walon closed his eyes, bracing himself against the stench so close to his face. It was like smelling salts forcing him to snap out of his dark spiraling thoughts and facing reality.

The strill licked him again and Walon groaned. It really was a stinky animal. With soft intelligent eyes.

He padded the strills head.

“Thank you, Mird.”

The strill pressed its head into Walons shoulder and rolling its golden body around him.

“Are you trying to hug me, Mird?”

The animal purred and licked over his face again, swiping away the last tears. Walon looked down into the valley at the shipwreck. Yes, it likely was unsalvable. But he would find another way. Like the strill surviving up here among the high frozen mountain peaks on Mandalore, he too would survive. And would be stronger for it.

“You are a good strill, Mird. Looking out for me.” Walon hesitated. Amaia spoke that other language with the golden fur bundle. “Mird-ika?”

The strill howled in delight and jumped around Walon before cuddling next to him into the snow, lifting its 6 legs and exposing its belly.

“You like that Mird-ika?” the young man scratched the strills soft warm underside. “Good Mird-ika! Yes, all the scratches for you, Mird.”

More howls and licks over Walons face.

“Oh Mird, you smelly lovely beast.”

The way back to the hut was easier. Walking down the slope with Mird ploughing through the snow and Walon following.

Amaia was at the hut, cutting wood from one of the small knotty trees. With her helmet and the armor on she looked nothing like the mouthy elder knitting socks in front of the fireplace.

“Amaia, can I help?”, Walon greeted and inquired.

She straightened up and looked at him before passing him the axe. “Here. But don’t overdo it. We have enough time and there is no need to rush. You are still not at your full strength.”

He nodded and started working.

“Hey Amaia, do you ever leave the slope?” He asked between his swings.

“Shab, of course I do. I and a few other loners guard this closed off area for my people during the cold months as requested by the Mand’alor. With the snow gone, I leave. No need to guard then. The weather is stable enough to check on the area from ship then.”

“Are there settlements where I could find passage back to Irmenu down the mountain?”

“Di-kut! Don’t you know anything about Mandalore? This is not a backwater planet. We are an ancient warrior and mercenary civilization. Of course, there are ships traveling to wherever you need to go. Shab, but why of all places do you want to go back to that sorry place? Looked like you nearly made it away from there last time.”

Walon stopped cutting the wood and turned to Amaia. Her expressionless visor stared at him

“I got exiled from Irmenu. But I need to return to save my fiancé. She got locked up because of me.”

Amaia tilted her head. “Oh. I wasn’t aware that the youths today are into lanky boys with messy hair. I would congratulate you on having a riduur, but it feels that is not the moment. Yet. Come inside. Let’s talk.”

The freshly cut wood fumed before catching fire. Mird sneezed and moved away from the fireplace. Walon sympathetically padded its head.

Amaia sat down on her spot in the comfortable chair and turned to him.

“Tell me about your fiancé, ad’ika.”

Walon swallowed and considered his words before speaking.

“I am the son of a count on Irmenu. She is a princess. We met during negotiations between our families to resolve a military conflict. The negotiations failed but we kept in touch, messaging and meeting secretly. And at some point, it just wasn’t us being friends or curious about someone else’s life anymore.”

He looked down, feeling himself blush at the memories.

“You fell in love with a woman out of your reach.” Amaia summed up without batting an eyelash.

“Yes.”, he confessed. “And I got exiled for it while she was locked up in a monastery.”

“Charming.”

They stayed silent for a moment until Amaia got up and grabbed an old bottle and 2 glasses.

“How about a drink, lad?”

Walon stared at Amaia in surprise. No one had ever reacted positively to his love for her. And now he got offered a drink, a blank expression and no insults.

He nodded.

And Amaia poured a strong-smelling spirit into both glasses.

“This is Tihaar.” She explained. “Drink it slowly.”

He took a sip and grimaced.

“Amaia, what is this? If you want me to go blind, just stab out my eyes and it will only be slightly faster than this pure ethanol.”

She took another sip and smiled at his reaction. “A hard drink for hard people having a tough talk. Also, I can’t have you blushing for your love when I need you to have a straight talk with me.”

He looked down at the glass again and took another sip.

“You want to get her out of that monastery?” Amaia asked.

“Yes, I promised her. But I saw the shipwreck today. No way that thing will fly again.”

“It’s a wonder it took off in the first place. Yeah, you will need a different ship.”

He nodded.

“Amaia, when will the snow melt? When can I get down from the mountains?”

She snorted. “Lad, you’ll have to learn how to be patient. The snow will not melt for another 4 months.”

He felt a knot in his stomach and he wasn’t sure if that came from the tihaar.

Amaia finished her drink with a curse and poured herself another.

“Drink.” She ordered. “It won’t help but the burn helps sharpen the mind for a moment.”

He obeyed, biting his tongue to distract himself from the horrible taste.

“Alright, adi’ka. Let’s talk balac.”

He raised his eyebrows in question.

Amaia grumbled.

“It’s hard to speak basic when the tihaar runs.” She mumbled. “I know the situation is not ideal for you. As much as I enjoy having some company here when guarding point-no-more, you need to get to you riddur, your… fiancé and save her. But you can’t due to the snow. You are stuck. And you are still weakened from your injury. And when you make it down the mountain, you have no money or skill to pay for a transport to Irmenu nor do you have the skills to get her out of there. It’s a shabla situation.”

“Yes, thanks Amaia for summarizing my sorry existence.” Walon replied sourly. The tihaar started to work and made him feel the anger slowly pushing away the sadness and self-pity.

��Patient Wa-ika. I wasn’t finished.” Amaia raised her glass. “You need to become more than you are right now. And I can show you how. I can show you how to be Mando’ade. I told you, you have the stuff.”

“Why would that help?”

“Because Mandalorians overcome or perish and that is exactly what you need right now.”

XXX

next chapter will be out soon.

Write me a message if you want to get tagged.

XXX

Mando'a Translations

-ika – affectionate suffix

Ade - child

Riduur – spouse, partner

Tihaar- strong Mandalorian type of alcohol

Di’kut – idiot

Shab – shit

Mand’alor – the title for the unofficial leader of the Mandalorian people/ ruler of Mandalore

Mando’ade - Mandalorians

Mandokar – the right stuff to be Mandalorian

Vod – brother, sister, sibling

Ba’slanar – leave, depart, exit

Balac - opportunity

[soliloquiums]

You find him under a bench in Berlin, more skeleton than man. It is 1955. It is winter. It is the post war era. Behind every dingy, squalid corridor you're bound to find a hundred of them, the left over almost-corpses that god just wasn't kind enough to kill. Haunted by a memory of a Germany that just doesn't exist anymore with charcoal padded under their eyes, limbs trebling from one two many needles. You're sure that if you pulled that ratty, dark blue coat sleeve you'd find his similarly pockmarked with cowardice. Still, something draws you in closer, a shiver, something about him seems heavier, denser, like his very body extends with gravity. A planetary mass. His neck snaps up in a lightening motion and he smiles, his mouth a crooked line that resembled a mountain you swear you've seen in the horizon, somewhere in the east. Beggars aren't allowed to be this beautiful. You shudder. And you take him home.

To your surprise, his skin is deceptively smooth. Like untouched snow after a blizzard- and you search him thoroughly, almost desperately, during your intimate moments, for some sort of mark, some sort of human imperfection. He allows you, absently, as if he’s been through this before, and strokes your hair as his mind wanders into places you know you will never reach. But that comes after, first, you seat him on the rim of your bathtub. He is listless, almost bored, as you wipe the river of blood off his shoulder. There’s no entrance wound, exit wound, no highway crossing where it could come from and after 20 minutes of frantic scrubbing, his hand grips yours. “It’s not mine,” he tells you gently, with that same crocked smile, eyes a circle of glowing blue like the hottest kind of fire, and you pretend not to notice as a very, very fresh red droplet runs down your porcelain bathtub and streaks red onto the tile. There’s not enough of him and there’s too much. After a week, his presence on the couch, skeleton hands gripping a book or remote seems commonplace. His place at your dinner table, the second pair of shoes thrown carelessly next to your orderly ones. The permanent, watery brown stain on your granite countertop where he'd spilled tea and that neither of you bothered to clean up. He is an indelible and yet insignificant mark. Most days, it's nice, quaint, the gentle buzz from the television every time you come back home, his coarse laugh punctuating a mediocre sitcom joke, the way he threatens bodily violence on inanimate objects for refusing to bend to his will. Other times, he is something just north of uncanny valley. He is wearing human skin. Sometimes, at night, he doesn't seem to be breathing and every few weeks, for a second at a time, you'd swear his eyes flashed a macabre red. Two months in and he still doesn’t have his own clothes. Doesn’t have his own closet. You offer to take him shopping, to empty out another shelf but he only shakes his head gently, pityingly, “I don’t own things.” You’re not sure if he’s crazy or if he’s one of those communist philosophy types. You’re not sure if you’d care if he was. You press your lips together. Don’t say anything about how his old clothes seemed to have vanished from the laundry altogether. Three months in and you don’t know his last name. You ask once, casually, assuming that a man abandoned to the snow wouldn’t care much for family anyways. (You can relate, your strict, catholic mother and even stricter pastor father are tucked far away somewhere in a mountain village in Saarland. Out of sight and out of mind.) But he says nothing, or smiles in that whimsically gentle way of his, or stares blankly as if he isn’t sure what a last name is. Sometimes he carefully grasps your hands and kisses you as a distraction and in those moments you’re sure you could live without knowing. Sometimes, you see his gaze catch on the window and you know he is somewhere else. Doesn’t feel like he was ever here in the first place, a ghost boy that floats around your apartment and gives you frigid smiles in place of actual conversation. Once, he lays awake in bed with you and asks if you will remember him on your deathbed with an earnest that makes you want to climb out of bed and vomit. His eyes flash blood and pin you to the bed. Yes, you say, without really understanding why, yes even when you are gone I will remember you always even in the smallest things even when there is nothing more to remember. His eyes go back to blue and you drift off into dreams about an achingly vast field with no horizon and crooked mountains shaped like a smile All at once you are disastrously, cripplingly in love. Falling from a cliff. You try every method in the book to ground him. You bring him flowers in the middle of winter, you buy him books, watches, a cell phone, wine, chocolates, a car. You clean up your act, work out, pen him love letters in the candle light when you think he’s sleeping, insist on cooking the food you think he likes. You drive her to parks. A cottage by the sea, take him to every pretty place in Germany that might even slightly interest him. Cologne, Dresden, Munich, Heidelberg, Watzmann, Brocken. You He dismissed every material gift with an apologetic shake of the head, almost disappointed you don’t understand. His fingers wrap around your wrist and you can feel the cold from his skin drip into yours as he pulls you close, whispering gently, a reminder, “I do not own things.” And I cannot be owned, without saying. The places, however, slaps him out of despondency. He puts a hand to an oak tree in a park in Heidelberg and tells you, absently, his voice drenched in memories, “Someone I loved is buried here.” He sees things you do not. He stares at abandoned buildings with a remorse and vindication you do not understand. There is a tragedy under the bridges, in every lake, that he seems intimate with. In cologne, he strikes a match and lights up a car at 9:43 pm. The pretentious, red thing goes up in smoke a carcass of metal and charred leather seats. He is seething with rage and you don’t touch him because you know he’d burn you if you did but you watch. In rapture and fear. He seems to consider doing the same to the house, but doesn’t. It feels empty, the motion, like the brace before firing a gun. Except there’s no bullets. You watch as the dancing flames reflect on his face, still perfect as soot begins to gather like dark butterflies. “Why?” You ask, sacrilegiously. Breaking the silence of that distinctly consecrated night. Even the stars seem to be holding their breath. “Personal despair could never be desperate enough," he tells you, watching as the smoke gathered and swirled off into the open night sky. A translation of pain, “When tragedy happens, it needs to pass down the line, like a disease. There is an innate sin in the blood of some people.” Like most things, this escapes your comprehension entirely, and all you can focus on, even when the police sirens start blaring, is how beautifully the red reflects off his irises. He gives you a wayward grin. Like he’s done this before- and he has, you know he had- as he grasps your hand with a grip that for once feels real and solid as he darts the other way, dragging you along behind him in this mad dash. He laughs, the sound beautiful and loud and perfect, like church bells or sermon. Something holy, pure. You’re just sane enough to stop your ethereal, cackling lover from veering into oncoming traffic. He looks at you were a eerie intensity that makes you stammer an apology, an apology that he quickly cuts off as he pushes you against exposed brick and crushes his lips to yours. Your tongue flooding with the taste of him, a musky wilderness. There’s a sigh, somewhere, and even though you’ve had sex this feels like the most heart trending thing you’ve ever done in your life. You tremble. Your arms slip around his waist, pulling him closer, as if forevermore. As if drinking god. It’s enough to make you forget that it’s the 50s and that you’re both boys and that if any police officer caught the way his fingers were tenderly, tenderly brushing against your cheek, both of you would be carted off to jail for a decade but you don't care, really you don't, for the first time you feel as if you know him. Gilbert. Your Gilbert. - When the story ends, you're on the floor and the coolness of his skin seems to finally have crawled inside you, making a home amongst your other fragile, human organs. He stands above you with his red eyes, disappointed but not surprised. He mumbled something about this before, in the beginning, about what it would be like once you knew, what the pain would feel like. A sigh from him and you know without looking that all the stars outside the glass have blinked out, that every single other person in the apartment besides you and Him have gone still, paused or maybe dead. Maybe it was the whole street, the country, a few million bodies and still, how can it said to have mattered? "Ignorance isn't safety," He quietly tells your quaking form, in some something that could've been kindness, "Tell me, how many poor weeds have you stepped on, unthinkingly, in your lifetime?" The clock doesn't tick but you can feel the universe moving, entropy. You can feel the vastness of it, remember those dreams with out any horizons in sight and the knowledge weighs down on you like a million bowling balls. "You promised to remember me," He reminds you, his voice still quiet but brimming with an emotion that hasn't quiet come to a boil, "We had more than this." All of Germany shifts slightly, as if moving in its sleep, and the stars blink back, your breath releases. "If I've hurt you," he begins, but shakes his head, stumbling over words that he knows you won't ever really understand, won't forgive him if he lets you know. Resignation, tinged: resentment, "You'll go on living just fine." You look up at him once, I love you, your look says, but he does not look back. The door closes. There are no footsteps down the hall.

[wanderinginksplot]

Prompt: Thorn + Snow

Another prompt made by me and my d20 dice in response to this post. Still accepting requests! 

---

“Hey, are you busy?” you asked, leaning as far into Thorn’s office as you could while keeping your feet outside. 

His dark eyes met yours before shifting down to see the way you were standing. He sighed. “Just come inside like a normal person.”

“No, then I would have to knock,” you explained impatiently. “Again, are you busy?”

Thorn cracked his neck, pushing away a thick sheaf of flimsi. “Not with anything that won’t be here later. What do you need?”

“Thire just commed ahead. He’s bringing in a perp who is acting like he’s going to be trouble. Thire requested some backup and additional presence on the landing pad, just in case the guy fights or makes a break for it.”

“And?” Thorn asked, raising a single brow. You were jealous - that eyebrow dexterity had been something you had been working toward for months and you could just barely quirk one brow a half-inch higher than the other. “We have grunts who can take care of that.”

You scoffed. “Excuse me, Chancellor! I didn’t mean to disturb you while you were so clearly concerned with more important things. Have fun with your paperwork while I go watch Thire get punched in the face.”

A moment after you had turned and left the office, you heard Thorn’s chair scrape back and he was suddenly walking down the hallway beside you. “I could use a little fresh air, now that I think about it.”

With a noncommittal hum, you continued down the hallway. Thorn was one of the pricklier troopers in the Coruscant Guard. You had never asked what happened to make him that way - just like he had never asked what happened that made you get transferred from a planetary-landing battalion to a planetside unit. Maybe that’s why you liked being around each other: both of you found the other one restful.

You walked toward the landing pad in companionable silence, and found that you were the first ones to arrive. That was fine, Thire’s estimated arrival wasn’t for another ten minutes or so. 

After realizing how much time you had left, you sat comfortably on a nearby bench and looked up at the lights of the city surrounding you. The Coruscant Guard was housed in the bottom floor of the Grand Army of the Republic’s headquarters, far from the lush surroundings of the Senate District and the Jedi Temple. Still, there was something to be said for being in the middle of so many lights and sounds and colors. Each lit window around you symbolized a person, a life, and the Coruscant Guard strove to keep them all safe.

“That bench is disgusting,” Thorn told you, breaking you from your reverie. “I don’t know why you’re sitting there.”

You blinked up at him, a smirk tugging at one corner of your mouth. “Life is too short to worry about stuff like that.”

“It’ll be a lot shorter if you don’t worry about germs and bacteria,” Thorn countered.

You grinned outright, slowly leaning to the side and stretching along the length of the bench. By the time you were done, you were posed like the subject of a painting you had seen in a museum on your home planet. “Is this better?” you asked innocently.

Thorn sighed, but you could see the grin he was fighting against. “Move over,” he grumbled, starting toward the side of the bench where your feet were propped.

With a wide-eyed expression, you asked, “But Thorn, what about the germs and bacteria?”

He sat down and you moved your feet, narrowly avoiding them being crushed under the thick plastoid covering his butt and thighs. “I guess I’ll have to catch the plague to keep you from getting it.”

“Aww, Thorn,” you cooed, irrationally touched by the sentiment. “You care if I catch the plague?”

He frowned at you. “Of course I care.” You watched each other for a tension-heavy moment before he explained, “I work with you. If you bring diseases into the precinct, we’re all at risk.”

You fought not to roll your eyes at him as you reluctantly sat upright. You were far from germaphobic, but he did have a point: a public bench on Coruscant probably wasn’t the most ideal place to sprawl around. 

“Where is Thire?” Thorn asked, staring around at the surrounding cityscape.

“Mmm?” You asked absently, having been reabsorbed into watching the lights. If he answered, you didn’t hear it. You threw your hand up, just barely avoiding digging an elbow into Thorn’s face as you pointed to the sky. “Look, it’s snowing!”

“No, it isn’t,” Thorn denied immediately, but you had already stood and bounced over to the exact middle of the landing platform.

Due to the pollution from the buildings and speeders and businesses based on Coruscant, the planet rarely saw snow, but it was far from impossible. Most of the time, you didn’t miss it, but the sight of the white flurries cascading through the air brought out the small child in you. You held your hands out to the sides, trying to catch every flake that you saw.

You laughed aloud at the feeling of snow meeting your skin and immediately melting. As you slowly rotated to take in the sight of the GAR headquarters dusted with a light layer of snow, you caught Thorn’s eyes. He was focused on you, his face soft with a fond smile as he watched your antics.

Grinning so widely that your cheeks ached, you went back to the bench and dramatically brushed some snow off of it before sitting back down beside him. “I’m sorry, what was that about it not snowing?”

“Shut up,” he ordered, openly smiling.

“Shut up,” you mocked, and he bumped your shoulder with his. You made an outraged noise, but didn’t move away. The two of you sat, shoulder to shoulder, watching the snow and the lights as you waited for Thire to get there.

[adapembroke]

The Astrology of Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda’s birthday was on July 12th. With four planets (including the sun and moon) directly opposite the planetary confab in Capricorn that’s happening in 2020, I thought it might be worth spending some time examining his chart.

As a 10th house baby, the first place my eye always goes when I look at a chart is the very top, so the first thing I noticed about Pablo Neruda’s chart was Uranus in Sagittarius in the 10th house. Neruda is famous for two things: revolutionary politics and poetry. As a lit major, I know him for his poetry, but Uranus in the 10th house suggests to me that his political work wanted to be his life’s work.

This theory is reinforced by Saturn in Aquarius. With Saturn in the sign of the revolutionary, Neruda would have found satisfaction in supporting structures of a revolutionary nature. Saturn is the traditional ruler of Aquarius. Aquarius is the sign of the revolutionary, the airy dreamer. It is the outcast child who dreams that, one day, things will get better. Unlike the vague, watery dreams of Pisces, Aquarian dreams make specific plans. Saturn is the planet of the material world. More than the other air signs (Gemini and Libra), Aquarius is all about the mind getting down to brass tacks. What needs to be done to make the things better? In Aquarius, Saturn works to build structures and great works to support that future.

In life, Neruda courted a great deal of controversy for his support of Joseph Stalin. How could a man who was capable of creating such beautiful poetry also be capable of supporting a leader who murdered millions? What does building structures to support a utopian future have to do with the Gulag? How could a person with six planets in Cancer consider such a thing?

Looking at someone’s birth chart can’t tell you how they will vote. There is no Sign of the Poet who Supported Dictators, but a birth chart can tell a story about why people made the mistakes they did.

This is where Saturn’s house comes in: Neruda’s Saturn was in the 12th house.

Planets in the 12th house tend to be things that we have a hard time working with consciously. In the physical sky, planets in the twelfth house are invisible, lost behind the glare of the rising sun. Like Arctic explorers who have become snow blind, planets in the 12th house tend to stumble around, feeling their way through a world they can’t really see. The ancients called the 12th house the “House of Self-Undoing.” Planets in the 12th house can feel like they’re acting behind our back.

This stumbling around in the dark quality of Neruda’s Saturn wouldn’t have been helped by the fact that he was born at night during the dark of the moon. A person outside beyond the reach of civilization at the moment Neruda was born would have literally been stumbling around in the dark without a light in the sky to see by.

Saturn’s position in Neruda’s 12th house suggests that he may have had difficulty thinking clearly about the revolutionary structures he was trying to support. Worse, since Saturn is the planet of moral boundaries and ethics, Neruda would have had a difficult time acting with consciousness and purpose on his beliefs in the physical world.

With his overwhelmingly watery chart (6 planets in Cancer, Pisces rising, Pisces south node in the 1st house), most of Neruda’s psyche was oriented toward the world of the emotions.

Cancer is a quiet, introverted sign, most at home caring for individuals. It is a nurturing sign that shows affection by making chicken soup and talking about feelings—or, with the presence of Venus and Mercury there, especially—writing love poetry.

Pisces is a dreamer like Aquarius, but Pisces’ dreams commune with all that is in the spirit of universal love. Saturn and Aquarius know that in the physical world, being one thing necessarily means not being something else, but Pisces resist limits and boundaries, the elements necessary to creating structures. With Pisces�� traditional ruler Jupiter in Aries, Neruda may have had a vague sense of the need to fight for his dreams, but with the Saturn, the planet that ruled his moral compass, stumbling around in the 12th house, it is easy to imagine him wringing his hands in horror, not sure what to concretely do.

And yet, with the north node in earthy Virgo, he would have found the call to manifest his vision in the physical world alluring. His soul wasn’t content simply to dream anymore. He needed to make something of his dreams.

He did, of course, make something of his dreams when he wrote poetry. A poem gives form to dreams.

Yet, as a man born at the dawn of the 20th century, he would have found himself navigating a world with little respect for poets, dreamers, and caretaking. He would have felt pressure to become a man of action, to lean into that difficult Saturn, and turn away from his cancerian heart.

In the end, it is the extent to which he turned away from political structures and toward the heart that that the world honors him. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

This article original appeared on adapembroke.com.

[scifigeneration]

Meteorites from Mars contain clues about the red planet's geology

by Arya Udry

Artist’s rendition of NASA’s 2020 Mars rover collecting rocks with its robotic arm. NASA

Despite the pandemic, NASA is on track to launch its Mars rover, Perseverance, this July from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its central mission will be to search for evidence of previous life on Mars.

An exciting component of the rover will be a specialized drill that will collect rock and soil samples to be cached on the surface of Mars. If all goes according to plan, the cache will be retrieved by a future mission in 2031 and, for the first time, material from Mars will be brought back to Earth for analysis.

As someone who studies Martian geology, I’m definitely looking forward to 2031 but am grateful I don’t have to wait 11 years to study rocks from Mars. Martian rock samples are already here on Earth in the form of meteorites.

How rocks from Mars end up on Earth

All Martian meteorites were formed millions of years ago, when asteroids and other space rocks collided into the surface of Mars with enough force to eject pieces of its crust into orbit. Sometimes these rock fragments, floating in outer space, enter Earth’s atmosphere, where gravity pulls them in.

Nicknamed ‘Black Beauty,’ this Martian meteorite was found in the Sahara Desert in 2011. It is believed to be the second oldest yet discovered. NASA

Meteorites land everywhere on Earth, but are easiest to find in hot or cold deserts, where the lack of vegetation and other rocks help them to stand out. Martian meteorites are rare: Only 261 pieces have been found on Earth, compared to the 63,758 non-Martian meteorites currently cataloged, most originating from the asteroid belt.

Martian meteorites have been recovered all over the world, including Antarctica, northwest Africa, Chile, the United States, India, Nigeria, Mali, Mauritania, Brazil and Oman. Currently, scientists like me can obtain Martian meteorites for study in two ways: either from private dealers or from the Antarctic Search for Meteorites collection.

Recovery of a meteorite in Antarctica by members of the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) expedition. A meteorite is picked up with sterile tongs and put into a clean Teflon bag. NASA

The ANSMET program is funded by both NASA and the National Science Foundation. Antarctica is a great place to spot meteorites due to the omnipresence of ice. Even better, meteorites tend to get trapped in moving ice floes which accumulate at the base of mountain ranges, where they often resurface.

Every year since 1976, ANSMET has sent a team of eight volunteer planetary scientists and mountaineers to Antarctica in December and January to hunt for meteorites. The crew combs promising areas by lining up snowmobiles 100 feet apart and slowly creeping through the snow and ice looking for specimens in their path.

Scientists can also buy meteorites from trusted private dealers. Martian meteorites are expensive, however, usually running around US$1,000 a gram on average. The majority of Martian meteorites are found by nomads in the Saharan desert, mainly in Morocco. Locals have been trained to find meteorites by looking for the presence of a fusion crust on a rock, which is formed when the exterior of the meteor melts upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere. I’ve bought 15 samples from dealers who are well known in the meteorite community.

Determining if a meteorite is from Mars

A thin section of a Martian meteorite under a microscope equipped with a polarizer to help distinguish the different minerals. Arya Udry, CC BY

Initially, scientists analyzed the gas pockets within the minerals of meteorites and compared them to the known atmosphere on Mars, which was established by NASA’s Viking rovers in 1976. When the gases match perfectly, scientists could conclude the meteorites came from Mars.

Starting in the 1990s, however, scientists like me began using cheaper and easier techniques to determine Martian provenance, such as oxygen isotopic compositions, which are like atomic barcodes that are unique for each planet.

All told, the 261 known meteorites from Mars collectively weigh around 440 pounds. Scientists study them using the same instruments and techniques we use to study Earth samples. My colleagues and I are interested in determining how and when these rocks were formed and how they are linked to each other.

Mysterious Mars

Unfortunately, my colleagues and I do not know where on the Martian surface the meteorites come from, but many are working to figure that out. We have been able to determine the different ages of the rocks themselves. We still do not know for sure if the core of Mars is liquid or not, but the meteorites inform us about how and when volcanoes were formed on the planet.

NASA’s Perseverance rover will be exploring an area called the Jezero crater. Igneous rocks, created by volcanic activity, are likely to be present, so it will be really interesting to study the history of the crater, which formed around 4 billion years ago. The Jezero crater also contains two large deltas, where we expect to find sediments that were once transported and deposited by rivers that existed long ago.

For scientists who study Martian geology, having diverse samples from a known field location will greatly boost our understanding of Mars’ core, the history of its climate and the potential life that once may have existed there.

About The Author:

Arya Udry is an Assistant Professor of Igneous Petrology and Planetary Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

This article is republished from our content partners over at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

[iamnojedii]

@mstrobiwan

Ahsoka’s teeth do not chatter at the harsh bite of the weather-- though, maybe weather isn’t the right term: climate is more accurate. Vandor is nothing but a planetary expanse of snow and ice, and the nearest ‘habitable’ planet they could take refuge on in order to make necessary repairs to their ship.

          ( she quietly decides she hates it )

Ahsoka can subtly sense Obi-Wan’s presence before she hears him, and she finds herself straightening her shoulders, squaring herself to appear less cold, less affected. It’s an old habit she hasn’t quite been able to shake, ever since Anakin’s gradual acceptance of her (“You never would have made it as Obi-Wan’s Padawan...”), trying to get a read on the Master Jedi, decipher exactly why she would have been found...lacking. Though she’s certain he’d have less patience for her more...reckless inclinations than Anakin, over the years Ahsoka’s come to believe that her Master’s words are more of a reflection on him and his perceptions of himself than on Obi-Wan or her.

          ( though, she’ll never say as much )

     “Master,” she greets-- a polite nod and a small, crooked smile.

[3dsrendercom]

The Makers: ARCTIC LiDAR Video Installation

The Makers is a series that highlights students and faculty from ACSA member schools to show the unique work coming out of architecture schools across the globe. Check out more on the blog by searching “The Makers.” Project: ARCTIC LiDAR Lead Architects: Daniele Profeta with Maya Alam Office: A/P Practice Client: Syracuse University Design Team: Zexi Tang and Erick Sanchez Collaborator: Liam Young with the New Normal program of STRELKA Institute for Media, Architecture, and Design Graphic Design: Common Name ARCTIC LiDAR is an immersive 360° Video Installation exploring the quickly expanding logistic landscape of the Arctic coast. ARCTIC LiDAR_ACC Festival from A/P Practice on Vimeo. Logistics can be defined as the detailed coordination of the complex space constituted by infrastructures, information, goods, and people that make the production and circulation of stuff possible. Stretching across nation-state borders, redefining territoriality through the cartographic space of global supply chains and constructing an operational state of unencumbered continuous movement of goods, the space of logistics is dramatically transforming the world we inhabit. Part documentary, part projective narrative, the video presented in this installation articulates projective scenarios for the expanding logistics space of global commerce along the coast of the Arctic. Using 3-D LiDAR scanning, this project captures the primary nodes of this far-reaching infrastructure, ranging from Dry Ports to Ice Breakers and Rail Terminals, and re-assembles them in a composite, speculative landscape. LiDAR, an acronym for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing technology that uses light pulses to measure and three-dimensionally map vast territories with ever-increasing precision. A sensor emitting pulses of infrared light, millions of times per second, constructs point-clouds as a representation of the environment being surveyed: a spatial database so detailed that can be used to detect and interact with surrounding objects: across the territory of the Arctic, it is used to establish politics, protocols, and economies of autonomous distribution. It is through the lens of the apparatus of machinic vision and its network of activations that we can begin to see the traces of this emerging urbanism of logistics across the territory.

Photograph of the installation exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution Museum of American History during the 2019 ACCelerate Festival showing the relationship between VR headset experience and the physical installation.

Photograph of the installation exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution Museum of American History during the 2019 ACCelerate Festival showing the relationship between VR headset experience and the physical installation. Using a Virtual Reality headset, the viewers are transported in the automated landscape of logistics, where driverless trucks, robotic cranes and remote-sensing drones operate through the dense point cloud. Immersed in a 360° video moving across this speculative landscape, this operative mode of vision is slowly contaminated by atmospheric elements foreign to the machinic eye, prompting the viewer to develop an intimate engagement with the material. The viewers are caught in an ambiguous territory where a bodily experience of this harsh landscape and its extreme climate re-asserts its presence in an otherwise human-less environment. And yet, their point of view is constrained to the rigid linear movement of what appears to be indifferent machines, reinforcing the agency of the automated infrastructure upon the construction of this territory.  

A drawing showing the overall setup of the installation. The (x5) panels, milled out of high-density foam, are held up by a metal frame, displaying additional information on its back. PreviousNext

Overall photographs of the back-side of the freestanding panels showing the graphics utilized as a communication device to the general public.

Serial image of the different nodes of the logistics infrastructure highlighted in this project. From top left to bottom right, the LiDAR scans depict Dry Port Container Harbor, Ice Breaker Dock, Custom Clearance, Railway Terminal, Unloading Dock, Residential units for locals and the overall speculative landscape reconstructed.

Aerial view of the composite landscape constructed from the different LiDAR Scans. The modularity of these nodes reinforces the continuity of this infrastructure across a planetary scale.

Still from the 360o video displayed in the installation: here the scene shows the Dry Port Container Harbor area. The initial Scan data is infiltrated by atmospheric elements (in this case snow and lighting fog) to further reinforce a bodily experience of these sites.

Similarly, the physical space of the installation engages with the three-dimensional database of LiDAR vision by sampling a series of spatial elements surveyed on these sites to construct a space of engagement across multiple mediated realities. The digital trace of the surfaces of cargo containers, one of the artifacts that most dramatically transformed this network of logistics, gantry cranes, ice-breaker navigation control panels and train wagons are translated into relief panels to extend and confront the content presented through the VR headset. Rather than focusing on the re-production of accurate digital copies, these artifacts attempt to highlight the tension between their material surfaces and the machinic vision that surveyed them by juxtaposing their true ‘RGB’, Red, Green and Blue color information, with the ‘XYZ’ data, a so-called ‘normal map’ visualizing the directionality of each of the points surveyed. Each panel is CNC milled out of high-density foam and is then printed with this edited texture layer. Ultimately the installation urges the viewers to understand the architecture of logistics beyond a ‘technicality’, a politically neutral act of management, but rather predicates itself around ideas of anticipation and prediction, acting as a transforming agent of the built environment, of territories as well as of bodies.

Still from the constructed digital scene showing the Control Room area of the Ice Breaker. The dense point cloud here reads as a continuous image representing the interior of this space. Videos ARCTIC LiDAR _ ExhibitionVideo from A/P Practice on Vimeo. Arctic LiDAR_Embedded View from A/P Practice on Vimeo. Learn more about Syracuse University’s Architecture Program. The post The Makers: ARCTIC LiDAR Video Installation appeared first on Study Architecture | Architecture Schools and Student Information. Source link Read the full article