carolynporco:

Something great, something big, something very special that’s never happened before is about to happen!

On July 19, 2013, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will be turned to image Saturn and its entire ring system during a total eclipse of the sun, as it has done twice before during its previous 9 years in orbit.

But this time will be very different. This time, the images to be collected will capture, in natural color, a glimpse of our own planet next to Saturn and its rings on a day that will be the first time Earthlings know in advance their picture will be taken from a billion miles away.

It will be a day for people all over the globe to celebrate together the extraordinary achievements that have made such an interplanetary photo session possible. And it will be a day to celebrate life on the Pale Blue Dot.

A new Captain’s Log that expresses the significance of this event and how you can participate in it can be found in the usual place.

You can also find graphics showing where Earth will be relative to Saturn and what portion of the Earth will be illuminated during the picture-taking.

Our planet, of course, will only be a blue point of light as seen from Saturn. But it, and we, are unique in all the solar system, and that is worth celebrating!

Enjoy!

CICLOPS.org: A Day to Celebrate the Pale Blue Dot

the-science-llama:

Wave at Saturn
Who wants to be in the world’s biggest class picture?
On July 19, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will take a picture of Earth from nearly 900 million miles away.

Cassini will start obtaining the Earth part of the mosaic at 2:27 p.m. PDT (5:27 p.m. EDT or 21:27 UTC) and end about 15 minutes later, all while Saturn is eclipsing the sun from Cassini’s point of view.

A simulated view from the Cassini spacecraft when it will take the photo

terra-mater:

15 amazing things in nature you won’t believe actually exist

Source

distant-traveller:

Thunderbolts and lightning over Cerro Paranal

In this electrifying image, taken on Friday 7 June 2013, a furious thunderstorm is discharging its mighty rage over Cerro Paranal. The colossal enclosures of the four VLT Unit Telescopes, each one the size of an eight-storey building, are dwarfed under the hammering of the powerful storm.

In the left of the image, a solitary star has emerged to witness the show — a single point of light against an obscured sky. This star is Procyon, a bright binary star in the constellation of Canis Minor (The Lesser Dog).

Clouds over ESO’s Paranal Observatory are a rare sight. On average, the site experiences an astonishing 330 clear days every year. Lightning is even rarer, as the observatory is located in one of the driest places in the world: the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile, 2,600 metres above sea level. If there are any clouds, most of the time the observatory stands above them.

Image credit: ESO/G. Hüdepohl

“Draco’s a sad kid with a huge disconnect between who he wants to be and who he is.” (x)

Typical Harry Potter Quotes
(Quotes that highlight the theme of the series)

i know you will

Wibbly Wobbly Challenge // Favorite Doctor in Silhouettes OR Faceless

the-super-sized-mcshizzle-man:

seppius:

#remember when Harry was gonna get some but Dumbledore viciously cockblocked him

Karma

thestrals-in-221b:

awizardinsideandout:

All known spells from Harry Potter

Inspired by [x]

lumos5000:

rokudaime-h0kage:

i made another thing oops