Blood Moon Eclipse

Written Wednesday night 10/8:

Lucky I caught this.

So stepping out my door at 6:19am this morning, I saw the moon. I said "Oh shit! The eclipse!" And I hurried my backpack and bookbag and all my workstuff into my car, then tried to take a picture of the moon on my phone. The picture turned out looking like straight bullpoo, cuz you can't take pictures of celestial bodies with a phone. I was running kinda late too, so I RAN back into my house, pulled out the Nikon, ran back out, put it on zoom and higher exposure, and snapped a few shots!

This first shot came out right!

I had not expected to catch this so-called "impossible lunar eclipse," because I read it was only visible from the East Coast, at 6:25am EST, and only for 9 minutes. So not fitting the viewing criteria in both space and time, I had settled into thinking I was not going to see this eclipse. Apparently it's the 2nd, in a series of 4 consecutive, and an impossible occurrence of the Sun rising and Moon setting at the same time in a less than 180° view of the sky, only possible because the atmosphere refracts light and yada yada.. But I saw it anyway, and it lasted for a while too. Throughout my entire commute to work, the moon was eclipsed, made for distracted driving on the overpass, and even when I got to the school, I was still able to snap some pictures of it.

The 2nd picture:

2nd shot came out tricky.

3rd shot, using the powerlines as reference, shows how fast the moon was setting/moving/
relative to Earth rotating (compared to 1st shot)

They say these celestial events coincide with shifts on earth. I don't think causation is provable, but with many new advances in technology and progressive changes in society, human civilization is at a pivotal and extreme point. We are also shifting from an industrial-based political-economy to an information-based political-economy (that's a topic for another day). Also there are at least 2-3 major wars/political conflicts going on right now... Turning my awareness toward celestial bodies in the heavens brings about calmness in the present, excitement for the future, as well as connectedness to the ancients, in a world that's really crazy these days.

Worst come to worst, look up.

Seeing Saturn in a Telescope O_O

Something trippy. I don't look through nice telescopes often, so when I went to the Gretna Observatory last night, which is open for public viewing on Monday/Wednesday nights after dark, I was BAHLOWN away by the real image of Saturn!

It's crazy! You can just look out there in the darkness, point the telescope at the right spot, and there it is. A bright, ringed planet. Real image in real time. Not some video playback.

This image was the closest I could find, to compare to what I actually saw.

And another crazy thing is that it appears to be MOVING. And rather QUICKLY! After you fix the telescope to get it in view, it moves across the scope in less than a minute, looks like it's flying.

At first glace, the planet looks like a "flying star," so I asked the 2 astronomers I was with: "is it really moving that fast? Why is it moving so fast?" Instead of answering my question, they told me to think about it. Then I understood it was because Earth was also rotating. It's a higher level of thought, to grasp that, every perspective is a relative perspective; it's understandable how past astronomers could have gotten it wrong, thinking geocentrically. But from Earth, the planet Saturn is still beautiful.

You can see Saturn in the sky with your naked eyes, but you'd need a slightly attuned eye to distinguish it from a star. Planets are actually visible in the sky often throughout the year, especially Venus, Jupiter, and Mars, but most people just think they're stars. This thing is also in the sky throughout the year, but often obscured from view, by light pollution and atmosphere.

We live in this shit, and it's in the sky every night.

I also saw Mars in real time, which was cool to see, thinking we have some SUV-sized rovers up there, taking pictures and collecting samples. One day might have people out there. Pretty far out. A mission to Mars is pretty crazy.... exciting to think about. New frontiers.


The local astronomer guy also pointed the telescope at some globular clusters. He called some "deep space objects." Not like the planets nearby, further out, but still a part of the Milky Way. In fact, I learned that there are a lot of globular clusters (big clumps of stars, gravitationally attached) going around our galactic center, what many believe to be a SMBH (Super Massive Black Hole).

M11, or Messier 11

Pretty crazy that you can just look out and see this shit. I am fascinated by space.

Gorgeous Norwegian Auroras (pics)

Coinciding with the annual Geminids, a solar flare made its way to Earth, providing some beautiful light shows/auroras/Northern Lights. I will likely be in Alaska some day (or Iceland, or Norway), to see Northern Lights with my own eyes. That's a travel goal.

Is this the real life?

I saw some crazy streaking meteors the other night. Every December, when it gets cold, solsticey, and holiday music starts playing, it's time for Geminids. The Geminid meteor shower is named after the constellation Gemini, which is where the "radiant point" of the shower is. Most of the shooting stars will come from there. Cool thing is that Jupiter was IN Gemini the other night, so you can just stare at Jupiter in awe while catching meteors in your peripheral. I just laid out on my car, with a jacket and some music. Beautiful show. If you missed it, there's always next year.

Is this just fantasy?

So yeah, in studying History and religions, I'm big on celestial phenomena. What does it all mean? Does it mean anything? Can we attach meaning to it if we want? Yeah, that along with climatic, political, and economic destabilization.... but we survived 2012. We should be okay. At least we don't got giant mutated rats, like the Middle East... or killer hornets, like Japan.

Full moon coming up Dec. 17. Longest full moon of the year, they call it the Full Cold Moon, or the Long Night Moon, cuz it's closest to the Winter Solstice.

By the way, aliens are real.

Photo credit and more photos here: http://www.nrk.no/nordland/...

Beauty Abounds When You Look Around

There's a free show every night.
Just look up when times get dark.

We're floating through space, so during our brief existence on Earth, we can enjoy celestial events all the time, like sunsets, sunrises, moonrises, pretty clouds, and planets. What a blessing. These are the regular events.

I say beauty abounds because it's abundant, if you know where to look.

The moon changes color as it rises!

Cool thing about spotting planets right now, you can see Venus EVERY night, and Jupiter EVERY morning. They stand way out from regular stars, and are commonly mistaken for UFOs[1]. People used to think they were Gods, Goddesses... Venus, Jupiter/Zeus, Mars[2]. Ancient Cosmology first had me interested, back in 2007.

Tonight, 12/13/13, the Geminid meteor shower peaks. It's a special night.

Geminids are crazy!

If the sky in your neighborhood is clear, then this is the BEST meteor shower of the year. I was just talking to a buddy about tonight's meteor shower. We were in the car. He looked up in the Northwest direction and a streaking meteor. Then he saw another. Two meteors in the span of a minute. And the shower's not even peaking yet!

I remember seeing some Geminid meteors a few years ago, and they're not just little meteor flashes. Geminids are known to STREAK BRIGHTLY across the sky. They can be blue/bluish-green!

Colorful streaks like this!

It's an exciting year for space. For a lot of reasons, not just Comet ISON.

If your mind is feeling tense, go outside and try to CALM IT.
Have a seat, take a breath, and keep your EYES ON the sky.

The Divine Side of Music Theory

In honor of National Poetry Month, my recent interest in Pythagoras' life//Pythagoreanism, and my insatiable need to create, I wrote a new poem, in a new style.

A "21st-century style" from a 21st-century mind, they'll come up with an official name for it 100 years down the line, as science and spirituality continue to intertwine.

Harmonic Intervals and their connection to the Cosmos

For more on Pythagoras, the man behind the theorem, check out: Pythagoras, Sacred Geometry, and the Fundamental Language of the Universe (YouTube Video)


Introspective side-thought:
I figure I might go down like most artists/poets, with people not reading deeply into my works until after I die. Recognition of my work is growing organically, so I'll just stay patient, stay alive, and keep creating. Maybe someday, someone high up will realize the level and value of my writing, and we can make big moves together. I hope I don't go the way of Van Gogh or Sylvia Plath however...wouldn't want to be chronically depressed, or put myself in an oven. They made some good stuff though!


So here's my new poem in the Divinity of Music, if it doesn't make sense, just look up the words!

2013

Music Theory

The heart beats a natural rhythm,

Oldest percussion known to man.

Earth tones sounding good

With melodics, harmonics, pentatonics... 

Gin and tonic symphonics evolve into electronics.

If God's music strikes a chord,

I dance to the melody, and its energy,

Climbing my way up life's arpeggios,

Weighing major scales, and minor harmonies.

Diminished experience, augmented reality.

Middle finger on Middle C. Music of infinity.

Transposed tales of a tragic story,

I don't want your sympathy.

Come together as a symphony.

No one wants to seem phony.

Sharp voices sing flat. It's not natural.

Complex progressions create dissonance

Somewhere between my head and sole.

From the bass to the upper octaves,

To vibrations unheard by human ears.

There, higher beings wave to greet us.

---

A little background on me: I took 8 years of piano lesson, 4 years of music theory, and somehow managed to pass the AP Music Theory exam in high school... bboying, poetry, and the history I learned at UCLA have shaped my world view... now I'm geeking on Pythagoras' connections between music, mathematics, and reality.

For more mind-blowing stuff, check the Wikiquote on Pythagoras.

Pythagoras spent years studying in Egypt

In case you didn't notice:
The numb#r of lines for each part of the poem (I wouldn't really call them "stanzas") follow the Fibonacci Sequence... 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8....

Astro Logic (recently published)

One of my poems recently got published in this online journal.
Not trying to be biased, but I like this one, it's probably one of my best.

Here is the poem in full, as quoted from this page: http://eyetothetelescope.com/

Astro Logic

With my eye on Orion
I lie awake in awe.
Across the sky flying.
I see planets, stars. 

Visualizing environments,
On moons and on Mars.
Listening to silence,
Wondering who we are. 

How’d we come to be?
Who planted the seed
Of our genealogical tree?
Curious indeed. 

Out of non-life came life,
Organic out of inorganic.
Water, steam, and ice,
Lifeline of our spinning planet. 

Twinkle, twinkle, ancient Gods,
By the cycling of Nature’s nods.
They shift our cosmic paradigm.
Wars and storms when they align.

—Tom T. Nguyen

Eye to the Telescope is a quarterly online journal that publishes science-fiction, fantasy, horror, and speculative poetry.

Solar Energy - Bright Future?

•Bright things/Bright people can be useful.
•But being bright is not enough.
•The miracle part is being able to convert the energy into something useful.
     •That's what Solar panels do, that's what plants do.
     •That's what you can do...if you can tap into where you shine your brightest.

•Our Soul, Our Energy
     "Our Solar Energy"

To ponder:
How efficiently and how much of the Sun's full potential do you think we effectively convert into "Solar energy" with our current technology?

Is there more energy available that we have not harnessed yet?