Tag Archives: nasa

Celestial Classics: Artemis

Another in our Celestial Classics series in which we look at aspects of astronomy, usually celestial bodies but also a NASA mission in this case, and the myths that inspired their names. Today is the turn of the Goddess Artemis, the Greek mythological goddess of the hunt, of chastity, of pregnancy and childbirth, of the wilderness, hunting and those aspects of brutality to which humans must accept their place or else be doomed to destroy the very world on which they live. She is my favourite and I won’t hear a word against her!

Celestial Classics: Pluto and Orpheus

Exploring the far-off dwarf planet, and trans-neptunian object, Pluto as both a planet and the mythological God of the Underworld. Included is a discussion about Orpheus, both the legendary poet and musician of ancient Greece and asteroid 3361 Orpheus, a Near-Earth asteroid designated as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid. Exploring themes of death, rebirth, katabasis, eschatology and all sorts of other lovely stuff along the way we come to the ultimate conclusion. Pluto is all about love.

Celestial Classics: Ceres

Ceres is, like Vesta, a hunk-of-stuff in the asteroid belt that generally falls into the dwarf-planet/minor-planet category. I think, more than Vesta, Ceres is planetised due to its closer orbit to the sun and is the largest object in the main asteroid belt. Indeed it is often considered a proto-planet, essentially a planetary embryo, givingContinue reading “Celestial Classics: Ceres”

Celestial Classics: Vesta

Vesta. No, not what every self-respecting beige-suit wearer from the 70s passed for exotic food, and not a box of matches. Vesta is an asteroid in the asteroid belt (that bit of rocky stuff mainly between Jupiter and Mars’ orbits), the second largest after Ceres, who we will almost certainly talk about later. It isContinue reading “Celestial Classics: Vesta”

The Importance of Perseverance

I’m not talking about in real life. I mean, perseverance has many important uses in real life, if you wish to undergo trials, tribulations and challenges, anyway. If you want an easy life and to not care by all means pass it up, it inevitably leads to suffering. No, I am talking about NASA’s latestContinue reading “The Importance of Perseverance”