Saturday, October 10, 2009

Blue Moon


I took this picture of the moon the other night. It's not very good and I didn't get any others that were any better. There are two reasons for this. One, I don't know how to work Rick's camera very well, especially the night settings. Two, it was dark on the deck and I was more concerned about a bear jumping up than standing there fiddling with it too long. By some stroke of luck, this particular picture focused on a branch in front of the moon, so that's kind of cool.

What do you think of the recent moon bombing? Do you think $79 million dollars is worth the effort to find out if there's water or ice on it? I just read an article that said NASA didn't get the photo results they hoped for. The pictures just show gray fuzz. One person said she was thrilled with them and others seemed disappointed. The article mentioned kids watching the event and one ten-year-old sounded disappointed when he said, "I wanted to see the debris flying out."

I don't know -- I obviously don't get it. One blogger posted that people opposed to this are basically idiots because they don't understand human expansion beyond Earth is inevitable. I guess I'll go stand in the idiot line because I don't have any plans to move to the moon. Another blogger posted that 50% of Americans want to leave the country, so we need to explore other places to live. If it costs $79 million to poke a hole in the moon, then how much would it cost for one person to live there?

Like I said -- I just don't get it. Here we are living in times where they want to tax us for our carbon footprints, encourage us to go green, have less children, drive smaller cars and so on to protect the earth. But at the same time they're causing destruction to our moon for research. I always believed the moon's purpose was for light, not life. According to an online poll, 64% think it wasn't worth the money, 34% think it was, and 2% are undecided. Again, I don't get it and that's my problem because I don't know much about it. It just seems like an awful lot of money. What do you think?

12 comments:

  1. Great moon shot! Though, if I can give you a piece of advice: invest in a tripod, if you don't already have one. That, and a cable release. These things = extremely clear & detailed shot of the moon. Experiment with the shutter speed with these tools and I promise, you won't be disappointed.

    I'm in the 2% category. On the one hand, I can see how the information will benefit the human race in determining the hows & whys of expanding beyond the confines of Earth. It won't happen in my lifetime, but I get it.

    OTOH, damn, the amount of money it took for that rocket to get there. <8O It just seems so wasteful. I suppose, when you have $1M hammers & screwdrivers, things can add up. I'm kidding, of course. I'm not entirely sure why it costs so much.

    Gale

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  2. Our government wastes a lot of money and this is another great example. If every time they thought of doing something wasteful they gave the money to the tax payers instead we would not be in a recession, out of work, and so on.

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  3. Great shot!! I'm not sure what to think about the 'bombing' of the moon. I don't think it's our place to do that, but then there is science exploration. It's a tough one for sure.

    Nancy

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  4. Nothing that has to do with space exploration will ever come cheap. Scientists have to carry on with their work while the citizens want money spent on other more earthly needs.Take a vote??

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  5. Love the moon shot, even if you don't think it's your best.

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  6. Lovely shot, Rena. Why not fiddle the settings inside in front of the window? Safe from Bear teeth and claws, and then when ready to take the shot, go outside?

    I've never understood te money spent on these trips up and down. It will get worse whenever they start building space stations on the Moon between say, Mars, and Earth, to serve as halfway point and store room for settlements on the next human planet. So the human race can ruin that planet as well.

    I know space exploration has to go on, but, we cannot take our wildlife with us. So do we not owe it to them to keep this environment as clean as possible? I'm more worried about all those gasses thrown into the atmosphere, than the money.

    On a lighter note, I have nominated you for a Kreativ Blogger Award on my blog. Go to:
    http://wildlifeonwheels.blogspot.com/2009/10/kreativ-blogger-award.html

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  7. Thanks for the award, Yoke. I'm planning on catching up with blogs today, so I'll be sure to check out yours.

    I guess I should explain the picture more. I didn't set out to take moon pictures that night. Basically, I was already in bed when the moon came over the mountain. So, I got Rick's camera out and took a quick picture. Maybe one of these days I'll take my time to do it properly, but this one was just a spur of the moment thing.

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  8. Wow - 79 million! That seems a bit crazy to me. I don't really understand what they are searching for though - I mean, what does it matter if there is water on the moon or not?

    Loved your picture though - very cool!

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  9. as we say in the I do not get it world. ours is not to reason why,ours is to do and die.
    I can never understand why money is spent on making another planet a hibitable area. who the hell wants to live in a bottle on the moon or any other planet. we all know we cannot breath on the moon. not that anybody has tried. not so stupid are our scientists.
    and neither am i too sure about this azone layer they are trying to scare us with, if its true why not just stop all materials made from oil waste. we have more than enough plastic to recycle for the future. all they do with it is make green park benches etc that do not rot, but, they will only last five minutes here in Egypt. anything plastic does not like the sun. and is rendered useless when it cracks and breaks up to be recycled again.
    What I say is just look about you and see what we already have on our beautiful planet earth, and try to save it. look at my blog on Nile pollution. no one listens or cares about life, unless they can make money from it.
    http://myegypttours.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html

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  11. Bombing the moon? Really? I need to watch the news more. That is awful! But your picture is gorgeous.

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  12. I thought it was stupid to bomb the moon. I went to bed and said my prayer and added if the world ends Lord with the bombing of the moon see ya in the morning!

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