Apone's Astronomy Page












History/Background | Astro-Photos and NASA Photos | Instructions Page | Tips and Troubleshooting | Related Links | Contact Me




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Welcome to my Astronomy site!





































Cat in needlepoint; Actual size=180 pixels wide

Photograph Property of NASA/JPL and the NSSDC
picture of Earth from NASA's Clementine Space Craft

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Why should we care about Space?

J.D. Unwin, "In human records there is no trace of any display of productive energy that has not been proceded by a display of espansive energy. Although the two kinds of energy must be carefully distinguished, in the past they have been united in the sense that one has developed out of the other... Intellctual progress, Which reveals itself in the growth of art and science... receives an immense impetis from conquest and empire."

Arthur C. Clarke: Voices From The Sky
Interplanetary travel is now the only form of conquest and empire compatiable with civilization. Without it, the human mind, compelled to circle forever in its planetary goldfish bowl, must eventually stagnate.

We must visit the stars, In our hearts, In our minds... But most of all as a species we must explore. It is who we are.

On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, 'He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.' Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete. The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honoured us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'






The Late Carl Sagan - (Q)Cosmos pg.345
WHO SPEAKS FOR EARTH?

We are the local embodiment of a Cosmos grown to self-awareness. We have begun to contemplate our origins: starstuff pondering the stars; organised assemblages of ten billion billion billion atoms considering the evolution of atoms; tracing the long journey by which, here at last, consciousness arose. Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. We speak for Earth. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring

When I was a boy I'd step outside huddled in a blanket on a summer night and I'd lay out on a pool chair in my backyard and look up into the night sky and ponder just how awesome the universe was.
I'd sit and try to count all the stars I could see... I'd note the faint small stars and the bright light ones (later I found that these were really planets). I was amazed and awe-struck by the enormity of the night.
As my interest grew I began to read astronomy magazines and books. I wrote NASA and Universities trying to get as much information on space as I could... I even visited a scientist from JPL when I was twelve who gave me many photographs of the Voyager missions and who explained to me that one day a rover he was working on would traverse the plains of Mars...
Well on my thirteenth birthday I was given a small childs telescope... That night I set up my telescope and gazed at the moon. My jaw droped to the floor as for the first time through my own two eyes I was looking at the craters in full detail through my telescope.
The stars and planets and all other objects in space hold in them mysteries and breath taking sights that threaten to boggle the imagination of even the most creative of people. The more I learn about our universe the more questions arrise. Its a subject that will forever keep me enthrawled and over joyed to be involved in.
I love astronomy and cosmology and I invite everyone to share in this most interesting of subjects to come along with me as we discover new and interesting things in the future.

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NASA / JPL did it... Spirit like its little brother Sojourner landed on Mars and is alive and kickin

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meteor showers!

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Click to find out about the Summer 03 Mars Perihelic Opposition

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RIP 01/03








































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