Millions and millions of people watched as misguided religious zealots few planes into buildings eleven years ago today. We all lost something that day, whether we were friend or enemy, in or outside of the United States. Tragedies like this, caused by malevolent hatred, have wracked the world since humans began throwing rocks at each other in caves. You’d think we were better than this.
The legacy of 9/11 lives on. Memories linger. And, old feelings get stirred up by the thoughts of who and what we lost. We still have political and religious zealots stirring enmity in the name of their deities. We still have people who hate for reasons only they know. Are we really better than the cave men throwing rocks? Think about it. Remember what was done. If you live in a country where politicians whip up hatred of others to get your vote, then don’t vote for them. We don’t need that kind of unreasonable thinking.
The 9/11 violence is emblematic of unreasoning hate.
We can do better.
nterplanetary Memorial to Victims of Sept. 11, 2001. The piece of metal with the American flag on it in this image of a NASA rover on Mars is made of aluminum recovered from the site of the World Trade Center towers in the weeks after their destruction. The piece serves as a cable guard for the rock abrasion tool on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit as well as a memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. An identical piece is on the twin rover, Opportunity. The rock abrasion tools were built by Honeybee Robotics in lower Manhattan, less than a mile from the site. This image comes from the panoramic camera on Spirit and was taken on Feb. 2, 2004, the 30th Martian day, or sol, of Spirit's work on Mars. Both Spirit and Opportunity completed their prime missions in April 2004 and began years of additional work in extended missions. Both rovers have made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life. Spirit ended communications in March 2010. Opportunity is still active, and researchers plan to use its rock abrasion tool on selected targets around a large crater that the rover reached last month. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University
Titan appears with Saturn behind it in this natural color view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI.
Is there anything more lovely in the solar system than the planet Saturn? Sure, there’s Mars and the great images we’re seeing from the Curiosity rover. And, of course, Earth sports some gorgeous places. But, for sheer jaw-dropping beauty, you can’t beat a great image of Saturn and its moons. They just grab your attention.
The Cassini mission folks released a set of color “portraits” of Saturn and its largest moon Titan. They show the pair through all the seasons of Saturn’s year. And they are stunning.
A view of the night side of Titan, with sunlight scattering through the top of the atmosphere. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI.
A wide-angle view shows Titan passing in front of Saturn, as well as the planet’s changing colors. Upon Cassini‘s arrival at Saturn eight years ago, Saturn’s northern winter hemisphere was an azure blue.
Now that winter is encroaching on the planet’s southern hemisphere and summer on the north, the color scheme is reversing. That lovely blue is now tinting the southern atmosphere.
Saturn's rings are front and center here, obscuring part of Titan. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI.
The other three images depict the newly discovered south polar vortex in the atmosphere of Titan. It’s a mass of swirling gas hovering over the pole.
Cassini‘s visible-light cameras have seen a concentration of yellowish haze in the detached haze layer at the south pole of Titan since at least March 27. Cassini‘s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer spotted the massing of clouds around the south pole as early as May 22 in infrared wavelengths. After a June 27 flyby of the moon, Cassini released a dramatic image and movie showing the vortex rotating faster than the moon’s rotation period. The four images being released today were acquired in May, June and July of 2012.
See that vortex at the south pole of Titan? It just recently formed -- and planetary scientists are studying it to understand Titan's atmospheric dynamics. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI.
Some of these views, such as those of the polar vortex, are only possible because Cassini’s newly inclined — or tilted — orbital path now allows more direct viewing of the polar regions of Saturn and its moons.
Over the years, Cassini has explored Enceladus and its hissing geysers, its Huygens lander probed Titan, is cameras have shown us high-resolution scans of the rings, and revealed more about the surfaces of many of Saturn’s moons. This system continues to surprise us with each new set of images and data that Cassini sends back.
I don’t know about you, but when it comes to return on investment, I’d have to say that we’re totally getting our money’s worth out of the Cassini mission. I suspect (but I haven’t calculated it directly) that this mission has probably cost the average taxpayer a few pennies. And, for that, we’re getting some fantastic looks at the outer solar system.
