This is the day I'll leave for Egypt.Six months later, I might be back there again.

That's because -- as I've mentioned in many ways, on many occasions, in this and other virtual spaces* -- there will be a total eclipse of the Sun on March 29, 2006. I recently discovered that the eclipse path will pass over Sallum, Egypt, a city on the Mediterranean coast that is close to the Libyan border. My Lady Friend recently lived and studied in Alexandria, to the east. She is thus already familiar with circumstances on the ground and how we might make our way to Sallum (and a nice oasis a bit further east).

I think that many people will go to the typical eclipse stomping grounds in central Turkey, but I've got to say that the cloud cover maps don't look all that encouraging. The little band that I was a part of in France in '99 found our view blocked because of thick clouds that rolled in from the English Channel just before totality. So I'm not tryin' to deal with more than 50% cloud density during late March in Anatolia.

The best climate conditions appear to be in Libya**, which has fortunately been able to get off the international sanctions blacklist. Inbound flights from Europe and the Middle East are on the rise, and I've read that cross-border travel from Egypt is fairly straightforward. Now, as far as getting into the deep desert, near the border with Chad -- it's there that totality will be the longest -- rent a Land Rover? Hire some Tuareg guides and some camels? Who knows? All the best and much luck to those who take on that challenge.

For myself, I will say that if my Lady Friend and I are able to return to the Egyptian shores from Korea next spring, and recline aboard a boat with solar shades and cameras at the ready, then we will be most fortunate.

* See: Forecast: Mostly sandy with coronal streamers likely

** Chad, Niger and Nigeria look like good weather prospects, also, but one is advised to check up on current political, infrastructure and tourist accommodation details. Or, just peruse eclipse tour packages. I also ought not to forget that the Moon's shadow will make its return to Africa over Ghana, which surely has lots of places to stay and ways to get around. It's just that Accra et al. are on a humid, possibly cloudy coast...

Plena eklipso suna

That's how one says "total solar eclipse" in Esperanto.

I had the idea to make a sign that will say "Watch the solar eclipse" in Arabic. I found this page with multilingual, Romanized descriptions for "Sun," "Moon" and "solar eclipse." I also discovered that I've had the incorrect spelling of "Qamar"/Moon on my site for almost a year.

Ah well. Now I know.

Aurorae borealisand city lightsfrom space

"Aurora Borealis and city lights in Scandanavia are featured in this digital still picture taken by the Expedition 11 crew aboard the International Space Station."

Peep a larger pic here.

As if peering through a microscope, what you acutally see here is the remnant of a supernova.

"In 1572, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe observed and studied the explosion of a star that became known as Tycho's supernova. More than four centuries later, Chandra's image of the supernova remnant shows an expanding bubble of multimillion degree debris (green and red) inside a more rapidly moving shell of extremely high energy electrons (filamentary blue)."

Hurricane Rita: Agent of Universal Order

"As many know, in the Hindu pantheon this is the age of the Kali Yuga, the dark age of Kali as the ever-becoming, ever-destroying force of life. She is both unimaginable horror and abundant bliss. Kali is the Holy Paradox, like wild fire that destroys and births the forests.

"Interestingly enough, Hurricane Katrina and her sister Rita may be the Kali Ma that appears in Hindu symbolism: the etymology of the Hindu word rita is 'universal order.'"


See also: "The person who can find opportunity for growth in the midst of calamity is a fortunate and wise Soul."

Autumnal Equinox takes placeat 6:24 p.m. EDT, just before sunset.

"The balance between light and dark is equal now, but only for a moment as we tip towards letting the dark forces take charge. In the southern hemisphere, the light forces triumph, and the days begin to grow longer.

"The seasons all begin with the entrance of cardinal signs. Those are the signs which get things going. Each seasonal chart, with its cardinal sign in the first degree, tells us something about the energies of the next three months. The seasonal ingresses all mark ancient festivals.

"Libra is the cardinal sign which signals the entrance of autumn. Libra’s goal is balance and harmony, which Librans find first and foremost through relationships. You’ll usually find Libra reaching for partnership. The preferred type of partnership is equality, where each partner is respected for her/his intrinsic qualities.

"Relationships dominate the incoming season. We reach out more to others, perhaps instinctively as the cold and darkness of winter are approaching. (In the south, perhaps we reach for companionship during the heat which envelops much of that hemisphere in the coming seasons.)

"Moon now in communicative Gemini supports that process. It too is in low degrees, making an easy trine to Sun. This provides a free and open channel for communication, perhaps the favorite activity of both signs. This is a 'people' combination, very social. We are connected, and revel in that connection."

From Maya Del Mar's Daykeeper Journal

Another sun[flower]

Message to Earth people:Turn toward the light.

"The Mercury-bound MESSENGER spacecraft captured several stunning images of Earth during a gravity assist flyby of its home planet on Aug. 2, 2005. Several hundred images were sequenced into a movie documenting the view from MESSENGER as it departed Earth.

"Comprising 358 frames taken over 24 hours, the movie follows Earth through one complete rotation. The spacecraft was 40,761 miles (65,598 kilometers) above South America when the camera started rolling on Aug. 2. It was 270,847 miles (435,885 kilometers) away from Earth -- farther than the Moon’s orbit -- when it snapped the last image on Aug. 3."

Earth rotation (4.9MB) or Earth rotation with date and time (5.8MB).

Anomaly in Andromeda

"Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have identified the source of a mysterious blue light surrounding a supermassive black hole in our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy (M31).

"Though the light has puzzled astronomers for more than a decade, the new discovery makes the story even more mysterious. The blue light is coming from a disk of hot, young stars that are whipping around the black hole in much the same way as planets in our solar system are revolving around the Sun. Astronomers are perplexed about how the pancake-shaped disk of stars could form so close to a giant black hole. Andromeda and its complex core can be seen in the illustration and two images above."

Maximillian's Schell

"The new vortex-shaped, outdoor installation by architects Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues warps the flow of space with a featherweight rendition of a celestial black hole, the deadliest force in the Universe.

"Hovering over M&A's courtyard 'Maximilian's Schell' is a spectacle the size of an apartment building that has been stopping traffic along Silver Lake Boulevard [in Los Angeles] since its unveiling in June. Constructed with tinted Mylar resembling stained glass, the vortex functions as a shade structure, swirling above the outdoor gallery."

via Magpie

Mars morphs

"New gullies that did not exist in mid-2002 have appeared on a Martian sand dune.

That's just one of the surprising discoveries that have resulted from the extended life of NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which this month began its ninth year in orbit around Mars. Boulders tumbling down a Martian slope left tracks that weren't there two years ago. New impact craters formed since the 1970s suggest changes to age-estimating models. And for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress...

"'To see new gullies and other changes in Mars surface features on a time span of a few years presents us with a more active, dynamic planet than many suspected before Mars Global Surveyor got there,' said Michael Meyer, Mars Exploration Program chief scientist."

Tuareg girls in Niger

Ooh. If only you knew what this meant to see these photos (from a site sent to me from a reader who asked, "Why not go to Niger for the '06 eclipse?"

Indeed...

Psychedelic storm cell

I'd bet 3 riyal that this was in New Mexico.

Projected petals

A sunflower at summer's sunset

What an ironic post,considering the previous one.

My Lady Friend in Cairo just mentioned the insect problem in her friends' flat, and she advised me to bring some natural repellents. And this is one source I found:

"Pesticides are available for most common household insect pests, but these potent chemical compounds may be more harmful to you and the environment than the pests. Here are some natural, non-toxic ways to control household insect pests."

Say hello to my little friend.

I was just downstairs, minding my own business and preparing some ginger tea, when I looked out of the kitchen window to see if there was any hint of color in the predawn sky. The only light on was the bulb above the back door, some 15 feet away. So I wasn't quite sure that I'd seen what I saw through the window, but it looked like an awfully large spider...

Indeed it was... not stuck between panes, as I had thought, but just waking up in the early morning breeze, wondering who this bothersome guy with the camera was.

Back to the Moon,but at what cost to research?

[And amidst the drains and expenditures
with which the government already has to deal. --Ed.]

"NASA Administrator Mike Griffin let pictures serve to illustrate how America would return to the moon. Contrary to the initial public impression of Bush's Vision for Space Exploration (VSE), which was seen as a program to send humans to Mars, Mars barely got mentioned today...

"The architecture presented was the result of activities collected under the Exploration Systems Architecture Study which was implemented shortly after Griffin arrived at NASA. The plan is clearly Apollo revisited -- 'Apollo on steroids' Griffin joked.


Quicktime video of NASA's new (old) Moon mission

"There are a number of ways to look at this announcement. NASA's plan seeks to pick up where Apollo left off. The Apollo program was killed in the early 1970's just as it was moving from a sequence of engineering and political stunts to a program of full blown planetary expeditions. The last three landings, Apollos 18-20 would have featured some spectacular locations including the center or the crater Copernicus. Plans for even more expansive human exploration were also developed which could have led to a permanent human base in perhaps a decade or so. They were never relaized...

"As such, we have unfinished business on the Moon. Many say we should never have left. Others say would should have returned long ago. I doubt Gene Cernan and his contemporaries ever thought that he'd retain the title of being the 'last man on the moon' for so many decades...

"At one point Griffin made a point of saying that science will not be cut in order to fund implementation of the VSE. 'It is not about taking money from the science program -- or the aeronautics program in order to fund manned space flight. It is about utilizing the money that we have to achieve different -- and I think -- far more exciting goals -- in human spaceflight.' A few minutes later he repeated that statement adding that in his plans 'we do not take one thin dime' out of science.

These statements are in clear conflict with recent events. Hundreds of contractors working on life science activities at ARC and KSC have been laid off in past weeks. Life science managers at NASA Headquarters have been removed from their job and moved to unrelated jobs, told to seek work elsewhere, or transfered to other activities at field centers.

"Meanwhile life science research activities aboard the ISS continue to be reduced -- the most notable being the Centrifuge Facility which was to be housed inside the Centrifuge Accommodation Module. Although it has not (yet) been announced formally, all involved are working on the assumption that it will soon be deleted entirely form the program. The core purpose of the Centrifuge was to probe life's adaptation to gravitational field -- including fractional gravity such as will be encountered by humans on the moon and Mars.

"Griffin is making these draconian cuts (while denying that he is doing so) despite decades of recommendations to the contrary by august bodies such as the National Academy of Sciences. Indeed, until his arrival at NASA, one of the prime reasons for the ISS was cutting edge biomedical research. Not any more...

"Perhaps Mike Griffin will come to see that the life science upon which so much of the ISS was justified -- often as enabling technology for human planetary exploration - has value as well. Many have learned that when NASA says that something is 'science driven' what it really means is 'if we can afford it.'

"GSFC Center Director and former AA for Space Science Ed Weiler is often quoted as saying that 'exploration without science is just tourism.' So far all we have seen of Mike Griffin's moon plans is the tourism brochure."

"If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. This especially includes your health care."

Another way to say "Who knows and who can treat your body better than you?"

The Moon in Pisces

Autumn Moon update(and then I'm goingto gaze at the real thing).

If you recall a post about the deduction of when, exactly, Ansel Adams photographed "Autumn Moon, the High Sierra from Glacier Point," then this is a quick follow-up.


Autumn Moon from Glacier Point, Sept. 15, 1948

It was mentioned that the Moon would be in a similar position and phase on the same day (Sept. 15) that Adams is said to have opened his shutter. Here, now, is a flat, polychromatic companion.


Autumn Moon from Glacier Point, Sept. 15, 2005

That is all. Except for pointing out the appearance of particulate haze. Pollution, that is.


Oh. NASA is preparing to announce a plan to put astronauts back on the Moon by 2018.

Also: India plans to send an orbiter to the Moon in 2007, in order to create 3D maps and scan for water ice. (Caution: it's in the Washington Times)

Which reminds me: what's up with SMART-1, ESA's ion-propelled orbiter that arrived at the Moon in November?


And another thing -- can you tell it's a Full Moon night? -- I saw a preview for this flick "Magnificent Desolation" last night. It's an IMAX feature in 3D. Anyhow, I had to ask, "Won't this just play right into the hands (or the minds) of the lunar-landing naysayers?"

Finally: Tomorrow, Sept. 18, is the Mid-Autumn/Moon Festival in Asia. A lovely Leo I know told me that she'll be joining some Japanese acquaintances for a party where the Moon is the guest. Food is offered for a lunar blessing, and then the participants partake. So perhaps I'll find an East Asian bakery tomorrow and buy me a moon cake.

Whoops, I've been asleepat the astrophysical wheel...

From Spaceweather on Sept. 8th:

"On Sept. 7th at 1740 UT (1:40 p.m. EDT), Earth-orbiting satellites detected a major X17-class solar flare coming from the sun's eastern limb. The blast caused a complete blackout of HF radio transmissions on the daylit side of Earth.

"The source of the flare was returning sunspot 798, which sparked strong auroras in late August. Two weeks of quiet followed those storms while the sunspot transited the farside of the sun -- but now it's back, and it's turning toward our planet again. Explosions later this week and next could produce more radio blackouts and some lovely September auroras."

And from the 14th:

The coronal mass ejection pictured above was hurled into space on Sept. 13th by an X1-class explosion at sunspot 798. This remarkable 'spot has produced nine X-flares since Sept. 7th including a record-setting X17 monster. All by itself, sunspot 798 has made Sept. 2005 the most active month on the sun since March 1991."

Saturn, it's been so long...

"The latitude bands and swirling storms of Saturn, always intriguing to scientists, often are exquisitely beautiful as well. The turbulent atmosphere is dotted with storms; most are small, but some are much larger. The dark center of the dramatic beauty swirling near the south pole is easily 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) across."

The Artwork of Michael Brown

An autumn leaf in August

Yes, I know it's September.
I forgot to post this until now.
(Probably because I forgot
that these leaves were only
posted on my Stumble page.)

See more leaves.

Prospecting a space potato

"In this artist's rendition, distributed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA's Hayabusa probe hovers on an asteroid. The Hayabusa probe reached within just 20 kilometers (12 miles) of an asteroid on Monday, 12 September.

"The Hayabusa probe, launched in May 2003, will hover around the asteroid, informally named Itokawa, for about three months before making its unprecedented -- and very brief -- landing to recover samples in early November. The asteroid is about 290 million kilometers (180 million miles) away, between Earth and Mars."

Our lunar future...

...as represented by PixelMoon.

Goddesses with attitude...

This was my reading material on the bus
from Cleveland to Columbus and back...

"As we are all finding out in these times, the person who can find opportunity for growth in the midst of calamity is a fortunate and wise Soul."

"The Fires of the Earth are stirring. What does this mean?

"We equate a lot of what is happening with regard to the extreme weather patterns in recent years to global warming: greenhouse gases and the like. But, there is a more powerful 'engine' at work here, and it lies deep in the bowels of our planet itself.

"The greatest disasters to come will be caused not by humanity's folly, but by the internal heat of the planet as an entity as it seeks to balance itself and evolve. For those readers who have been following this sequence of articles for a while, it might be a good idea to read back through America after the 2004 Elections to keep an overview in mind of what is to be discussed with regard to the US. As it was stated in that article, the US is set to undergo some major trials and testing in the coming years –- if not in the coming months.

"These trials will be of an initiatory nature and will eventually bring through the Soul of the nation, not that it is not there already. It will, however, be drawn forth in fullness –- and soon. I have stated that the major trials for the country will be economic, and what we will see as the economic fallout from the New Orleans disaster will give an indication of how those financial difficulties will come. But, we are talking about Fires here...

"I use the uppercase Fire to indicate a spiritual force. That force will manifest physically as increased heat throughout the planet. It is the latent fire (planetary kundalini) at the base of the spine, or its correspondence in a planetary sense, that is being stirred into activity as we watch all these world events unfold.

"We have been told of earth changes to come from many quarters, and they will happen, though the timing and magnitude stated by some sources varies. We should keep in mind, though, that all of these things are cyclic, that they have come before and will come again, that humanity has survived them all and will do so this time, that they will change things for the better and that they all occur in accordance with great Laws of Nature of which we have little comprehension. All this is due, in the end, to a Divine impulse.

"But, we should also be mindful that anything that happens on a planetary scale also works at the individual scale as well. 'As above, so below,' as the saying goes. We have all heard before that our evolution is being brought forward a notch. The spiritual bar is being raised and we have to move with it. It is not simply the stars, the change of the ages or the subjective cycles that are knocking us about. It is the spiritual force of the planet itself and thus of our own higher selves as well, for we are all cells in the body of the planetary Being...

"All of this brings us back to a more important question, and one which should be very carefully examined in light of what has just happened. What will happen if we have another disaster of this nature -- such as an earthquake or its like -- and it takes place near or in one of the major coastal cities elsewhere in the US? What will that mean for our economy, for us as a nation, for the current conflict in Iraq or for our current way of life? Things can change dramatically at a moment's notice, as we have seen. All the warning signs are there. All we have to do is open our eyes and look...

"My friends, just as with 9/11, I hold out great hope that this will bring us closer together as a nation, and that some of the less seemly aspects of our past can be swept away, put in their place, and a fresh start can be made. If this disaster does not unite us in common cause for the greater good, what will? I would advise everyone to take stock of their situations and see if they are where they need to be and what they would do if something like this happened in their locale. Above all, though, we need to be like a cork on the waters in these times and ride with things as we need to. That is one of the secrets of going through trials such as this.

"We now have a firsthand experience of what the Sumatra tsunami victims must have felt. In the end, there is no real difference between the peoples of the world. Please give generously, whether of physical help or donations. We all strengthen each other by so doing."

Global consciousness, quantified

"The Global Consciousness Project is an international effort involving researchers from several institutions and countries, designed to explore whether the construct of interconnected consciousness can be scientifically validated through objective measurement. The project builds on excellent experiments conducted over the past 35 years at a number of laboratories, demonstrating that human consciousness interacts with random event generators (REGs), apparently "causing" them to produce non-random patterns.

"The experimental results clearly show that a broader examination of this phenomenon is warranted. In recent work, prior to the Global Consciousness Project, an array of REG devices in Europe and the US showed non-random activity during widely shared experiences of deeply engaging events [one of them being 9/11, which is how I first found this site --Ed.].

"In the fully developed project, a world-spanning array of REG detectors is connected to computers running software to collect data and send it to a central server via the Internet. This network is designed to document and display any subtle but direct effects of our collective consciousness reacting to global events. The research hypothesis predicts the appearance of coherence and structure in the globally distributed data collected during major events that engage the world population."

See Discover Channel video link on Global Consciousness Project...

...and this Wikipedia link on the same.

Oh!

If you noticed the word "noosphere" in the GCP web address, then you should know that that is a silent shout-out to Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit philosopher and visionary who "saw humanity heading for an exciting convergence of systems, an 'Omega point,' where the coalescence of consciousness will lead us to a new state of peace and planetary unity."

What, are planets not supposed to change?Change is the universal constant.

"New observations by the international Cassini spacecraft reveal that Saturn's trademark shimmering rings, which have dazzled astronomers since Galileo's time, have dramatically changed over just the past 25 years.

"Among the most surprising findings is that parts of Saturn's innermost ring, the D ring, have grown dimmer since the Voyager spacecraft flew by the planet in 1981, and a piece of the D ring has moved 125 miles inward toward Saturn.

"While scientists puzzle over what caused the changes, their observations could reveal something about the age and lifetime of the rings."

Additionally:

"Data from the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini spacecraft indicate that Saturn's majestic ring system has its own atmosphere -- separate from that of the planet itself.

During its close fly-bys of the ring system, instruments on Cassini have been able to determine that the environment around the rings is like an atmosphere, composed principally of molecular oxygen.

Organic HTML

Organic HTML is "an online application that grows a weird looking plant of which its features are based on the data parsed from user-defined web URLs. the emerging plant appears to use the colors similar to those found in the website HTML, CSS or images, while its size & branches depend on the site structure, content or number of pages. without any readily provided explanation or legend, one keeps trying to feed it URLs to derive the most beautiful flower (while avoiding the sometimes appearing flies)."

by way of Information Aesthetics

Orbital|computation

Orbital

from the Gallery of Computation

[Al] can end up ailin' ya

"One of the many nutritional factors contributing to the pathology of Alzheimer’s is excess aluminum in the brain. How does it get there? We have laced our lives with it. Prolonged cooking of acidic tomato sauce in an aluminum pot, aluminum cans of food, soda and beer, factory effluents, aluminum absorbed from under arm deodorants, aluminum in baking powder, salt (yes, check the labels, that’s what makes it pours when it rains), antacids and as an antiflocculant in drinking water are just a few of the sources. Some of the highest levels are found in patients with ulcer and stomach problems who have ingested over-the-counter aluminum-containing antacids for years {Tuh tuh-tuh-tuh tums}.

"We recommend that you eliminate the symptoms by eliminating as many of the causes as possible from your life. Aluminum is clearly not good for us to have in our bodies."

And drop that Teflon like it's hot, too.

"If you want to live well, then you must eat wisely. But eating wisely [with modern methods] may not prevent you from becoming sick."

"Something is missing from grocery-bought or common foods. Yet, if these inadequate or 'weak' foods can support life, then 'strong' foods must be able to strengthen and protect life. This kind of reasoning has driven Taoists to investigate the jungles, mountains, flatlands and bodies of water -- and to test every plant, animal and mineral -- for properties that will benefit mankind. Their findings produced other dietary wisdom teachings that became the right arm of Taoist practice.

"Taoism exists because of herbs. All Taoists depend on herbs, just as we depend on food."

Tiwaz/Justice

The rune stone featured toward the left of this image is Tiwaz.

"Symbolically, this rune pictogram represents the vault of heaven intercepted by the world tree or axis. This image is intended to convey a pillar supporting the heavens and as such may act as a bridge between the affairs of humans and the divine will.

"This particular pictogram has also been variously described as a spear point, an arrow, the pole star, or the North Star. This imagery will call to mind guidance in much the same way as the North Star has served as a source of guidance to many journeyers who would otherwise lose their bearings and stray off course.

"There is an Old English rune poem that names Tiwaz and refers to it as a star that keeps its faith well and is always on course over the mists of night.

"This rune, then, can be considered representative of the guiding principles which are steadfast and can be relied on to judge one's position. Again, the imagery of divine guidance through signs in the heavens hearkens back to the use of the North Star to determine one's course."

Another rune-inspired image by Svetlana Bakushina is featured here... and a little something about another Scorpio artist is on the way.

O'Keeffe the young artist

"Georgia Totto O'Keeffe was born in a farmhouse on a large dairy farm outside of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin on November 15, 1887.

"When Georgia was in the eighth grade, she asked a daughter of a farm employee what she was going to do when she grew up. The girl said she didn't know. Georgia replied very definitely:

"'I am going to be an artist!' I don't really know where I got my artist idea... I only know that by that time, it was definitely settled in my mind."

Hot lava in Hawai'i

"Lava emerges from small tube in pahoehoe... Lava in tube inside flow with `a`a crust." Both were produced by the ongoing, decades-long eruption of Kilauea volcano.

Hot rocks at St. Helens

Archaeoastronomy 101

"Our planet moves around the Sun in an elliptical circuit deviating less than a second from one year to the next. Together we proceed through 8 significant, yet invisible, thresholds within each orbit. These spatial milestones mark the beginning, midpoint and end of each of our seasons. Equinoxes, solstices and cross-quarters are moments shared planet-wide, defined by the earth's tilt and the sun's position on the ecliptic along 45° arcs.

"To ancient civilizations fascinated and entertained by the cyclical motion of the heavens, the ability to fix these cusps just to the nearest day was highly-prized, even sacred knowledge. With modern measurements and calculators much better accuracy is possible for determining these moments.

"This grand octal in the sky is largely ignored by most modern societies. Equinoxes and solstices have become little more than footnote mentions on occasional weather reports. Cross-quarters are all but forgotten, in spite of having been observed and celebrated by Celtic people for centuries.

"Archaeoastronomy's goal is to understand how skywatchers of the past fashioned and refined systems for regulating their primitive calendars and for memorializing celestial events, both cyclical and unique. Often they relied on sunlight and shadow plays striking and passing across targets and designs aligned with equinox, solstice and cross-quarter sunrises and sunsets. Sometimes the celestial cycles of the Moon, Venus and Mars captivated their attention, too. However, knowing seasonal durations and transitions was vital to success in hunting migratory prey, planting crops and harvesting them.

"Archaeoastronomy draws on several scientific disciplines, primarily astronomy, archaeology, anthropology, psychology, and epigraphy, the decoding of ancient inscriptions...

"Our featured archaeoastronomical pages focus on four regions: The United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Pyramids, presently limited to The Great Pyramid in Egypt.

"We also publish a list of links to other archaeoastronomy resources and related topics online."

Of course, I cannot let this post end without pointing you to Graham Hancock's site. Hancock is the author of Fingerprints of the Gods, Heaven's Mirror and Underworld, among other titles.

The Lenswork of Stephen Scott Gross

Sit down for a celestial journey.

"Celestia is a free, real-time, 3D astronomy program. It doesn't just show you the sky as it can be seen from earth as most planetarium software does, but allows you to move to and view the universe from any point between the planets and the stars. The Celestia Motherlode hosts over 10 GB of Celestia addons by various creators, which extend or change the way Celestia renders the universe."

Day-old info on the New Moon

"Change is in the air. This Virgo lunar cycle asks you to focus on daily work, physical health, and service. Keep the lines of communication open between your heart and your head. Release clutter, get organized and concentrate on what's really important.

"The New Moon [11:44 a.m. PDT on Sept. 3] brings opportunities to break out of deep, old ruts. The secret to success is a simple daily routine that you can stick to that keeps your health and your life on track. This paves the way for you to use last month's creative heart-centered passions in a context of practical service.

"The downside of this cycle is over-analysis, harsh inner and outer criticism, worry and guilt. These are red flags telling you you're not living in the present moment, your only place of power. The upside comes when you turn your thoughts and talents over to spirit while focusing on your desire to be of service.

"The Harvest Full Moon [7:02 p.m. PDT Sept. 17] in Pisces reminds you that the attention you pay to practical matters must be balanced with attention to matters of the spirit, and to that which inspires and renews you. Successful solutions to problems that arise require that you let go of outmoded beliefs, illusions, and bad habits."

via Moonsurfing