Remote Space and Local Time | "Curiosity" Rover on Mars

 Image (courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/University of Arizona) showing the location (green) of NASA's Curiosity rover landing on Mars within Gale Crater

Culture defines our experience of space beyond its perceptual characteristics. In the contemporary world, where human interaction revolves around digital technologies and telecommunications, we seemingly experience locality and proximity differently from our predecessors. A distinction between local and remote space arises: the traditional space of our perceptions, circumscribed in our cone of vision and confined to our horizon line --once identifying space itself-- now becomes defined as local. Remote space instead is exemplified by a streaming video, a phone text message and voice call, or an Internet chat. The expansion of space boundaries goes beyond human perception: not only can we see images and communicate with people and places thousands of miles away but we can interact with outer space as well. The shift of the notion of space from physical and local to whimsical and remote is well expressed by the latest NASA mission: the Curiosity rover landing on Mars. Images of the planet were sent to Earth and made publicly available. Crowds gathered to a live broadcast at the Toshiba screen in Times Square. Paradoxically the act of perceiving went beyond our sensorial capabilities.

But is this contemporary notion of space a real shift or does it represent only a different way to grasp remote space? or just a different way to express the relation between local space the space where our body moves and remote space, physically not  present but perceivable? The relation between local and remote has been researched from the very ancient cultures, often  originating myths, religious beliefs political and social systems. But a major difference can be traced. The widening of our contemporary horizon brought by the artificial extension of the five human senses is often divorced from the local environment. It seems that there is an increasing loss of contact with the physical world: permanent signs of human presence in the physical environment becomes increasingly meaningful.
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excerpts from upcoming iBook

Signs, Between Earth and Sky

3-D view in front of NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT). The anaglyph was made from a stereo pair of Hazard-Avoidance Cameras on the front of the rover. The image is cropped but part of Mount Sharp, a peak that is about 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) high, is still visible rising above the terrain.

Image and caption courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/University of Arizona

Events | Space Shuttle in the Sky over New York

New Yorkers could enjoy exciting views of the sky today: the space shuttle Enterprise hovered around the city, r on top of a modified jumbo jet. A view almost out of a science fiction cartoon! The retired shuttle performed flyovers over several neighborhood and landmarks including the Statue of Liberty and the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum on Manhattan’s west side, before landing at its temporary home, Kennedy Airport.

events | Shift of the Axis Mundi

A week has passed from the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami which hit Japan on March 11.
The terrible tragedy which has shaken and taken away so many lives seems to have repercussions also at an astronomical level. According to geophysicist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena (California), the earthquake powerful temblor has accelerated Earth's spin and shortened the length of the 24-hour day by 1.8 microseconds. Gross also stated that the earthquake also shifted Earth's figure axis by about 6 1/2 inches (17 centimeters):

"This shift in the position of the figure axis will cause the Earth to wobble a bit differently as it rotates, but will not cause a shift of the Earth's axis in space – only external forces like the gravitational attraction of the sun, moon, and planets can do that"

More information can be found in the JPL NASA site
That the axis mundi is shifting is sadly becoming not only metaphorical but also literal. Human chaos of this decade part of a cosmic chaos?

Events, Earth Northern Hemisphere | Total Lunar Eclipse, December 21

Today and tomorrow (winter solstice) are very busy days for sky observers.

Stargazers from the Northern Hemisphere tonight will be entertained by a total lunar eclipse, happening right at winter solstice ---a sky event which was not happening since 1638!

Below is more information, courtesy of NASA, for those of us who will venture in the frigid northeast night to document it or just enjoy this very special moment in the universe:

"The Moon's orbital trajectory takes it through the northern half of Earth's umbral shadow. Although the eclipse is not central, the total phase still lasts 72 minutes. The Moon's path through Earth's shadows as well as a map illustrating worldwide visibility of the event are shown in Figure 4. The timings of the major eclipse phases are listed below.

Penumbral Eclipse Begins: 05:29:17 UT
Partial Eclipse Begins: 06:32:37 UT
Total Eclipse Begins: 07:40:47 UT
Greatest Eclipse: 08:16:57 UT
Total Eclipse Ends: 08:53:08 UT
Partial Eclipse Ends: 10:01:20 UT
Penumbral Eclipse Ends: 11:04:31 UT

At the instant of greatest eclipse (08:17 UT) the Moon lies near the zenith for observers in southern California and Baja Mexico. At this time, the umbral magnitude peaks at 1.2561 as the Moon's southern limb passes 2.8 arc-minutes north of the shadow's central axis. In contrast, the Moon's northern limb lies 8.1 arc-minutes from the northern edge of the umbra and 34.6 arc-minutes from the shadow center. Thus, the southern half of the Moon will appear much darker than the northern half because it lies deeper in the umbra. Since the Moon samples a large range of umbral depths during totality, its appearance will change dramatically with time. It is not possible to predict the exact brightness distribution in the umbra, so observers are encouraged to estimate the Danjon value at different times during totality (see Danjon Scale of Lunar Eclipse Brightness). Note that it may also be necessary to assign different Danjon values to different portions of the Moon (i.e., north vs. south)."

from NASA page on the 2010 eclipses

And if want to visualize the sun-earth-geometry find here a computer animation I did a few years ago.

Enjoy la bella luna!

Moon at Sun Farm