Sunsets, Space and Helen Sharman

We have the most amazing sunsets and sunrises in Grant County.  In fact, the night skies can be spectacular with hundreds of twinkling stars that shine so clearly without being hindered by city lights and haze.  I can only imagine how deep the universe is, filled with galaxies and planets and mystery, that continues forever beyond our sky.  For the moment, I can take simple pleasure in looking up to see color, form and movement dancing across heaven's horizon and leave the depth of the universe to astronomers. In the photos below, you can see the edge of the moon set within a framework of clouds touched by colors cast by the sun's descent.  

We observe the heavens above from earth below but there have been others who observe the earth from the heavens above.  One such person is Helen Sharman, a British chemist and astronaut.  In May 1991, she became the first British citizen in space and participated in a mission to the Soviet modular space station Mir.  This is a quote from her after that experience....

"Because we were orbiting the earth faster than earth spins on its axis, we went around the earth 16 times a day, an earth day, which meant 16 periods of lightness and 16 periods of darkness in 24 hours.  Every so often you'd look towards the earth, and often you could see lightness and darkness together, and dawn and sunset were spectacular."

We can look at images of the earth that were taken from the Hubble Telescope that gives us some perspective; this is one such image...

Such an awesome earth teeming with all sorts of living forms, including mankind.  And life came into existence by the hand of the Creator who made the heavens and the earth!


Hope you will return to visit me next time at The Turn-Up Patch....