This picture is composed of a SOHO image of the Sun in extreme ultraviolet light for each year of the last solar cycle, with images picked to illustrate the relative activity of the Sun.
[Nasa.gov]
Scientists have recently observed the golden ratio in full display on the quantum level in chains of magnetically linked atoms spaced one atom apart that behave as if they were a nanoscale guitar string when “plucked” (quantum uncertainty). In sum, there is a perfect relationship between the first two notes of the overtone system. Their frequencies amount to a ratio of 1.618: the oft-cited golden ratio that can be observed throughout nature in our everyday world.
The universe is an ordered place with patterns that can be seen throughout the smallest and largest systems. That order is what comprises our entire identity as humans. When we venture from it we feel disconnected and so we work to tap into it. Music, art, empirical study, religion. They all speak the same truth.
“UVA’s kinetic installation with sound by Mira Calix, recently featured in Artichoke’s ‘Lumiere’ in the world heritage site of Durham Cathedral. An array of motor-assisted pendulums weaves through space emitting light and sound. The rhythm of the work evolves through chaos and returns to unison, producing a hypnotic and seductive performance that heightens the viewer’s awareness of the space and their relationship with it. More than 75,000 people visited the festival, over the 4-day period.”
— UVA
O Magnum Mysterium by Tomás Luis de Victoria
Easily one of the most haunting and beautiful compositions I have ever heard. Work like this is rare and originates from disciplined transcendent masters. While this is from the 16th century, 20th century counterparts like Arvo Pärt (music) or Andrei Tarkovsky (film) share an equal spiritual awareness that seems exclusive to those who actively engage religious practice. Using the term religion very loosely, Arthur C. Clark (literature) could be lumped into someone that practices what they believe (the rule of science) and succeeds in imbuing it into their work.
Which leads me to an article about the papacy’s recent call to contemporary artists to be “fully conscious of your great responsibility to communicate beauty, to communicate in and through beauty.” I’m not a Catholic or even Christian but I cannot deny the centuries of valuable influence that the church has had on Western art and the place it has had in promoting the creating of timeless, beautiful work.
Unusual Auroras Over Saturn’s North Pole
Explanation: What’s causing this unusual aurora over Saturn? No one is sure. Infrared images by the robotic Cassini spacecraft of the north pole of Saturn have uncovered aurora unlike any other seen previously in our Solar System. The strange aurora are shown in blue in the above image, while the underlying clouds are shown in red. The previously recorded, also-strange hexagon cloud patterns are visible in red below the aurora. These Saturnian aurora can cover the entire pole, while auroras around Earth and Jupiter are typically confined by magnetic fields to rings surrounding the magnetic poles. More normal auroral rings had been previously imaged around Saturn. The recently imaged strange auroras above Saturn’s north pole can change their global patterns significantly in only a few minutes. The large and variable nature of these auroras indicate that charged particles streaming in from the Sun are experiencing some type of magnetism above Saturn that was previously unexpected.
Credit: nasa.gov
![The Sound of Saturn (continued)
This is an FFT of the previously posted radio wave emissions. The downward slope and uneven stroke demonstrates the gesture of shimmering, falling pitches that you hear.
[Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Iowa]](http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kov4rnmzGt1qzzio5o1_500.jpg)
The Sound of Saturn (continued)
This is an FFT of the previously posted radio wave emissions. The downward slope and uneven stroke demonstrates the gesture of shimmering, falling pitches that you hear.
[Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Iowa]
