gl.

  
hello

i am an unrequited astronomer, pretend patient, gentle adventurer, pedal enthusiast, recovering calligrapher, occasional thespian and unfinished poet living in portland, oregon. contacting me via email is usually a good idea.

plural

* gl. main
* scarletstar
* twitter
* facebook
* nibbles
* mcmenamins

projects

* biking
* writing feminist science fiction
* writing about my job
* visiting every mcmenamins location
* moderating hidden portland

(b)linking

* alex & amelia
* carl (+furl)
* charlotte
* chas (+natureblog)
* dang & maggie
* dan's parrot, linus
* doug (+lwa)
* jason: expedition 360
* kristen & todd
* leeann
* leopoldo
* linda
* markalope (aka the villager)
* meadling (& previously, prior, mama_k +flickr, maya, january:may, 3ofus, such small hands, andrew +wedding)
* michaelmas (+library & cal (h)(w), along with reza & steve)
* mph (+ flikr & puddingbowl)
* philip (+library)
* susan brown
* sven (+shield & zoe)
* teri martin
* wishlist

archive

by month:
* March 2002
* April 2002
* May 2002
* June 2002
* July 2002
* August 2002
* September 2002
* October 2002
* November 2002
* December 2002
* January 2003
* February 2003
* March 2003
* April 2003
* May 2003
* June 2003
* July 2003
* August 2003
* September 2003
* October 2003
* November 2003
* December 2003
* January 2004
* February 2004
* March 2004
* April 2004
* May 2004
* June 2004
* July 2004
* August 2004
* September 2004
* October 2004
* November 2004
* December 2004
* January 2005
* February 2005
* March 2005
* April 2005
* May 2005
* June 2005
* July 2005
* August 2005
* September 2005
* October 2005
* November 2005
* December 2005
* January 2006
* February 2006
* March 2006
* April 2006
* May 2006
* June 2006
* July 2006
* August 2006
* September 2006
* October 2006
* November 2006
* December 2006
* January 2007
* February 2007
* March 2007
* April 2007
* May 2007
* June 2007
* July 2007
* August 2007
* September 2007
* October 2007
* November 2007
* December 2007
* January 2008
* February 2008
* March 2008
* April 2008
* May 2008
* June 2008
* July 2008
* August 2008
* September 2008
* October 2008
* November 2008
* December 2008
* January 2009
* February 2009
* March 2009
* April 2009
* May 2009
* June 2009
* August 2009
* September 2009
* December 2009
* January 2010
* February 2010
* March 2010
* April 2010
* May 2010
* June 2010
* August 2010
* October 2010
* November 2010
* March 2011
* June 2012
* July 2012
* August 2012
* September 2012
* October 2012
* November 2012
* December 2012
* January 2013
* February 2013
* March 2013
* April 2013
* June 2013
* July 2013
* August 2013
* September 2013
* April 2014
* August 2014
* November 2014
* December 2014
* January 2015
* March 2015

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?
site feed by atom

Monday, November 19, 2007

 
12:47 PM: retreat from the sun [#] [2]
when i read this about comet holmes last night, i doubted my interpretation of it, which is why i wrote about fomalhaut & capella instead:

"The dust cloud created by whatever cataclysmic event caused its million-fold brightening on October 23rd now has an apparent diameter that is about as large as that of the Moon. In real terms this translates to a physical size that’s larger than the Sun! For now Comet Holmes is the largest structure in the solar system, and it shows no signs of rapidly fading for the near-term future."

REALLY? comet holmes is as big as the sun? it seemed too fantastic: i figured i must not be reading it right.

fortunately, carl confirmed the awesomeness of this astronomical event this morning: "The Sun is no longer the largest object in the Solar System. Okay? Not the largest object in ITS OWN SYSTEM."

he linked to the intitute for astronomy at the university of hawaii, which pretty much disambiguates it: Comet Holmes Bigger Than The Sun.

so poetically, the largest objects in our solar system are diameterically opposed: one hot star and one cool comet. it's the niftiest form of a binary system i've ever seen.
Comments:
You can say the comet is the largest object in the solar system if you want to call an enormous dust cloud an object. Bigger than the sun maybe, but who would win in a gravity contest? The sun could whip that comet's ass, and in fact, it does the whip the comet around like a flea hanging onto the end of a cosmic lasso.

Dan the Sun Defender
"Standing tall for our favorite fusion ball."
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : Fri Nov 23, 11:59:00 PM PST
 
i think the sun can stand up for itself, dang. ;) and just because something's strong doesn't mean anything to me: i mean, the sun's been the biggest bully of the solar playground for a long time, and so i'm going to cheer on this small victory of the shy little comet.
# posted by Blogger gl. : Sat Nov 24, 03:12:00 PM PST
 
Post a Comment