A Few Minutes After The New Horizons Space Probe Sped Past Pluto, It Turned And Snapped This Picture

It sounded like a fairytale. Callisto laughed, and its soft tinkle rippled through the echo flowers quietly. Though their giggles quickly subsided, they were left with a broad smile.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! What’d you do to the Queen to make her so mad?” 

They folded their hands neatly, resting them on the flat of their stomach and watched the little gnats buzz about above them. Gaster had a lot more stories than Callisto had excepted; though if they were honest, they weren’t what they’d expected in the first place.

“I have been to France several times actually. When I was, oh, six hundred or so I was constantly traveling. France, Persia, Ireland, Denmark - I could never stay in one place for long. I favoured France most however.”

With fond memories in mind he waved leisurely in the air, tiny insects and specks of light flitting around his paw. “I met a few of their monarchs as well. Some were..more hospitable than others. I was almost beheaded by a Queen once, but fortunately the King managed to convince her to not sentence me to death.” Despite it being more of dire situation the monster simply chuckled, light hearted as ever.

“I was good friends with that King, and his own royal scientist as well. I visited as often as I could and my French wasn’t too insulting by then.”

                                           Strike me down?                                            I’ll get up again.                                                                             I am not invincible,                                                                             but I won’t give up either.

Interview my OC about questions that has no easy answer.

1. Which should be saved – a bus full of innocent lives or a loved one?

2. You meet a man who has killed someone and done time for it before. Does this factor into how you treat him? Will he ever truly escape that sin?

3. If you could jump back through time to save a loved one’s life, would you? Despite what it might to do the timeline? To everyone else? Do you believe it is their fate to die regardless?

4. You have a secret you swore not to reveal. But this secret is the only thing that would prove your innocence in a separate matter. Is it worth risking your own well-being for the secret? Or would you betray the trust given to you?

5. Is it better to hurt others before they hurt you or let yourself be walked all over and hurt by others?

6. If you tell the truth, an evil person gets to walk away free. If you lie, you may be able to send them away like they deserve. Is honesty worth more than justice?

7. You have the key to immortality in your hands. But not for free. If you want it, as a price, your worst enemy also gains immortality. Is it worth it?

8. If you could gain as much money as you want for losing a sense, would you do it?

9. Can people be held accountable for things people close or related to them did or are they innocent?

10. If a lot of people, possibly innocent people, have to die in order to make a real change, is it worth it? Can you live with their deaths even if it helps people in the present?

11. Imagine there is a beast that craves attention. If you ignore it, despite being deadly, it will leave you alone. Could you live like that? Even if it possibly attacked others? Would you try and challenge something that unknown?

12. If someone else stole something and you stole it back is that a good deed, a bad deed or one of equal worth? Are you better than the original thief?

13. Could you sacrifice yourself for the good of everyone else?

14. What of love? Say you discover your lifelong crush on another has finally been reciprocated… but they are currently dating a family member or a dear friend the crush feels responsible to honour. Do you force the break up? Date on the side? Bottle it up forever?

15. Is lying to others to gain their approval more important than being genuine and hated?

16. Have you ever contemplated killing someone? Who and why? Would you ever act on it? Are you frightened you might?

17. Have you ever gotten sheer joy out of hurting someone else, either physically or mentally? To whom and why? Did it scare you?

18. Have you ever done something morally wrong? If it’s morally wrong do you regret it?

19. What is more likely a thought to you – that this world is wrong or that you are wrong?

20. Are there people in this world who, no matter how much time and penitence is given, should never be forgiven?

21. Are there people in this world you simply think the world would be better without? If you could erase them out of existence without physically murdering them, would you?

22. How do you feel about having an intimate relationship with someone you don’t love? What if they love you in return? Does that make you feel guilty?

23. Could you ever become your own hero? Is that a role you can fulfil or is it something you look to others for?

24. How do you feel about tears? Are they cowardly and weak? Do you cry? Would you consider that shameful?

25. What is more important to you? An idea of yours being used and appreciated or the credit for that idea beings yours and yours alone?

26. Is your personal happiness more important than anything else in the world? Than fame? Than the happiness of others?

27. How far would you go to achieve a dream or ideal? Does it matter who suffers? Does it matter if you suffer?

28. How long would you wait for the one you love? A year? Fifteen years? Forever? Could you honestly be loyal to an unfulfilled love?

29. Is genius equal to hard work? Does a genius deserve praise for doing well without effort? Are they above us?

30. Do we live in a world of parallels? Can there be no hope without grief? No happiness without suffering? Or is a utopia possible?

31. What is more important to you? Being respected and praised by your elders or being looked up to and championed by those younger or of the same age?

32. If you could choose to remove certain feelings such as anger, confusion, sadness, would you remove them?

33. If you could wipe certain memories from your head, would you? Why would you? What memories?

34. What path appeals to you more? An exciting dream that leaves you possibly penniless and alone or a drab existence where you have steady success.

35. Is every person in this world wholly unique or can they be categorized? Can they be grouped and mentally dissected? Are you just another sheep in another flock or are you the sole unique soul?

Galileo and the Jovian Satellites

On the nights of January 7/8, 1610, Galileo Galilei noted in his notebooks the discovery of the first 4 Jovian moons, which he named after the powerful Medici family, naming them Medicean I, II and III.  The name Europa (above left) comes from Greek mythology-Europa was abducted by Zeus (the Greek name for Jupiter) in the form of a bull and bore him many children.  Io is also named for a child of Zeus (Jupiter), the daughter of Inachus, who was raped by Jupiter. Jupiter, in an effort to hide his crime from his wife, Juno, transformed Io into a heifer.  Calllisto (on the right) was named for another seduction of Jupiter.  Callisto was the daughter of Lycaon, who was a follower of Artemis, famous as goddess of the hunt and for her chastity.  To punish Callisto for lying with Jupiter, Artemis banished her.  Without protection, Jupiter was forced to change Callisto and her son into bears to hide them from his wife Hera’s fury.  Eventually, Jupiter placed them both in the sky as the Ursa Major and Minor, the Big and Little Bears (known today as the Big and Little Dippers).  Ganymede was the fourth moon discovered by Galileo, named for the shepherd boy known for his incredible beauty and kidnapped by Jupiter.  These names would not become common for several hundred years.  Today, Jupiter has fifty named moons:

1. Io  2. Europa

3. Ganymede

4. Callisto

5. Amalthea

6. Himalia

7. Elara

8. Pasiphae

9. Sinope

10. Lysithea

11. Carme

12. Ananke

13. Leda

14. Thebe

15. Adrastea

16. Metis

17. Callirrhoe

18. Themisto

19. Megaclite

20. Taygete

21. Chaldene

22. Harpalyke

23. Kalyke

24. Iocaste

25. Erinome

26. Isonoe

27. Praxidike

28. Autonoe

29. Thyone

30. Hermippe

31. Aitne

32. Eurydome

33. Euanthe

34. Euporie

35. Orthosie

36. Sponde

37. Kale

38. Pasithee

39. Hegemone

40. Mneme

41. Aoede

42. Thelxinoe

43. Arche

44. Kallichore

45. Helike

46. Carpo

47. Eukelade

48. Cyllene

49. Kore

50. Herse

and an additional 16 provisional moons:

1. S/2003 J2

2. S/2003 J3

3. S/2003 J4

4. S/2003 J5

5. S/2003 J9

6. S/2003 J10

7. S/2003 J12

8. S/2003 J15

9. S/2003 J16

10. S/2003 J18

11. S/2003 J19

12. S/2003 J23

13. S/2010 J 1

14. S/2010 J 2

15. S/2011 J1

16. S/2011 J2

All images courtesy NASA.  Thanks also to NASA for additional historical background.

Ganymede

✿ send me a floral question ✿

Daisy: How old were you when you had your first kiss?

Carnation: If I handed you a concert ticket right now, who would you want to be the performer?

Jasmine: What color looks best on you?

foxglove: Name three facts about your family?

Allium: What's the best thing you can cook?

Orange Blossom: If you could pick the gender and appearance of your child, would you?

Calla Lily: If you died right now, what song would you want to play at your funeral?

Poinsettia: Favorite holiday dish?

Oxlip: Would you ever get into a long distance relationship?

Primrose: Favorite kind of soup?

Daffodil: What's the most thoughtful present you've ever received?

Rose: Are you currently in love with someone?

Amsonia: Would you ever become a vegan?

Peony: What's your favorite hot beverage?

Tulip: For your birthday, what kind of cake do you ask for?

Myrtle: Do you like going on airplanes?

Hibiscus: Did you ever play an instrument? If so what?

Zinnia: Who was your best friend when you were six years old?

Poppy: What color was your childhood home?

Hydrangea: Starbucks order?

Violet: Do you like where you're from?

Locust: What was your favorite book as a child?

Rhododendron: What's the scariest dream you've ever had?

Queen Anne's Lace: Would you rather carve pumpkins or wrap presents?

Magnolia: Favorite kind of candy?

Aster: Would you rather be cold or hot?

Marigold: Do you listen to what's on the radio?

Heliconia: Do you like when it rains?

Azalea: What's a movie you cried while watching?

Dandelion: Do you think you're important?

Procyon-Vulpecula’s Space and Astronomy Advent Calendar

December 16th

WORLDS OF FIRE AND ICE Original full-sized image link: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/images/JEGIC_520x306.jpg In 1610, Galileo Galilei looked up at Jupiter with the telescope, which had just been invented, and saw that it was surrounded by four moons which orbited around it. This proved that not everything had to orbit the Earth, as Aristotle and the Church had taught for centuries. The four Galilean moons of Jupiter were central to a major change in our understanding of our place in the Universe 400 years ago - and one of them may lead another major revolution in our understanding of our place in the scheme of things, if life is discovered there. Io, the closest of the four moons to Jupiter, is the one that looks like a multicoloured pizza. It’s made of rock and metal, like Earth, and is about the size of our Moon. By all rights it should have frozen solid inside, and cooled to the point where no surface activity was possible. But Jupiter’s intense gravity keeps flexing and stretching Io, heating it up like a squeezed stress ball, and melting its interior to make Io the most volcanically active body in the Solar System. Maps of Io are impossible to make, as the surface features change in a matter of years as they all get paved over by lava and ash! Some volcanoes spew molten silicate rock, like on Earth, while others spew molten sulphur - yes, brimstone. Io really is a lot like the traditional picture of Hell! Ganymede, the third of the four moons, is the largest - and the largest moon in the Solar System. Just bigger than Saturn’s Titan, Ganymede is much bigger than Mercury (but not as massive, as Mercury is made mostly of metal and Ganymede is made of ice and rock.) Ganymede’s icy surface is a mixture of ancient, cratered plains that haven’t been touched for aeons, and recently resurfaced areas that have been folded and faulted and had slushy ice from inside welling up below. Perhaps the gravitational effects of the other moons can occasionally squeeze Ganymede enough to produce a limited amount of heating inside. Ganymede is also the only moon in th Solar System to have an appreciable magnetic field, too… Callisto, the last of the four moons, is the second largest. This ball of ice is dead and cratered, and covered in impact scars. Enormous ringed basins mark its surface, and craters look white where they penetrate the dirty surface and let fresh ice from inside well up. This moon hasn’t seen any major changes besides meteorite impacts for over four billion years - the oldest surface of any planet or moon. Callisto also lies outside the radiation belts of Jupiter, so if humans ever visit the Jovian system, Callisto will be the safest place for us to set up camp. Europa, however, is the most intriguing. Europa is the second of the four major moons from Jupiter and the smallest. It is mostly made of rock, but covered in a thin shell of ice. Jupiter’s tidal heating cracks and flexes the ice, and new ice wells up from below to fill the cracks. Europa shows powerful evidence that something warm is moving beneath the ice - maybe warmer, slushy ice, or maybe an ocean of liquid water? The Galileo probe, which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, examined Europa closely and found evidence that the icy surface was thin - maybe a few hundred metres. But we know that some sort of water must go down deeper than that - a deep, liquid ocean? Europa may contain more liquid water than all the oceans of Earth combined. Clinching evidence for the ocean came in 1998, when the Galileo probe detected changes in Jupiter’s magnetic field when Europa passed through it. This implied an electrically conducting liquid was sloshing about under Europa’s icy plates - like a saltwater ocean. And the dirty, reddish-brown colour of the cracks? That appears to be organic molecules of some sort. With warm water, an energy source, and organic matter in abundance, Europa seems like one of the most likely places in the Solar System to look for life. If that happens, the Galilean moons will again overturn our understanding of our place in the Universe. Image credit: NASA/Galileo For more on the Galilean moons, go to: lasp.colorado.edu/education/outerplanets/moons_galilean.php Or, go look at them yourself! All four Galilean moons are easily visible through binoculars. Go find out where Jupiter is in the sky, and turn your binoculars to it. You’ll almost certainly see a few specks of light on either side of it - those are probably Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

//2, 6, 16 (man I want to send so many you don't even know~)

no easy answer; accepting2. You meet a man who has killed someone and done time for it before. Does this factor into how you treat him? Will he ever truly escape that sin?

“Well, if I’m honest, it does. It’d make me feel nervous and threatened, and I’d certainly treat him differently. I don’t think that the majority murderers deserve a second chance, though... It does depend on the situation. I would be a lot less afraid of someone who killed in self-defense, for instance. Maybe I’m answering this wrong, but... I’m being honest.”

6. If you tell the truth, an evil person gets to walk away free. If you lie, you may be able to send them away like they deserve. Is honesty worth more than justice?

“I--uh, I don’t lie to well. I don’t know. I don’t know. How evil are they? If they would hurt anyone if I let them go, or if the evil things they did hurt people, I’d lie. I’d try to lie, probably.”

16. Have you ever contemplated killing someone? Who and why? Would you ever act on it? Are you frightened you might?

“Do we h-have to talk about this?” There’s a long pause.

“I got startled... I was... I was scared. I didn’t have time to contemplate. I just--I...” That wasn’t answering the question.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone. But if I had to, I would. I have. I’m scared I’ll do it again, yes.”

Callisto had quietly tried to reply several times, but the cheery monster hadn’t seemed to notice. They were quickly becoming overwhelmed, fearful, even, their heart pounded in their chest. He was so interested in their soul, everything about them. They wrung their hands and let out a breathy laugh.

“I didn’t even know what color it was before I fell,” They managed to stutter out finally. “Funny, huh? Everyone down here is so nice, I--” They didn’t know what to say. They didn’t really deserve the kindness. Not when their soul meant... Not when their soul meant so much.

“I’m sad that I have to go. It’s very... Interesting down here. The echo flowers in particular are really amazing! See, I tried,” they bent to pick up their journal, “to study them, to figure out what makes them echo, but... I didn’t really get anywhere with it. There’s just so much to learn down here.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Callisto. You must be far from home, hm?” Gaster chuckled lightly, a  sympathetic note in the sound. “I’ve head rumors of a child making their way through Waterfall. A temmie informed me though, so it wasn’t exactly a reliable source. But,” He exclaimed, “it seems they were correct!”

Well and truly the scientist seemed delighted at Callisto’s presence. If they were anxious or anything of the sort he hardly noticed past his genuine intrigue. 

“It’s been some time alright since we’ve had a newcomer. The Underground must provide a host of entertainment for a surface dweller such as yourself! Not as much as the surface, surely, but it’s interesting regardless.”

A pang of sorrow, or yearning even crossed Gaster’s glee at the mention of the surface. He soon brightened again, hardly giving Callisto a chance to speak themself. 

“And my, your soul! Purple! I’ve never seen that colour before.” The twinkle in his dual black-and-white eyes only gleamed brighter. He marveled at all the quirks he’d noticed right off the bat but remained in place; Gaster had no intention of invading their personal space, no more than he intended to overwhelm them.

Really, he was only succeeding in one of those.

i didnt crop some of them :( thats so sad

i didnt crop any of the ones i made tonight

i guess thats ok :(( i guess i gotta make new ones