Saturday, late morning. Yesterday, Cathy and
Tod took you home and you took them out to lunch at the Brazenhead. Once
finished the three of you went home to chat for a bit then they left. You
gathered up what Carol said to bring back, played with the cats, particularly
Jadah who was more interested. Carol called and said there was no reason to
come back in Columbus Friday afternoon traffic so you caught up on three
television shows. You left in the Accord after five and as you arrived at I-70
and I-71 Kim called about supper. You turned on I-670 to return to I-71 North
and met Carol, Kim and Paul at an Italian restaurant on the south side of
Polaris Centre. The boys were enjoying a once the month “Parents Night Out’’ courtesy
of Primrose School. The children are watched until nine or so the parents can go
out to dinner by themselves.
After
a good night’s sleep you all had breakfast with Kim making pancakes and Paul
making scrambled eggs and mushrooms as well as sausage patties. You had a long
soaker bath and washed your hair. Kim, Paul and the boys headed to work at Mary
Lou’s house. Presently, Carol is taking a shower in Kim’s bath. – Amorella
1132
hours. It is interesting and I sit here while you go over the days. Minor
events mostly, but Mary Lou is no longer here to experience minor events or
anything else. Everyone has a last day. Hers was last Saturday. Sunday, either
nothing or she wakes up dead, so to speak. No more sun and sky, green foliage,
shelter, water, food, conversations. Mary Lou always said, “I’ll be right
beside you, Richard,” and she will in the cemetery – Carol on one side and Mary
Lou on the other. Life is always interesting no matter what it brings. Every
day brings on a new perspective one way or another.
1142
hours. I was looking at my email and Doug sent me an article that fits pretty
closely with GMG. Here it is:
** **
NASA finds 'Earth's bigger,
older cousin'
By Michael Pearson, CNN
Updated 9:35 AM ET, Fri July 24, 2015
(CNN)NASA said Thursday that its Kepler spacecraft has spotted
"Earth's bigger, older cousin": the first nearly Earth-size planet to
be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own.
Though NASA can't say for sure whether the planet is rocky like
ours or has water and air, it's the closest match yet found.
"Today, Earth is a little less lonely," Kepler
researcher Jon Jenkins said.
The planet, Kepler-452b, is about 1,400 light-years from Earth
in the constellation Cygnus. It's about 60% bigger than Earth, NASA says, and
is located in its star's habitable zone -- the region where life-sustaining
liquid water is possible on the surface of a planet.
A visitor there would experience gravity about twice that of
Earth's, and planetary scientists say the odds of it having a rocky surface are
"better than even."
While it's a bit farther from its star than Earth is from the
sun, its star is brighter, so the planet gets about the same amount of energy
from its star as Earth does from the sun. And that sunlight would be very
similar to Earth's, Jenkins said.
•
The planet
"almost certainly has an atmosphere," Jenkins said, although
scientists can't say what it's made of. But if the assumptions of planetary
geologists are correct, he said, Kepler-452b's atmosphere would probably be
thicker than Earth's, and it would have active volcanoes.
It takes 385 days for the planet to orbit its star, very similar
to Earth's 365-day year, NASA said. And because it's spent so long orbiting in
this zone -- 6 billion years -- it's had plenty of time to brew life, Jenkins
said.
"That's substantial opportunity for life to arise, should
all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this
planet," he said in a statement.
Before the discovery of this planet, one called Kepler-186f was
considered the most Earthlike, according to NASA. That
planet, no more than a 10th bigger than Earth, is about 500 light-years away
from us. But it gets only about a third of the energy from its star as Earth
does from the sun, and noon there would look similar to the evening sky here,
NASA says.
The $600 million Kepler mission launched in 2009 with a goal to
survey a portion of the Milky Way for habitable planets.
From a vantage point 64 million miles from Earth, it scans the
light from distant stars, looking for almost imperceptible drops in a star's
brightness, suggesting a planet has passed in front of it.
It has discovered more than 1,000 planets. Twelve of those,
including Kepler-425b, have been less than twice the size of Earth and in the
habitable zones of the stars they orbit.
Missions are being readied to move scientists closer to the goal
of finding yet more planets and cataloging their atmospheres and other
characteristics.
In 2017, NASA plans to launch a planet-hunting satellite called
TESS that will be able to provide scientists with more detail on the size, mass
and atmospheres of planets circling distant stars.
The next year, the
James Webb Space Telescope will go up. That platform, NASA says, will provide
astonishing insights into other worlds, including their color, seasonal
differences, weather and even the potential presence of vegetation.
From - http://www.cnnDOTcom/2015/07/23/us/feat-nasa-kepler-planet-discovery/index.html
** **
1152
hours. This is very cool, in our own galaxy no less. Awesome.
1658 hours. We stopped by Mary Lou’s and saw Sharon and Gil for the first time. We helped with shredding papers then drove to the airport and picked up Linda and Jen. We are at Kim and Paul’s and family discussions have begun around the kitchen table. Those who have had this end-of-life human experience no doubt know how this conversation goes. How much theatre could be created from real life family discussions around the kitchen table?
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