Earth has seldom been in more need of its Day. This year, there are to be three days of climate action, April 20 to 22; and Joe Biden is hosting a virtual international climate summit on April 22 and 23. As he has said, “We have already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis.” We hope against hope for an environmental springtime.
Here is the sky at tomorrow’s dawn.
See the end note about enlarging illustrations.
Above the sunrise horizon is the point marked “Earth’s direction of travel.” You at this dawn moment are on the front of our rotating planet, which itself at this date in its orbit is traveling toward the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn(rather like the spacecraft in “2001 Space Odyssey”).
We will not – unless we fly off at a tangent as from a slingshot – continue straight in that direction, but will curve around our orbit; the “Earth’s direction of travel” will move leftward (eastward) along the ecliptic. Let’s forbear from drawing any further morals about the fate of Earth, its ecosphere, its rich coating of creatures and civilizations and breathable air.
Back Home Department
At this time, and for more weeks to come, Tilly and I are living in the upper atmosphere of our house (an atmosphere that is getting cold and dusty) because the ground storey is being demolished and rebuilt under us.
So some activities are facing difficulty, and blogging may be one of them.
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ILLUSTRATIONS in these posts are made with precision but have to be inserted in another format. You may be able to enlarge them on your monitor. One way: right-click, and choose “View image”, then enlarge. Or choose “Copy image”, then put it on your desktop, then open it. On an iPad or phone, use the finger gesture that enlarges (spreading with two fingers, or tapping and dragging with three fingers). Other methods have been suggested, such as dragging the image to the desktop and opening it in other ways.
Sometimes I make improvements or corrections to a post after publishing it. If you click on the title, rather than on ‘Read more’, I think you are sure to see the latest version.
This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.
I hope the work will go smoothly and your home will be more comfortable!
Ah, I see I needlessly thought it might accomplish something … https://www.yahoo.com/news/mr-president-biden-putin-suffer-173818523.html … “A technical glitch at the climate summit meant Joe Biden was left hanging for nearly 90 seconds by his political nemesis Vladimir Putin.”
With Joe Biden hosting a climate summit, how could the earth not be saved? Or do you suspect it will the Mexican border crisis climate summit?
Please show us photos when it is completed.
Where is your home located, please?
Michael
It’s at Isleworth, on the Thames upstream from London. I gave some description of this region in an earlier blog post and will continue it later.
The triangular part being demolished was the kitchen. So, the day before, I had to carry upstairs many boxloads of kitchen contents and find somewhere to stow them.
Good luck with your contractors. Some say that if one can get an honest contractor, then that proves something but I don’t recall exactly what. Cheers
I think the EDOT will shift eastward. Looks like you are going to lose the triangle at the front of your house, or is that the back of your house?
You’re right about the first, in which I got the Earth moving off in a hyperbole, wrong about the second, which you couldn’t have known. The triangle they are removing is at the back of the house, and they;re going to replace it with a square – shorter but broader and wide-windowed – which will open us to sunlight and the river. I only wish we could have a solar panel on top, but we’ve got everything else we asked for.
At least you’ll have windows to provide sunlight to houseplants that use solar energy to make oxygen.