An Optical Answer

Here is the answer for that other post... quite an interesting thing right?

Our eyes often deceive us. In this case, it was merely the perceived shadow on the blocks that made it look like different colours. Merely. It doesn't take much for us to be deceived. Where then can we rely on truth?

Sometimes, what we see is what we get. But most times, what we see is hardly anything to go by. Because we are all flawed. We are all blind to some extent.

Greatest Moments

Perhaps the greatest moments in history and in human consciousness are the same moments that will be remembered for their supreme hardships, their incomprehensible atrocities, their utter hopelessness, and the type of enduring peoples that stuck up their noses and carried on through.

And only during such times are the acts of good men and women ever seen at the forefront. Only during trying times are heroes both named and unnamed emerge. It is only during these times that we are able to discern the righteous from the wicked, the upright and the liar.

It is during these times that we are able to see that indeed the Lord is good.

An Optical Question

What do you all think of this? Do you think that A and B is different colours, or the same? Answer in a few days time. :)

Image taken from NASA Picture of the Day.

A Solar Eclipse

This image is of a solar eclipse sometime in August 11, 1999. I can't remember where it said it occurred already, though I don't think it would be hard to track down where from records readily available on the net; like I said, solar eclipses are rare events, and even more rarer for a one like this; this sort is called a total solar eclipse, one of three types. Those red fringes are actually the corona (outer layer of the sun) that are usually not seen due to being blanketed by radiant light from the sun. Coronal loops flare up on the surface creating those flame like shapes. They are like tongues of fire shooting up from the surface of the sun at incredible speeds. The moon having blocked out most of the light allows us to see these emissions clearly.

Bear in mind that one should always have proper eye protections ready at hand if one wants to go observe a solar eclipse. At certain points during the eclipse, the light from the sun can still harm our eyes.

Hee, I sound like a regular astronomer... I wish... :)

*edit* I remembered where I'd gotten this image from: the image was originally taken in France, and I'd gotten it from good old wikipedia! hehe. However, I also know that it is in one of the picture of the day webpages from NASA.

A Lunar Eclipse

This is a composite image of a lunar eclipse. The moon moves into the area where the earth's shadow (umbra) is, and gradually turns red due to refraction of light through the earth's atmosphere. I must say that I haven't had the privilege of watching a lunar eclipse unfold very often in my life. Probably only about three times over the past ten years? What I really want to see is a solar eclipse; rarer and much more dramatic. I have never seen a full solar eclipse before, only a partial one. And that was only once!