Photo #2 (May 2008)

  SUNRISE IN SPACE

I who am the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars and the mysteries of the waters, I call upon your soul to arise and come unto Me.  For I am the Soul of nature that gives life to the universe.  From Me all things proceed and unto Me they must return.  Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold-all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals.  Let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you. And you who seek to know Me, know that your seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the Mystery: for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.

-- Charge of the Goddess
   Traditional prayer adapted
   by Doreen Valiente and Starhawk

Sunrise seen from low Earth orbit by the shuttle astronauts can be very dramatic indeed. In this breathtaking view, the Sun is just visible peaking over towering anvil shaped storm clouds whose silhouetted tops mark the upper boundary of the troposphere, the lowest layer of planet Earth's atmosphere. Sunlight filtering through suspended dust causes this dense layer of air to appear red. In contrast, the blue stripe marks the stratosphere, the tenuous upper atmosphere, which preferentially scatters blue light.

Exquisitely beautiful, this earth of ours!  Let's do everything we can to keep her healthy and create a healthy and happy place for ourselves and all the other creatures on this planet.
                                                   - D.B.