“Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead.” -Carl von Clausewitz
"The specific moral is that within the standard model the [cosmic microwave background] temperature is a key parameter in fixing the thermal and dynamical history of the Universe. The measurement of this parameter made physical cosmology much more definite, and the detection of the radiation made the Big Bang cosmology a good deal more credible." -P.J.E. Peebles
SCITUATE – Skyscrapers Inc., the Amateur Astronomical Society of Rhode Island, will host its monthly meeting on Saturday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m., online with Zoom.
“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” -Neil Armstrong
It may not seem like it, but the biggest existential threat to us humans has nothing to do with our planet or our activities here, but was born somewhere in the solar system. As per NASA estimates, there are now 25,705 near-Earth asteroids circling our planet at various distances, and if one of them were to head our way, not even a six-month warning would not be enough for us to do something about it.