SATURN!

They aren't great pictures, or really even that good, but I wanted to share the pictures of Saturn. The non-Saturnian stuff got cropped, and I realized the problem with my camera when I got home. You know, the problem that kept me from getting better pictures. (Note to self: check the settings next time)

Here's the important bit, though -- I took these! They're not great, but they're MY pictures of Saturn.

I tried getting a shot or three of Mars and Venus, but it wasn't happening. Between the camera issue and the fact that those two were hauling ass (comparitively), it didn't turn out. Mars kept looking like conjoined triplet fireballs, and Venus was just moving so fast that I didn't even try.

HOT DAMN, space is fascinating.

Peering into the cosmos...

Space is amazing.

Looking through a telescope, seeing Venus and Mars, Saturn and its rings, I can't help but wonder how anyone who has seen that could do anything but want to explore it. The fact that we have ended our space program, and yet haven't ended the unnecessary wars that we're still involved in, baffles me. There is no good rationale for it.

I think that Bill Hicks said it pretty well:

"Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace."