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Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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Music of the Spheres
December 31, 2008 2:47 PM
It has been a complicated year here on Earth, and it would be a pity to end on a down note. So take a look at a cool bit of video provided by the Hubble Space Telescope.
(If the video above does not work on your computer, you can look at it HERE via NASA.)
What you're seeing is Ganymede, one of the original four moons of Jupiter discovered by Galileo, slipping behind the planet one April day in 2007. Ganymede is not only Jupiter's largest moon, it's the largest known in the entire solar system.
The Space Telescope Science Institute, which runs the Hubble for NASA, assembled 540 images into a time-lapse movie and released it a couple of weeks ago.
You can read more about it HERE -- but that's not the reason for the post. If 2008 was a rough year for you, think of it, like Ganymede, slipping out of sight. If you're an optimist, remember that the sun will shine on it again soon.
I hope the sun will shine on you in 2009.
December 31, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (3)
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Well, we still have 4 years of sunshine before the Big Day on December 21, 2012. Nice video, Ned. Is Ganymede really orbiting Jupiter below the equator? I thought they all had to orbit at the equator or around a major axis.
Posted by: andyr | Jan 1, 2009 3:32:25 PM
It's all so much prettier from up there, isn't it Ned?
http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/forgive-and-forgetforget/
Posted by: ghost | Jan 1, 2009 9:29:53 PM
It's amazing to see our neighbors on this video.
Posted by: Emilio | Feb 7, 2009 10:41:32 PM
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