Mountain Views News          Saturday, October 24, 2015

15

THE WORLD AROUND US

 Mountain Views News Saturday, October 24, 2015 


CASSINI SPACECRAFT SENDS BEST-EVER VIEWS OF SATURN’S MOON ENCELADUS; 

CHILEAN OBSERVATORY IMAGES COSMIC “COAL SACK”


NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has begun returning 
its best-ever views of the northern extremes of 
Saturn’s icy, ocean-bearing moon Enceladus. The 
spacecraft obtained the images during its Oct. 14 
flyby, passing 1,142 miles above the moon’s surface.

 Scientists expected the north polar region of 
Enceladus to be heavily cratered, based on low-
resolution images from the Voyager mission, but 
the new high-resolution Cassini images show a 
landscape of stark contrasts. “The northern regions 
are crisscrossed by a spidery network of gossamer-
thin cracks that slice through the craters,” said Paul 
Helfenstein, a member of the Cassini imaging team 
at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. “These 
thin cracks are ubiquitous on Enceladus, and now 
we see that they extend across the northern terrains 
as well.”

 Cassini’s next encounter with Enceladus is 
planned for Oct. 28, when the spacecraft will 
come within 30 miles of the moon’s south polar 
region. During the encounter, Cassini will make 
its deepest-ever dive through the moon’s plume 
of icy spray, sampling the chemistry of the 
extraterrestrial ocean beneath the ice. Mission 
scientists are hopeful data from that flyby will 
provide evidence of how much hydrothermal 
activity is occurring in the moon’s ocean, along 
with more detailed insights about the ocean’s 
chemistry—both of which relate to the potential 
habitability of Enceladus.

 Cassini’s final close Enceladus flyby will take 
place on Dec. 19, when the spacecraft will measure 
the amount of heat coming from the moon’s 
interior. The flyby will be at an altitude of 3,106 
miles.

*******

A COSMIC SACKFUL OF BLACK COAL. Dark 
smudges almost block out a rich star field in a new 
image captured by the Wide Field Imager camera, 
installed on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at 
ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. The inky areas 
are small parts of a huge dark nebula known as 
the Coalsack, one of the most prominent objects 
of its kind visible to the unaided eye. Millions of 
years from now, chunks of the Coalsack will ignite, 
rather like its fossil fuel namesake, with the glow of 
many young stars.

 The Coalsack Nebula (https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Coalsack_Nebula) is located about 600 light-
years away in the constellation of Crux (https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crux -- The Southern 
Cross). This huge, dusky object forms a conspicuous 
silhouette against the bright, starry band of the 
Milky Way and for this reason the nebula has been 
known to people in the southern hemisphere for as 
long as our species has existed.

 The Spanish explorer Vicente Yáñez Pinzón first 
reported the existence of the Coalsack Nebula to 
Europe in 1499. The Coalsack later garnered the 
nickname of the Black Magellanic Cloud, a play 
on its dark appearance compared to the bright 
glow of the two Magellanic Clouds (https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellanic_Clouds), 
which are in fact satellite galaxies of the Milky 
Way. These two bright galaxies are clearly visible 
in the southern sky and came to the attention 
of Europeans during Ferdinand Magellan’s 
explorations in the 16th century. However, the 
Coalsack is not a galaxy. Like other dark nebulae, 
it is actually an interstellar cloud of dust so thick 
that it prevents most of the background starlight 
from reaching observers.

 

 You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@
MtnViewsNews.com. 


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges

HALLOWE’EN: 

DEALING WITH OUR FEARS

[Nyerges is the author of 
Extreme Simplicity, How 
To Survive Anywhere, and 
Guide to Wild Foods. He has 
led outdoor field trips since 
1974. He can be reached at Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 
90041, or www.ChristopherNyerges.com.] 

The month of Hallowe’en is upon us, the time when 
Sierra Madre residents start to think about the roots of 
this holiday, and its traditional theme of fear. 

Is there, as Roosevelt once said, nothing to fear but fear 
itself? 

There are certainly many troubles in the land, from 
war and rumors of war, terrorists, ISIS, Trump vs. 
Clinton, economic fears, nuclear concerns, genetically-
modified, electronic surveillance and a government 
that’s no longer trusted by its people. Lots to fear, right? 

Well, perhaps Roosevelt was right. Fear is not the best 
method for handling a troublesome world. But if not 
fear, how does one respond to a world whose seams are 
unraveling? Is there hope in the Hallowe’en season? 

When I think of my ignorance of childhood, I realize 
that my fears drove me. Sometimes that was a good 
thing, and sometimes not. Fear kept me away from 
certain people, and away from certain neighborhoods. 
Fear got me into trouble, but it also kept me out of 
trouble because of fearing the consequences of what I 
was contemplating doing. 

Hallowe’en is one of our ancient commemorations. 
Its roots go back to the ancient Celts, who had six 
significant fire ceremonies during the year, one 
of which was Samhain, the last day in October. 
(Originally, Samhain was celebrated from October 31 
through November 2). The Feast of Samhain (meaning 
“summer’s end”), marked both their Feast of the Dead 
and the Celtic New Year. This time of the year, half 
way between the autumnal equinox and the winter 
solstice, was a time of decay and death on the earth. 
This was especially apparent in Western Europe, when 
the temperatures dropped and the rains fell. Take a 
walk in the woods or fields and you smell the decay 
of rotting leaves and fungus. Samhain ushered in the 
darkest and most barren time of the year. It was a time 
when the spirits of the recently departed – as well as 
other disincarnate entities -- were believed to be out 
and about, with easier access to humans. There was 
much to fear, no? 

Back in the day when there were no modern 
technological wonders, no Federal Reserve and central 
banking, no modern drugs and Obamacare, no IRS 
and no ATMs. This was the day when huge fires and 
even fire sacrifices were made in the belief that they’d 
protect the crops and flocks from demonic influence. 

Historically, Hallowe’en had to do with the dead, with 
ghosts, with spirits. 

The practice of putting food out to appease the 
ghosts so that they’d go back to their ghostly realms 
has morphed into children and adults dressing up 
unwittingly as the proxies of the ghosts and spirits, 
and threatening tricks if no treats are given. 

It may seem like an ignorant way to deal with fears, 
but it likely seemed very pragmatic way back when. 

I feared the darkness as a child, and the things that 
lived under my bed and in the closet. I feared the 
creatures that peeked in my window at night and the 
boogie man who roamed our streets. As I grew older, 
I feared police and authority, and the inexplicable 
“establishment” and the abstract evil people. 

It occurred to me, in retrospect, that I faced and 
overcame fears in my own ways too. As I child, 
there was the day I forced myself to look under the 
bed. Wow! Nothing was there, and I went back to 
sleep. There were the days when I forced myself to 
confront the older boys who I thought were thugs or 
criminals. Lo and behold, they had their own fears 
and insecurities, and weren’t that different from me. 
I learned, as Peter Suzuki has taught us, that once we 
begin thinking we may discover that what we thought 
was an enemy is actually a friend. 

Fears exist in the abstract, and they stay alive if we keep 
them there. If we identify the fear, we can take some 
action to deal with it, and by so doing, we discover a 
greater part of ourself, and we discover a new part of 
the world, and we might even make a new friend. 

Looking for a meaningful Hallowe’en Activity? 

In nearby Highland Park, the folks at the Los Angeles-
based non-profit WTI [www.wtinc.info] always have 
some activity to help you look at, and overcome, your 
fears. Check their website to see what’s going on this 
year, or call 323 620-4720.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com