And now for something completely different...

When I had a few moments to sit on my back patio yesterday, I finally got around to perusing the April issue of National Geographic that had come in the mail a few weeks ago. On p. 26 or thereabouts (it's not actually marked), there is a stunning picture of Hyperion, the absolute oddest of Saturn's 47 or so moons.

[Side note: Hyperion was the name of an unremarkable Titan in Greek mythology. His name is included in the lists of the Titans, but nothing else is known of him.]

Now before you see the clarity of the image, consider that before 2005, most of the images we had of Hyperion looked like something like this:



But last Fall, Nasa's Cassini's spacecraft was able to capture this incredible image:



From the April 2006 National Geographic:

Saturn's Strangest Moon. The Cassini spacecraft swooped in just 310 miles above the surface to get this closest ever view of Saturn's moon Hyperion. About 178 miles in diameter, the irregularly shaped satellite circles Saturn in a tumbling rotation. It's been theorized that Hyperion's odd shape was caused long ago by collisions with other objects in space. Hyperion's cratered surface, however, is a revelation; none of Saturn's other 46 moons look similar. Scientists are now studying the new images to help clear up questions about Hyperion's origins.--Margaret G. Zackowitz

Incredible. Simply Incredible.

“When I consider your heavens,
          the work of your fingers,
     the moon and the stars,
          which you have set in place,
     what are mere mortals that you are mindful of them,
          human beings that you care for them?
     You have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings
          and crowned them with glory and honor.”
(Psalm 8:3-5, TNIV)