12-21-12

The apocalypse came and went. Yawn.

For those in the northern hemisphere, today is the first day of winter – the shortest day and longest night of the year. The North Pole is tilted farthest away from the sun. The noon sun is at its lowest point in the southern sky. Above the Arctic Circle there is constant night. Below the Antarctic Circle night never comes; there is only day.

Earlier this year, on June 6, a rare astronomical event occurred: a transit of the planet Venus across the Sun. On that day, Venus passed directly between the Earth and the Sun. For a while, Venus became visible as a round, dark spot on the disk of the Sun.  Earthlings won’t see Venus transit the Sun again for 105 years.

However, Venus is transiting the Sun this very day – as seen from Saturn. There are no humans near Saturn to witness the event, but there are non-human eyes at Saturn that are watching. The Cassini spacecraft is at Saturn where Earthlings sent it in 2004. For 8 years, 5 months and 19 days Cassini has been sniffing and tasting and measuring and photographing. And it has been talking to the Earthlings that sent it to Saturn. It’s been telling them what it has found: about Saturn, about Titan, about Saturn’s rings and smaller moons. The Earthlings listen to Cassini. They discuss what Cassini tells them. And then they tell Cassini where to go next, what to watch, what to examine. And Cassini faithfully carries out the orders of its human masters.

In 2017, the Earthlings that sent Cassini to Saturn will order Cassini to commit suicide by diving into Saturn’s atmosphere. Shhhh. Cassini doesn’t know about that part of the plan, yet.