“We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world. To make injustice the only measure of our attention is to praise the devil.”
– Jack Gilbert
On July 19, 2013, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft ducked behind Saturn and snapped 300-odd photos looking back towards the sun. The above shot is the composited mosaic of 141 of those images.
It was also only the third time that Earth had been photographed from the Outer Solar System- you can see it as the bright blue dot in the top of this image. NASA called the image- “The Day The Earth Smiled.” I love that!
In a time where politics and victimisation seem to be tearing humanity apart at the seams, it can be helpful to zoom out and see the beauty and wonder that unites us.
“We must risk delight.”
After two decades in space, Cassini flew it’s last mission one year ago tomorrow. On the 15th September 2017 (which also happens to be my birthday) it burnt up in Saturn’s atmosphere, in order to keep Saturn’s moons in pristine condition for further exploration.