Starship Asterisk*

Ann wrote: ↑Mon Dec 30, 2019 7:07 am
"Oh freddled gruntbuggly,
Thy micturations are to me
As plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee.
Groop, I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes,
And hooptiously drangle me with crinkly bindlewurdles,
Or I will rend thee in the gobberwarts
With my blurglecruncheon, see if I don't!"

(But you were nicer to me.
At least you didn't torture me with your poem!)

neufer wrote: ↑Sun Dec 29, 2019 10:58 pm
https://www.rhymezone.com/r/rhyme.cgi?W ... 2=l&org3=y
https://www.rhymezone.com/r/rhyme.cgi?W ... 2=l&org3=y

Ann wrote: ↑Sun Dec 29, 2019 8:17 pm
I like your poem, though. Who wrote it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haddocks%27_Eyes wrote:

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

The White Knight explains to Ann a confusing nomenclature for the song.

‘You are sad,’ the Knight said in an anxious tone: ‘let me sing you a song to comfort you.’

‘Is it very long?’ Ann asked, for she had heard a good deal of poetry that day.

‘It’s long,’ said the Knight, ‘but very, VERY beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it--either it brings the TEARS into their eyes, or else--’

‘Or else what?’ said Ann, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.

‘Or else it doesn’t, you know. The name of the song is called “HADDOCKS’ EYES.”’

‘Oh, that’s the name of the song, is it?’ Ann said, trying to feel interested.

‘No, you don’t understand,’ the Knight said, looking a little vexed. ‘That’s what the name is CALLED. The name really IS “THE AGED AGED MAN.”’

‘Then I ought to have said “That’s what the SONG is called”?’ Ann corrected herself.

‘No, you oughtn’t: that’s quite another thing! The SONG is called “WAYS AND MEANS”: but that’s only what it’s CALLED, you know!’

‘Well, what IS the song, then?’ said Ann, who was by this time completely bewildered.

‘I was coming to that,’ the Knight said. ‘The song really IS “A-SITTING ON A GATE”: and the tune’s my own invention.’

Ann wrote: ↑Sun Dec 29, 2019 8:17 pm

neufer wrote: ↑Sun Dec 29, 2019 5:20 pm
From Earth, Saturn is almost perfectly backlit (by the Sun).

Saturn's shadow on its rings is somewhat discernible but the
ring shadow on Saturn is well hidden by the rings themselves.

I googled "Backlit Saturn" ...

Ann wrote: ↑Sun Dec 29, 2019 8:17 pm
I like your poem, though. Who wrote it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haddocks%27_Eyes wrote:

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

The White Knight explains to Ann a confusing nomenclature for the song.

‘You are sad,’ the Knight said in an anxious tone: ‘let me sing you a song to comfort you.’

‘Is it very long?’ Ann asked, for she had heard a good deal of poetry that day.

‘It’s long,’ said the Knight, ‘but very, VERY beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it--either it brings the TEARS into their eyes, or else--’

‘Or else what?’ said Ann, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.

‘Or else it doesn’t, you know. The name of the song is called “HADDOCKS’ EYES.”’

‘Oh, that’s the name of the song, is it?’ Ann said, trying to feel interested.

‘No, you don’t understand,’ the Knight said, looking a little vexed. ‘That’s what the name is CALLED. The name really IS “THE AGED AGED MAN.”’

‘Then I ought to have said “That’s what the SONG is called”?’ Ann corrected herself.

‘No, you oughtn’t: that’s quite another thing! The SONG is called “WAYS AND MEANS”: but that’s only what it’s CALLED, you know!’

‘Well, what IS the song, then?’ said Ann, who was by this time completely bewildered.

‘I was coming to that,’ the Knight said. ‘The song really IS “A-SITTING ON A GATE”: and the tune’s my own invention.’

neufer wrote: ↑Sun Dec 29, 2019 5:20 pm
From Earth, Saturn is almost perfectly backlit (by the Sun).

Saturn's shadow on its rings is somewhat discernible but the
ring shadow on Saturn is well hidden by the rings themselves.

• But I was thinking of a plan
  To dye one's whiskers green,
  And always use so large a fan
  That they could not be seen.

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sun Dec 29, 2019 4:57 pm

HunterofPhotons wrote: ↑Sun Dec 29, 2019 4:37 pm
Why does Saturn's upper pole appear at the one o'clock position and it's bottom pole is shown to be at the six o'clock position? I've never seen this before.

Keep in mind that the rings have zero inclination with respect to Saturn (that is, they are perfectly perpendicular to Saturn's rotation axis). Saturn's poles in this image are exactly at 12 and 6 o'clock. You're being fooled into seeing the upper pole where you are by the shadow of the rings, which are not concentric around the poles.

• But I was thinking of a plan
  To dye one's whiskers green,
  And always use so large a fan
  That they could not be seen.

HunterofPhotons wrote: ↑Sun Dec 29, 2019 4:37 pm Why does Saturn's upper pole appear at the one o'clock position and it's bottom pole is shown to be at the six o'clock position? I've never seen this before.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Saturn#Galileo's_work wrote:
<<Galileo Galilei was the first to observe the rings of Saturn in 1610 using his telescope, but was unable to identify them as such. He wrote to the Duke of Tuscany that "The planet Saturn is not alone, but is composed of three, which almost touch one another and never move nor change with respect to one another. They are arranged in a line parallel to the zodiac, and the middle one (Saturn itself) is about three times the size of the lateral ones." He also described the rings as Saturn's "ears". In 1612 the Earth passed through the plane of the rings and they became invisible. Mystified, Galileo remarked "I do not know what to say in a case so surprising, so unlooked for and so novel." He mused, "Has Saturn swallowed his children?" — referring to the myth of the Titan Saturn devouring his offspring to forestall the prophecy of them overthrowing him. He was further confused when the rings again became visible in 1613.

Early astronomers used anagrams as a form of commitment scheme to lay claim to new discoveries before their results were ready for publication. Galileo used smaismrmilmepoetaleumibunenugttauiras for Altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi ("I have observed the most distant planet to have a triple form") for discovering the rings of Saturn.>>