Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Air

The weather is finally turning, so for this week's lullaby I thought I'd post something a little more upbeat. This is La Femme D'Argent from the ambient pop French duo Air. Accompanying the music are some beautiful images from the Hubble space telescope. This is a fun song - mellow, but with a nice groove. Enjoy!

Counting the Stars

Credit: European Space Agency/NASA;
Acknowledgment: E. Olszewski (Univ. of Arizona)

For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream. - Vincent van Gogh

In our consideration of the night sky so far, we've looked at the moon and the planets, as well as the aurora borealis. But the night sky is nothing without the stars, those tiny jewels of light hung on the blackness of space. (Unless, of course, you're up close to one, in which case it's an inferno of nuclear fusion, fusing hydrogen atoms into helium at temperatures in excess of 20 million degrees Fahrenheit. It's like a big, fiery twinkle factory.)

How many stars are there? It's an age-old question, but we may be gaining some insight into it. Astronomers routinely conduct star counts, usually in the Milky Way galaxy, then multiply that number by the estimated number of galaxies in the universe. As you might guess, it's hard to come up with a precise total. One estimate is that there are 400 billion stars in the Milky Way, but that may be off by as much as 50 percent.

Sometimes the public can get in on the star-counting action. Recently scientists asked "citizen-scientists" to help with a star count to determine the level of light pollution in different areas. The GLOBE at Night campaign collected data from around the world, hoping to find "dark sky oases" where night sky observations can be made more easily, away from city lights that obscure the stars.



But honestly, all this talk of star-counting is just a prelude (or really, an excuse) to post this wonderful video, a Russian animation called Hedgehog in the Fog. The hedgehog and his friend, the bear cub, spend their evenings counting the stars. But one night, on his way to his friend's place, the hedgehog encounters a white horse in a thick fog. I'll leave it to you to ponder the deeper meaning of his adventure.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Shakuhachi Music

A few days ago I looked out the window and saw two sandhill cranes making their way through the alfalfa field across the street. Migrating birds are returning to Wisconsin - it's nice to hear bird song again after a hard winter.

To honor our avian friends, the lullaby tonight features lovely images of birds set to a melody played on a shakuhachi, or Zen flute. I find this music calming and centering. I hope you enjoy it.

In the Darkness, Beautiful Lights

I was in Target the other day to get some potting soil, so I went back to the patio/garden area and spotted some very pretty light strings. They made me think of summer entertaining, and how fun and relaxing it is, if you can keep the mosquitoes at bay. Then I thought about the home decorating tradition of lighting the patio for outdoor parties. Some people use chinese lanterns or tiki torches, or float candles in the pool. Now we have cool light strings to buy.

Using light to decorate our homes and public spaces is a lovely idea that extends beyond the darkness of the winter solstice. I went in search of light art and light sculptures to see what artists were creating using light.

Copyright: Stone Ridge Glass 2007

This first one, from Stone Ridge Glass, is a "glasscape" with colored glass pieces that can be rearranged at will. The base contains a light that provides a dramatic backdrop for the glass. An inviting and interactive piece.


A more organic and complex use of light, above, is seen in the extraordinary work of artist Raquel Cohen. She notes that "light as a medium opens into unknown, ethereal realms." She fills an entire space in light that emanates from well-placed vessels.


Another room features her sculpture "Palos Santos," or Holy Woods. She is fascinated by how light "can transfigure a space so dramatically, how it can transform a tiny room into a galaxy simply by bathing floors, ceilings and walls with fleeting points of light. This ineffable effect on surrounding space fascinates me." It's as if she has imagined the life force of the trees, then rendered it in light. Gorgeous.

Copyright: Chris Freeman 1998

Light sculpture has also been used in public spaces, such as this wonderful work, "Color Bars" (Heller Series #2) by Chris Freeman. He used neon lighting to create a four-story light sculpture on an historical building in New York City. I love the bold, primary-colored light against the urban backdrop. It reminds me of the LED throwies that are sometimes used as graffiti. It's an unexpected use of light for its own sake, rather than for commercial or utilitarian purposes.



Finally, here is a video of an amazing installation last year at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. "Volume" was an interactive light and sound sculpture. According to the museum's web site, it was the work of design collective United Visual Artists, and Robert Del Naja and Neil Davidge (as part of their music production company, one point six). This has more of a high-tech aesthetic to it, and is especially interesting in that it responded to the movement of visitors.

These light sculptures are so different from each other, yet they each make such wonderful use of light. Clearly my fascination with pretty colored lights continues unabated.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Norah Jones

Tonight we have the smooth, silky voice of Norah Jones to relax to. This is the video to her song Rosie's Lullaby, with the moon and the waves telling Rosie to "close your eyes and dream..."

The Sound of Springtime Evenings

© Pancaketom | Dreamstime.com

For my wall calendar this year, I bought the 2008 Phenology Calendar, which is specific to Wisconsin and produced by state and university experts. Phenology is concerned with tracking plant and animal cycles, such as when wild plants bloom and when birds and animals arrive in the spring or emerge from hibernation.

According to the calendar, in the month of April, I can expect brown bats (both little and big) to return to the area. Coyote pups will be born as well. The nocturnal creatures are stirring, becoming active again.

I can also expect to hear the chorus of leopard and pickerel frogs. They aren't singing yet, but they will be soon. This nighttime serenade is such a wonderful part of springtime evenings. Here's a video preview of what's to come.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Manyfingers

Here's a delightful little film featuring the song Interlude by Manyfingers. The visuals are by Joost Van Veen. The song has a vibraphone feel, but is actually electronica with a nice melodic sense. I like some of the visual effects too, especially when it looks like the emulsion of the "film" seems to be dissolving. Cool!

Diversions for Insomniacs #5

If you suspect that your insomnia stems from unharnessed creative energy, then this is just the diversion for you. Here are three different online drawing programs to help release your inner artist:

1. ArtPad Digital Canvas
2. Your Studio
3. Jackson Pollock

These are all fun and easy to use. I did the night sky image above using Your Studio. It should be apparent that I'm no artist (there are some light and shadow issues going on), but I liked experimenting with the different tools and trying to make something that at least was recognizable.

So splatter some digital paint and see what you can create!

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Jeff Wahl

Acoustic guitar can produce such a mellow, beautiful sound. The lullaby this week is an original song, appropriately titled Lullaby, written and performed by Jeff Wahl. I hope you enjoy this lovely, meditative performance.

The Night Sky's Wanderers - Pluto, then Home

Well, I wish I had some lovely images of Pluto for you. But Pluto is so distant, even the Hubble space telescope has a hard time getting a clear image. Below is the highest-resolution picture of Pluto we have.

Credit: Eliot Young (SwRI) et al./NASA

No, Pluto's not pixelated, but the brown coloring is true color. I did find clearer images, but as far as I could tell, they were artists' renderings. NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, launched in 2006, is on schedule to reach Pluto in 2015, so we can hope for some better images then.

Maybe you've heard that Pluto was demoted awhile ago and is now considered a dwarf planet. The decision was made by a relatively small number of astronomers, so I'm skeptical that it will stick. It seems that many people are protective of the solar system's smallest planet.

It's been quite a tour we've been on to our neighboring planets, but it's time to come home. Earth is usually our point of observation, but with all the spacecraft zipping around, both manned and unmanned, it's not surprising that we now have beautiful images of our own world. First up is the iconic Earthrise:

Credit: Apollo 8/NASA

Taken in 1968 by the Apollo 8 crew, this is the first image of Earth from space and was described by photographer Galen Rowell as "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken."

Next is the Blue Marble:

Credit: Apollo 17 Crew/NASA

Blue Marble is possibly one of the most widely distributed photographs in the world, having been rescued from the NASA archives in the early 1980s by famine-relief and environmental groups.

And here's one more view of Earth, showing Antarctica and the tip of South America:

Credit: NEAR Spacecraft Team/JHUAPL/NASA

This image, taken in representative color, comes from the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft. I like the swirling clouds, but that broad, white sheet of Antarctic ice doesn't make me want to visit there anytime soon.

And finally, one last thing: a nod to the star at the center of our solar system. The sun has no part of the night sky, in that its presence in the sky defines day. Even so, it participates in lunar eclipses and provides the solar winds for the auroras and generally keeps the solar system together with its gravitational pull. So here's a closing thought about our local star from Galileo:

"The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the Universe to do."

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Galya

We're coming up on the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, when day and night are the same length. The first day of spring will be Thursday, and the lullaby this week features beautiful images of flowers, the promise of things to come. The song is If Only, by French artist Galya Clavier.

The Night Sky's Wanderers - Neptune

Credit: Voyager 2/NASA

Beautiful blue Neptune is, it seems, a shy planet, being very far out in the solar system. Discovered in 1846, its existence was deduced from mathematical prediction, not from being directly observed. Irregularities in the orbit of Uranus led astronomers to think that another planet must be gravitationally affecting Uranus. Their prediction turned out to be correct.

Credit: Voyager 2/NASA

The methane in Neptune's atmosphere absorbs red light, giving the planet its lovely blue hue. In 1989, Voyager 2, the only space craft to visit this distant world, recorded the Great Dark Spot in Neptune's atmosphere (upper left in the image above). But unlike Jupiter's persistent Great Red Spot, the dark spot was gone a few years later, based on Hubble observations, and a new spot had appeared elsewhere.

Credit: Voyager 2/NASA

Neptune in a gas giant planet and has the strongest winds in the solar system; they reach supersonic speeds of 1,300 mph. The image above shows light-colored clouds high in the atmosphere. Most of the atmosphere is hydrogen and helium, but scientists think that methane closer to the interior of the planet may condense out into diamonds, not only on Neptune but Uranus as well: "Once these diamonds form, they fall like raindrops or hailstones toward the center of the planet," says one of the researchers.

Credit: Voyager 2/NASA

Neptune has about a dozen moons, and pictured above are Neptune and Triton as crescents, a view never seen from Earth. The unusual angle of the photo yields a slightly reddish planet. What can't be seen are Neptune's rings, which were only discovered in the 1960s.

Credit: Voyager 2/NASA

Triton is Neptune's largest moon, and this color mosaic image shows its surface in great detail. Triton has the coldest surface temperature of any body in the solar system, minus 391 degrees Fahrenheit. It's so cold that nitrogen exists as frost.

Many of these facts about Neptune and Triton were new to me, but maybe you remember a PBS special from 1989, Neptune All Night. It was a live, seven-hour show featuring data and images from Voyager's fly-by as they were coming back to Earth. It's up on YouTube (that's where the link goes), although the video quality isn't great. Still, I love the idea of staying up all night to watch brand-new images from the very edge of the solar system. Slowly the planets are giving up their secrets, even the shy one.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Celtic Harp

This week we have a lovely song, played beautifully on the celtic harp - Carolan's Dream, arranged and performed by Mark Harmer. In his comments on the video, he writes, "Tradition has it that the harp was played last thing at night, before people went to bed." I knew there was a reason I went looking for harp music. Enjoy!

The Night Sky's Wanderers - Uranus

Credit: Voyager 2 Team/NASA

As we move outward in the solar system, we come to Uranus, a planet that was unknown to the ancients, having been discovered in relatively modern times (1781). Another gas giant, its atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium, but also includes different kinds of ice - methane, water and ammonia.

Credit: E. Karkoschka et al. (University of Arizona)/NICMOS/HST/NASA

Unlike the other gas giant planets, Uranus doesn't have a lot of features visible in its atmosphere. The image above, from the Hubble space telescope, was taken in infrared light. Cloud bands and formations become prominent, and the Uranian rings can be seen as well.

Credit: NASA/ESA/L. Sromovsky (Univ. of Wis., Madison)/H. Hammel (Space Science Inst.)/K. Rages (SETI)

Another beautiful Hubble image shows Uranus's moon, Ariel, in transit across the planet's surface. This is actually an unusual alignment because the orbits of the Uranian moons are such that the moons rarely cross in front of the planet to cast a shadow.

Credit: The Voyager Project/NASA

Rocky, icy Titania, another of the Uranian satellites, was imaged by Voyager 2, the only space craft to visit the planet. Titania is the largest moon in the system and is named, like many of its neighboring moons, for a character from a Shakespearean play.

Credit: Astrogeology Team (USGS)/The Voyager Project

Voyager's image of the moon Oberon features a curious crater, just right of center - a mysterious face dubbed Hamlet (no kidding).

Speaking of names ... can we even begin to count the number of schoolchildren who have laughed themselves silly over Uranus? It actually was originally named the Georgium Sidus, after King George III of England. But in keeping with the convention of naming the planets after gods, "Uranus" was proposed, that being the name of the Greek god of the sky. So laugh if you must, get in touch with your inner middle school self, and enjoy these pictures of Uranus.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Colleen

I've been sitting here trying to come up with words to describe this week's lullaby. The music, The Happy Sea, by French musician Colleen, is bright yet soothing. The visuals, by Carolina Melis, are at times fractal, like observing crystals growing on a microscope slide. But they are also organic and cellular, like switching slides on the microscope to watch microbes swim around. Overall, it's curious, a little trippy, and pretty cool.