Taking the Measure of the Sun

by Bertil Falk

One of the first things I do every day is look at he Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA.

The wonderful picture of someone measuring the moon of August 1, 2008 reminds me of what Herakleitos said 2500 years ago: "The sun is the breadth of a man's foot."

The astronomy picture of the day is a great Bewildering Stories bonus.

Bertil

Copyright © 2008 by Bertil Falk

Thank you, Bertil ! Others have also expressed appreciation for our regular Department feature. And it’s important to emphasize that the picture is renewed every day.

Holding the Sun

Bewildering Stories ranges from science fiction and fantasy to mainstream and slipstream and any other “stream” you like. Outer space is part of our first love. I’d like to make the Hubble pictures a randomly rotating background on our home page, but I doubt that’s possible.

The sun is the breadth of a foot? I can just picture Heraclitus lounging on a beach in ancient Greece and playfully raising one of his feet to cast a shadow. I hope he was wearing sunglasses at the time...

Don