We had a strange sunrise this morning. It was hazy and pink. The strange color and blurriness brought back faint memories of a photo from years back. It took me a while to remember, but I recalled that strange photograph from one of Saturn’s moons by the European Space Agency.
This remarkable moment had almost slipped my memory when the Huygen spacecraft looked out briefly at what looks like an ordinary landscape millions of miles away.
What we cannot see in the photo is that the atmosphere consists of nitrogen and methane which washes the picture with an orange light. Whatever looks like ordinary rocks may be liquid or gas on our planet.
Artists have made pictures of methane lakes and other strange possibilities on Saturn’s largest moon. I love these images of far away moons and planets. But as lovely as they are, they are also a reminder of how delicate is the balance required for humans to survive and how urgent the need to care for our own planet.
