Skyshow in the Czech Republic -- and some thoughts on space-junk

 

Two skywatchers were lucky enough to catch a comet  crossing an asteroid.   Apparently there's a certain ppopular mystique surrounding "Xs in the sky" (look it up!) but this seems to be a normal (and wonderful) sample of the workings of the universe.

A thought I hadwhilewriting this:  we are lucky that our region of space is rather clean and calm.  Big meteor strikes are rare, no rogue planets  since the formation of the moon and  we seem to be in no imminent danger from a nearby supernova.

The Star Trek universe is built around human beings searching for "life." You have to wonder sometimes why they bother, given that so much of the "life" they find is nasty or hopelessly eccentric. There are lots of military dictatorships and repressive religious establishments.

It would make more sense if Star Fleet's primary mission was making sure that the solar system was not in danger of being destroyed by some manifestation of "non-life."

But then its easy to make the case that Star Trek (the franchise) is part of our own hopeless eccentricity.