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Gazing into Space!

“The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in a cradle forever”.

 

A little Segway before I start in on this picture from Elton John’s “Rocketman”...

 

 

“She packed my bags last night pre-flight

Zero hour nine AM

And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then

I miss the earth so much I miss my wife

It's lonely out in space

On such a timeless flight

 

And I think it's gonna be a long long time

'Till touch down brings me round again to find

I'm not the man they think I am at home

Oh no no no I'm a rocket man

Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone...”

 

The artwork is of Konstantin Tsidkovsky, a Russian scientist and founder of Cosmonautics who lived 17 September [O.S. 5 September] 1857 – 19 September 1935). He was a Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory. Along with the French Robert Esnault-Pelterie, the German Hermann Oberth and the American Robert H. Goddard, he is considered to be one of the founding fathers of modern rocketry and astronautics. His works later inspired leading Soviet rocket engineers such as Sergei Korolev and Valentin Glushko and contributed to the success of the Soviet space program.

 

Tsiolkovsky spent most of his life in a log house on the outskirts of Kaluga, about 200 km (120 mi) southwest of Moscow. A recluse by nature, his unusual habits made him seem bizarre to his fellow townsfolk. (Thanks to Wikipedia)

 

In the background is the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium which is located in Brisbane’s Mt. Coot-tha Botanic Garden precinct.

 

The Planetarium was officially opened on 24 May 1978. The Planetarium is named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, governor of the colony of New South Wales (1821 - 1825) and well known Scottish astronomer who established the first significant observatory at Parramatta, Australia, in 1822 for mapping the southern skies. The Planetarium is located about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the Central Business District, and is administered by the Brisbane City Council.

 

The Planetarium features the 12.5m diameter Cosmic Skydome (hemispherical planetarium theatre) with a maximum concentric seating capacity of 130. Extensive space exploration and astronomy displays in the Planetarium's Foyer and Gallery include the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing with a replica of Neil Armstrong's space suit and a 1/48th-scale Saturn V rocket, meteorites, and numerous models of spacecraft, rockets, and astronomical instruments. In 2018, a major permanent exhibit - Skylore: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Astronomy - was installed in the Gallery. The original Zeiss star projector was removed from the Cosmic Skydome during the upgrade in 2010 and was placed on display in the foyer in early 2012. A replacement optical star projector by Ohira Tech was installed in the Cosmic Skydome in early 2013. A mini-theatre usually features a regularly updated Space Telescope Science Institute web feed. An observatory contains a permanently mounted Zeiss 15 cm refractor and a Meade 25.4 cm "Go To" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.

 

The rest is here en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Thomas_Brisbane_Planetarium

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Uploaded on January 19, 2020
Taken on January 19, 2020