Spheres

Today's science lesson we're going to discuss Spheres.

The sun like a god projects a sphere. A Heliosphere. The power of its output. The awesome magnitude of his existence protects everything within its purvey from most things in this universe. It projects so far out that it took a man-made probe more than 40 years just to reach it's outer perimeter. It affects us all. Unprotected it will kill us all. And like real life we all ignore it.

And then there are the planetary bodies. The people of the solar system. Some with very active molten cores. Generating intense magnetic fields. Some with very active and charged atmospheres. Comparable to people's optimism and love and other things that drive them. These magnetospheres protect them from all the intense effects of the Sun. Filtering them down to a manageable life-sustaining level. (For a few)

Then there is Mars. God of War. Fourth rock to the left. The red planet. The place where the invasions are always written to come from. Something happened long ago and it's molten core went cold. Soon after it lost its magnetosphere the sun blasted its atmosphere into deep space. Irradiated the entire planet. Its surface grew cold with no atmosphere to blanket the heat in. It's free standing water evaporated. And what was left froze. Never having much mass it never could hold on to to much of anything. It's one moon Phobos is an erratic pint-sized of an orbiting body. Earth only studies it because of the convenience of its location.

Spheres are not a guarantee of life. But they are a beginning. They are not always perfect. They are rarely ever impenetrable. And they vary in strength from time to time. Their efficiency can be boosted by atmosphere, nearby bodies, and other factors to which we are constantly discovering and rediscovering.

From time to time some Earth like body send a probe to figure out why I lost mine. Maybe because they fear it could happen to them. Maybe because they have a theory as to restarting mine. Or maybe they're just nosy or bored or whatever else passes for entertainment to these heavenly bodies. They look with their telescopes and make their plans. They launch their probes and put them in my orbit and sometimes they crash. Some of them land their probes on my surface and sometimes they crash.

I am home to the largest volcano in the solar system. It was once a great upheaval that no other planet has ever suffered. I have had a ripping of my surface so great that I have canyons that can fit states inside and never show them to level ground. So great is my turmoil that to open water to my atmosphere is to watch it boil and simultaneously freeze. An event that can typically only be replicated in a lab. I am the closest to the earth like bodies. But yet it takes months to reach me. My sandstorms blow for months and block out the very Sun. My sand and dust get everywhere. I am red from particles of rust as the iron in me corroded. Tears? I've been told my soil is poisonous. Too much salt. Tears? I am not so much a planet-sized mystery. I am just distant to reach. I am not particularly much of anything anymore.

I see you, cousins. I see your spheres at work. I am happy for you and at the same time very envious. I have seen the Rings Saturn. No life but joy. I have seen the stormy eye of Jupiter no life but large and protecting. I know of the murky veils of Venus. So mysterious so sexy. And of course Mercury. Blasted and scoured but still there. Much like me.

Watch me with your telescope. Promise me to your lovers. Keep me as a goal you dream of. Boast of sending your colonists to bring life back to me. Worry not for no aliens will leave here to invade you. Mercy for me in your dreams to never forget me. Hope with all that I mean to you heavenly bodies. Do one thing for me to bless me for the remainder of my time under this heliosphere. Mercy, that you grant me this one thing.....

Stop Crashing Your Probes into Me! They hurt! They make a mess! 

I have enough dust around here to keep me busy for millennia. I don't need your trash to add to that! And whose bright idea was it to send a nuclear-powered RC car to make tracks all over the place and irradiate the place worse than it already is! Just because I don't have much of a protective sphere doesn't give you the excuse to throw your trash my way. I mean just look at your own, you haven't explored it yet. But still managed to poke holes in it. Yes I mean you Yolanda. LOL

I think it was the three wise men Bell, Biv, DeVoe, who said "Never trust a big butt and a smile." I think it could be said "Never trust a big Sphere and a smile" also. LOL