RIP Stephen Hawking (1942 – 1918), theoretical physicist and quick-witted man who lived with ALS for 55 years.

In the visible world, the Milky Way is a tiny fragment; within this fragment, the solar system is an infinitesimal speck, and of this speck our planet is a microscopic dot. On this dot, tiny lumps of impure carbon and water, of complicated structure, with somewhat unusual physical and chemical properties, crawl about for a few years, until they are dissolved again into the elements of which they are compounded.

Bertrand Russell

source: Astronomy Picture of the Day, September 4, 2011 In the Shadow of Saturn Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

Photo Explanation: In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear. The robotic Cassini spacecraft now (2011) orbiting Saturn drifted in giant planet’s shadow for about 12 hours in 2006 and looked back toward the eclipsed Sun. Cassini…