INTENSITY

Esoteric madness

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By LabradoriteKing on Pinterest

[mapleleaf2rouge]

have been looking for directory of stones for a long time

[todaysrecipe]

I want them all

[ladykinrannoch]

Reblogging so that I can find this again.

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Have posted this before... thought it needed posted again.

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Captain Marvel #31-33

Marvel, 1974

Plot and pencils by Jim Starlin. Scripts by Starlin, Mike Friedrich, and Steve Englehart. Inks by Al Milgrom, Dan Green, and Klaus Janson. Covers by Starlin & Milgrom, Starlin & Janson, and Starlin.

26.01

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New study finds that water makeup of Jupiter’s Galilean moons set at birth

SwRI scientist contributes to findings explaining the striking difference between the large Jovian moons While Io, the most volcanically active moon in the solar system, appears completely dry and devoid of water ice, its neighbor Europa is thought to harbor a vast global ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust. A new international study co-led by Aix-Marseille University and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) reveals that this striking contrast was established at birth, as they formed around Jupiter, not from later evolutionary processes. Since the first missions exploring the Jovian system in the late 1970s, scientists have known that Jupiter’s moons exhibit markedly different characteristics. Io and Europa provide the most striking example. While Io is a dry and intensely volcanic world devoid of water, Europa is icy and thought to conceal a vast subsurface ocean of liquid water. “Io and Europa are next-door neighbors orbiting Jupiter, yet they look like they come from completely different families,” said SwRI’s Dr. Olivier Mousis, second author of an Astrophysical Journal paper detailing these findings. “Our study shows that this contrast wasn’t written over time — it was already there at birth.” The team tested two main hypotheses to explain the differences. The first suggests that the extreme conditions prevailing close to Jupiter during satellite formation prevented water ice from being preserved, depriving Io of this component from the outset. The second hypothesis proposes that Io and Europa initially formed with similar amounts of water, but Io subsequently lost most of its volatiles over time through atmospheric escape and erosion processes. The international team reconstructed the earliest evolutionary stages of Io and Europa, assuming that the moons’ water originated from hydrated minerals incorporated during formation. Using an advanced numerical modeling framework, the study coupled the internal thermal evolution of the moons with volatile escape processes, accounting for all major heat sources active in the young Jovian system, including accretional heating, radioactive decay, tidal dissipation and Jupiter’s intense radiation. “Io has long been seen as a moon that lost its water later in life,” Mousis explains. “But when we put that idea to the test, the physics just refuses to cooperate: Io simply can’t get rid of its water that efficiently.” For that matter, Europa would not lose its water either, even under extreme conditions. The findings indicate that Io and Europa were already fundamentally different at birth — Io forming from dry materials and Europa accreting from ice-rich building blocks. “The simplest explanation turns out to be the right one,” Mousis said. “Io was born dry, Europa was born wet — and no amount of late-stage evolution can change that.” These models indicate that the compositional contrast between Io and Europa is not the outcome of subsequent evolution, but rather the direct legacy of the primordial environment surrounding Jupiter at the time its moons formed. These conclusions challenge the long-standing assumption that Io’s high-density makeup resulted from a massive loss of volatiles after its formation. Beginning in 2031, NASA’s Europa Clipper mission and the European Space Agency’s Juice mission will study Jupiter’s large moons, providing critical new data to further test these conclusions. In particular, sampling plumes of water ice expected to be erupting from cracks in Europa’s icy surface will provide historical context. “By probing plume activity and the isotopic fingerprints of water, these missions will help us reconstruct the early conditions of Jovian moon formation,” Mousis said.

IMAGE: A new international study co-led by Aix-Marseille University and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) reveals that the striking contrast in the water contents of Jupiter’s Galilean moons was established at birth, as they formed around the gas giant. Within Jupiter’s circumplanetary disk, hydrated materials forming Europa remained water-rich, while the same materials dried up when crossing the dehydration line before reaching Io, producing an intrinsically arid moon. Credit Southwest Research Institute

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[masterq7]

It's my 11 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

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[masterq7]

I'm

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[masterq7]

Don't be fooled, this is an ad for Brightspeed Business Fiber Internet, and they will not be giving you the one month of fiber cereal you expected.

[masterq7]

[masterq7]

Night driving

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Subways are for sleeping, 1939. In fairness, this gentleman seems to have worn his shoes out walking.

Photo: Bettmann via BuzzFeed News

[mysticstronomy]

WHAT IS THE OLDEST KNOWN GALAXY??

Blog#491

Welcome back,

Wednesday, March 26th, 2025.

Astronomers calculate distances to remote objects by measuring redshifts, a yardstick of how deeply stretched the galaxy’s light is (and redder means farther away). GS-z14-0 was discovered to have a redshift of 14.3, besting the 2022 record of a galaxy found with a redshift of 13.2 that corresponded to a formation age of some 325 million years after the Big Bang.

And GS-z14-0 is some five times more luminous than that prior most-distant galaxy, according to Kevin Hainline, a professor at the University of Arizona, who helped lead the discovery.

“Nobody dreamed that there would be galaxies this bright at this high redshift,” says George Rieke, another University of Arizona astronomer who is the former deputy director of Steward Observatory.

According to NASA, members of the JADES team explained recently that “the light we see is coming mostly from young stars and not from emission near a growing supermassive black hole. This much starlight implies that the galaxy is several hundreds of millions of times the mass of the Sun! This raises the question: How can nature make such a bright, massive, and large galaxy in less than 300 million years?”

The galaxy is surprising for another reason, too. JADES researcher Jake Helton, also of the University of Arizona, identified an unexpected abundance of dust and emission lines from hydrogen and oxygen in the galaxy’s spectrum. The oxygen suggests that generations of massive stars have come and gone in the galaxy.

And there’s more.

The galaxy’s number of massive stars poses a dark-matter conundrum. Dark matter accumulates as the cosmos expands. Rieke says that “the problem with this galaxy is it’s pushing against what we think is the maximum mass for a dark halo at that time.”

The findings were made with JWST’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph, Near-Infrared Camera, and Mid-Infrared Instrument. In the latter case, researchers noted the irony that during the budget woes of JWST, the Mid-Infrared Instrument was frequently targeted for budget cuts. Now, along with its companion science packages, it’s targeting the earliest galaxies in the cosmos.

The findings from GS-z14-0 did not come easy. The team first observed the object more than a year ago, but its brightness and proximity to another galaxy was puzzling. While they had a preliminary redshift finding, the team later obtained a spectrum that confirmed the galaxy’s distance, along with its other puzzling properties, measurements that push but do not overturn models of stellar and galactic formation. The “naïve assumption,” said Helton, had been that these earlier galaxies would be smaller and fainter.

That’s why Hainline would go on to compare the finding to excavating a cellphone among ancient ruins in Rome because this galaxy is so much brighter than the previous record holder and seems more evolved in terms of composition.

Hainline and his colleagues were initially skeptical of the findings and later threw hands in the air with excitement. Hainline told Astronomy that the finding was “one of the weird great moments of my scientific career.” This is especially so because he recalls sleeping under a table during the Texas landfall of Hurricane Harvey. He was part of a skeleton crew left at NASA facilities to shepherd JWST during the storm. The GS-z14-0 discovery reminds him, he stresses, of the dedication of everyone who made the Webb Telescope and its ongoing findings possible.

Certainly JADES-GS-z14-0 won’t be the record-holder forever. As time rolls on, astronomers are destined to find even more distant, younger galaxies.

Originally published on https://www.astronomy.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, March 29th, 2025)

"WHAT IS THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND??"

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[astra-ravana]

Ancient Alchemy

Alchemy is one of the oldest mystical and proto-scientific traditions, blending philosophy, chemistry, spirituality, and metaphysics. It was practiced across multiple civilizations, including Egypt, Greece, China, India, and the Islamic world, each contributing to its development.

⚗Origins and Evolution of Alchemy

Ancient Egypt & Hermetic Alchemy (c. 2000 BCE - 300 BCE)

• Egyptian priests practiced early alchemical processes, such as metal purification and embalming.

• Thoth, later known as Hermes Trismegistus, was considered the patron of alchemy, giving rise to the Hermetic Tradition.

• The Emerald Tablet, attributed to Hermes, introduced the concept of “As above, so below,” suggesting the microcosm reflects the macrocosm.

Greek and Hellenistic Alchemy (c. 300 BCE - 400 CE)

• Greek philosophers like Empedocles and Plato theorized about the four classical elements (earth, water, air, and fire) as the building blocks of reality.

• The idea of the Quintessence (Aether) emerged as a mystical fifth element.

• Alchemy merged with Gnosticism and early Christian mysticism.

Indian and Chinese Alchemy (c. 400 BCE - 1200 CE)

• Indian Alchemy (Rasasastra) focused on immortality and transforming metals into gold, with mercury playing a key role.

• Chinese Alchemy (Neidan & Waidan) aimed at achieving the Elixir of Immortality, focusing on both external substances (Waidan) and internal spiritual practices (Neidan).

• Daoist alchemists sought balance through the Yin-Yang and the Five Elements.

Islamic and Medieval European Alchemy (c. 700 CE - 1600 CE)

• The Islamic world preserved and expanded alchemical knowledge, with figures like Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber), who systematized laboratory techniques.

• Alchemy entered medieval Europe through translations, inspiring figures such as Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, and Paracelsus.

• The quest for the Philosopher’s Stone—a mythical substance granting immortality and transmuting base metals into gold—became central.

Renaissance and Early Modern Alchemy (c. 1500 - 1700 CE)

• The fusion of alchemy and early chemistry occurred through figures like Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle.

• Paracelsus emphasized spagyric alchemy, focusing on the medicinal applications of alchemy rather than purely transmutational goals.

• The rise of the Rosicrucians and Freemasons kept alchemical philosophy alive in esoteric circles.

⚗Core Principles of Alchemy

The Three Alchemical Principles (Tria Prima – Paracelsus)

Alchemy posits that all matter consists of three essential principles:

• Sulfur (Soul) – Represents spirit, transformation, and the volatile aspects of existence.

• Mercury (Mind) – Symbolizes fluidity, adaptability, and the connection between spirit and body.

• Salt (Body) – Embodies physical form and stability.

⚗The Four Classical Elements

Alchemy works with the foundational elements of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire, believing these are essential to transmutation and spiritual purification.

The Magnum Opus (Great Work)

The process of transmutation was divided into four symbolic stages:

• Nigredo (Blackening) – Death, dissolution, and breaking down impurities.

• Albedo (Whitening) – Purification and enlightenment.

• Citrinitas (Yellowing) – Awakening and the infusion of divine light.

• Rubedo (Reddening) – Completion, the birth of the perfected being, or the Philosopher’s Stone.

⚗Applications of Alchemy

Physical & Material Alchemy (Transmutation & Chemistry)

• Attempting to turn lead into gold symbolized the refinement of base matter into perfection.

• Alchemists developed early chemical processes, including distillation, sublimation, and crystallization, laying the groundwork for modern chemistry.

• Gunpowder, acids, and medicinal compounds were discovered through alchemical experiments.

Spiritual & Mystical Alchemy

• Many saw alchemy as a metaphor for spiritual enlightenment—transforming the “lead” of the mundane self into the “gold” of the divine self.

• The Philosopher’s Stone was also symbolic of self-realization and immortality.

• Theurgy and Hermetic practices integrated alchemy with ritual magick to invoke higher states of consciousness.

Medicine & Healing (Alchemical Medicine – Spagyrics)

• Paracelsus introduced the idea that diseases could be cured by extracting the essence of plants and minerals.

• Early homeopathy and herbal medicine developed from these alchemical principles.

• Some alchemists sought longevity elixirs, believed to extend life or even grant immortality.

Psychological Alchemy (Carl Jung’s Interpretation)

• Carl Jung saw alchemy as a metaphor for psychological individuation, where the Magnum Opus represented self-integration.

• The shadow (Nigredo), anima/animus (Albedo), and self-realization (Rubedo) were psychological processes paralleling alchemical transformation.

Occult and Modern Esoteric Alchemy

• Alchemical concepts remain central in Hermeticism, Thelema, Rosicrucianism, and Freemasonry.

• The idea of internal alchemy is found in modern spiritual traditions, focusing on energy work, ascension, and self-deification.

⚗Legacy of Alchemy in the Modern World

• Chemistry & Pharmacology: Many laboratory techniques originated from alchemical practices.

• Spiritual Development: The concept of personal transformation remains a key theme in occult traditions.

• Symbolism & Psychology: Alchemy’s symbols and processes influence Jungian psychology and self-improvement methodologies.

Alchemy is far more than just the pursuit of gold—it is a science of transformation at all levels: material, spiritual, and psychological. From its ancient roots in Egypt and China to its esoteric revival in modern mysticism, alchemy continues to inspire those seeking wisdom, power, and enlightenment.