RITZ-CARLTON LUMINARA: Day 10--Outer Space 2026

Day 9 overnight was a different kind of cruise.  Ship tossed and turned.  Today, still roiling, so we won't be doing much, again.

I'll thus start with, from Time magazine, the best space photos of 2025:

Galaxy cluster lensing the light of a background spiral galaxy, called an Einstein ring.

NASA's Lucy spacecraft, launched in 2021, on 20April2025 payed a call on the asteroid Donaldjohanson (he was the anthropologist who found Lucy, the fossil skeleton around 3.2 million years old in Ethiopia in 1974, so named because the Beatle's Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was playing in the compound) between Mars and Jupiter.  Video made from a series of photos taken 2 seconds apart.

From the James Webb Space Telescope, outflow from a newlyforming star called a cosmic tornado.

Mid-infrared view of the planetary nebula, NGC 1514.

Star birth featuring Pismis 24.

About 2026, here is a video from Space Mog featuring Maggie Lieu on what will happen in space.  She is a 35-year old British astrophysicist, and has produced 373 programs you can watch.  Otherwise, here is a summary of what to expect this year.

• January 10:  Jupiter will be at opposition (closest to Earth) and will be at its brightest all year.

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  Some time in February:  Artemis II could launch:  Four astronauts will venture around the Moon on a 10-day mission, the first crewed mission on NASA's path to establish a Moon presence.  American Gene Cernan was the last person on the moon.  That was 53 years ago.
• February 28:  six planets--Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune--will be in alignment.  Actually much of this began in August of last year.

• March 3:  Total lunar eclipse.  Will be visible from the western portion of North America, Oceania and Asia.  Hawaii will be in the path.  You will see a real Blood Moon, barring clouds.

• June 30:  Asteroid Day, anniversay of the Tunguska Event of 1908.  Released energy 1000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb,  No crater was found, so this asteroid disintegrated in mid-air, leaving a scorched earth of shattered trees as evidence.

• August 12:  Total eclipse over Iceland, Greenland and Spain.  Will last for 2 minutes and 18 seconds.  Thinking of taking a cruise into this area, then flying to Edinburgh, Scotland for their Fringe Festival.

• November 15:  Voyager 1 will reach one light-day from Earth.  In other words, if you can somehow beam a powerful laser at that future path of of this spacecraft, it will take a full year for that light to get there.  Has been flying since 1977 and is still operational.  Voyager 2 will get to that distance in November 2035, but it is doubtful if the traveler will be operational by then.

• December 21:  China's Xuntian Space Telescope could launch, and will complement the James Webb Space Telescope by being able to map vast sky areas much faster.

The seas remained choppy when we walked to Mistral for lunch.  Had a Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.

Mistral Caesar Salad with Saffron Rice and Salmon in Butter Sauce.

Good start.  A sherry wine to support the dessert.

Went to the aft to video the seas.

Took a nap.  Dinner in Haesu Bit.  Usual sashimi combo plus Malaysian Chicken, with chilled Junmai Ginjo sake, Cloudy Bay New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and Nikka Oak Barrel whisky.

We ordered Sweet Caviar for dessert.  Fabulous similarity to how regular caviar is served, but everything was sweet.

Stopped by The Living Room for the performance of the Luminara Band playing Motown.

Walked 1769 steps today.

To close:

• 
  10 Crazy Facts About Space You Probably Didn't Know.
• What is Dark Matter and Dark Energy?
• What is antimatter, with Neil deGrasse Tyson.
• What existed before the Big Bang, by Michio Kaku.
• The entire history of the Universe in one year.
• Or more descriptive, below.

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