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Projects: Space InformationThe Planetary ReportVolume XXIX, Number 5, September/October 2009
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Credit: NASA |
Space shuttle astronauts took this optical photo of Russia's Kliuchevskoi volcano in the early hours of its eruption on September 30, 1994. The ash plume, which reached a height of more than 18 kilometers (about 11 miles), is emerging from a vent on the north flank of Kliuchevshoi, which is partially hidden in this view by the plume and its shadow. The small, whitish steam plume near the photo's center is emanating from the dome of a companion volcano, Bezymianny. This is part of a sequence of photos that first allowed scientists to image through ash and cloud.
From The Editor
I can never predict at what moments I’ll miss Carl Sagan. It might be when I hear a new result from the exploration of Titan, a world whose organic chemistry was one of Carl’s research specialties. Or maybe when I try to end a dispute with another Planetary Society staffer by asking, "What would Carl say?"
He was my boss for 16 years, and I relied on him for insight, support, and inspiration. No one can replace him.
Carl would have celebrated his 75th birthday this November 9, and with that date looming, I—along with all the staff at The Planetary Society—have been thinking a lot about how to remember him.
Traditional memorials are static things, whether stones planted in the ground or elegies that fade away to silence. How much better it would be to create something that grows, builds, and plants the seeds for the future that Carl helped us imagine. This is what we are trying to do with the Carl Sagan Fund for the Future.
You’ll read about the fund in this issue of The Planetary Report; you’ll soon be receiving a letter detailing how it will work. As you read, I hope you’ll consider how you can help us create a living and growing memorial to Carl, one that will seed the exploration of the solar system that was, after all, the reason he helped found our Society all those years ago.
So now, when I miss Carl, I feel like we’re pushing open a door to let in the future he envisioned. There is no better way to honor him.
—Charlene M. Anderson
Features
We Make It Happen! Project Roundup
by Bruce Betts
Out of This World Books
Planetology: Viewing Earth in Context
by Tom Jones and Ellen Stofan
Departments
World Watch
Questions and Answers
Society News
Members’ Dialogue
The Planetary Report is available only to Members of The Planetary Society. If you'd like to read these and other exciting features, JOIN THE PLANETARY SOCIETY TODAY!
MEMBERS: Download this and other back issues of The Planetary Report in PDF format from the For Members section of the website.
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