Day: May 5, 2019

Saturn, Titan, Rings, and Haze

UncleScoopy

It’s today’s awe-inspiring APOD

“This is not a solar eclipse. Pictured here is a busy vista of moons and rings taken at Saturn. The large circular object in the center of the image is Titan, the largest moon of Saturn and one of the most intriguing objects in the entire Solar System. The dark spot in the center is the main solid part of the moon. The bright surrounding ring is atmospheric haze above Titan, gas that is scattering sunlight to a camera operating onboard the robotic Cassini spacecraft. Cutting horizontally across the image are the rings of Saturn, seen nearly edge on. At the lower right of Titan is Enceladus, a small moon of Saturn. Since the image was taken pointing nearly at the Sun, the surfaces of Titan and Enceladus appear in silhouette, and the rings of Saturn appear similar to a photographic negative. Now if you look really really closely at Enceladus, you can see a hint of icy jets shooting out toward the bottom of the image. It is these jets that inspired future proposals to land on Enceladus, burrow into the ice, and search for signs of extraterrestrial life.”

Charlotte Hope naked in The Spanish Princess, e1

UncleScoopy

You’ll see Charlotte naked near the end of premiere episode of The Spanish Princess, which airs tonight (Sunday) at 7 PM on Starz.

Based on The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory

This is yet another toney historical epic based on the historical romances of Philippa Gregory, upon whose works were based three other such episodic period tales, The Other Boleyn Girl, The White Queen and The White Princess.

The previous series made some effort to follow the historical details, but this one is totally off the rails. When the real Prince Arthur met his betrothed, Catherine of Aragon, he was 15 and his younger brother, the future Henry VIII, was 10. Yet the 10-year-old Henry is played here by a middle aged man.

Oh, I’m kidding. The guy is not middle aged, but he is about 20 and more than six feet tall, and is obviously a horny late teen, not a little boy. Moreover, the non-10-year-old is said to be the precocious author of the passionate Latin letters exchanged between Arthur and Catherine.

The real Henry was not even that old (only 17) when he took the throne – and that happened almost eight years after the incidents depicted here!

Those were some very odd choices in plotting and casting.

For the first time in the history of the Kentucky Derby, an on-the-track violation has changed the winner of the Run for the Roses.

UncleScoopy

The Churchill Downs race stewards took Maximum Security off the board and made Country House the winner of Saturday’s 145th Run for the Roses in Louisville, Kentucky.

Country House had never won a race of any kind, let alone the prestigious Derby, and went off at 65-1. He is the winner with the longest odds in the past 100 years. Way back in 1913, winner Donerail was the only winner to prevail over longer odds. That one was far more extraordinary. Donerail went off at 91-1 despite the fact that there were only eight horses in the field!