aoiko.net - everything aurora

everything aurora

the plane
this plane does not exist! or so says the american government/military, unfortunately they put in a bill to the senate for part of it's manufacture, which doesn't seem to tally with their position... some even claim to have seen it flying.
this plane is mooted as the replacement for blackbird... it's reputed to have a top speed of mach 5 and a service ceiling of over 35km (the stratosphere)! it is also supposed to be stealthy... considering the 40 years since the last one in which the us have had to design and make it, those figures aren't quite so improbable as they sound at first.
there is actually very little known about this plane mainly due to the 'fact' that it 'doesn't exist', but there are many artists impressions and much speculation.

photos
click on the thumbnail to see the photo.

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curvy aurora... nice background 500x356 jpeg 27k

head on 500x321 jpeg 12k

on the ground 500x336 jpeg 13k

flying above the mountains 500x333 jpeg 16k

flying over the desert 500x365 jpeg 25k

flying low 500x308 jpeg 13k

the goddess
aurora is the greek goddess of dawn (the romans called her 'dawn')... she is married to tithonus... her usual epithet is 'rosy-fingered' or 'saffron-mantled'... her job is to bring first light. below is someone else's impression of what she looks like.

the phenomonon
aurora borealis and aurora australis can be translated as 'dawn of the north wind' and 'australian dawn' respectively. they are caused by high energy solar radiation impinging on the upper atmosphere... they occur almost exclusively near the poles and have the effect of wacky lights in the sky. the web has loads on these things.... here some bits i've collected.

photos
to view the large image, click on the thumbnail. all photographs were taken by jan curtis.

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streaks of green and white curling over a forest with a starry sky behind. 696x510 jpeg 24k

a 'waterfall' of white and green behind a snowy forest retreat. 563x853 jpeg 65k

'waterfall' of white and green almost covers a tree in 'mist'. 552x842 jpeg 39k

wavy 'waterfall' behind snowy pine trees. 573x856 jpeg 77k

streak of green light behind snow topped tree. 539x786 jpeg 44k

view down a pine avenue with the sky gone a graded green and a shot of white light crossing the road. 560x786 jpeg 41k

blue, white and green streaks. 756x534 jpeg 32k

white 'lightning bolt' with green glow. 696x437 jpeg 17k

yellow-green snake winds through the telegraph poles and purply-blue sky. 696x484 jpeg 19k

a wall of colour going from red to green through yellow, with ashen clouds off to the side. 718x598 jpeg 51k

snake with yellow head, white body and green tail winds through the telegraph wires with its smaller friends. 499x722 jpeg 22k

clouds of yellow and red light in the dark night sky. 696x487 jpeg 18k

'the flash' plumments to earth in his new green and yellow suit... with a gorgous blue aura. 688x478 jpeg 17k

fingers of white light compete with a hazy green wall in the night sky over the forest. 696x526 jpeg 23k

white wall reflect green in the lake by the red forest. 457x657 jpeg 24k

green blurs shoot into the forest. 696x508 jpeg 25k

green bridge in the sky with a snowy forest in front. 562x853 jpeg 59k

the sunset
that's me... my name is fennel aurora... i changed the surname and the things above and below are some of the reasons for that choosing aurora. my handle is based on aurora (you would believe how many auroras there are out there, mostly american/canadian girls i think) and is a sort of pun on the goddess... sunset rather than dawn.

azimov
azimov wrote loads of short stories about robots and a trilogy of longer ones... 'caves of steel', 'the naked sun' and 'robots of dawn'... obviously the third one is of most interest (although all three are great reads)... they are all based in a time when earth had started colonization of the galaxy but as the colonizers grew in numbers they grew to dislike the earth people, partially due to earths relative backwardness in most things, but in particular robots, which earth banned. 'robots of dawn' like all three is a detective story using the three laws of robotics to get to the bottom of the case. it follows an earth detective (the hero) as he goes to the most powerful spacer world aurora in order to solve a murder of a robot. aurora is in most respects a very free society... very advanced technological, not dominated by robots as solaris and not devoid as earth is, but instead it balances the advantages and disadvantages.... in many ways it is very close to my idea of utopia.

others
aurora has been adopted as the name of many places, organisations and people:
the email search engine four11 found over 600 people with the first name aurora.
there are 32 large towns called aurora round the world... they are:

arorua gnihtyreve