The result is some interesting observations and a stunning movie that shows a full rotation of Earth with the moon passing across the field of view. It’s one of the most spectacular views of Earth from space that I’ve ever seen. For information about the observations and links to a second video, visit the EPOXI transit press release. Thanks to Mark for passing this one along.

I was surprised and equally delighted by another video that showed up as today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. It’s a little unusual for APOD, but when I thought about it, I realized that in a way, it makes for an interesting counterpart to the EPOXI video. It’s an example of what you might get if you could zoom in on that spinning blue planet: a video montage of people all over the world dancing along with Matt Harding, who has taken to the road with an informal, energetic dance he does, and has found that if you start dancing, people in many parts of the world are happy to dance along with you.

I was utterly charmed by the video; there is something beautifully goofy and joyous in the sight of all these people sharing moments of happy commotion. The wide range of natural and man-made environments was also impressive. I’m not sure why I found this video so emotionally moving.

On the whole I find human diversity fascinating; I still remember a line from the original Star Trek where Spock said something about IDIC (infinite diversity in infinite combinations) and “the ways our differences can combine to create meaning and beauty.” But we so often have a hard time dealing constructively or even non-destructively with our differences, on levels from the individual up to the national. Maybe I just needed a reminder that for all the things that divide humans, we share some things in common as well.