Magazine Posts

Common wombat (Vombatus ursinus tasmaniensis) juvenile on Maria Island, Tasmania, Australia.

Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

John D. Rockefeller (1839 – 1937) American oil industry business magnate, industrialist, and philanthropist. Considered the wealthiest American and the richest person in modern history. 

"We saw a magical sunrise this morning from Sunnega. After that we hiked across Stellisee, Fluhalp, Grindjesee and Findeln back to Zermatt. Just beautiful!"

Nicolai Krämer on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

One of our Solar System's most tantalizing worlds, Enceladus is backlit by the Sun in this Cassini spacecraft image from November 1, 2009. The dramatic illumination reveals the plumes that continuously spew into space from the south pole of Saturn's 500 kilometer diameter moon. Discovered by Cassini in 2005, the icy plumes are likely connected to an ocean beneath the ice shell of Enceladus. They supply material directly to Saturn's outer, tenuous E ring and make the surface of Enceladus as reflective as snow. Across the scene, Saturn's icy rings scatter sunlight toward Cassini's cameras. Beyond the rings (lower right), the night side of 80 kilometer diameter moon Pandora is faintly lit by Saturnlight.

Photo by Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

Dune landscape with fingerpost (to the wreck) in the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park, Norderney, Lower Saxony, Germany.

Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Today's your natal day
Sweet flowers I bring;
Mother accept I pray,
My offering.

And may you happy live,
And long us bless;
Receiving as you give
Great happiness.

"To My Mother on Her Birthday" was Christina Rossetti's first poem, written when she was eleven. Apropos for Mother's Day.

Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 –1894), was an English writer born in London. She authored many romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Britain: "In the Bleak Midwinter" and "Love Came Down at Christmas",  She was a sister of the artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014) American writer, poet, singer, and civil rights activist.

"A species on my list to photograph during my time spent in Florida was the Blue-winged Teal. I found this location which had the lovely aquatic grass which I thought was a perfect setting for them. Since I liked the location so much I tried a few different times to get good shots of them there and they just never came in quite as close as I had hoped for. I did really like this photo that showed off the grasses and habitat a bit as well as the striking male in the open and the female hanging back in the grasses."

Ray Hennessy on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

“I see” IC 342, the Hidden Galaxy! Today’s image peers through the plane of the Milky Way, through all its gas, dust and stars, to unveil this spiral galaxy. IC 342 (or Caldwell 5) is one of the brightest members of the IC 342/Maffei group of galaxies. Located about 10 million light years away, this group is quite close to the Local Group that includes our Milky Way. Inaccurate accounting of the crowded and dusty Milky Way foreground has led to misunderstandings in IC 342’s history, including the theory that the galaxy was ejected from the Local Group. IC 342 has its own dust intermittently blocking the glow of hydrogen gas, indicating the presence of bright, young stars. Magnetic field maps of IC 342 reveal that magnetic fields may contribute substantially to one of the biggest galactic puzzles: how do spiral arms form?

Photo by Artem Mironov