Magazine Posts

Here, I sit writing,
at a quarter past 3,
asking the morrow,
where will I be.

Here with your loved one,
so important to me,
together, once more,
with myself and thee.

"You’ve probably seen ads promoting gas and oil companies as the solutions to climate change. They’re meant to be  inspiring and hopeful, with scenes of a green, clean future to climate change.
But shiny ads are not all these companies do to protect their commercial interests in the face of a rapidly heating world. Most also provide financial support to industry groups that are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on political activities, often to thwart polices designed to slow climate change."  more at The Conversation

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Is this really the famous Pleiades star cluster? Known for its iconic blue stars, the Pleiades is shown here in infrared light where the surrounding dust outshines the stars. Here three infrared colors have been mapped into visual colors (R=24, G=12, B=4.6 microns). The base images were taken by NASA's orbiting Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft. Cataloged as M45 and nicknamed the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades star cluster is by chance situated in a passing dust cloud. The light and winds from the massive Pleiades stars preferentially repel smaller dust particles, causing the dust to become stratified into filaments, as seen. The featured image spans about 20 light years at the distance of the Pleiades, which lies about 450 light years distant toward the constellation of the Bull (Taurus).

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

A mere 56 million light-years distant toward the southern constellation Fornax, NGC 1365 is an enormous barred spiral galaxy about 200,000 light-years in diameter. That's twice the size of our own barred spiral Milky Way. This sharp image from the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) reveals stunning details of this magnificent spiral in infrared light. Webb's field of view stretches about 60,000 light-years across NGC 1365, exploring the galaxy's core and bright newborn star clusters. The intricate network of dusty filaments and bubbles is created by young stars along spiral arms winding from the galaxy's central bar. Astronomers suspect the gravity field of NGC 1365's bar plays a crucial role in the galaxy's evolution, funneling gas and dust into a star-forming maelstrom and ultimately feeding material into the active galaxy's central, supermassive black hole.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

While scanning the skies for near earth objects Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky first imaged the meter-sized space rock now cataloged as 2023 CX1 on 12 February 2023 at 20:18:07 UTC. That was about 7 hours before it impacted planet Earth's atmosphere. Its predicted trajectory created a rare opportunity for meteor observers and a last minute plan resulted in this spectacular image of the fireball, captured from the Netherlands as 2023 CX1 vaporized and broke up over northern France. Remarkably it was Sárneczky's second discovery of an impacting asteroid, while 2023 CX1 is only the seventh asteroid to be detected before being successfully predicted to impact Earth. It has recently become the third such object from which meteorites have been recovered. This fireball was witnessed almost 10 years to the day following the infamous Chelyabinsk Meteor flash.

Photo by Gijs de Reijke

Blue eyes or Hazel,
it remains to be seen,
if it is ok to be happy,
if they aren't green?

When you use supermarket discount cards, you are sharing much more than what is in your cart—and grocery chains like Kroger are reaping huge profits selling this data to brands and advertisers.  More at The Markup ➜

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, O'er volumes of astronomy and forgotten lore, I stumbled upon this snapshot, cosmic and eerie, A sight that filled my heart with awe and more. Two stars, like sentinels, anchored the foreground, Of our Milky Way galaxy, a sight to behold, Beyond them, a cluster of Hydra, galaxies abound, 100 million light-years away, a story to be told. Three large galaxies, ellipticals and a spiral blue, Dominant and grand, each 150,000 light-years wide, But it was the overlapping pair that caught my view, Cataloged as NGC 3314, a sight I cannot hide. Abell 1060, the Hydra galaxy cluster's name, One of three large galaxy clusters close to our Milky Way, A universe bound by gravity, a celestial game, Where clusters align over larger scales, I cannot sway. At a distance of 100 million light-years, this snapshot's size, 1.3 million light-years across, a cosmic delight, A momentary glimpse into the universe's guise, But even this shall fade, and be nevermore in sight.

Photo by Marco Lorenzi

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

This unusual sky was both familiar and unfamiliar. The photographer's mission was to capture the arch of the familiar central band of our Milky Way Galaxy over a picturesque medieval manor. The surprise was that on this January evening, the foreground sky was found glowing in a beautiful but unfamiliar manner. The striped bands are called airglow and they result from air high in Earth's atmosphere being excited by the Sun's light and emitting a faint light of its own. The bands cross the entire sky -- their curved appearance is due to the extremely wide angle of the camera lens. In the foreground lies Château de Losse in southwest France. Other familiar sky delights dot the distant background including the bright white star Sirius, the orange planet Mars, the blue Pleiades star cluster, the red California Nebula, and, on the far right, the extended Andromeda Galaxy. The initial mission was also successful: across the top of the frame is the arching band of our Milky Way. What if: ChatGPT rewrote this text in the style of Shakespeare, Carl Sagan, or Scotty from Star Trek?

Photo by Julien Looten

Photo credit: Inès d'Anselme on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Is the heart and soul of our Galaxy located in Cassiopeia? Possibly not, but that is where two bright emission nebulas nicknamed Heart and Soul can be found. The Heart Nebula, officially dubbed IC 1805 and visible in the featured image on the upper right, has a shape reminiscent of a classical heart symbol. The shape is perhaps fitting for Valentine's Day. The Soul Nebula is officially designated IC 1871 and is visible on the lower left. Both nebulas shine brightly in the red light of energized hydrogen, one of three colors shown in this three-color montage. Light takes about 6,000 years to reach us from these nebulas, which together span roughly 300 light years. Studies of stars and clusters like those found in the Heart and Soul nebulas have focused on how massive stars form and how they affect their environment.

Photo by Juan Lozano de Haro

"Much like love itself, St. Valentine and his reputation as the patron saint of love are not matters of verifiable history, but of faith".Read more