Magazine Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

On December 8 a full Moon and a full Mars were close, both bright and opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky. In fact Mars was occulted, passing behind the Moon when viewed from some locations across Europe and North America. Seen from the city of Kosice in eastern Slovakia, the lunar occultation of Mars happened just before sunrise. The tantalizing spectacle was recorded in this telescopic timelapse sequence of exposures. It took about an hour for the Red Planet to disappear behind the lunar disk and then reappear as a warm-hued full Moon, the last full Moon of 2022, sank toward the western horizon. The next lunar occultation of bright planet Mars will be in the new year on January 3, when the Moon is in a waxing gibbous phase. Lunar occultations are only ever visible from a fraction of the Earth's surface, though. The January 3 occultation of Mars will be visible from parts of the South Atlantic, southern Africa, and the Indian Ocean.

Photo by Tomas Slovinsky

Paul Gauguin or Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) was one of the most influential Post-Impressionist artists. Gauguin's experimental use of color and stark contrasts spearheaded the Synthetism movement, which regarded form and color as equally important. Most of his paintings depict people or landscapes from French Polynesia since he spent many years in that region in search of inspiration. His artistic experiments influenced many avant-garde movements in the early 20th century as well as modern artists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. 

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Why is the Moon so dusty? On Earth, rocks are weathered by wind and water, creating soil and sand. On the Moon, the history of constant micrometeorite bombardment has blasted away at the rocky surface creating a layer of powdery lunar soil or regolith. For the Apollo astronauts and their equipment, the pervasive, fine, gritty dust was definitely a problem

Words will lay useless,
like junk in a drawer.
Put them on paper,
meaningful they are.

Words may be whispered,
while slipping away,
Write down your words
when having a great day.

Words can be shouted
in an angry outburst
and sharpness is hurtful,
may make your life worst.

Soft soothing words
comfort and won't break.
Choosing words tactfully,
can lessen a heart ache.

Be brave tomorrow,
write love words of rejoice,
not those of hate.
Bring forth a new voice.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Can the night sky be both art and science? If so, perhaps the featured image is an example. The digital panorama was composed of 10 landscape and 10 sky images all taken on the same night, from the same location, and with the same camera. Iconic features in the image have been artfully brightened, and the ground nearby was artfully illuminated. Visible in the foreground is the creative photographer anchoring an amazing view from the rugged Lofoten Islands of Norway, two months ago, by holding a lamp. Far in the distance are three prominent arches: our Milky Way Galaxy on the left, while a scientifically-unusual double-arced aurora is documented on the right. A meteor is highlighted between them. Other notable skylights include, left to right, the Andromeda Galaxy, the planet Jupiter, the star Vega, and the stars that compose the Big Dipper asterism.

Photo by Giulio Cobianchi

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Is there a monster in IC 1396? Known to some as the Elephant's Trunk Nebula, parts of gas and dust clouds of this star formation region may appear to take on foreboding forms, some nearly human. The only real monster here, however, is a bright young star too far from Earth to hurt us. Energetic light from this star is eating away the dust of the dark cometary globule near the top of the featured image. Jets and winds of particles emitted from this star are also pushing away ambient gas and dust. Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the relatively faint IC 1396 complex covers a much larger region on the sky than shown here, with an apparent width of more than 10 full moons.

Photo by Bernard Miller

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The strangest moon in the Solar System is bright yellow. The featured picture, an attempt to show how Io would appear in the "true colors" perceptible to the average human eye, was taken in 1999 July by the Galileo spacecraft that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Io's colors derive from sulfur and molten silicate rock. The unusual surface of Io is kept very young by its system of active volcanoes. The intense tidal gravity of Jupiter stretches Io and damps wobbles caused by Jupiter's other Galilean moons. The resulting friction greatly heats Io's interior, causing molten rock to explode through the surface. Io's volcanoes are so active that they are effectively turning the whole moon inside out. Some of Io's volcanic lava is so hot it glows in the dark. Artemis 1 Coverage: Orion return and splashdown

All you young lover,
across the broad sea,
return to your birthplace
for she is awaiting thee.

The Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony takes place in Oslo City Hall on December 10 – the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.  The 2022 Peace Prize was awarded to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties. See all 2022 Nobel Prizes

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist most famously known for the invention of dynamite. He died in 1896. In his will, he bequeathed all of his "remaining realizable assets" to be used to establish five prizes which became known as "Nobel Prizes." Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901.The Nobel Prizes, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." 

Nobel Prizes are awarded in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace (Nobel characterized the Peace Prize as "to the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses"). In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's central bank) funded the establishment of the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, to also be administered by the Nobel Foundation. Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards available in their respective fields.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this stereo view of another world. Fifty years ago the scene was recorded by Apollo 17 mission commander Eugene Cernan on December 11, 1972, one orbit before descending to land on the Moon. The stereo anaglyph was assembled from two photographs (AS17-147-22465, AS17-147-22466) captured from his vantage point on board the Lunar Module Challenger as he and Dr. Harrison Schmitt flew over Apollo 17's landing site in the Taurus-Littrow Valley. The broad, sunlit face of the mountain dubbed South Massif rises near the center of the frame, above the dark floor of Taurus-Littrow to its left. Piloted by Ron Evans, the Command Module America is visible in orbit in the foreground against the South Massif's peak. Beyond the mountains, toward the lunar limb, lies the Moon's Mare Serenitatis.

"I’ve been teaching English for 12 years, and I’m astounded by what ChatGPT can produce.......  Barring outright plagiarism, students have always arrived at that moment when they’re on their own with a blank page, staring down a blinking cursor, the essay waiting to be written...... Now that might be about to change" Read more

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

On the night of December 7 Mars wandered near the Full Moon. In fact the Red Planet was occulted, passing behind the Moon, when viewed from locations across Europe and North America. About an hour after disappearing behind the lunar disk Mars reappears in this stack of sharp video frames captured from San Diego, planet Earth. With the Moon in the foreground Mars was a mere 82 million kilometers distant, near its own opposition. Full Moon and full Mars were bright enough provide the spectacular image with no exposure adjustments necessary. In the image Mars appears to rise just over ancient, dark-floored, lunar crater Abel very close to the southeastern edge of the Moon's near side. Humboldt is the large impact crater to its north (left).

Photo by Tom Glenn