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The Sun broke out
on this lovely Fall day,
only the wind gusts
kept us from being outside.
There was a nip
of Frost, in the air
as the flowers and leaves
have made their last gasp,
as Nature's cycle had,
collapsed the mass brood
of the Dahlias, so full
of forgotten blooms, leaf and stalk,
which creates a subject
during this long Fall stroll or walk.

Mt. Rainier - 2014
www.ianmcraephotography.com

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Familiar stars of a northern winter's night shine in this night skyview, taken near Zhangye, Gansu, China and the border with Inner Mongolia. During the early hours of December 17 Orion is near center in the single exposure that captures a fireball streaking across the sky, almost as bright as yellowish Mars shining on the right. Splitting Gemini's twin bright stars Castor and Pollux near the top of the frame, the fireball's trail and timing are consistent with the second skipping atmospheric entry of the Chang'e 5 mission's returner capsule. The returner capsule was successfully recovered after landing in Inner Mongolia, planet Earth with about 2 kilograms of lunar material on board. The lunar sample is thought to contain relatively young material collected near the Mons Rumker region of the Moon's Oceanus Procellarum. Launched on November 23 UT, China's Chang'e 5 mission is the first lunar sample return mission since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976.

Photo by Zhuoxiao Wang

                Kudos 365 wishes you all the best for 2021!

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Yes, but have you seen a movie of Jupiter and Saturn's Great Conjunction? The featured time-lapse video was composed from a series of images taken from Thailand and shows the two giant planets as they angularly passed about a tenth of a degree from each other. The first Great Conjunction sequence shows a relative close up over five days with moons and cloud bands easily visible, followed by a second video sequence, zoomed out, over 9 days. Even though Jupiter and Saturn appeared to pass unusually close together on the sky on December 21, 2020, in actuality they were still nearly a billion kilometers apart. The two gas giants are destined for similar meet ups every 19.86 years. However, they had not come this close, angularly, for the past 397 years, and will not again for another 60 years. If you're willing to wait until the year 7541, though, you can see Jupiter pass directly in front of Saturn. Gallery: Notable images of the Great Conjunction submitted to APOD

www.flickr.com/photos/49911195@N08
www.facebook.com/J-L-ODonnell-Photography-303309859800097

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What does the Earth look like during a total solar eclipse? It appears dark in the region where people see the eclipse, because that's where the shadow of the Moon falls. The shadow spot rapidly shoots across the Earth at nearly 2,000 kilometers per hour, darkening locations in its path -- typically for only a few minutes -- before moving on. The featured video shows the Earth during the total solar eclipse earlier this month. The time-lapse sequence, taken from a geostationary satellite, starts with the Earth below showing night but the sun soon rises at the lower right. Clouds shift as day breaks over the blue planet. Suddenly the circular shadow of the Moon appears on the left and moves rapidly across South America, disappearing on the lower right. The video ends as nightfall begins again. The next total solar eclipse will occur next December -- but be visible only from parts of Antarctica. Gallery: Notable images of the recent Total Solar Eclipse submitted to APOD

When Dawn's light shines through the pane.
When I mutter, "I slept in again."
I rise quickly, fast for me,
Before the daylight will flee,
For I have many tasks to do,
Before my next visit with you.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

From afar, the whole thing looks like an Eagle. A closer look at the Eagle Nebula, however, shows the bright region is actually a window into the center of a larger dark shell of dust. Through this window, a brightly-lit workshop appears where a whole open cluster of stars is being formed. In this cavity tall pillars and round globules of dark dust and cold molecular gas remain where stars are still forming. Already visible are several young bright blue stars whose light and winds are burning away and pushing back the remaining filaments and walls of gas and dust. The Eagle emission nebula, tagged M16, lies about 6500 light years away, spans about 20 light-years, and is visible with binoculars toward the constellation of the Serpent (Serpens). This picture involved over 12 hours of imaging and combines three specific emitted colors emitted by sulfur (colored as red), hydrogen (yellow), and oxygen (blue). Gallery: Notable images of the recent Total Solar Eclipse submitted to APOD

Photo by Nicolas Paladini

Photo Credit: David Torres Costales / Riobamba

Barren the earth.
Cold is the night.
A bramble of branches,
Are naked in my sight.
The leaves are all gone.
They lay on the ground
as Song Birds sing
the most joyous sound.