Magazine Posts

"Trump says he wants to protect law-abiding citizens. In 1933, Hitler issued his ‘Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State’ "............Read More

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Normally, Steamboat Point looks cool -- but not this cool. Every day, the iconic peak of the Bighorn Mountains is an interesting sight, in particular from US Highway 14 in Wyoming. On some rare days, the rocky vertical ridges look even more incredible when seen in front of a distant lightning storm. Earlier this month, though, something even more unusual happened -- the naked-eye Comet NEOWISE rose above it in the middle of the night. Just as a distant lightning storm was occurring in the background. Recognizing a rare opportunity, a determined astrophotographer spent a sleepless night capturing over 1400 images of this unusual triple conjunction. The featured image is among the best of them, with the foreground lit by the Moon off to the right. Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is now headed back to the outer Solar System, destined to return only in about 6700 years. Comet NEOWISE Images: July 26 || 25 || 24 || 23 || 22 || 21 || 20 || 19 || 18 || 17 || 16 || 15 || 14 || 13 || 12 || 11 || 10 & earlier ||

Photo by Kevin Palmer

For a generation, Republicans have tried to unravel the activist government under which Americans have lived since the 1930s, when Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt created a government that regulated business, provided a basic social safety net, and invested in infrastructure. From the beginning, that government was enormously popular. Both Republicans and Democrats believed that the principle behind it—that the country worked best when government protected and defended ordinary Americans—was permanent..........Read More

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What would it look like to fly through the distant universe? To find out, a team of astronomers estimated the relative distances to over 5,000 galaxies in one of the most distant fields of galaxies ever imaged: the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF). Because it takes light a long time to cross the universe, most galaxies visible in the featured video are seen when the universe was only a fraction of its current age, were still forming, and have unusual shapes when compared to modern galaxies. No mature looking spiral galaxies such as our Milky Way or the Andromeda galaxy yet exist. Toward the end of the video the virtual observer flies past the farthest galaxies in the HUDF field, recorded to have a redshift past 8. This early class of low luminosity galaxies likely contained energetic stars emitting light that transformed much of the remaining normal matter in the universe from a cold gas to a hot ionized plasma. Astrophysicists: Browse 2,200+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library

James Bryce (1839 -1922) Irish-born academic, historian, jurist, Liberal politician and British Ambassador to the United States.

Source: From a 1909 speech before the Fifteenth Annual Conference on International Arbitration on the subject of "Allegiance to Humanity" held at Lake Mohonk, NY

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

On July 23, this Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket rose into a blue morning sky from China's Hainan Island Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. The rocket carried an orbiter, lander, and rover to ask Heavenly Questions on the ambitious Tianwen-1 mission to Mars. In fact Tianwen-1 was the second of three missions scheduled for a July departure to the Red Planet. The United Arab Emirates launched its Amal (Hope) Mars probe on July 19. NASA's launch of its Mars Perseverance Rover from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA is scheduled for July 30. That is the last planned Mars launch for 2020 though. The minimum-energy launch window for an expedition to Mars is coming to a close in 2020 and will reopen in 2022. Comet NEOWISE images from planet Earth: July 24, 23, 22

Photo by Jeff Dai

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The multi-mirror, 17 meter-diameter MAGIC telescopes reflect this starry night sky from the Roque de los Muchachos European Northern Observatory on the Canary Island of La Palma. MAGIC stands for Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov and the telescopes can see the brief flashes of optical light produced in particle air showers as high-energy gamma rays impact the Earth's upper atmosphere. On July 20, two of the three telescopes in view were looking for gamma rays from the center of our Milky Way galaxy. In reflection they show the bright stars of Sagittarius and Scorpius near the galactic center to the southeast. Beyond the segmented-mirror arrays, above the northwest horizon and below the Big Dipper is Comet NEOWISE. NEOWISE stands for Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. That's the Earth-orbiting satellite used to discover the comet designated C/2020 F3, but you knew that. Comet NEOWISE Images: July 23 || 22 || 21 || 20 || 19 || 18 || 17 || 16 || 15 || 14 || 13 || 12 || 11 || 10 & earlier

Photo by Urs Leutenegger

Escape with me to a beautiful land.
Let your troubles go. Take my hand,
as we flee from this saddest place,
where there is no happiness on your face.

Northwest sunsets this week

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Comet dust falls through a twilight sky in this dream-like scene, but it's not part of a fairytale movie. Still, Castle Neuschwanstein, nestled in the Bavarian Alps, did inspire Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. Captured on July 20, the bright streak above the castle towers is likely a Perseid meteor. Though it peaks near mid-August, the annual summer meteor shower is active now. The meteor trail over the fairytale castle can be traced back to the shower's radiant in the heroic constellation Perseus off the top right of the frame. Perseid meteors are produced by dust from periodic Comet Swift-Tuttle. With its own broad dust tail now sweeping through northern skies the celestial apparition above the distant horizon is planet Earth's current darling, Comet NEOWISE. Comet NEOWISE Images: July 22 || 21 || 20 || 19 || 18 || 17 || 16 || 15 || 14 || 13 || 12 || 11 || 10 & earlier ||

Photo by Stephane Guisard

Along the berm,
beside the tree,
is where my love
awaits for me.

A flower rare
is what I see.
It is there; she
awaits for me.

Her lilting laughter,
carries out to me.
Her sparkling eyes
awaits for me.