Magazine Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies 5 million year young star cluster NGC 602. Surrounded by natal gas and dust, NGC 602 is featured in this stunning Hubble image of the region, augmented by images in the X-ray by Chandra, and in the infrared by Spitzer. Fantastic ridges and swept back shapes strongly suggest that energetic radiation and shock waves from NGC 602's massive young stars have eroded the dusty material and triggered a progression of star formation moving away from the cluster's center. At the estimated distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the Picture spans about 200 light-years, but a tantalizing assortment of background galaxies are also visible in this sharp multi-colored view. The background galaxies are hundreds of millions of light-years or more beyond NGC 602.

Where will I be without you?
What will my life be
if you aren't with me?
Grief ridden thoughts abound
in this aged head of mine.
Quit feeling sorry for yourself.
Please stop with the whine.
You must be stronger;
don't let her see
the sadness in your eyes.
She said before
she doesn't like to cry,
so I must be careful
and hide the wetness in my eyes.
Be brave, strong and stoic,
that is best for me.
Keep your tears well hidden,
please don't let her see,
the weakness in me.

I want to write about a glorious thing,
upcoming soon, a wonderful Spring,
when Daffodils, Hyacinths and Tulips.
All leap up, from the garden ground;
song birds will provide a tuneful sound.

Photo by v2osk on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Vivid and lustrous, wafting iridescent waves of color filled this mountain and skyscape near Tanndalen, Sweden on January 3. Known as nacreous clouds or mother-of-pearl clouds, they are rare. This northern winter season they have been making unforgettable appearances at high latitudes, though. A type of polar stratospheric cloud, they form when unusually cold temperatures in the usually cloudless lower stratosphere form ice crystals. Still sunlit at altitudes of around 15 to 25 kilometers the clouds can diffract sunlight after sunset and before the dawn.

Photo by Clear Skies

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Sometimes a sound
in the darkest of night,
will raise the hairs
on the back of my neck.
A noise that I hear,
can bring me a fright,
If I am alone
and it's after twilight

Why do I feel alone at night,
when she lies so close to me?
It's because she doesn't know my name
and that is our fate and destiny.

When I have a vision;
memories from the past,
seldom do they last
but on occasion, some thoughts
will stick, in my brain
and then I remember
being there, once again.

Photo by Lukasz Szmigiel on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Perihelion for 2020, the point in Earth's elliptical orbit when it is closest to the Sun, occurred on January 5th. The distance from the Sun doesn't determine the seasons, though. Those are governed by the tilt of Earth's axis of rotation, so January is still winter in the north and summer in southern hemisphere. But it does mean that on January 5 the Sun was at its largest apparent size. This composite neatly compares two pictures of the Sun, both taken from planet Earth with the same telescope and camera. The left half was captured on the date of the 2020 perihelion. The right was recorded only a week before the July 4 date of the 2019 aphelion, the farthest point in Earth's orbit. Otherwise difficult to notice, the change in the Sun's apparent diameter between perihelion and aphelion amounts to a little over 3 percent. The 2020 perihelion and the preceding 2019 aphelion correspond to the closest and farthest perihelion and aphelion of the 21st century.

Photo by Ian Griffin