Magazine Posts

Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

It is time to say goodbye to NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. After nearly 22 years of service, the satellite re-entered Earth's atmosphere on November 4 at 7:39 EST over the North Sumatra region of Indonesia. The featured image is a mosaic created in 2018 using some of the first million images captured by the satellite's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope. Swift had a combination of instruments, including an X-ray telescope and a gamma-ray telescope, that worked together to enable humanity to study, in unprecedented detail, the fastest and most energetic explosions in the universe. The most recent solar maximum accelerated the decay of the satellite's orbit. An innovative mission to rescue Swift by boosting its orbit was not successful. Swift burned on reentry like a shooting star, but the impressive data acquired by the telescope over its mission will continue to bring light to the mysteries of the cosmos for years to come. May it keep inspiring new missions to boldly go into space, explore new data and seek out new science.

Photo by NASA/Swift and AndreaMosaic

Common wombat (Vombatus ursinus tasmaniensis) juvenile on Maria Island, Tasmania, Australia.

Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

John D. Rockefeller (1839 – 1937) American oil industry business magnate, industrialist, and philanthropist. Considered the wealthiest American and the richest person in modern history. Biography

"We saw a magical sunrise this morning from Sunnega. After that we hiked across Stellisee, Fluhalp, Grindjesee and Findeln back to Zermatt. Just beautiful!"

Nicolai Krämer on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

One of our Solar System's most tantalizing worlds, Enceladus is backlit by the Sun in this Cassini spacecraft image from November 1, 2009. The dramatic illumination reveals the plumes that continuously spew into space from the south pole of Saturn's 500 kilometer diameter moon. Discovered by Cassini in 2005, the icy plumes are likely connected to an ocean beneath the ice shell of Enceladus. They supply material directly to Saturn's outer, tenuous E ring and make the surface of Enceladus as reflective as snow. Across the scene, Saturn's icy rings scatter sunlight toward Cassini's cameras. Beyond the rings (lower right), the night side of 80 kilometer diameter moon Pandora is faintly lit by Saturnlight.

Photo by Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

Dune landscape with fingerpost (to the wreck) in the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park, Norderney, Lower Saxony, Germany.

Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Today's your natal day
Sweet flowers I bring;
Mother accept I pray,
My offering.

And may you happy live,
And long us bless;
Receiving as you give
Great happiness.

"To My Mother on Her Birthday" was Christina Rossetti's first poem, written when she was eleven. Apropos for Mother's Day.

Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 –1894), was an English writer born in London. She authored many romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Britain: "In the Bleak Midwinter" and "Love Came Down at Christmas",  She was a sister of the artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti.