Magazine Posts

Dan Aragón on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Orion never had a sword like this. As Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) heads out of the inner Solar System, it is putting on quite a show for long exposure cameras. Currently seen toward the constellation of Orion the Hunter, the distant Orion Nebula is visible on the upper right. Comet R3 PanSTARRS is now showing two distinct tails: a short dust tail pointing toward the top of the image and a long and wavy ion tail trailing off toward the upper left. The ion tail points away from the Sun and glows blue from excited carbon monoxide. Large particles in the dust tail somewhat resist the radiation pressure that push them away from the Sun and so retain a bit of the comet's orbit. The dust tail shines by reflected sunlight. The featured image was taken a few days ago from France's Reunion Island in the southern Indian Ocean. Growing Gallery: Comet R3 PanSTARRS in 2026

Photo by Luc Perrot (TWAN)

Flower buds in development of a Crocosmia 'Lucifer' (Montbretia). Focus stack of 54 photos.

Dominicus Johannes Bergsma, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865)

If I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

If I were drowned in the deepest sea,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose tears would come down to me,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936) English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist. He was born in India, which inspired much of his work. His works of fiction include  "The Man Who Would be King" and the "Jungle Book"/ His Poems include "Mandalay", "The Gods of the Copybook Headings", "Gunga Din" and "If...." - Read more

This poem is in the public domain

Tomas Sobek on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Many bright nebulae and star clusters in planet Earth's sky are associated with the name of astronomer Charles Messier from his famous 18th century catalog. His name is also given to these two large and remarkable craters on the Moon. Standouts in the dark, smooth lunar Sea of Fertility or Mare Fecunditatis, Messier (left) and Messier A have dimensions of 15 by 8 and 16 by 11 kilometers respectively. Their elongated shapes are explained by the extremely shallow-angle trajectory followed by an impactor, moving left to right, that gouged out the craters. The shallow impact also resulted in two bright rays of material extending along the surface to the right, beyond the picture. Intended to be viewed with red/blue glasses (red for the left eye), this striking stereo picture of the crater pair was recently created from high resolution scans of two images (AS11-42-6304, AS11-42-6305) taken during the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon.

A staircase of Liesikuja parking hall in Myyrmäki, Vantaa, Finland in 2022 May.

Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

nate rayfield on Unsplash

The Great Rift, also know as The Dark Rift, or The Dark River, is a section of non-luminous clouds within the Milky Way. I paired this section of the milky way with a lonely tree for a heavier mood. s: 2x2x3 tracked/stacked panorama - 50mm @ f2.8, ISO1600, 120s fg: 20mm @ f11, ISO100, 5s (hoya nd1000x)