Skip to main content

Magazine Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

To some, the dark shape looks like a mythical boogeyman. Scientifically, Lynds' Dark Nebula (LDN) 1622 appears against a faint background of glowing hydrogen gas only visible in long telescopic exposures of the region. In contrast, the brighter reflection nebula vdB 62 is more easily seen just above and to the right of center in the featured image. LDN 1622 lies near the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, close on the sky to Barnard's Loop, a large cloud surrounding the rich complex of emission nebulae found in the Belt and Sword of Orion. With swept-back outlines, the obscuring dust of LDN 1622 is thought to lie at a similar distance, perhaps 1,500 light-years away. At that distance, this 2-degree wide field of view would span about 60 light-years. Young stars do lie hidden within the dark expanse and have been revealed in Spitzer Space Telescope infrared images.

Photo by Joshua Carter

Along Side

Posted by MFish • Profile • 01/24/23 at 03:28PM • Life Stories - Memories • See more by MFish

Alongside the river,
with its water flowing free,
find me a sunny spot,
it's where I want to be.

Alone, with my thoughts,
which matter to me.
To relax and nap,
setting my mind free.

Why does it matter,
what reason there be?
A secluded spot,
allows me to think of she.

As I write these words,
thinking of days gone by,
my emotional response,
to breakdown and cry.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

If you could stand on exoplanet LHS 475 b, what might you see? No one knows for sure but pictured here is an interesting guess made by an Earth-based artificial intelligence (AI) engine. The existence of the exoplanet was indicated in data taken by the Earth-orbiting TESS satellite but confirmed and further investigated only this year by the near-Earth Sun-orbiting James Webb Space Telescope. What is known for sure is that LHS 475 b has a mass very similar to our Earth and closely orbits a small red star about 40 light years away. The featured AI-illustrated guess depicts a plausibly rugged Earth-like landscape replete with molten lava and with the central red star rising in the distance. Webb data does not as yet reveal, however, whether LHS 475 b has an atmosphere. One of Webb’s science objectives is to follow up previous discoveries of distant exoplanets to better discern their potential for developing life. Comet ZTF Gallery: Notable Submissions to APOD

Powered by Volunteers | 360-794-7959

Snohomish, Skagit and Island County

Hunger impacts all of us | 360-435-1631