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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The protostar within dark cloud L1527 is a mere 100,000 years old, still embedded in the cloud of gas and dust that feeds its growth. In this NIRCam image from the James Webb Space Telescope, the dark band at the neck of the infrared nebula is a thick disk that surrounds the young stellar object. Viewed nearly edge-on and a little larger than our Solar System, the disk ultimately supplies material to the protostar while hiding it from Webb's direct infrared view. The nebula itself is seen in stunning detail though. Illuminated by infrared light from the protostar, the hourglass-shaped nebula's cavities are created as material ejected in the star-forming process plows through the surrounding medium. As the protostar gains mass it will eventually become a full-fledged star, collapsing and igniting nuclear fusion in its core. A likely analog to our own Sun and Solar System in their early infancy, the protostar within dark cloud L1527 lies some 460 light-years distant in the Taurus star-forming region. Webb's NIRCam image spans about 0.3 light-years.

Sweet the memories,
long, gone by,
into the sunset.
I will not cry.

Pain and suffering,
was my dread.
She's all I see,
in my head.

Soon I will move
to another room.
I'm now afraid
of impending gloom.

Will I recover,
soon and well?
I'm on a journey
into mental Hell.

A grayness of life
covering the ground.
No colors to see,
no noise, no sound.

What a time in life,
when all is gray.
No matter the choice,
you will never stay.

You were my love,
'twas always to be.
You're still my love
but you don't know me.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

A Space Launch System rocket left planet Earth on Wednesday, November 16 at 1:47am EST carrying the Orion spacecraft on the Artemis 1 mission, the first integrated test of NASA’s deep space exploration systems. Over an hour after liftoff from Kennedy Space Center's

Cheese or pesto filled ravioli with sautéed spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, and capers... See the recipe

I have been
running on empty
for a long while.
To sleep again,
then I'll smile.

The frost is on the pumpkin.
On grass and leaves too.
Leaves turning golden red,
solid now, the frozen dew.

Forever the night.
A good time for bed.
A moments reflection
of my words, said.

Forever is never,
it's in your head.
Say something wrong,
your declared dead.

Dead to the social life,
nevermore to be,
happy in your life,
according to she.

Why the heart ache?
A heart can't shatter,
it certainly can't break.
The emotional pain,
stomach queasiness,
brings forth so many
memories to me.
I recall. She does not.
Memories, made together,
now forgotten by her,
rips a hole in my heart,
which will remain,
until my mind is gone.

Frost laden grass blades,
blanket the lawn and
crystals in the dirt.
Icy, the feel of the cold
inside my nose,
as I walk the path,
there's cold on my toes.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Spiral galaxy NGC 1097 shines in southern skies, about 45 million light-years away in the heated constellation Fornax. Its blue spiral arms are mottled with pinkish star forming regions in this colorful galaxy portrait. They seem to have wrapped around a small companion galaxy above and right of center, about 40,000 light-years from the spiral's luminous core. That's not NGC 1097's only peculiar feature, though. This very deep exposure hints of faint, mysterious jets, seen to extend well beyond the bluish arms. In fact, four faint jets are ultimately recognized in optical images of NGC 1097. The jets trace an X centered on the galaxy's nucleus, but probably don't originate there. Instead, they could be fossil star streams, trails left over from the capture and disruption of a much smaller galaxy in the large spiral's ancient past. A Seyfert galaxy, NGC 1097's nucleus also harbors a supermassive black hole.

Photo by Mike Selby