Magazine Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What are those streaks across Orion? They are reflections of sunlight from numerous Earth-orbiting satellites. Appearing by eye as a series of successive points floating across a twilight sky, the increasing number of communications satellites, including SpaceX Starlink satellites, are causing concern among many astronomers. On the positive side, Starlink and similar constellations make the post-sunset sky more dynamic, satellite-based global communications faster, and help provide digital services to currently underserved rural areas. On the negative side, though, these low Earth-orbit satellites make some deep astronomical imaging programs more difficult, in particular observing programs that need images taken just after sunset and just before dawn. Planned future satellite arrays that function in higher orbits may impact investigations of the deep universe planned for large ground-based telescopes at any time during the night. The streaks across Orion are not from Starlink but rather satellites in high geosynchronous orbit. The featured picture, taken in 2019 December, is a digital combination of over 65 3-minutes exposures, with some images taken to highlight the background Orion Nebula, while others to feature the passing satellites. SatCon2 Wokshop 12-16 July 2021: Mitigating Satellite Constellations

Moisture wets the lid of my eye,
as I resist the urge to not cry.
Seeing her before me, a smiling face,
with all of her beauty and natural grace.
I must keep her close; close to me,
for my need is her safety I must see.
Long have I loved you; every day
is a new one and I will say
I love you in my own way.

She was a kitten,
not a lioness yet.
She would challenge you,
but should not fret.
Her words had promise,
to all the World and thee.
She was the virtue
and would always be,
the strength of this Nation;
A Nation of We.

I do not like the word extraction,
when you are talking to me
as you plan to remove my tooth,
which is much older than thee.

As sure as the Sun
and the Spring rain,
I need to see you,
once more is my refrain.
I will try, when words
become serious, not trite,
for I seek your forgiveness
as I walk through the night.

Want not of life
which you may not deserve.
Take care of others.
All whom you now serve.

Be a good soldier,
the thoughts in my head
as you stay the course,
for what lies ahead.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Whatever hit Mimas nearly destroyed it. What remains is one of the largest impact craters on one of Saturn's smallest round moons. Analysis indicates that a slightly larger impact would have destroyed Mimas entirely. The huge crater, named Herschel after the 1789 discoverer of Mimas, Sir William Herschel, spans about 130 kilometers and is featured here. Mimas' low mass produces a surface gravity just strong enough to create a spherical body but weak enough to allow such relatively large surface features. Mimas is made of mostly water ice with a smattering of rock - so it is accurately described as a big dirty snowball. The featured image was taken during the closest-ever flyby of the robot spacecraft Cassini past Mimas in 2010 while in orbit around Saturn. Interactive: Take a trek across Mimas

Photo by NASAJPL-CaltechSpace Science InstituteCassini

In 2021 we also honor all who lost their lives to the CoronaVirus epidemic

I have been searching
and the things I sought,
are precious items
which cannot be bought.

A cabin in a meadow,
deep in the wood.
The peace and quiet,
makes me feel good.
To rise in the morning,
with you by my side,
enhances this strange
life; a most loving pride.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Auroras usually occur high above the clouds. The auroral glow is created when fast-moving particles ejected from the Sun impact the Earth's magnetosphere, from which charged particles spiral along the Earth's magnetic field to strike atoms and molecules high in the Earth's atmosphere. An oxygen atom, for example, will glow in the green light commonly emitted by an aurora after being energized by such a collision. The lowest part of an aurora will typically occur about 100 kilometers up, while most clouds exist only below about 10 kilometers. The relative heights of clouds and auroras are shown clearly in the featured picture in 2015 from Dyrholaey, Iceland. There, a determined astrophotographer withstood high winds and initially overcast skies in an attempt to capture aurora over a picturesque lighthouse, only to take, by chance, the featured picture including elongated lenticular clouds, along the way. Follow APOD on Instagram in: English, Farsi, Indonesian, Persian, or Portuguese

Photo by Daniele Boffelli