Magazine Posts

Rachel Louise Carson (1907 - 1964) was an American scientist, writer, ecologist and conservationist. Her book, Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

When galaxies collide -- what happens to their magnetic fields? To help find out, NASA pointed SOFIA, its flying 747, at galactic neighbor Centaurus A to observe the emission of polarized dust -- which traces magnetic fields. Cen A's unusual shape results from the clash of two galaxies with jets powered by gas accreting onto a central supermassive black hole. In the resulting featured image, SOFIA-derived magnetic streamlines are superposed on ESO (visible: white), APEX (submillimeter: orange), Chandra (X-rays: blue), and Spitzer (infrared: red) images. The magnetic fields were found to be parallel to the dust lanes on the outskirts of the galaxy but distorted near the center. Gravitational forces near the black hole accelerate ions and enhance the magnetic field. In sum, the collision not only combined the galaxies’ masses -- but amplified their magnetic fields. These results provide new insights into how magnetic fields evolved in the early universe when mergers were more common.

Image Credit: Optical: European Southern Observatory (ESO) Wide Field Imager;

Walter Mondale (1928 - 2021) American politician, diplomat, and lawyer . He served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 during President Jimmy Carter administration. 

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What's the best way to explore Mars? Perhaps there is no single best way, but a newly demonstrated method shows tremendous promise: flight. Powered flight has the promise to search vast regions and scout out particularly interesting areas for more detailed investigation. Yesterday, for the first time, powered flight was demonstrated on Mars by a small helicopter named Ingenuity. In the featured video, Ingenuity is first imaged by the Perseverance rover sitting quietly on the Martian surface. After a few seconds, Ingenuity's long rotors begin to spin, and a few seconds after that -- history is made as Ingenuity actually takes off, hovers for a few seconds, and then lands safely. More tests of Ingenuity's unprecedented ability are planned over the next few months. Flight may help humanity better explore not only Mars, but Saturn's moon Titan over the next few decades.

https://unsplash.com/@kalenems...

If I say I need you,
it's not all in my head.
If I say I knead you,
I must be making bread.
The "K" is silent in
English, I know,
instead of being "guttural"
in the Germanic style.
The word kinder
is German for child.

Jump up and down
you old, aged clown.
Please leave us now.
Just get out of town.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What does the center of our galaxy look like? In visible light, the Milky Way's center is hidden by clouds of obscuring dust and gas. But in this stunning vista, the Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared cameras, penetrate much of the dust revealing the stars of the crowded galactic center region. A mosaic of many smaller snapshots, the detailed, false-color image shows older, cool stars in bluish hues. Red and brown glowing dust clouds are associated with young, hot stars in stellar nurseries. The very center of the Milky Way has recently been found capable of forming newborn stars. The galactic center lies some 26,700 light-years away, toward the constellation Sagittarius. At that distance, this picture spans about 900 light-years.

The morning dew kisses
the flowers in bloom,
bringing a new brightness
to the morning gloom.
Sparkling reflections
from the Sun's early rays,
bring all of the joy
to viewing the grandest of days.

Bring forth the noise.
Bring forth the sound,
of wind chimes at night
with the cry of an Owl.

When your stomach starts
talkin trash to thee,
your lactose intolerance
may be a new allergy.