NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Ridges of glowing interstellar gas and dark dust clouds inhabit the turbulent, cosmic depths of the Lagoon Nebula. Also known as M8, the bright star forming region is about 5,000 light-years distant. But it still makes for a popular stop on telescopic tours of the constellation Sagittarius, toward the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Dominated by the telltale red emission of ionized hydrogen atoms recombining with stripped electrons, this stunning, deep view of the Lagoon is nearly 100 light-years across. Right of center, the bright, compact, hourglass shape is gas ionized and sculpted by energetic radiation and extreme stellar winds from a massive young star. In fact, although digitally removed from the featured image, the many bright stars of open cluster NGC 6530 drift within the nebula, just formed in the Lagoon several million years ago.

Photo by Sameer Dhar

William Frederick Halsey Jr. or Bull Halsey (1882 – 1959) Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. He is one of four individuals to have attained the rank of fleet admiral, the others being Ernest King, William Leahy, and Chester W. Nimitz.

Disappointment appears
in her eyes,
when she tries
and realizes,
she can no longer
do most of her
daily routine.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What's that green streak in front of the Andromeda galaxy? A meteor. While photographing the Andromeda galaxy in 2016, near the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower, a small pebble from deep space crossed right in front of our Milky Way Galaxy's far-distant companion. The small meteor took only a fraction of a second to pass through this 10-degree field. The meteor flared several times while braking violently upon entering Earth's atmosphere. The green color was created, at least in part, by the meteor's gas glowing as it vaporized. Although the exposure was timed to catch a Perseid meteor, the orientation of the imaged streak seems a better match to a meteor from the Southern Delta Aquariids, a meteor shower that peaked a few weeks earlier. Not coincidentally, the Perseid Meteor Shower peaks later this week, although this year the meteors will have to outshine a sky brightened by a nearly full moon.

Photo by Fritz Helmut Hemmerich

"A vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) design created at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has wound up in the hands of a Chinese company, which has since gone on to become the largest manufacturer of VRFBs in the world" The US, which owns the patent and invested $15 million of taxpayer dollars into its development, reportedly has no domestic production site for the novel VRFBs" ..... Read more at The Register

Up ahead in the fading light
appears a person, quite unlike
anyone I have seen before.
Eyes of blue, crooked smile,
a stranger, strolling, down
the path to Lord knows where,
it was then, I became aware,
she was tall and lithe,
so unlike those I know.
As I drew closer,
I heard a sound. Melodious
to my ear, a catchy tune,
in an Alto tone, which
reminded me of an old
friend of mine, who passed
away, some time ago.
I started to say hello,
but she kept walking like
she knew this land and
been here before.
I'll always remember this
sight for she was another
one who was looking around
to find her way, into the town.
Blue the eyes, gold the hair
I miss seeing you and your
bright smile.

I see the cracks
in the facade
of my true
loves face,
as her temperament
becomes more aggressive
towards anything,
especially me. She still
wants to be near me.
She doesn't know my name
and even "my husband" has
been scarce.

Original post, January 2018

It was OK,
except when
it wasn't.
No harm.
No foul.
What have
we become,
when courtesy
to others
is passe?
Do we no
longer trust
one another?
Has it gotten
so bad,
we no
longer care?

Sweet the night.
Sweet the dreams.
Sweet the thought.
Sweet, it seems
of a blossomed love,
envisioned within
my Soul, my trove,
I'll now begin,
to love you now,
though I will not win,
for fate has cast
its net on me,
I am blind
and cannot see.

A jam,
a jumble,
a bunch
of words.
Nothing new
or rediscovered
to write again
of love and
happiness.
Avoid the gloom,
the sad affair,
be on guard,
be aware,
for love will
soon cast its net
for an aching heart
trying to forget

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Get out your red/blue glasses and float next to Phobos, grooved moon of Mars! Captured in 2004 by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, the image data was recorded at a distance of about 200 kilometers from the martian moon. This tantalizing stereo anaglyph view shows the Mars-facing side of Phobos. It highlights the asteroid-like moon's cratered and grooved surface. Up to hundreds of meters wide, the mysterious grooves may be related to the impact that created Stickney crater, the large crater at the left. Stickney crater is about 10 kilometers across, while Phobos itself is only around 27 kilometers across at its widest point.