Contributor Posts

From out of the country,
the new year did bring,
a new direction,
and a brand-new Spring.

Long will I remember,
when involving the past,
how days of Summer,
would never last.

Then into Autumn,
Summer to fall,
of multi-color leaves,
the most colorful of all.

Winter is beautiful,
especially with snow,
a Holiday season,
with presents and mistletoe.

And it goes on.

You know who you are,
your style is unique,
as your smile still beguiles,
so this is how I speak.

I love you,
the way you are,
you have become,
a nice shining star.

A abrupt fall,
into sadness,
another lost soul,
gone away.

A long buildup,
had occurred,
the outcome
pre-determined,

When death rears,
its ugly head,
now anticipation,
no more.

Sadness lingers on,
with little respite.
Check your emotions,
staying in control.

It doesn't work,
that way, not now,
can't you,
understand how?

Lonely are those,
who shelter in place,
without the benefit
of seeing a new face.

Go into hiding.
Don't get involved.
Stay in your room,
a mystery unsolved.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What's happening near the Sun? To help find out, NASA launched the robotic Parker Solar Probe (PSP) to investigate regions closer to the Sun than ever before. The PSP's looping orbit brings it nearer to the Sun each time around -- every few months. The featured time-lapse video shows the view looking sideways from behind PSP's Sun shield during its 16th approach to the Sun last year -- from well within the orbit of Mercury. The PSP's Wide Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) cameras took the images over eleven days, but they are digitally compressed here into about one minute video. The waving of the solar corona is visible, as is a coronal mass ejection, with stars, planets, and even the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy streaming by in the background as the PSP orbits the Sun. PSP has found the solar neighborhood to be surprisingly complex and to include switchbacks -- times when the Sun's magnetic field briefly reverses itself.

I think of you,
the sound of your voice,
your sweet smile,
as I rejoice.

Your thoughtfulness,
your cheery hello,
dismisses my loneliness,
from high down to low.

A re-print

For your pleasure

Just plain drinking, 6 years ago

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Is this one galaxy or two? This question came to light in 1950 when astronomer Arthur Hoag chanced upon this unusual extragalactic object. On the outside is a ring dominated by bright blue stars, while near the center lies a ball of much redder stars that are likely much older. Between the two is a gap that appears almost completely dark. How Hoag's Object formed, including its nearly perfectly round ring of stars and gas, remains unknown. Genesis hypotheses include a galaxy collision billions of years ago and the gravitational effect of a central bar that has since vanished. The featured photo was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and reprocessed using an artificially intelligent de-noising algorithm. Observations in radio waves indicate that Hoag's Object has not accreted a smaller galaxy in the past billion years. Hoag's Object spans about 100,000 light years and lies about 600 million light years away toward the constellation of the Snake (Serpens). Many galaxies far in the distance are visible toward the right, while coincidentally, visible in the gap at about seven o'clock, is another but more distant ring galaxy.