Contributor Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

South of Antares, in the tail of the nebula-rich constellation Scorpius, lies emission nebula IC 4628. Nearby hot, massive stars, millions of years young, irradiate the nebula with invisible ultraviolet light, stripping electrons from atoms. The electrons eventually recombine with the atoms to produce the visible nebular glow, dominated by the red emission of hydrogen. At an estimated distance of 6,000 light-years, the region shown is about 250 light-years across, spanning over three full moons on the sky. The nebula is also cataloged as Gum 56 for Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum, but seafood-loving deep sky-enthusiasts might know this cosmic cloud as the Prawn Nebula. The graceful color image is a new astronomical composition taken over several nights in April from Rio Hurtado, Chile.

Photo by Daniel Stern

"Globally, 2023 has seen some of the hottest days in modern measurements, but what about farther back, before weather stations and satellites?" .... More at The Conversation ➜

When love stopped by,
it was only by chance,
as she was only passing,
on the way to a dance.

How can love enter now,
when the sadness here,
presents itself every day.
I have no interest, just a tear.

Should I write,
something profound,
or should I, dress up,
as a Carnival Clown?

Sweet Lord of mystery,
science and math,
please guide this soul,
down life's dangerous path.

You are the one,
who hides in the cloud,
speak to me Lord.
Please tell me aloud.

No more the risk,
no more the word or tome.
Please take me Lord.
Please take me home.

When words fail to come,
forth from my head,
I begin thinking,
I must be brain dead.

A state of depression,
maybe a reason too,
so, I must change,
If I'm staying with you.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What do the famous Eagle Nebula star pillars look like in X-ray light? To find out, NASA's orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory peered in and through these interstellar mountains of star formation. It was found that in M16 the dust pillars themselves do not emit many X-rays, but a lot of small-but-bright X-ray sources became evident. These sources are shown as bright dots on the featured image which is a composite of exposures from Chandra (X-rays), XMM (X-rays), JWST (infrared), Spitzer (infrared), Hubble (visible), and the VLT (visible). What stars produce these X-rays remains a topic of research, but some are hypothesized to be hot, recently-formed, low-mass stars, while others are thought to be hot, older, high-mass stars. These X-ray hot stars are scattered around the frame -- the previously identified Evaporating Gaseous Globules (EGGS) seen in visible light are not currently hot enough to emit X-rays.

Out of the gate,
quick was he,
as he breezed by
so merrily.

Many the laughs,
came so easy,
as humor was great,
with high anxiety.

Dry was the mind
of ideas, fresh,
stale thoughts
of being depressed.

Once the time,
for creative thought,
only way now,
seems to be bought.

Enrich your mind,
It's a knowledge vault.
If you choose not,
It's your own fault.

She was sitting, cross-legged,
her ankles were bent.
Hadn't seen someone sitting
like that, since a carnival tent.