Contributor Posts

I want to not say
to you, on this cold, dregs of Winter,
loving the fact, you are alive.
Missing most of your reasoning,
still, I sit with you.
You call me, "Your husband", but I know
you no longer know my name,
but is the love, you profess to me.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Spiral arms seem to swirl around the core of Messier 96 in this colorful, detailed portrait of a beautiful island universe. Of course M96 is a spiral galaxy, and counting the faint arms extending beyond the brighter central region it spans 100 thousand light-years or so. That's about the size of our own Milky Way. M96 is known to be 38 million light-years distant, a dominant member of the Leo I galaxy group. Background galaxies and smaller Leo I group members can be found by examining the picture. The most intriguing one is itself a spiral galaxy seen nearly edge on behind the outer spiral arm near the 1 o'clock position from center. Its bright central bulge cut by its own dark dust clouds, the edge-on background spiral appears to be about 1/5 the size of M96. If that background galaxy is similar in actual size to M96, then it would be about 5 times farther away.

Photo by Mark Hanson

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What created Devils Tower? The origin of this extraordinary rock monolith in Wyoming, USA is still debated, with a leading hypothesis holding that it is a hardened lava plume that never reached the surface to become a volcano. In this theory, the lighter rock that once surrounded the dense volcanic neck has now eroded away, leaving the dramatic tower. Known by Native Americans by names including Bear's Lodge and Great Gray Horn, the dense rock includes the longest hexagonal columns known, some over 180-meters tall. High above, the central band of the Milky Way galaxy arches across the sky. Many notable sky objects are visible, including dark strands of the Pipe Nebula and the reddish Lagoon Nebula to the tower's right. Green grass and trees line the foreground, while clouds appear near the horizon to the tower's left. Unlike many other international landmarks, mountaineers are permitted to climb Devils Tower. Birthday Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)

Photo by MaryBeth Kiczenski

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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Massive stars, abrasive winds, mountains of dust, and energetic light sculpt one of the largest and most picturesque regions of star formation in the Local Group of Galaxies. Known as N11, the region is visible on the upper right of many images of its home galaxy, the Milky Way neighbor known as the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The featured image was taken for scientific purposes by the Hubble Space Telescope and reprocessed for artistry. Although the section imaged above is known as NGC 1763, the entire N11 emission nebula is second in LMC size only to the Tarantula Nebula. Compact globules of dark dust housing emerging young stars are also visible around the image. A recent study of variable stars in the LMC with Hubble has helped to recalibrate the distance scale of the observable universe, but resulted in a slightly different scale than found using the pervasive cosmic microwave background. Astrophysicists: Browse 2,700+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library

We come from clay.
We come from dirt,
but not from rock,
so we can be hurt.
A loss of love,
a painful path,
a loss of faith,
may incur God's wrath.
Praying to you every night,
some say you are just.
From my experience,
I no longer have trust.

Echo's surround
this place I know,
across the canyon
and it's rock wall.
Say your name,
loud and well.
Speak, do not yell.

I watch you slowly lose control,
drifting into an Alzheimers reality.
You are my love and my light.
To see you losing the battle
with this dread disease, is emotional.
I wish for an end to your pain
and suffering, but continue to worry
about losing you, from my life.

You have a poor attitude
When you dispense platitudes
Which are lame and insecure.
Suck it up, birdman. Go away.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Typically, the International Space Station is visible only at night. Slowly drifting across the night sky as it orbits the Earth, the International Space Station (ISS) can be seen as a bright spot several times a year from many locations. The ISS is then visible only just after sunset or just before sunrise because it shines by reflected sunlight -- once the ISS enters the Earth's shadow, it will drop out of sight. The only occasion when the ISS is visible during the day is when it passes right in front of the Sun. Then, it passes so quickly that only cameras taking short exposures can visually freeze the ISS's silhouette onto the background Sun. The featured picture did exactly that -- it is actually a series of images taken earlier this month from Beijing, China with perfect timing. This image series was later combined with separate images taken at nearly the same time but highlighting the texture and activity on the busy Sun. The solar activity included numerous gaseous prominences seen around the edge, highlighted in red, filaments seen against the Sun's face, and a dark sunspot.

Photo by Wang LetianEyes at Night

A life cut short,
A life forlorn.
Wonder nought,
Why you've were born.
Fate is with you,
Your whole life thru.
How you live your life,
Depends upon you.
Take life's offerings
In a small sized bite
And luck will be
With you, day and night.

Of all the days
Which may lay ahead,
The day I leave
Is the day I'll dread.