Contributor Posts

Where are my friends?
Where have they gone?
Have they passed into,
The great beyond?

A lonely duck,
sat on the lawn,
next to some water,
we called a pond.
A single duck
not yet a member
of a fowl menagerie.
Alone in the wild,
seeking out his friends
of fellow Drakes,
but mostly the Hens.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Why does Comet Leonard's tail wag? The featured time-lapse video shows the ion tail of Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) as it changed over ten days early last month. The video was taken by NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-Ahead (STEREO-A) spacecraft that co-orbits the Sun at roughly the same distance as the Earth. Each image in this 29-degree field was subtracted from following image to create frames that highlight differences. The video clearly shows Comet Leonard's long ion tail extending, wagging, and otherwise being blown around by the solar wind -- a stream of fast-moving ions that stream out from the Sun. Since the video was taken, Comet Leonard continued plunging toward the Sun, reached its closest approach to the Sun between the orbits of Mercury and Venus, survived this closest approach without breaking apart, and is now fading as heads out of our Solar System. Tuesday over Zoom: APOD editor to present the Best APOD Space Images of 2021

The flame rose higher,
his Soul was burned.
The mental temperature rose,
encouraging memories returned.

What unreal nightmare springs
from my loved one's dreams?
I wish I knew. I could have tried
to change the course of her life.
There isn't more time, I cried,
to change your World back to sanity,
only time to return to humanity.

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From the pen,
springs the words,
my mind wants
me to write.
The mind is dead.
The words are trite.

I am concerned.
My heart lies in shreds.
I'll see my Doctor
to receive more meds.

Lights in yon window,
beyond the stone wall,
flickers, reflecting the Sun.
Here we are now,
alone in the World, again,
from our first breath drawn.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What will become of Jupiter's Great Red Spot? Gas giant Jupiter is the solar system's largest world with about 320 times the mass of planet Earth. Jupiter is home to one of the largest and longest lasting storm systems known, the Great Red Spot (GRS), visible to the left. The GRS is so large it could swallow Earth, although it has been shrinking. Comparison with historical notes indicate that the storm spans only about one third of the exposed surface area it had 150 years ago. NASA's Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program has been monitoring the storm more recently using the Hubble Space Telescope. The featured Hubble OPAL image shows Jupiter as it appeared in 2016, processed in a way that makes red hues appear quite vibrant. Modern GRS data indicate that the storm continues to constrict its surface area, but is also becoming slightly taller, vertically. No one knows the future of the GRS, including the possibility that if the shrinking trend continues, the GRS might one day even do what smaller spots on Jupiter have done -- disappear completely. Tuesday over Zoom: APOD editor to present the Best APOD Space Images of 2021

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The old mirror
on the wall,
makes large objects
look quite small.
In the corner
I espy thee,
as you return
to visit me.