Contributor Posts

Rip out my heart,
from this aging chest.
Removing all the love,
left in this frail shell,
of living a life
in Dementia's miserable Hell.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

This picture was supposed to feature a comet. Specifically, a series of images of the brightest comet of 2021 were being captured: Comet Leonard. But the universe had other plans. Within a fraction of a second, a meteor so bright it could be called a fireball streaked through just below the comet. And the meteor's flash was even more green than the comet's coma. The cause of the meteor's green was likely magnesium evaporating from the meteor's pebble-sized core, while the cause of the comet's green was likely diatomic carbon recently ejected from the comet's city-sized nucleus. The images were taken 10 days ago over the Sacramento River and Mt. Lassen in California, USA. The fireball was on the leading edge of this year's Geminid Meteor Shower -- which peaked a few days later. Comet Leonard is now fading after reaching naked-eye visibility last week -- but now is moving into southern skies. Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator

Photo by Cory Poole

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

It is not a coincidence that planets line up. That's because all of the planets orbit the Sun in (nearly) a single sheet called the plane of the ecliptic. When viewed from inside that plane -- as Earth dwellers are likely to do -- the planets all appear confined to a single band. It is a coincidence, though, when three of the brightest planets all appear in nearly the same direction. Such a coincidence was captured earlier this month. Featured above (right to left), Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter were all imaged together in a line just after sunset, from the San Fermo Hills, Bergamo, Italy. Joining the alignment are Earth's Moon, and the position of the more distant Uranus. Bands of clouds streak across the sky toward the setting Sun. As Comet Leonard fades, this planetary alignment -- absent the Moon -- should persist for the rest of the month. Discovery + Outreach: Graduate student research position open for APOD

Photo by Antonio Finazzi

The water was high.
Cold to the feet.
My hip boots
had sprung a leak.
Early morning hours,
at Ocean Shores,
the Smelt were running,
so get you to work.
Gather the silvery, Smelt,
be on your way,
going home to clean
your large catch and
get your feet warm.

A slight puff of air,
a glow in the gloom,
as a gas lantern,
brightened the room.
Shadows growing longer,
flickered with dance,
in the old days,
a prelude to romance.
Soft music playing
a relaxing tune,
sounding the music,
"Shine on, harvest Moon>"

How strong the urge,
to just cut and run.
I can't do that now,
for you are my Sun.

Tatoo a snake
across my arm.
Tell me now,
how I am,
worse not best.
Cast me from
this place, mine,
for I'm godless
with my soul,
ensnared with thine,
in this odd World's,
barbaric and Byzantine.

An unearthly glow,
a flickering light,
took the edge from
the gloomiest night.
Shadows dancing on walls,
as the fire grew,
into a blaze of heat.
A rippling of flames,
structures burning,
embers filling the air,
spreading the fire
to tinder, dry brush.

She was a tall drink of water,
is what we would say,
when seeing a tall, athletic woman,
dressed in her finest array.
Not trying to be disrespectful, back then,
my friends were young and free,
engaging in discussion of our fantasy.
There was little money, as we were in school
and our imagination, was our only tool.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The first identified compact galaxy group, Stephan's Quintet is featured in this eye-catching image constructed with data drawn from the extensive Hubble Legacy Archive. About 300 million light-years away, only four of these five galaxies are actually locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters. The odd man out is easy to spot, though. The interacting galaxies, NGC 7319, 7318A, 7318B, and 7317 have an overall yellowish cast. They also tend to have distorted loops and tails, grown under the influence of disruptive gravitational tides. But the predominantly bluish galaxy, NGC 7320, is closer, just 40 million light-years distant, and isn't part of the interacting group. Stephan's Quintet lies within the boundaries of the high flying constellation Pegasus. At the estimated distance of the quartet of interacting galaxies, this field of view spans about 500,000 light-years. But moving just beyond this field, up and to the right, astronomers can identify another galaxy, NGC 7320C, that is also 300 million light-years distant. Including it would bring the interacting quartet back up to quintet status.

A trail of melted wax,
down from the wick,
of a tall, flickering,
candlestick.
Warm is the wax,
pooling at the bottom
of a candlestick holder's
heavy glass base.

A World of darkness,
is inside my mind.
Look inside and
you probably will find,
a deep thought,
one of a kind,
which is tied into knots,
using plant twine to bind.