Contributor Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Closest to the Sun on March 1, and closest to planet Earth on April 23, this Comet ATLAS (C/2020 R4) shows a faint greenish coma and short tail in this pretty, telescopic field of view. Captured at its position on May 5, the comet was within the boundaries of northern constellation Canes Venatici (the Hunting Dogs), and near the line-of-sight to intriguing background galaxies popularly known as the Whale and the Hockey Stick. Cetacean in appearance but Milky Way sized, NGC 4631 is a spiral galaxy seen edge-on at the top right, some 25 million light-years away. NGC 4656/7 sports the bent-stick shape of interacting galaxies below and left of NGC 4631. In fact, the distortions and mingling trails of gas detected at other wavelengths suggest the cosmic Whale and Hockey Stick have had close encounters with each other in their distant past. Outbound and only about 7 light-minutes from Earth this Comet ATLAS should revisit the inner solar system in just under 1,000 years.

Photo by Grand Mesa Observatory

A classic beef chili recipe made with corn, peppers, tomatoes, and beans. Click the image below to see Sally Vargas' recipe at Simply recipes

Do you know me?
I ask of thee,
for I know you
and I can see,
your eyes are lost;
a sign to be
of this our life
and its own uncertainty.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Is the night sky darkest in the direction opposite the Sun? No. In fact, a rarely discernable faint glow known as the gegenschein (German for "counter glow") can be seen 180 degrees around from the Sun in an extremely dark sky. The gegenschein is sunlight back-scattered off small interplanetary dust particles. These dust particles are millimeter sized splinters from asteroids and orbit in the ecliptic plane of the planets. Pictured here from last March is one of the more spectacular pictures of the gegenschein yet taken. The deep exposure of an extremely dark sky over Teide Observatory in Spain's Canary Islands shows the gegenschein as part of extended zodiacal light. Notable background objects include a bright meteor (on the left), the Big Dipper (top right), and Polaris (far right). The meteor nearly points toward Mount Teide, Spain's highest mountain, while the Pyramid solar laboratory is visible on the right. During the day, a phenomenon like the gegenschein called the glory can be seen in reflecting air or clouds opposite the Sun from an airplane.

When I think of all the sorrow
and the lives lost; gone tomorrow,
I want to shout and to scream,
Please people, please get the vaccine.

When the words in your mind,
will no longer take flight.
When you lay in your bed,
during the early morning light;
strings of words, stuck in your head.
I must arise to write these words down
or I'll have a lost memory,
once sound, will be gone.
I'll be unable to retrieve exact word
as they disappear, without being heard.

Please return.
Come back to me,
from the place
you go, to flee.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What's happening behind Uluru? A United Nations World Heritage Site, Uluru is an extraordinary 350-meter high mountain in central Australia that rises sharply from nearly flat surroundings. Composed of sandstone, Uluru has slowly formed over the past 300 million years as softer rock eroded away. In the background of the featured image taken in mid-May, a raging thunderstorm is visible. Far behind both Uluru and the thunderstorm is a star-filled sky highlighted by the constellation of Orion. The Uluru region has been a home to humans for over 22,000 years. Local indigenous people have long noted that when the stars that compose the modern constellation of Orion first appear in the night sky, a hot season involving lightning storms will soon be arriving.

Photo by Park Liu

For want of love
a life was lost.
For want of life
a love was lost.
For me, every day
I want to run away.
For this old thought
I'll still stay.

My mind is shredded,
no clear thoughts appear.
All jumbled up words,
is all I can hear.
What to do now,
for I cannot flee
from the words
which are haunting me.

He sat there
in the noisy din,
his arms upward,
hands on his chin.
What are the thoughts
he must now have,
dead in his mind,
where there I saw,
no love present,
no love at all,
only the old fear,
an old craving; He
is just like me.