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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Difficult to capture, this mysterious, squid-shaped interstellar cloud spans nearly three full moons in planet Earth's sky. Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula's bipolar shape is distinguished here by the telltale blue emission from doubly ionized oxygen atoms. Though apparently surrounded by the reddish hydrogen emission region Sh2-129, the true distance and nature of the Squid Nebula have been difficult to determine. Still, one investigation suggests Ou4 really does lie within Sh2-129 some 2,300 light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, the cosmic squid would represent a spectacular outflow of material driven by a triple system of hot, massive stars, cataloged as HR8119, seen near the center of the nebula. If so, this truly giant squid nebula would physically be over 50 light-years across.

Photo by Massimo Di Fusco

Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) male ringed, Għadira Nature Reserve, Malta. Bird ringing is a vital activity that helps protect birds. In Malta, birds are humanely caught in mist nets which are checked every ten minutes. Each bird is ringed and weighed before being released. About 10% are retraps (i.e. they have been ringed before). The programme is carried on by BirdLife Malta.Ringing has shown that birds from at least 48 countries use Malta during migration. Unfortunately, Malta has the densest population of bird hunters in the European Union. The high numbers of wild birds illegally shot in Malta has led to the European Commission taking legal infringement proceedings against the Maltese Government over Article 5 of the Birds Directive.

Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

              The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Emma Lazarus (1849 – 1887) was an American author of poetry, prose, and translations. Her sonnet "The New Colossus" was inspired by the Statue of Liberty, in 1883. Its lines appear inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty installed in 1903. The last lines of the sonnet were set to music by Irving Berlin as the song "Give Me Your Tired, Your Your Poor. Lazarus was also the author of Poems and Translations (New York, 1867); Admetus, and other Poems (1871); Alide: An Episode of Goethe's Life (Philadelphia, 1874); Poems and Ballads of Heine and several others.

This poem, published in 1883,  is in the Public domain

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 and open star cluster NGC 6939 share this cosmic snapshot, composed with over 68 hours of image data captured with a small telescope on planet Earth. The field of view spans spans about 1 degree or 2 full moons on the sky toward the northern constellation Cepheus. Seen through faint interstellar dust couds near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the stars of open cluster NGC 6939 are 5,600 light-years in the distance, near bottom right in the frame. Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 is at top left, but lies some 22 million light-years away. In the last 100 years, 10 supernovae have been discovered in NGC 6946, the latest one seen in 2017. By comparison, the average rate of supernovae in our Milky Way is about 1 every 100 years or so. Of course, NGC 6946 is also known as The Fireworks Galaxy.

Photo by Alberto Pisabarro

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence to announce the colonies' separation from the Kingdom of Great Britain, bringing a new nation into the world. Although the Constitution provides the legal and governmental framework for the United States, the Declaration, with its eloquent assertion “all Men are created equal,” is the founding document of the United States.
It is now up to us, as our laws evolve in fact and interpretation, to remain vigilant and not allow anyone, to exploit our natural differences, beliefs, opinions and backgrounds to divide us for their own selfish benefit.   More

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

If you know where to look, you can see a thermonuclear explosion from a white dwarf star. Possibly two. Such explosions are known as novas and the detonations are currently faintly visible with the unaided eye in Earth's southern hemisphere -- but are more easily seen with binoculars. Pictured, Nova Lupi 2025 (V462 Lupi) was captured toward the southern constellation of the Wolf (Lupus) last week near the central plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Nova Lupi 2025 was originally discovered on June 12 and peaked in brightness about a week later. Similarly, Nova Velorum 2025, toward the southern constellation of the Ship Sails (Vela), was discovered on June 25 and peaked a few days later. A nova somewhere in our Galaxy becomes briefly visible to the unaided eye only every year or two, so it is quite unusual to have two novas visible simultaneously. Meanwhile, humanity awaits even a different nova: T Coronae Borealis, which should become visible in northern skies and is expected to become even brighter.

Photo by Matipon Tangmatitham (NARIT)

Apse of the higher church in the Royal Monastery of San Juan de la Peña, Huesca, Aragon, Spain. It was one of the most important monasteries in Aragon in the Middle Ages. Its two-level church is partially carved in the stone of the great cliff that overhangs the foundation. San Juan de la Peña means "Saint John of the Cliff". The lower church includes some mozarabic architectural surviving elements, although most of the parts of the monastery (including the impressive cloister, under the great rock) are Romanesque. After the fire of 1675, a new monastery was built. The old monastery (built in 920) was declared a National Monument on 13 July 1889, and the new monastery in 1923.

Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945) also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945.  At the age of 39 in 1921, Roosevelt contracted a paralytic illness that permanently paralyzed his legs. It was diagnosed as Polio although there has been some controversy that he actually had Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS ). He was left paralyzed from the waist down.
Eight years after his diagnosis, he returned to public office as governor of New York from 1929 to 1933, during which he promoted programs to combat the Great Depression. In the 1932 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated president Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served more than two terms. His initial two terms were centered on combating the Great Depression, while his third and fourth saw him shift his focus to America's involvement in  World War II. During his first 100 days as president, Roosevelt spearheaded unprecedented federal legislation directing the federal government to implement the  New Deal to combat the Great Depression. More

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