NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Where is Jupiter's ammonia? Gaseous ammonia was expected to be seen in Jupiter's upper atmosphere by the orbiting Juno spacecraft -- but in many clouds is almost absent. Recent Juno data, however, gives some clues: some high-level clouds appear to be home to an unexpected type of electrical discharge dubbed shallow lightning. Great charge separations are needed for lightning, which might be created by colliding mushballs lifted by rising updrafts of gas. Ammonia and water stick to these mushballs which rise until they get too heavy -- after which they fall deep into Jupiter's atmosphere and melt. By this process, ammonia found missing from Jupiter's upper atmosphere reappears below. Pictured by Juno, churning clouds on Jupiter show not only mesmerizing complexity but some high-level, light-colored pop-up clouds. Understanding atmospheric dynamics on Jupiter gives valuable perspective to similar atmospheric and lightning phenomena that occur on our home Earth. Peaking Tonight: The Perseid Meteor Shower

She rises from the bed, in morning light,
eyes half closed with sleep from the night.
She asks of me, "What do now?"
Put on your slippers and glasses too
then I will be down to fix breakfast for you.

The Witch rode in, on a
broom so thing,
showing the blue-green color
of her wrinkled up skin.
A pointed hat sat on her head,
was black as night.
Opening her mouth, she said
"Come here my lovely child,
come now to me
and I'll make you famous
in this Worlds Fable History.

At times I am lame.
No; not in that way.
Just a naive person
as I was, one lonely day.
She called to me
from a table, quite near,
wanting to know
if I'd like a beer.
She said, "Call me Ann,
I am your server today."
I nodded my head,
she left, walking away
and brought me a beer
in a long Pilsner glass.
It was then I knew
I now must confess,
I had been here before,
for they all knew my name
as I came through the door.
Why can't I remember?
Or not know at all,
when I entered the chamber
just off the hall.

The window opens.
Time will pass,
through the space
but not the glass.

"This isn’t speculation. All the evidence is in the public record. But the truth, unlike Trump’s false narrative, is scattered in different places"......Read More

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Where are all these meteors coming from? In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the constellation of Perseus. That is why the meteor shower that peaks tomorrow night is known as the Perseids -- the meteors all appear to came from a radiant toward Perseus. In terms of parent body, though, the sand-sized debris that makes up the Perseids meteors come from Comet Swift-Tuttle. The comet follows a well-defined orbit around our Sun, and the part of the orbit that approaches Earth is superposed in front of the Perseus. Therefore, when Earth crosses this orbit, the radiant point of falling debris appears in Perseus. Featured here, a composite image taken over eight nights and containing over 400 meteors from 2018 August's Perseids meteor shower shows many bright meteors that streaked over Kolonica Observatory in Slovakia. This year's Perseids holds promise to be one of the best meteor showers of the year.

Photo by Petr Horálek

From the first known case imported into New Zealand on February 26 to the last case of community transmission detected on May 1, elimination took 65 days. New Zealand relied on three types of measures to get rid of the virus.......Continue reading

Like English Ivy, a spreading vine
around my life's path did entwine.
Growing in all directions, as I see
my path to the future is no guarantee.

Dizzy I am,
from drinking the wine,
poured from the bottle,
with fruit from the vine.
The fruit is crushed now,
in to a juice so fine.
Rich is the color,
the smell is divine
from the Godly nectar,
in this glass, mine.

How many pages can I write,
with words so simple and trite?
Trite to me, perhaps to you too.
The words I write are just for you.

It began in early Winter
or the late part of Fall.
A virus so contagious
it could kill us all.
A Democratic hoax
is what was said
and now there are over
one hundred fifty-six thousand dead.
What kind of man?
What kind of fool,
has now just become
the Devil's own tool.
Make America great again
were the words said.
Not so great now
for those who are dead.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The hydrogen in your body, present in every molecule of water, came from the Big Bang. There are no other appreciable sources of hydrogen in the universe. The carbon in your body was made by nuclear fusion in the interior of stars, as was the oxygen. Much of the iron in your body was made during supernovas of stars that occurred long ago and far away. The gold in your jewelry was likely made from neutron stars during collisions that may have been visible as short-duration gamma-ray bursts or gravitational wave events. Elements like phosphorus and copper are present in our bodies in only small amounts but are essential to the functioning of all known life. The featured periodic table is color coded to indicate humanity's best guess as to the nuclear origin of all known elements. The sites of nuclear creation of some elements, such as copper, are not really well known and are continuing topics of observational and computational research. Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator

Charles Pierre Baudelaire (1821 - 1867) French poet, considered one of the most compelling poets of the19th century. He also produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and one of the first translators of Edgar Allan Poe.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

From Earth, Saturn never shows a crescent phase. But when viewed from a spacecraft the majestic giant planet can show just a sunlit slice. This image of crescent Saturn in natural color was taken by the robotic Cassini spacecraft in 2007. It captures Saturn's rings from the side of the ring plane opposite the Sun -- the unilluminated side -- another vista not visible from Earth. Visible are subtle colors of cloud bands, the complex shadows of the rings on the planet, and the shadow of the planet on the rings. The moons Mimas, at 2 o'clock, and Janus 4 o'clock, can be seen as specks of light, but the real challenge is to find Pandora (8 o'clock). From Earth, Saturn's disk is nearly full now and opposite the Sun. Along with bright fellow giant planet Jupiter it rises in the early evening.

For one time in your life,
behave like a man.
Don't be untruthful
as you only can.