NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

To the eye, this cosmic composition nicely balances the Bubble Nebula at the right with open star cluster M52. The pair would be lopsided on other scales, though. Embedded in a complex of interstellar dust and gas and blown by the winds from a single, massive O-type star, the Bubble Nebula, also known as NGC 7635, is a mere 10 light-years wide. On the other hand, M52 is a rich open cluster of around a thousand stars. The cluster is about 25 light-years across. Seen toward the northern boundary of Cassiopeia, distance estimates for the Bubble Nebula and associated cloud complex are around 11,000 light-years, while star cluster M52 lies nearly 5,000 light-years away. The wide telescopic field of view spans about 1.5 degrees on the sky or three times the apparent size of a full Moon.

Photo by Lorand Fenyes

Aquatint, an etching technique, was invented in Amsterdam around 1650 by the printmaker Jan van de Velde IV. The technique  was all but forgotten until the eighteen century when recipes for its used were published and its techniques were improved by a number of artists. An exhibition at the National Gallery of Art will trace the technique’s development through Europe, starting in the late 1700s. Read more
Image: Stoke Hall , Derbyshire, England by Cartwright, Thomas - Public Domain

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

This year an outburst of Perseid meteors surprised skywatchers. The reliable meteor shower's peak was predicted for the night of August 12/13. But persistent visual observers in North America were deluged with a startling Perseid shower outburst a day later, with reports of multiple meteors per minute and sometimes per second in the early hours of August 14. The shower radiant is high in a dark night sky in this composite image. It painstakingly registers the trails of 282 Perseids captured during the stunning outburst activity between 0650 UT (02:50am EDT) and 0900 UT (05:00am EDT) on August 14 from Westmeath Lookout, Ontario. Of course the annual Perseid meteor shower is associated with planet Earth's passage through dusty debris from periodic comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. The 2021 outburst could have been caused by an unanticipated encounter with the Perseid Filament, a denser ribbon of dust inside the broader debris zone.

Photo by Pierre Martin

A lost love,
a rendezvous.
You never showed;
somebody new?

You are the one.
There is no doubt.
My voice may whisper;
for you I shout.

I went to bed
and I slept.
I thought of you
and I wept.
I failed you
promise not kept.
Sorry.

So many days
I think of you,
having no memory,
everything is new.

I asked my friend,
"How are you doing?"
She looked at me,
and said, "Fine."
as she walked away.
When a woman says fine,
she isn't. Stay out of reach
and ask no questions, if
you value your physical well being.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Famed in festival, story, and song the best known full moon is the Harvest Moon. For northern hemisphere dwellers that's a traditional name of the full moon nearest the September equinox. Seen from Saunderstown, Rhode Island, planet Earth, this Harvest Moon left a broad streak of warm hues as it rose through a twilight sky over the Newport Bridge. On September 20 its trail was captured in a single 22 minute exposure using a dense filter and a digital camera. Only two days later the September equinox marked a change of season and the beginning of autumn in the north. In fact, recognizing a season as the time between solstice and equinox, this Harvest Moon was the fourth full moon of the season, coming just before the astronomical end of northern summer.

Photo by Mike Cohea

This classic Greek lemon chicken soup is packed with lots of lemon, herbs, and veggies. It's also dairy-free! A tasty soup packed with veggies, herbs, and lots of lemon. Tempering the eggs makes this soup feel lusciously creamy without the need for any dairy and eating it takes me back to the streets of Athens. Click the image below to see Yasmin Khan recipe at Simply Recipes

It doesn't matter,
if no one will care.
I understand and
this I will share.

Where do you go?
What do you see,
when you go into
your lost memory,
where the "Sundown effect",
becomes you own reality.

As you brush your teeth,
reminding you to use the toothpaste.
Helping you wash your sweet face,
then you say, "What's next?"
I hand you the towel,
thinking of you.
I let out a small sigh
as a bit of moisture,
leaks from my eye.

When life is uncertain.
When the joy is gone,
will you still love me?
I'll sing a sweet song,
a song of redemption
is all that I know,
so without further adieu,
I dedicate this song,
directly to you.

She tripped on the stairway of life.
A most wonderful person, who's my wife.
It doesn't matter when Dementia strikes
for the timing is never known to you.
It matters not, if you are prepared
for your health to go South.

...The risk of hitting deer on rural roads and highways is rising, especially around dusk and during a full moon. Deer cause over 1 million motor vehicle accidents in the U.S. each year, resulting in more than US$1 billion in property damage. Read full article

Photo courtesy of Calob Photography

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

When does the line between night and day become vertical? Today. Today is an equinox on planet Earth, a time of year when day and night are most nearly equal. At an equinox, the Earth's terminator -- the dividing line between day and night -- becomes vertical and connects the north and south poles. The featured time-lapse video demonstrates this by displaying an entire year on planet Earth in twelve seconds. From geosynchronous orbit, the Meteosat 9 satellite recorded these infrared images of the Earth every day at the same local time. The video started at the September 2010 equinox with the terminator line being vertical. As the Earth revolved around the Sun, the terminator was seen to tilt in a way that provides less daily sunlight to the northern hemisphere, causing winter in the north. As the year progressed, the March 2011 equinox arrived halfway through the video, followed by the terminator tilting the other way, causing winter in the southern hemisphere -- and summer in the north. The captured year ends again with the September equinox, concluding another of billions of trips the Earth has taken -- and will take -- around the Sun.

"Some people try to make every hour of leisure perfect, while others hate taking time off altogether. Have we forgotten how to enjoy free time?" Read more

I feel as if my soul,
inside this shell of a man,
is being pulled from my being
and will be my life's end.

One,
is a number,
also a sound,
which ends with
the final countdown.

Two,
also a number
of one plus one,
which totals two
when you are done.

Three,
also a number,
important to me.
The month
of your birth,
in our history.

Four,
a number,
broad in scope,
remember now,
don't be a dope.

Five ,
is a number.
Cinco to you.
A fifth
when a quart
won't do.

Six,
a number
of a five and a one.
A half a dozen,
isn't this fun?

Seven,
a number,
total days in
a week.
A lucky number
is what we want.

Eight,
a number,
a doubling of four,
eighter from Decatur,
I'll say no more.

Nine,
also a number,
which will shine,
an upside down
six, most of the time.

Ten,
is a number,
the top
of the chain.
An end
to this
writing.
Say you're
a Ten,
then walk away.