NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Sweeping through northern predawn skies, on November 24 Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) was caught between two galaxies in this composite telescopic image. Sporting a greenish coma the comet's dusty tail seems to harpoon the heart of NGC 4631 (top) also known as the Whale Galaxy. Of course NGC 4631 and NGC 4656 (bottom, aka the Hockey Stick) are background galaxies some 25 million light-years away. On that date the comet was about 6 light-minutes from our fair planet. Its closest approach to Earth (and even closer approach to Venus) still to come, Comet Leonard will grow brighter in December. Already a good object for binoculars and small telescopes, this comet will likely not return to the inner Solar System. Its perihelion, or closest approach to the Sun, will be on January 3, 2022.

Photo by Gregg Ruppel

I'm writing words,
I no longer love
and no longer trust.
I must start over,
before they're dust.

The loneliest road,
the one you are on,
with words of sorrow,
could soon be a song.
Don't take my word,
look far beyond,
for Country Music,
will soon be sing along.

Blowing wind through wired fence,
harmonics of metal strings,
humming out a lonely sound.
Rattling of wooden slats,
blending into string noise.
Is it a melody I hear,
as wind bursts forth,
shaking branch and leaf?

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory, flaunting their young, bright, blue star clusters in beautiful, symmetric spiral arms. But small galaxies form stars too, like nearby NGC 6822, also known as Barnard's Galaxy. Beyond the rich starfields in the constellation Sagittarius, NGC 6822 is a mere 1.5 million light-years away, a member of our Local Group of galaxies. A dwarf irregular galaxy similar to the Small Magellanic Cloud, NGC 6822 is about 7,000 light-years across. Brighter foreground stars in our Milky Way have a spiky appearance. Behind them, Barnard's Galaxy is seen to be filled with young blue stars and mottled with the telltale pinkish hydrogen glow of star forming regions in this deep color composite image.

Photo by Dietmar Hager

My song is short.
Your hair is long,
as eyes of brown,
look back at me.
Were we friends,
from long ago,
or kindred souls,
who I love so?

The words I see.
The words I write,
spill from my head,
in the pre-dawn light.

Are these words of joy,
or another mood?
Will they be clear
or just misunderstood?

I'll try hard once more,
to write the words,
as I did, long before,
not to be as absurd.

My words lay unwritten,
lodged in my throat,
and by admission,
are words which can hurt.
Careless of me to let,
words loose, in the air,
which should be of love;
not fostering despair

The life of another
is in your care.
Do you understand?
Are you aware?
Yet, here you are,
trying hard to converse,
when you know your words,
won't be heard or understood.
You cannot argue or convince,
when logic is not present
and a life time of
love, trust and affection,
is broken by you.
You've lost the connection.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What causes a blue band to cross the Moon during a lunar eclipse? The blue band is real but usually quite hard to see. The featured HDR image of last week's lunar eclipse, however -- taken from Yancheng, China -- has been digitally processed to equalize the Moon's brightness and exaggerate the colors. The gray color of the bottom right is the Moon's natural color, directly illuminated by sunlight. The upper left part of the Moon is not directly lit by the Sun since it is being eclipsed -- it in the Earth's shadow. It is faintly lit, though, by sunlight that has passed deep through Earth's atmosphere. This part of the Moon is red -- and called a blood Moon -- for the same reason that Earth's sunsets are red: because air scatters away more blue light than red. The unusual blue band is different -- its color is created by sunlight that has passed high through Earth's atmosphere, where red light is better absorbed by ozone than blue. A total eclipse of the Sun will occur this weekend but, unfortunately, totality be visible only near the Earth's South Pole. Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator

A dot,
a period,
a space in time.
An era,
a place in line.
A gap,
an opening,
a portal,
a gate to go,
an age,
a date,
an object to show.
A word,
a sentence,
a paragraph below,
a time,
a life, so low,
a love
as others
and those you know.