Magazine Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Murriyang, the CSIRO’s Parkes Radio Telescope, points toward a nearly Full Moon in this image from New South Wales, Australia, planet Earth. Bathed in moonlight, the 64 meter dish is receiving weak radio signals from Odysseus, following the robotic lander's February 22 touch down some 300 kilometers north of the Moon's south pole. The landing of Odysseus represents the first U.S. landing on the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Odysseus' tilted orientation on the lunar surface prevents its high-gain antenna from pointing toward Earth. But the sensitivity of the large, steerable Parkes dish significantly improved the reception of data from the experiments delivered to the lunar surface by the robotic moon lander. Of course the Parkes Radio Telescope dish became famous for its superior lunar television reception during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, allowing denizens of planet Earth to watch the first moonwalk.

Photo by John Sarkissian

It was after 10 PM,
the first time we met.
It was a small bar,
I'm still trying to forget.

I called her Helen,
she called me Dear.
Together for 6 months,
then she didn't appear.

I forgot about her,
after a few years.
I saw her again,
and she disappears.

What lessons are learned,
when a close friend goes away?
Don't get too cozy,
they probably won't stay.

Memories, forgotten,
are beginning to show.
Springing from my mind,
from a spot I don't know.

How funny it is,
the way a mind will work,
for writing, if not easy,
is a task I will shirk.

I try to avoid writing,
of those days long ago,
full of sadness in
places, I no longer go.

Thoughts are racing,
through this old head,
then I remember,
you are now dead.

I have a love,
which I no longer can give,
to the one I loved then,
who I wish could still live.

Alongside, the roadway,
he lay in the ditch,
covered with mud,
he was not known to be rich.

Found that morning,
two sheets to the wind,
unable to speak,
so, they called him, Jim.

Taken to jail,
the drunk tank, it was.
Laying in the filth,
for a reason or cause.

He awoke from his stupor,
not knowing where he was.
His mind was blank,
or specifically, in pause.

What will happen to be,
will he be healed by laws,
or remain where he is,
a traditional lost cause?

March has repeatedly marked turning points in history. Julius Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon set a Roman civil war in motion. Power struggles reshaped medieval England as battles shifted crowns and dynasties. Emperor Charles V issued the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther a heretic and setting the course of the Protestant Reformation. Again and again, March shows how ambition, belief, and authority redefine nations.

Modern history continues that pattern. Franklin D. Roosevelt took office as the 32nd U.S. president, declaring, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” World War II came to an end. Alcatraz Federal Prison closed its doors. Pioneer 10 launched toward Jupiter, opening a new era of space exploration. The month also witnessed Mikhail Gorbachev’s rise as the Soviet Union’s first president, Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, and the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic.

Explore historical events throughout March by browsing the full month timeline, or jump to a specific date to see what happened on this day in history—from March 1 through March 31. Use the timeline to research individual years or trace the moments that shaped March’s place in history.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

In 46 BC Julius Caesar reformed the calendar system. Based on advice by astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria, the Julian calendar included one leap day every four years to account for the fact that an Earth year is slightly more than 365 days long. In modern terms, the time it takes for the planet to orbit the Sun once is 365.24219 mean solar days. So if calendar years contained exactly 365 days they would drift from the Earth's year by about 1 day every 4 years and eventually July (named for Julius Caesar himself) would occur during the northern hemisphere winter. By adopting a leap year with an extra day every four years, the Julian calendar year would drift much less. In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII provided the further fine-tuning that leap days should not occur in years ending in 00, unless divisible by 400. This Gregorian Calendar system is the one in wide use today. Of course, tidal friction in the Earth-Moon system slows Earth's rotation and gradually lengthens the day by about 1.4 milliseconds per century. That means that leap days like today will not be necessary, about 4 million years from now. This Roman silver coin, a denarius, depicts Julius Caesar (left) and Venus, Roman goddess of love.

Memories of times, long ago, but still here today.

Oh, the joy I see,
when in Skin and Soul,
is from the love I feel,
from those who make me whole.

A caring for others,
when you enter and start,
personifies my being as
seeing the love from their heart.

Where else could you travel,
what else could you do,
when people who are special,
help you find the real you.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

How does the sky turn dark at night? In stages, and with different characteristic colors rising from the horizon. The featured image shows, left to right, increasingly late twilight times after sunset in 20 different vertical bands. The picture was taken last month in Syracuse, Sicily, Italy, in the direction opposite the Sun. On the far left is the pre-sunset upper sky. Toward the right, prominent bands include the Belt of Venus, the Blue Band, the Horizon Band, and the Red Band. As the dark shadow of the Earth rises, the colors in these bands are caused by direct sunlight reflecting from air and aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere, multiple reflections sometimes involving a reddened sunset, and refraction. In practice, these bands can be diffuse and hard to discern, and their colors can depend on colors near the setting Sun. Finally, the Sun completely sets and the sky becomes dark. Don't despair -- the whole thing will happen in reverse when the Sun rises again in the morning.

Photo by Dario Giannobile