Magazine Posts

www.dannorrisphotography.com
http://dannorrisphoto.com

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Taken over the course of an hour shortly after local midnight on December 13, 35 exposures were used to create this postcard from Earth. The composited night scene spans dark skies above the snowy Italian Dolomites during our fair planet's annual Geminid meteor shower. Sirius, alpha star of Canis Major and the brightest star in the night, is grazed by a meteor streak on the right. The Praesepe star cluster, also known as M44 or the Beehive cluster, itself contains about a thousand stars but appears as a smudge of light far above the southern alpine peaks near the top. The shower's radiant is off the top of the frame though, near Castor and Pollux the twin stars of Gemini. The radiant effect is due to perspective as the parallel meteor tracks appear to converge in the distance. As Earth sweeps through the dust trail of asteroid 3200 Phaethon, the dust that creates Gemini's meteors enters Earth's atmosphere traveling at about 22 kilometers per second. Submitted to APOD: Notable images of the 2020 Geminids Meteor Shower

Photo by Stefano Pellegrini

When I was quite young.
Much too young for romance.
I wanted to then learn,
learn how to slow dance.
Being able to waltz, expertly
The standard, a four step,
appealed to my new sensibility.
You'd be in my arms
and everyone would see;
Gliding on the floor, smooth.
The box step for me.
A two step, my plan,
fast and lively it was,
much better than the Varsovienne.

The words are so many,
I write down a few.
How do I capture them,
When I think of you?
Words appear in a mass
of those I must undo,
to capture all the meaning.
It's what Poets will do.
Writing of words, over time,
searching for one or two,
finding words which will rhyme.
Words pouring out, so quickly,
those sublime, one more time.
Writings will fade, after ink
becomes old, with paper brittle,
thoughts now forgotten, they sink.
No one reads; very little
as I say now to you,
no matter the day it's
here now for my friend, you.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What's the matter with the Bullet Cluster? This massive cluster of galaxies (1E 0657-558) creates gravitational lens distortions of background galaxies in a way that has been interpreted as strong evidence for the leading theory: that dark matter exists within. Different analyses, though, indicate that a less popular alternative -- modifying gravity-- could explain cluster dynamics without dark matter, and provide a more likely progenitor scenario as well. Currently, the two scientific hypotheses are competing to explain the observations: it's invisible matter versus amended gravity. The duel is dramatic as a clear Bullet-proof example of dark matter would shatter the simplicity of modified gravity theories. The featured sonified image is a Hubble/Chandra/Magellan composite with red depicting the X-rays emitted by hot gas, and blue depicting the suggested separated dark matter distribution. The sonification assigns low tones to dark matter, mid-range frequencies to visible light, and high tones to X-rays. The battle over the matter in the Bullet cluster is likely to continue as more observations, computer simulations, and analyses are completed. Submitted to APOD: Notable images of the 2020 Geminids Meteor Shower

When writing these words,
I'm trying to say
the pain I feel
is here to stay.
The loss of life,
just not this day,
for it's her mind
which has gone away.

#sunset

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

It's happening. Saturn and Jupiter are moving closer and will soon appear in almost exactly the same direction. Coincidentally, on the night of the December solstice -- the longest night of the year in the north and the longest day in the south -- the long-awaited Great Conjunction will occur. Then, about six days from now, Saturn and Jupiter will be right next to each other -- as they are every 20 years. But this juxtaposition is not just any Great Conjunction -- it will be the closest since 1623 because the two planetary giants will pass only 1/10th of a degree from each other -- well less than the apparent diameter of a full moon. In the next few days a crescent moon will also pass a few degrees away from the converging planets and give a preliminary opportunity for iconic photos. The featured illustration shows the approach of Saturn and Jupiter during November and December over the French Alps. Growing Gallery: Notable images of the Great Conjunction submitted to APOD

Photo by Sebastian Voltmer

I love to see your bright smile,
when you greet others; who you beguile,
with your charm and a sweet hello
For me it is why I love you so.
A love coming from what I see
a love of life; a love so platonically.

The fog has settled
to the ground below.
The street lights now
emit a halo, a glow.
Eerie the view
the whiteness
you can see,
as the soft envelope
of fog covers up thee.

Where have you been, my darling wife?
You left again. It was last night.
You body near me, mind gone away.
I miss our talks, not here today,
For logic and reason, aren't in play.
You'll get better, for this I pray.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The streak across the sky is a capsule returning from an asteroid. It returned earlier this month from the near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu carrying small rocks and dust from its surface. The canister was released by its mothership, Japan's Hayabusa2, a mission that visited Ryugu in 2018, harvested a surface sample in 2019, and zoomed back past Earth. The jettisoned return capsule deployed a parachute and landed in rural Australia. A similar mission, NASA's OSIRIS- REx, recently captured rocks and dust from a similar asteroid, Bennu, and is scheduled to return its surface sample to Earth in 2023. Analyses of compounds from these asteroids holds promise to give humanity new insights about the early Solar System and new clues about how water and organic matter came to be on Earth. Experts Debate: How will humanity first discover extraterrestrial life?