Contributor Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Can a gas cloud eat a galaxy? It's not even close. The "claw" of this odd looking "creature" in the featured photo is a gas cloud known as a cometary globule. This globule, however, has ruptured. Cometary globules are typically characterized by dusty heads and elongated tails. These features cause cometary globules to have visual similarities to comets, but in reality they are very much different. Globules are frequently the birthplaces of stars, and many show very young stars in their heads. The reason for the rupture in the head of this object is not yet known. The galaxy to the left of the globule is huge, very far in the distance, and only placed near CG4 by chance superposition. Discovery + Outreach: Graduate student research position open for APOD

Photo by Mike Selby

A line of dew
Across sidewalk wide
From a Slug who
Left a sticky slide

"B12 is scarce in the diet, and it is found only in foods from animal sources. Fortunately, humans need only 2.4 micrograms of B12 daily, which is equivalent to one ten-millionth of an ounce – a very, very small amount. Without adequate B12 in the body, overall health and quality of life are negatively affected".... Read more

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

This line of stars is real. A little too faint to see with the unaided eye, Kemble’s Cascade of stars inspires awe when seen with binoculars. Like the Big Dipper though, Kemble’s Cascade is an asterism, not a constellation. The asterism is visible in the northern sky toward the long-necked constellation of the Giraffe (Camelopardalis). This string of about 20 unrelated stars, each of similar brightness, spans over five times the angular width of the full moon. Stretching diagonally from the upper left to the lower right, Kemble's Cascade was popularized last century by astronomy enthusiast Lucian Kemble. The bright object near the top left of the image is the relatively compact Jolly Roger open cluster of stars, officially designated as NGC 1502.

Photo by Tommy Lease

https://www.erwinbuske.com/
https://500px.com/erwinbuske

An anguished cry,
"Why am I alive?
I want my dad,"
for this I strive.

"Who are the two,
who I now see,
I don't know them,
they will not be."

Those are your parents,
your mom and dad.
"I don't know them,"
is what she said.

For love of country,
he sacrificed his life,
to defend his love
for friends and wife.

What makes a man,
who sacrifices his world,
to serve all others,
man, woman, boy or girl?

I await in breathless
anticipation,
to see
your bright
smile.

My minds
a mess.
Seeing you
makes me
smile.

What can I
say to help
you understand,
your value,
in this crazy
world of
power hungry
men?

#sunset #whale

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Look up tonight and see a whole bunch of planets. Just after sunset, looking west, planets Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars will all be simultaneously visible. Listed west to east, this planetary lineup will have Venus nearest the horizon, but setting shortly after the Sun. It doesn't matter where on Earth you live because this early evening planet parade will be visible through clear skies all around the globe. Taken late last month, the featured image captured all of these planets and more: the Moon and planet Mercury were also simultaneously visible. Below visibility were the planets Neptune and Uranus, making this a nearly all-planet panorama. In the foreground are hills around the small village of Gökçeören, Kaş, Turkey, near the Mediterranean coast. Bright stars Altair, Fomalhaut, and Aldebaran are also prominent, as well as the Pleiades star cluster. Venus will rise higher in the sky at sunset as January continues, but Saturn will descend.

Photo by Tunc Tezel