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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the northern springtime constellation Leo. Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It's hard to overlook in this colorful cosmic portrait though. Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue stars. This deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in fainter, gigantic, bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn from satellite galaxies that have undergone mergers with NGC 3521 in the distant past.

Photo by Mark Hanson

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The early morning planet parade continues. Visible the world over, the planets Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn have been lining up in the pre-dawn sky since mid-April. In the featured image taken last month, these planets were captured over the Step Pyramid of Djoser, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the Saqqara necropolis of Egypt, the pyramid was constructed in the 27th century BC and is one of the oldest pyramids known. The two-image composite includes a foreground image taken during evening blue hour, and a background image captured from the same location the following morning. The morning planet line-up is slowly changing. At the end of last month, planets Jupiter and Venus switched places, while at the end of this month, Jupiter and Mars will switch after passing within one-degree of each other. Of course, this picturesque planetary angular alignment is a coincidence, as all of these worlds continue to orbit the Sun as they have for billions of years, well before even the ancient Pyramid of Djoser was built. Notable Submissions to APOD: Morning Planet Parade 2022

Photo by Osama Fatehi

My wife, who has Dementia and I,
have been married many years.
We have two children who are
Now in their 50's.
Having a conversation with her,
And she turns to me and asks
A question, I hadn't heard before.
"Do you have any children?"
My wife was admitted to a Memory
Care Facility on January 3rd 2022.
These last several months have been
Difficult. More for me because she doesn't
Remember. This time will pass. I feel
Blessed that she can still talk to me.
Dementia and Alzheimers is an insidious
Disease.
I write to help myself to cope with the
Emotional baggage which is included for all
Caregivers out there. You are not alone.
Bless you all.

A Comment by Loy

Your avatar
Loy • 05/04/2022 at 10:28PM • Like 1 Profile

I know it is a tough and painful time, and I so admire the way you care for her. I’m glad you have writing as an outlet…

A Comment by MFish

Your avatar
MFish • 05/05/2022 at 12:55PM • Like Profile

Thank you, Loy

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

That's no comet. Below the Pleiades star cluster is actually a planet: Mercury. Long exposures of our Solar System's innermost planet may reveal something unexpected: a tail. Mercury's thin atmosphere contains small amounts of sodium that glow when excited by light from the Sun. Sunlight also liberates these molecules from Mercury's surface and pushes them away. The yellow glow from sodium, in particular, is relatively bright. Pictured, Mercury and its sodium tail are visible in a deep image taken last week from La Palma, Spain through a filter that primarily transmits yellow light emitted by sodium. First predicted in the 1980s, Mercury's tail was first discovered in 2001. Many tail details were revealed in multiple observations by NASA's robotic MESSENGER spacecraft that orbited Mercury between 2011 and 2015. Tails, of course, are usually associated with comets.

Photo by Sebastian Voltmer

Every city’s streets have their own modes of transport, rhythms and rules – written and unwritten. Nowhere is this more conspicuous than in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), where a population of some 20 million moves by foot, bike, rickshaw, train and all forms of motor vehicle across crowded and lightly regulated streets See Video

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