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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Similar in size to large, bright spiral galaxies in our neighborhood, IC 342 is a mere 10 million light-years distant in the long-necked, northern constellation Camelopardalis. A sprawling island universe, IC 342 would otherwise be a prominent galaxy in our night sky, but it is hidden from clear view and only glimpsed through the veil of stars, gas and dust clouds along the plane of our own Milky Way galaxy. Even though IC 342's light is dimmed and reddened by intervening cosmic clouds, this sharp telescopic image traces the galaxy's own obscuring dust, young star clusters, and glowing pink star forming regions along spiral arms that wind far from the galaxy's core. IC 342 may have undergone a recent burst of star formation activity and is close enough to have gravitationally influenced the evolution of the local group of galaxies and the Milky Way.

Photo by Daniel Feller

At the end of the rainbow,
where dreams go to die,
it's not the pot of gold,
as fables infer or imply.
A place, a graveyard to show,
ideas, love, thoughts which vie
for resurrection or rebirth of life,
if you are willing to try.

A purveyor of darkness,
is with me today.
It haunts me at night,
as I need to say,
"I'm sorry, forgive me"
I don't like us living this way.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The star with an orange tint near top center in this dusty telescopic frame is T Tauri, prototype of the class of T Tauri variable stars. Next to it (right) is a yellow cosmic cloud historically known as Hind's Variable Nebula (NGC 1555). About 650 light-years away, at the boundary of the local bubble and the Taurus molecular cloud, both star and nebula are seen to vary significantly in brightness but not necessarily at the same time, adding to the mystery of the intriguing region. T Tauri stars are now generally recognized as young (less than a few million years old), sun-like stars still in the early stages of formation. To further complicate the picture, infrared observations indicate that T Tauri itself is part of a multiple system and suggest that the associated Hind's Nebula may also contain a very young stellar object. The well-composed image spans about 8 light-years at the estimated distance of T Tauri.

Photo by Dawn Lowry

Chicken street tacos displayed in a chocolate heart box! Click to read the recipe

I sit here
alone, without you,
in our home
of many years.
You have gone
to a memory care
facility, to be
attended to.
I have visited
every day,
except the lockdown,
when the facility
was closed, due to
a Covid, positive result.
Every day,
when I see you,
I'm asked, "are you my husband?"
and you say, "I haven't seen you
in a long time."
Yet, you cried when I
told you Good Night,
when I left,
at 9 PM.
My emotions are raw.
My guilt, I feel,
as this part of life
is torture and pain,
no matter how I
try to rationalize.
Forgive me please.

I need some Sun
for these days so grey,
to brighten our lives,
warming our Souls
to enjoy our lives,
with family and friends.

Beautiful way to end the day at Arch Cape
Photos by BC

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What's the most dangerous star near earth? Many believe it's Eta Carinae, a binary star system about 100 times the mass of the Sun, just 10,000 light years from earth. Eta Carinae is a ticking time bomb, set to explode as a supernova in only a few million years, when it may bathe the earth in dangerous gamma rays. The star suffered a notorious outburst in the 1840s when it became the brightest star in the southern sky, only to fade to obscurity within decades. The star was not destroyed, but lies hidden behind a thick, expanding, double-lobed structure called the Homunculus which now surrounds the binary. Studies of this ejecta provide forensic clues about the explosion. Using observations from NASA satellites we can now visualize the 3D distribution of the shrapnel, all the way from the infrared, through optical and UV, to the outermost shell of million-degree material, visible only in X-rays.

When words lay bare,
the truth today,
while others use words,
eroding facts away.
Stay on the course,
so you may
use all the words,
when you pray.
Finding the path,
helping you stay
and see your dreams,
seize the day.

When I reflect upon my life,
there are no regrets,
except for one.
What can I learn
from my history, past,
of the lost memories,
of my first love?
Life is over,
in one blink of the eye
and all you knew
of loving thoughts made
are gone, now missing
and will not return.