Contributor Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Not one, but two comets appeared near the Sun during last week's total solar eclipse. The expected comet was Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, but it was disappointingly dimmer than many had hoped. However, relatively unknown Comet SOHO-5008 also appeared in long duration camera exposures. This comet was the 5008th comet identified on images taken by ESA & NASA's Sun-orbiting SOHO spacecraft. Likely much smaller, Comet SOHO-5008 was a sungrazer which disintegrated within hours as it passed too near the Sun. The featured image is not only unusual for capturing two comets during an eclipse, but one of the rare times that a sungrazing comet has been photographed from the Earth's surface. Also visible in the image is the sprawling corona of our Sun and the planets Mercury (left) and Venus (right). Of these planets and comets, only Venus was easily visible to millions of people in the dark shadow of the Moon that crossed North America on April 8. Solar Eclipse Imagery: Notable Submissions to APOD

Photo by Lin Zixuan (Tsinghua U.)

One more moment,
is all I ask,
to be with you again.
One moment is the past.

Memories are pushing out,
from my brain.
Memories of love
and an occasional disdain.

No one prepares you
of the loss of a life.
In my case, it was,
the loss of my wife.

Ive been told to feel lucky,
in this play, life,
for all of the time,
I spent with my wife.

While the information is true,
except for the rest of your life,
please understand, your loss,
cuts like a sharp knife.

Please spare me the platitudes,
they don't help my wife,
and certainly do nothing,
reduce my sadness and strife.

When this life is over,
it will never be,
for I've lost her,
for an eternity.

Love knows no limit,
Love knows no bound.
Love is now missing.
Love cannot be found.

Here I am,
yearning for love.
A friendship to secure,
forever my trove.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The explosion is over, but the consequences continue. About eleven thousand years ago, a star in the constellation of Vela could be seen to explode, creating a strange point of light briefly visible to humans living near the beginning of recorded history. The outer layers of the star crashed into the interstellar medium, driving a shock wave that is still visible today. The featured image captures some of that filamentary and gigantic shock in visible light. As gas flies away from the detonated star, it decays and reacts with the interstellar medium, producing light in many different colors and energy bands. Remaining at the center of the Vela Supernova Remnant is a pulsar, a star as dense as nuclear matter that spins around more than ten times in a single second. Monday's Eclipse Imagery: Notable Submissions to APOD

What is the life,
which we feel each day?
Should we join in
or find another way?

Words written,
then read as we
become smitten,
for what we see.

Life can be funny,
Life may be bland.
If you enjoy laughter,
you must understand.

Hands of red,
heart of gold.
Telling this story,
will never get old,

unless our daily routine,
which is done in life,
is useless work,
with little strife.

When I was young
and very small,
I discovered,
a small door behind a wall.

The door about 3 feet high,
and 2 feet wide,
was found behind a wall,
in the basement, the right side.

The door with a door knob,
was locked, with a key.
No markings on the lock,
which I could see.

I played in the basement,
every day,
never seeing another
there to play.

One time, after dinner,
I'd gone to the basement.
I fell asleep, waking to
a sad lament.

I wish I knew someone,
I could play,
with, for I was lonely,
almost everyday.

The noise was coming
from the small door.
I knocked, saying,
please tell me more.

(continued)

It was silent,
without a reply.
So I knocked,
for another try.

The door swung,
open wide and inside
was a young boy.
His name was Clyde.

Clyde was small,
about like me.
He said he was from
across the Sea.

He was 18 years old,
about 10 years more than me.
We played together,
incessantly.

When I left, to go
away to school.
College was the
dividing rule.

Many years later,
I returned and went
to the small door,
behind the wall in the basement.

continued

Many years later,
I returned home,
and went to the basement,
where I found the door.

I knocked on the door,
it opened wide,
and there was my
old friend, Clyde.

He looked the
same to me,
a proud member,
of the Minihane.

Minihane, a small Hawaiian,
reported be from another
world, coming to Earth,
and part of Hawaiian Culture
and now of Hawaiian Legend.