Category: Daily Posts

May 16 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 May 16

Milky Way over French Alp Hoodoos

Image Credit & Copyright: Benjamin Barakat

Explanation: Real castles aren’t this old. And the background galaxy is even older. Looking a bit like an alien castle, the pictured rock spires are called hoodoos and are likely millions of years old. Rare, but found around the world, hoodoos form when dense rocks slow the erosion of softer rock underneath. The pictured hoodoos survive in the French Alps and are named Demoiselles Coiffées — which translates to English as “Ladies with Hairdos“. The background galaxy is part of the central disk of our own Milky Way galaxy and contains stars that are typically billions of years old. The photogenic Cygnus sky region — rich in dusty dark clouds and red glowing nebulas — appears just above and behind the hoodoos. The featured image was taken in two stages: the foreground was captured during the evening blue hour, while the background was acquired from the same location later that night.

A Laugh for Today

Wishing you a mundane Monday!

A Thought for Today

Until we meet again dear sisters, brothers, and honored guests may you blessed be.

May 15 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 May 15

Colors of the Moon

Image Credit & Copyright: Marcella Giulia Pace

Explanation: What color is the Moon? It depends on the night. Outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, the dark Moon, which shines by reflected sunlight, appears a magnificently brown-tinged gray. Viewed from inside the Earth’s atmosphere, though, the moon can appear quite different. The featured image highlights a collection of apparent colors of the full moon documented by one astrophotographer over 10 years from different locations across Italy. A red or yellow colored moon usually indicates a moon seen near the horizon. There, some of the blue light has been scattered away by a long path through the Earth’s atmosphere, sometimes laden with fine dust. A blue-colored moon is more rare and can indicate a moon seen through an atmosphere carrying larger dust particles. What created the purple moon is unclear — it may be a combination of several effects. The last image captures the total lunar eclipse of 2018 July — where the moon, in Earth’s shadow, appeared a faint red — due to light refracted through air around the Earth. Today there is not only another full moon but a total lunar eclipse visible to observers in North and South America — an occurrence that may lead to some unexpected lunar colorings.

A Laugh for Today

I hope you can enjoy a kicked back Sunday! I will be when I am done posting for today.

A Thought for Today

Until we meet again dear sisters, brothers, and honored guests may you blessed be.

May 14 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 May 14

 

(To see where each of the following is located click here.) A complex of halo phenomena on the evening of April 15, 2022, Good Friday of the 2022 Easter weekend, around the almost Full Moon. Ice crystals in the high cloud created the halos and arcs, set in the spring night sky, with the Big Dipper at top, Arcturus to the left, and Regulus and Leo at right. The colours of the arcs and sundogs were just visible to the unaided eye.
Visible are:
— The 22° halo
— A large partial halo that looks like a 46° halo but is actually a supralateral arc.
— A pair of paraselene (called parhelia when they are around the Sun) or colourful “moondogs” sit on either side of the Moon just outside the 22° halo.
— The top of the 22° halo has a colourful upper tangent arc plus a faint Parry arc.
— Tangent to the supralateral arc is a rainbow-hued circumzenithal arc.
— A paraselenic (?) circle (called a parhelic circle when it is created by the Sun) runs parallel to the horizon through the moondogs and Moon.
— A faint and wide vertical light pillar also runs through the Moon up to the top arcs.
This is a blend of 7 exposures from 30 seconds to 1/20 seconds to help retain the disk of the Moon amid the bright and hazy sky. All with the 11mm TTArtisan full-frame fish-eye lens at f/4 and Canon R6 at ISO 100. Exposures blended with luminosity masks created with ADP Pro v3.

Ice Halos by Moonlight

Image Credit & Copyright: Alan Dyer, Amazingsky.com, TWAN

Explanation: An almost full moon on April 15 brought these luminous apparitions to a northern spring night over Alberta Canada. On that night, bright moonlight refracted and reflected by hexagonal ice crystals in high clouds created a complex of halos and arcs more commonly seen by sunlight in daytime skies. While the colors of the arcs and moondogs or paraselenae were just visible to the unaided eye, a blend of exposures ranging from 30 seconds to 1/20 second was used to render this moonlit wide-angle skyscape. The Big Dipper at the top of the frame sits just above a smiling and rainbow-hued circumzenithal arc. With Arcturus left and Regulus toward the right the Moon is centered in its often spotted 22 degree halo. May 15 will also see the bright light of a Full Moon shining in Earth’s night skies. Tomorrow’s Full Moon will be dimmed for a while though, as it slides through Earth’s shadow in a total lunar eclipse.

Watch: May 15-16 Total Lunar Eclipse

A Thought for Today

As the day ends the only person you need to be true of spirit to is yourself. Do not worry whether you are in or out of the broom closet as long as you follow the spiritual and magickal path that brings you happiness, contentment, and you feel at peace with.

Until we meet again dear sisters, brothers, and honored guests may you blessed be.

Some of the Witchcraft/Magickal Correspondence Digest for Friday

 

From GypsyWolf.weebly.com

Friday is the sixth day of the week, but used to be the seventh, the Sabbath of the Jewish lunar calendar.   The name, Friday,  is derived from the Nordic goddess, Frigg, Frigga, Freyja, Freya, or Frija (Germanic), considered to be the mother of all.  She is the Goddess of love and war, fertility and death.   She is the leader of the Valkyries and the Disir (Divine Grandmothers), and creator of Seidr magic.  Her symbols are the cat and the Brisingamen, which is the magic necklace of the rainbow bridge.  Freya’s Roman and Greek counterparts are Venus and Aphrodite, goddesses of love and beauty.
Latin: Dies Veneris, dedicated to Venus, the Roman Goddess of love
French: vendredi
Italian: venerdi
Spanish: viernes
Old High German: frigedag
German: Freitag
Dutch: vrijdag
Rules: Love, fidelity, reconciliation, interchanges, beauty, youth, joy, happiness, pleasure, luck, friendship, compassion, music, the arts.
Colors: Light Blue, Green, Pink, Copper Hues
Planet: Venus
Metal: Copper
Stones: Azurite, Calcite (blue, green & pink), Cat’s Eye, Chrysocolla, Chrysoprase, Coral, Emerald, Jade, Jasper (green), Kunzite, Lapis Lazuli, Malachite, Olivine, Peridot, Sodalite, Tourmaline (blue, green, pink & watermelon), Turquoise Malachite
Herbs: Apple Blossom, Cardamom, Crocus, Daisy, Geranium (rose), Heather, Hyacinth, Iris, Licorice, Lilac, Magnolia, Myrtle, Orchid, Orris, Plumeria, Rose, Spearmint, Stephanosis, Sweet Pea, Tansy, Thyme, Tonka, Tuberose, Vanilla, Violet, Willow, Ylang Ylang
Zodiac: Libra & Taurus

May 13 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 May 13

The Milky Way’s Black Hole

Image Credit: X-ray – NASA/CXC/SAO, IR – NASA/HST/STScI; Inset: Radio – Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration

Explanation: There’s a black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Stars are observed to orbit a very massive and compact object there known as Sgr A* (say “sadge-ay-star”). But this just released radio image (inset) from planet Earth’s Event Horizon Telescope is the first direct evidence of the Milky Way’s central black hole. As predicted by Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, the four million solar mass black hole’s strong gravity is bending light and creating a shadow-like dark central region surrounded by a bright ring-like structure. Supporting observations made by space-based telescopes and ground-based observatories provide a wider view of the galactic center’s dynamic environment and an important context for the Event Horizon Telescope’s black hole image. The main panel image shows the X-ray data from Chandra and infrared data from Hubble. While the main panel is about 7-light years across, the Event Horizon Telescope inset image itself spans a mere 10 light-minutes at the center of our galaxy, some 27,000 light-years away.

Black hole at the center of our Galaxy imaged for the first time

The second-ever direct image of a black hole — Sagittarius A*, at the centre of the Milky Way.Credit: Event Horizon Telescope collaboration

The Event Horizon Telescope network has captured the second-ever direct image of a black hole — called Sagittarius A* — at the center of the Milky Way.

Radio astronomers have imaged the super massive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. It is only the second-ever direct image of a black hole, after the same team unveiled a historic picture of a more distant black hole in 2019.

The long-awaited results, presented today by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, show an image reminiscent of the earlier one, with a ring of radiation surrounding a darker disk of precisely the size that was predicted from indirect observations and from Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity.

“Today, right this moment, we have direct evidence that this object is a black hole,” said astrophysicist Sara Issaoun of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics at a press conference in Garching, Germany.

“We’ve been working on this for so long, every once and a while you have to pinch yourself and remember that this is the black hole at the centre of our Universe,” said computational-imaging researcher and former EHT team member Katie Bouman at a press conference in Washington, DC. “I mean, what’s more cool than seeing the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way?”

Black-hole observations …

Click here to read the rest of this article about the Milk Way’s Black Hole

Friday The 13th 2022: Why This Day Is A Lot Luckier Than You Might Think

by Roya Backlund
·3 min read
Don’t freak out, but Friday the 13th 2022 is just around the corner! With all the negative hype surrounding this infamous day, you might count yourself lucky that May 13 will be the only time the 13th day of the month will land on a Friday this year. If you’re considering calling out of work and shielding yourself from all the “bad luck” that Friday the 13th inevitably brings, let me be the one to calm you down. Chances are, you’ve been lied to all your life about Friday the 13th, because I bet no one’s ever told you that it’s also considered the day of the “Divine Feminine”, making it a time to celebrate everything it means to be in touch with your inner goddess!

You’ve probably been told that Friday the 13th is something to be afraid of, but I bet no one’s ever explained to you why. According to Phillips Stevens, Jr., associate professor of anthropology at the University at Buffalo, the infamy surrounding the number 13 can be traced back to 

Click here to read the rest of this article about friday the 13th

Good Luck Spell Jar

Good Luck Spell Jar from thewitchandwand.com

This spell jar is easy to make and is meant to grow in potency over time. If you can, make this jar when the moon is waxing. Thursdays are also good days to start these jars as Thursday is known as Thor’s Day, and it is a good time for spells of success and luck.

ITEMS NEEDED

Jar

Amethyst Crystal

Found Items for Good Luck

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place an amethyst crystal in a jar.

2. When you find items that bring good luck, add them to the jar. These could be household spices such as rosemary, allspice, cinnamon, basil, or mint. They could also be items you find like a silver coin, a four leaf clover, the number eight, an evil eye, an acorn, etc…

3. Set the jar by an entryway to keep luck coming into a home or business.

“This jar I set so luck will stay,

Keep misfortune far at bay.”

A Laugh for Today

Wishing you an unfreaky Friday the thirteenth!

May 12 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 May 12

Young Stars of NGC 346

Image Credit: NASA, ESA – acknowledgement: Antonella Nota (ESA/STScI) et al.,

Explanation: The massive stars of NGC 346 are short lived, but very energetic. The star cluster is embedded in the largest star forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud, some 210,000 light-years distant. Their winds and radiation sweep out an interstellar cavern in the gas and dust cloud about 200 light-years across, triggering star formation and sculpting the region’s dense inner edge. Cataloged as N66, the star forming region also appears to contain a large population of infant stars. A mere 3 to 5 million years old and not yet burning hydrogen in their cores, the infant stars are strewn about the embedded star cluster. In this false-color Hubble Space Telescope image, visible and near-infrared light are seen as blue and green, while light from atomic hydrogen emission is red.

A Laugh for Today

Look for a reason to laugh today!

Scientists Debate the Existence of the Human Soul

The soul, once the purview of religion and spirituality, has received renewed attention from professionals in various science-based disciplines.

Author’s Note

This article is based on scientific postings and accredited media reports. All linked information within this article is fully-attributed to the following outlets: Britannica.com, Snopes.com, Wikipedia.org, Psychology Today, Time Magazine, The New Yorker, The National Academy of Science, and Evolution News & Science Today.

Introduction

Earlier this week, NewsBreak published “The Science of What Happens to Your Mind After Death,” my article discussing scientific studies of one of death’s great mysteries.

As excerpted from the article: The intersection of religious belief — or lack thereof — and science frequently leads to conversations about the existence of a “soul.” In March, 2022, Britannica.com published “Soul: Religion and Philosophy,” a comprehensive piece detailing various perspectives through the centuries as to its existence. More skeptical readers may want to also click here for a Snopes.com “fact check” as to whether the existence of a soul has been proven, and if the soul itself has a measurable weight.

As can be viewed in the above hyperlink, Snopes reported neither a “true” nor “false” conclusion on the matter, instead labeling the legitimacy of the effort as somewhere between those two binary options. While referencing the questionable nature of the early 20th century work of Dr. Duncan MacDougall of Haverhill, Massachusetts, who determined the human soul has mass and a weight of …

Click here to read the rest of this article

Giant sinkhole with a forest inside found in China

I found this article to be interesting and informative.

Species unknown to science could be hiding in this gaping hole. A team of Chinese scientists has discovered a giant new sinkhole with a forest at its bottom.

I found this on NewsBreak: Giant sinkhole with a forest inside found in China https://share.newsbreak.com/11zjnnrz

A Thought for Today

Until we meet again dear sisters, brothers, and honored guests may you blessed be.