Carina in Perspective

You need to be in the south, looking south, to see such a sky. And only then if you’re lucky. Just above the picturesque tree is the impressive Carina Nebula, one of the few nebulas in the sky that is visible to the unaided eye. The featured image had to be taken from a very dark location to capture the Carina Nebula with such perspective and so near the horizon. The Great Nebula in Carina, cataloged as NGC 3372, is home to the wildly variable star Eta Carinae that sometimes flares to become one of the brightest stars in the sky. Above Carina is IC 2944, the Running Chicken Nebula, a nebula that not only looks like a chicken, but contains impressive dark knots of dust. Above these red-glowing emission nebulas are the bright stars of the Southern Cross, while on the upper left of the image is the dark Coalsack Nebula. This image was composed from six consecutive exposures taken last summer from Padre Bernardo, Goiás, Brazil. Even with careful planning, the astrophotographer felt lucky to get this shot because clouds — some still visible near the horizon — kept getting in the way. via NASA https://ift.tt/3c9x9Di

Ricky Arnold: Teacher and Astronaut

NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold takes an out of this world “space-selfie” while conducting a spacewalk on March 29, 2018. via NASA https://ift.tt/2YJCzRy

Full Flower Moonrise

Rising as the Sun set, the Moon was bright and full in planet Earth skies on May 7 and known to some as a Flower Moon. Near the horizon it does seem to take on rose pink hues of reddened sunlight in this reflective twilight scene. In fact one of the brighter Full Moons of the year, this month’s full lunar phase occurred within about 32 hours of perigee. That’s the closest point in the Moon’s elliptical orbit. Flooded field and ruined church tower are near the municipality of Casaleggio Novara, Piedmont Region of northern Italy.
via NASA https://ift.tt/3cfRiru

Picture of the day for May 9, 2020

Wikipedia picture of the day on May 9, 2020: Aerial view of Krymsky Bridge in Moscow https://ift.tt/35GEYOu

Art Quote of the Day

“Great art is never produced for its own sake. It is too difficult to be worth the effort.” – Robert Quillen

Wikipedia article of the day for May 9, 2020

Wikipedia article of the day is Target ship. Check it out: https://ift.tt/2fygYWw Summary: USS Oberrender (DE-344) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Lieutenant Commander Thomas Olin Oberrender, Jr., the engineering officer of the light cruiser USS Juneau, killed when that ship was torpedoed and sunk during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Laid down in November 1943, launched in January 1944, and commissioned almost four months later, Oberrender commenced convoy escort duty in the Pacific in late 1944, with an interlude protecting escort carriers during the early stages of the invasion of Leyte. She was heavily damaged by the explosion of the ammunition ship USS Mount Hood at Manus and was repaired there during November. Returning to service in December, Oberrender served on anti-submarine patrol during the Battle of Okinawa, during which she was irreparably damaged by a kamikaze attack in early May 1945. She was decommissioned and sunk as a target late that year.