On March 4 the first quarter moon passes between Earth and the star Aldebaran, temporarily blocking our view of the star. This is called an occultation.
The occultation begins and concludes at different times, depending on where you are when you view it.
The event should be easy to see from most of the U.S., Mexico, most of Central America, the Western Caribbean and Bermuda.
Observers along a narrow path from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Hartford, Connecticut, will see the moon “graze” the star. The star will disappear and reappear repeatedly as hills and valleys on the moon alternately obscure and reveal it.
As seen from Earth, both Mercury and Venus have phases like our moon. That’s because they circle the sun inside Earth’s orbit.
Planets that orbit between Earth and the sun are known as inner or inferior planets.
Inferior planets can never be at “opposition,” which is when the planet and the sun are on opposite sides of Earth.
But inferior planets can be at “conjunction,” which is when a planet, the sun and Earth are all in a straight line.
Conjunction can happen once when the planet is on the opposite side of the sun from Earth and again when it’s on the same side of the sun as Earth.
When a planet is on the opposite side of the sun from Earth, we say it is at “superior conjunction.” As the planet moves out from behind the sun and gets closer to Earth, we see less and less of the lit side. We see phases, similar to our moon’s phases.
Mercury is at superior conjunction on March 6.
A few weeks later, the planet emerges from behind the sun and we can once again observe it. By the end of March we’ll see a last-quarter Mercury.
On April 20 Mercury reaches “inferior conjunction.”
Brilliant Venus is also racing toward its own inferior conjunction on March 25. Watch its crescent get thinner and thinner as the planet’s size appears larger and larger, because it is getting closer to Earth.
Finally, look for Jupiter to rise in the East. It will be visible all month long from late evening until dawn.
You can catch up on solar system missions and all of our missions at www.nasa.gov
Watch the full “What’s Up for March 2017″ video here:
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
My aunt put her child up for adoption. Her stance was basically to let her have a chance at a happy life even though she herself couldn't give it to her. I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all.
I mean good for her, but you do realize that we have an issue of not enough kids being adopted. So they end up in the foster care system.
- Mod S.
(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQrkkl5SOak)
This Ted Talk has been the most helpful in my own “foxhole” pit recently and I hope this can reach out and help anyone else! A special thank you to my two true friends while I was side tracked by an abusive friend who only used me and I allowed that friendship to continue for far too long. It infuriates me to see how toxic this one friendship was that I lost connection with my closest and truest friends and others. Also for others who dealt with an alcoholic, watch minute 16. It hit me harder than any article and personal research I’ve done yet.
All credit to @thefrizzkid for the original (the pink)
Start with her fire. Start with her teeth. Start by pulling her down by the back of her neck, and kissing the past away. - You’re standing on that beach again, and your past is walking away. You can hear the slap of the waves on the shoreline, taste the salt of the ocean and the salt of her tears on your lips. (she hasn’t cried, not yet; you wonder if she’s incapable now, so hard are the lines on her heart – she hasn’t cried, but you can still taste them, coating the roof of your mouth) You’re standing on that beach again, for a different reason, with a different emotion weighing down your hearts— (heart?) —your past is walking, running, fading away. Your future holds your hand. - You kiss the pain away. You’re two nights into this new life and she’s not thinking about you, but she is, but she isn’t, and you wonder after what another you said earlier – about fire, and blood, and rage. You wonder at the way she bites your mouth, like she’s trying to eat you alive, and perhaps she is. You wonder at the way she holds you, at the way she likes the pain, at the way she loves it with company. You’re not so different in that regard – nowadays, you’re not so different in a lot of regards. - She was a goddess once. She’d taken the light of the universe and had cradled it inside, replaced her heart with it, for a bit. It had leaked through her smile and shone on you, seeped into you and you had cherished it, cherished her. She was a goddess once. Now she is a ruin of a temple, but you still look on her with reverence. - You hear her sobbing through her bedroom door when you should both be asleep, and you can’t help the breathless sigh coming through your parted lips. On the beach, you’d thought her incapable of tears, and you’ve never been so relieved to hear her cry. - You start with her teeth. You start with her tears. You pull them out and wipe them away, one by one, one by one. The second night she cries, you open the door and sit on the edge of her bed until she crawls her way into your arms. It’s hard for you too, and she knows it. But she’s always been selfish in that heartbreakingly human way, and she kisses you until she’s bitten the rotten-candy-apple-truth out of you. You’re hurting. You’re broken. Both of you, together. Perhaps it’s enough. - Start with the fire. End in the ashes. Sometimes, you miss the stars to the point of aching, miss your freedom to the point of breaking. She doesn’t cry much anymore. Sometimes she rests her head on your chest and frowns at the weak pitter-pat of one heart. Sometimes, her eyes get so dark and heavy with one memory or another. You know that look. You wore it, once, a life and a half back. You remember nicking your face shaving and cursing every species from humans to harpies. You remember waking up from a nap in the console room in a cold sweat, and you remember her patience, such godly patience even when you swore six ways from Sunday that she was nothing more than a stupid ape. She loved you then, you can love her now. Start with her fire. (be burned, just a little along the way) Then with her teeth. (she’ll be like a phoenix, darling) End in her ashes. (she’ll rise up again, and it will be worth it) It will be so worth it.
and, again | his-braveheart (via his-braveheart)
It literally doesn’t matter what the intention of abuser was, it isn’t relevant, what should be looked at is consequences the victim has to carry, the psychological damage they have to live with, the emotional pain, the fear, the self consciousness, the disorders, the trauma, look at how much they lost, how much they missed out on, how much they suffered because of what happened to them, how ashamed and anxious and isolated they’ve been, everything they didn’t get to experience and enjoy because of the trauma, everything that’s missing from their life because of what was done to them, and then let’s look at the benefits the abuser had from destroying the victim, the control and authority they established, how they used the fear and the pain to control the victim, how much satisfaction they got from feeling superior and powerful and self-righteous, and that’s all you have to know, a person destroyed another for gain, what other intentions do you fucking need, nobody does this without meaning to.
Wouldn’t it be neat to see a period of the universe’s history that we’ve never seen before? That’s exactly what the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be able to do…plus more!
Specifically, Webb will see the first objects that formed as the universe cooled down after the Big Bang. We don’t know exactly when the universe made the first stars and galaxies – or how for that matter. That is what we are building Webb to help answer.
1. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s largest and next premier space observatory. It will extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space telescope and observe the birthplaces of stars, galaxies, planets and life over billions of years.
2. It is named after James Webb, NASA’s second administrator and champion of our science.
3. At 3 stories high and the size of a tennis court, it will be 100 times more powerful than Hubble!
4. It is so big that it has to fold origami-style to fit in the rocket, which is only 5.4 meters wide…And then it will unfurl, segment by segment, once in space.
5. The telescope will observe infrared light with unprecedented sensitivity. It will see the first galaxies born after the Big Bang over 13.5 billion years ago.
6. Webb’s infrared cameras are so sensitive they must be shielded from light from the sun, Earth, and moon. The 5-layer sunshield is like having sunblock of SPF 1 million.
7. Webb will orbit the sun 1 million miles from Earth, where the telescope will operate at temperatures below -390 F (-235 C).
8. Webb’s mirrors are coated with a super thin layer of gold only about 1000 atoms thick to optimize their reflectivity in the infrared.
9. Webb will launch from French Guiana in 2018. It is launched near the equator because the faster spin of Earth there gives the rocket an extra push.
10. Webb is an international mission, with contributions from the European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency. Once operational, scientists from all over the world will be able to use Webb to explore our solar system, planets outside our solar system, stars and galaxies.
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Person: Why are you gay? Me: Why are you straight?
Eighty (source)