I’m Jimi.
I quietly contemplate these days. I enjoy reading about and infrequently discussing #SciFi, #Fantasy, #Horror, #Science, #USPolitics and #Noir. I’ve been #TentCamping over half my life. #CozyGroveCampSpirit
#StarTrek🖖rocks.
I love all #Tolkien.
#MST3K is hilarious.
Michael Myers🔪the 1st shape.
#Ghibli storytelling is *gorgeous*
#Svengoolie rules!
Han shot first.p
Early Gen X feral latchkey kid. Married. Mostly harmless. I block AI & jagbags.
We call them gym shoes round here.
| Human | Not Immortal. Really. |
| Location | In far Northern Illinois. Previously Braga, Pt., Funchal, Pt., Barrie, Ontario. Far Northern Illinois before all that. |
| Banner Image | Fall is the season on the lakefront in Barrie, Ontario. A photographer in a yellow jacket sits under a reddish dynamic sculpture. New construction is visible in the background. Blue sky with scattered white clouds. The lake is reflecting the blue sky. |
| Toots | Toots disappear like tears in the rain. However it takes a while. So I got that going for me at least. |
Astounding vol. 48, no. 1 (September 1951)
The day of the moron, you say? Is the story set in the far-off year of 2025 by any chance?
Original magazine: https://archive.org/details/Astounding_v48n01_1951-09_Sam_Hall
#Magazine #MagazineCover #PulpMagazine #PulpFiction #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #Horror #Art #Illustration
Free the Spokane 9.
"The arrests in #Spokane — not the first time in recent weeks that the government has aggressively gone after anyone involved in resisting the ICE raids — are a window into how this police state plans to operate."
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-protesters-arrested-spokane-20250717.html
Indeed! I like the way you put that. 😊
Weiner Circle in Chicago. Used to go there after hitting up the Laugh Factory or Kingston Mines. Back in the fricking mid-90’s. I’m talking with my spouse’s (younger) cousin, an Oak Park native who is all like, wait, wtf, way back then? I’m like yup, used to drive down there from the Aragon brawl room after shows occasionally too. I can’t remember most of the joints we used to stop at in the late 80’s after shows. As I was a far-West suburban kid, the names didn’t stick.
This is the true lifestyle, isn't it? I also love and enjoy such moments mostly on kayak/canoe hiking tours in the club. You can't buy true luxury for money, you just have to know how to enjoy it ..
👍
Taught some pinball repair classes a few times. During tournaments we'd bring in techs from all over, but we RAN OUT AND HAD TO GROW OUR OWN, so I started off with coils and power supplies and how-the-hell-do-an-electron-go, y'know, the fundamentals.
Did a quick bit on bridge rectifiers and smoothing caps and coil drive transistors and then held up one of these lads and said right let's fix one of these and everyone, all these pinball teching newbies, took this Indrawn Breath because HOLY SHIT JUST LOOK AT IT, you mean we gotta UNDERSTAND that?
I said don't worry. The biggest, most complicated, most intimidating system you can think of, is made out of smaller, simpler systems, and then those systems are themselves made out of even smaller, simpler systems, until you get right down to stuff that's very understandable and very fixable by the average person, and if all the little easy bits work then the big complicated thing has no choice but to work.
I'm posting this now because someone just called that post "philosophy" and it's not philosophy it's just literally how pinball machines work lol
Head's up, the "you must confirm your profile" scam is proliferating on the Fediverse. I wonder if they are trying to gather driver's licenses and credit card numbers? It's a scam.
2025 June 30
NGC 4651: The Umbrella Galaxy
* Image Credit: Rabeea Alkuwari & Anas Almajed
https://www.instagram.com/bolahdan/
https://www.instagram.com/anas_almajed/
Explanation:
It's raining stars. What appears to be a giant cosmic umbrella is now known to be a tidal stream of stars stripped from a small satellite galaxy. The main galaxy, spiral galaxy NGC 4651, is about the size of our Milky Way, while its stellar parasol appears to extend some 100 thousand light-years above this galaxy's bright disk. A small galaxy was likely torn apart by repeated encounters as it swept back and forth on eccentric orbits through NGC 4651. The remaining stars will surely fall back and become part of a combined larger galaxy over the next few million years. The featured deep image was captured in long exposures from Saudi Arabia. The Umbrella Galaxy lies about 50 million light-years distant toward the well-groomed northern constellation of Berenice's Hair (Coma Berenices).
https://www.instagram.com/anas_almajed/https://www.instagram.com/anas_almajed/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_4651
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_galaxy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_eccentricity#/media/File:Animation_of_Orbital_eccentricity.gif
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130514.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120604.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250630.html
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA
Short "Offtopic" Explanation
2013 May 14
Galaxy Collisions: Simulation vs Observations
* Images Credit: NASA, ESA
http://www.esa.int/
http://www.nasa.gov/;
* Visualization: Frank Summers (STScI)
http://www.stsci.edu/;
* Simulation: Chris Mihos (CWRU) & Lars Hernquist (Harvard)
https://astronomy.case.edu/ .
Explanation:
What happens when two galaxies collide? Although it may take over a billion years, such titanic clashes are quite common. Since galaxies are mostly empty space, no internal stars are likely to themselves collide. Rather the gravitation of each galaxy will distort or destroy the other galaxy, and the galaxies may eventually merge to form a single larger galaxy. Expansive gas and dust clouds collide and trigger waves of star formation that complete even during the interaction process. Pictured above is a computer simulation of two large spiral galaxies colliding, interspersed with real still images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Our own Milky Way Galaxy has absorbed several smaller galaxies during its existence and is even projected to merge with the larger neighboring Andromeda galaxy in a few billion years.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130514.html
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA
2025 July 4
NGC 6946 and NGC 6939
* Image Credit & Copyright: Alberto Pisabarro
https://www.loscoloresinvisibles.com/
Explanation:
Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 and open star cluster NGC 6939 share this cosmic snapshot, composed with over 68 hours of image data captured with a small telescope on planet Earth. The field of view spans spans about 1 degree or 2 full moons on the sky toward the northern constellation Cepheus. Seen through faint interstellar dust couds near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the stars of open cluster NGC 6939 are 5,600 light-years in the distance, near bottom right in the frame. Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 is at top left, but lies some 22 million light-years away. In the last 100 years, 10 supernovae have been discovered in NGC 6946, the latest one seen in 2017. By comparison, the average rate of supernovae in our Milky Way is about 1 every 100 years or so. Of course, NGC 6946 is also known as The Fireworks Galaxy.
https://www.loscoloresinvisibles.com/null
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022AJ....163..191K/abstract
Location:
http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/cep/
Super Novae of NGC 6946:
https://rochesterastronomy.org/sn2017/sn2017eaw.html
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/observing-news/possible-bright-supernova-discovered-in-fireworks-galaxy-ngc-6946/
nasa.gov/apod/ap250704.html
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #nature #NASA
NGC 6946: The ‘Fireworks Galaxy’
NGC 6946 is a medium-sized, face-on spiral galaxy about 22 million light years away from Earth. In the past century, eight supernovas have been observed to explode in the arms of this galaxy. Chandra observations (purple) have, in fact, revealed three of the oldest supernovas ever detected in X-rays, giving more credence to its nickname of the “Fireworks Galaxy.” This composite image also includes optical data from the Gemini Observatory in red, yellow, and cyan.
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MSSL/R.Soria et al, Optical: AURA/Gemini OBs
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #nature #NASA
A Mysterious Rash of Star Birth
"A Mysterious Rash of Star Birth In this crisp Gemini North image, pink bubbles of glowing hydrogen gas spread across the arms of the face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 like a rash. This amazing infusion of color is fueled by the ubiquitous birth of massive stars throughout NGC 6946; these hot young stars blast copious amounts of ultraviolet radiation into their natal shrouds of hydrogen gas, causing the clouds to glow red. For reasons unknown, NGC 6946 has a much higher rate of star formation than all of the other large galaxies in our local neighborhood. The prodigious output of stellar nurseries in this extragalactic neighbor — which lies about 20 million light years away in the direction of the constellation of Cepheus — eventually leads to accelerated numbers of supernovae explosions. NGC 6946’s supernovae have occurred in rapid-fire fashion for tens of millions of years. Over the past century, eight supernovae are known to have exploded in the arms of this stellar metropolis. NGC 6946 is, in fact, the most prolific known galaxy for supernovae during the past 100 years. These events have led to its popular nickname, the “Fireworks Galaxy.” If we could compress just a million years of NGC 6946’s history into a time-lapse movie, lasting but a few seconds, we would bear witness to a stream of nearly constant outbursts of light as new stars flare into view, while old ones expire in spectacular explosions." Technical Details: Acquisition Date(s): August 12, 2004 Telescope: Gemini North, Mauna Kea Hawai'i Instrument: GMOS (Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph) Field of View: 5.80 x 5.58 arcminutes Orientation: Image is rotated CCW by 184 degrees from North = up, East = left
https://www.gemini.edu/news/press-releases/gemini0501
* Credits:
International Gemini Observatory/AURA/Manuel Paredes
https://www.gemini.edu/gallery/images/gemini0501a/
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #nature #NASA
2025 April 26
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 5335
* Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI
https://www.nasa.gov/
https://www.stsci.edu/home
https://esahubble.org/
Explanation:
This stunning portrait of NGC 5335 was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Some 170,000 light-years across and over 200 million light-years away toward the constellation Virgo, the magnificent spiral galaxy is seen face-on in Hubble's view. Within the galactic disk, loose streamers of star forming regions lie along the galaxy's flocculent spiral arms. But the most striking feature of NGC 5335 is its prominent central bar. Seen in about 30 percent of galaxies, including our Milky Way, bar structures are understood to channel material inward toward the galactic center, fueling star formation. Of course, distant background galaxies are easy to spot, scattered around the sharp Hubble image. Launched in 1990, Hubble is now celebrating its 35th year exploring the cosmos from orbit around planet Earth.
https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/ngc-5335/
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250426.html
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA
January 10, 2005
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300 - NASA Science
One of the largest Hubble Space Telescope images ever made of a complete galaxy is being unveiled today at the American Astronomical Society meeting in San Diego, Calif.
The Hubble telescope captured a display of starlight, glowing gas, and silhouetted dark clouds of interstellar dust in this 4-foot-by-8-foot image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300. NGC 1300 is considered to be prototypical of barred spiral galaxies. Barred spirals differ from normal spiral galaxies in that the arms of the galaxy do not spiral all the way into the center, but are connected to the two ends of a straight bar of stars containing the nucleus at its center.
At Hubble's resolution, a myriad of fine details, some of which have never before been seen, is seen throughout the galaxy's arms, disk, bulge, and nucleus. Blue and red supergiant stars, star clusters, and star-forming regions are well resolved across the spiral arms, and dust lanes trace out fine structures in the disk and bar. Numerous more distant galaxies are visible in the background, and are seen even through the densest regions of NGC 1300.
In the core of the larger spiral structure of NGC 1300, the nucleus shows its own extraordinary and distinct "grand-design" spiral structure that is about 3,300 light-years (1 kiloparsec) long. Only galaxies with large-scale bars appear to have these grand-design inner disks - a spiral within a spiral. Models suggest that the gas in a bar can be funneled inwards, and then spiral into the center through the grand-design disk, where it can potentially fuel a central black hole. NGC 1300 is not known to have an active nucleus, however, indicating either that there is no black hole, or that it is not accreting matter.
https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/barred-spiral-galaxy-ngc-1300/
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA
A zoom into the center of NGC 1300 that reveals the fine details captured by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys across the spiral arms, and dust lanes in the disk and bar.
Credit:
NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI); Acknowledgment: NASA, ESA, A. Fujii, Digitized Sky Survey (DSS), STScI/AURA, Palomar/Caltech, and UKSTU/AAO, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA
Messier 63
This flocculent galaxy is a type of spiral without well defined spiral arms.
Star formation is one of the most important processes in shaping the universe. In addition to birthing new stars, it gives rise to planetary systems and plays a pivotal role in the evolution of galaxies. Yet there is still much that astronomers do not understand about this fundamental process. The driving force behind star formation is particularly unclear for a type of galaxy called a flocculent spiral. Unlike grand-design spiral galaxies, flocculent spiral galaxies do not have well defined spiral arms. Instead, they appear to have many discontinuous arms.
M63, also known as the Sunflower galaxy, is one such flocculent spiral galaxy. Although it only has two arms, many appear to be winding around its yellow core in this image captured by Hubble. The arms shine with the radiation from recently formed blue stars and can be more clearly seen in infrared observations. By imaging flocculent spiral galaxies like M63, astronomers hope to gain a better understanding of how stars form in such systems.
The Sunflower galaxy was discovered in 1779 by the French astronomer Pierre Méchain and was the first of 24 objects that Méchain would contribute to Charles Messier’s catalog. The galaxy is located roughly 27 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. It has an apparent magnitude of 9.3 and appears as a faint patch of light in small telescopes. The best time to observe M63 is during May.
Credit:
ESA/Hubble & NASA
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA #ESA
Messier 64
This dusty galaxy is also known as the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy.
Easily identified by the spectacular band of dark dust that partially obscures its bright core, Messier 64, or the Black Eye Galaxy, is characterized by its bizarre internal motion. The gas in the outer regions of this spiral galaxy is rotating in the opposite direction from the gas and stars in its inner regions. This strange behavior may be the result of a merger between M64 and a satellite galaxy over a billion years ago.
New stars are forming in the region where the oppositely rotating gases collide, are compressed, and then contract. Particularly noticeable in this stunning Hubble image of the galaxy’s core are recently formed hot, blue stars and pink clouds of glowing hydrogen gas that fluoresce when exposed to ultraviolet light from the newly-formed stars.
English astronomer Edward Pigott first spotted M64 in March of 1719, just 12 days before German astronomer Johann Elert Bode, and roughly a year before Charles Messier independently rediscovered it in March of 1780. The galaxy is located 17 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices. The best time of year to look for the Black Eye Galaxy is May. Its apparent magnitude of 9.8 requires a moderately sized telescope and dark sky site.
This dusty galaxy is also known as the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy.
Credit:
NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI); Acknowledgment: S. Smartt (Institute of Astronomy) and D. Richstone (U. Michigan)
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA #ESA
M74M74
Phantom Galaxy across the spectrum
The Phantom Galaxy is around 32 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Pisces, and lies almost face-on to Earth. This, coupled with its well-defined spiral arms, makes it a favourite target for astronomers studying the origin and structure of galactic spirals.
M74 is a particular class of spiral galaxy known as a ‘grand design spiral’, meaning that its spiral arms are prominent and well-defined, unlike the patchy and ragged structure seen in some spiral galaxies.
With Hubble’s venerable Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Webb’s powerful Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) capturing a range of wavelengths, this new image has remarkable depth. The red colours mark dust threaded through the arms of the galaxy, lighter oranges being areas of hotter dust. The young stars throughout the arms and the nuclear core are picked out in blue. Heavier, older stars towards the galaxy’s centre are shown in cyan and green, projecting a spooky glow from the core of the Phantom Galaxy. Bubbles of star formation are also visible in pink across the arms. Such a variety of galactic features is rare to see in a single image.
Scientists combine data from telescopes operating across the electromagnetic spectrum to truly understand astronomical objects. In this way, data from Hubble and Webb compliment each other to provide a comprehensive view of the spectacular M74 galaxy.
CREDIT
ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team; ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Chandar Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA #ESA
Multi-observatory views of M74
New images of the Phantom Galaxy, M74, showcase the power of space observatories working together in multiple wavelengths.
* see ALT-Text for more
Webb’s sharp vision has revealed delicate filaments of gas and dust in the grandiose spiral arms of M74, which wind outwards from the centre of the image. A lack of gas in the nuclear region also provides an unobscured view of the nuclear star cluster at the galaxy's centre.
Webb gazed into M74 with its Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) in order to learn more about the earliest phases of star formation in the local Universe. These observations are part of a larger effort to chart 19 nearby star-forming galaxies in the infrared by the international PHANGS collaboration. Those galaxies have already been observed using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories.
The addition of crystal-clear Webb observations at longer wavelengths will allow astronomers to pinpoint star-forming regions in the galaxies, accurately measure the masses and ages of star clusters, and gain insights into the nature of the small grains of dust drifting in interstellar space.
Hubble observations of M74 have revealed particularly bright areas of star formation known as HII regions. Hubble’s sharp vision at ultraviolet and visible wavelengths complements Webb’s unparalleled sensitivity at infrared wavelengths, as do observations from ground-based radio telescopes such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, ALMA.
By combining data from telescopes operating across the electromagnetic spectrum, scientists can gain greater insight into astronomical objects than by using a single observatory – even one as powerful as Webb!
CREDIT
ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team; ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Chandar Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA #ESA
07/11/2023
Euclid’s view of spiral galaxy IC 342
Over its lifetime, our dark Universe detective will image billions of galaxies, revealing the hidden influence that dark matter and dark energy have on them.
That’s why it’s fitting that one of the first galaxies that Euclid observed is nicknamed the ‘Hidden Galaxy’. This galaxy, also known as IC 342 or Caldwell 5, is difficult to observe because it lies behind the busy disc of our Milky Way, and so dust, gas and stars obscure our view.
Euclid could take this beautiful and sharp image thanks to its incredible sensitivity and superb optics. Most important here is that Euclid used its near-infrared instrument to peer through the dust and measure the light from the many cool and low-mass stars that dominate the galaxy's mass.
“That’s what is so brilliant about Euclid images. In one shot, it can see the whole galaxy in all its beautiful detail,” explains Euclid Consortium scientist Leslie Hunt of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy, on behalf of a broader team working on showcasing galaxies imaged by Euclid.
“This image might look normal, as if every telescope can make such an image, but that is not true. What’s so special here is that we have a wide view covering the entire galaxy, but we can also zoom in to distinguish single stars and star clusters. This makes it possible to trace the history of star formation and better understand how stars formed and evolved over the lifetime of the galaxy.”
CREDIT
ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA #ESA
IC 342
is located around 11 million light-years from Earth, very nearby our own galaxy (in astronomical distances). It is as large as the full Moon on the sky. And as a spiral galaxy, it is considered a look-alike of the Milky Way. “It is difficult to study our own galaxy as we are within it and can only see it edge on. So, by studying galaxies like IC 342, we can learn a lot about galaxies like our own,” adds Leslie.
Euclid is not the first to observe the Hidden Galaxy. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has previously imaged its core. But until now it has been impossible to study the star-formation history of the entire galaxy. Additionally, scientists have already spotted many globular clusters in this image, some of which have not been previously identified.
Euclid will observe billions of similar but more distant galaxies, all distributed along a ‘cosmic web’ of dark matter filaments. In this way, it will provide a 3D view of the dark matter distribution in our Universe. The map of the distribution of galaxies over cosmic time will also teach us about dark energy, which accelerates the expansion of the Universe.
CREDIT
ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA #ESA
Finding globular clusters in Euclid’s view of spiral galaxy IC342
In Euclid’s image of spiral galaxy IC342, the locations of several globular clusters are shown. Globular clusters are compact collections of hundreds of thousands of stars held together by gravity. Globular clusters tend to be old, with red colors, while star clusters may be less compact and blue. In spiral galaxies, like our Milky Way, these globular clusters are mostly found in the galactic halo.
from arxiv:
"We examine the star cluster populations in the three nearby galaxies IC 342, NGC 2403, and Holmberg II, observed as part of the Euclid Early Release Observations programme. Our main focus is on old globular clusters (GCs), for which the wide field-of-view and excellent image quality of Euclid offer substantial advantages over previous work. For IC 342 this is the first study of stellar clusters other than its nuclear cluster. After selection based on size and magnitude criteria, followed by visual inspection, we identify 111 old (> 1 Gyr) GC candidates in IC 342, 50 in NGC 2403 (of which 15 were previously known), [...] "
https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.16637
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2503.16637
* note by grobi: "Could these mass-holding clusters be useful for gravitational lensing? The Euclid team is talking about 7000 possible candidates by the end of 2026 and 100000 candidates by the end of the mission. Which would mean that very soon we will be able to look much further into the depths of space-time than we can even imagine today.
Exciting times from an astronomical point of view, right? Feel free to check out the following post from the TOPIC> Gravitational Lensing
https://defcon.social/@grobi/114682791891969004 Enjoy!"
#space #galaxy #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA #ESA
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