Astronomy Tuesday

Here's a picture of our own beautiful planet for a change. I've been making plans for visiting Chile on my way to Antarctica, but this is one place I probably won't see: the salt flats in the Atacama desert, as seen by the European Space Agency.

Copyright Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data [2016], processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Sunday bird blogging

Returning from the exotic Middle East, this is as American as you can get: a robin pausing to listen for breakfast on one of the lush green lawns of Central Park in summer, before hopping as far away as he can get from the annoying woman with the camera.

Saturday reflections

Since I'm doing some housekeeping, here's a reflection shot I never posted: the scalloped facade of the World Trade Center in Abu Dhabi.

Interiors

Two pictures of the stonework inside the Umayyed temple.

The Umayyed temple

You can't see much of the temple in this picture, but I like the waving grasses and the old stones off in the distance.

Above the amphitheater

A few more pictures of the Citadel: a portal in the stone walls, another view of the modern city beyond the ruins, and one more picture of the Temple of Hercules, just because it's spectacular.

Amman flashback: the Forum

Two more looks at the forum -- one from in front of the amphitheater entrance, which gives you a sense of how huge it is, and the streams of people that are constantly coming and going, and the other from the terrace on top of the hill across the street (the stone walls you can see in the picture on the left.)

Faces of Amman

I promised more pictures from Amman, but it turned out that I had a lot I hadn't even looked through yet. So I'm still sorting and cleaning up, but here's a start.

The top two pictures are in the forum in front of the amphitheater, which is a fun place for people-watching -- I only wish I'd had a lot more time there! The men on the bottom right were walking on a nearby street. I saw the two teenage girls from the taxi on the way back to my hotel.

Urban poetry

I took this with my phone on my way to work this morning: getting ready to greet the summer solstice with yoga in Times Square.

Astronomy Tuesday

Another chapter in When Galaxies Collide!

This is HGC90, one of the so-called Hickson Compact Groups. Three galaxies are distorting one another with their gravity, leading to no doubt bruised feelings and furious star formation.

Image Credit: NASA; ESA, Hubble Legacy Archive; Processing: Oliver Czernetz

Sunday bird blogging

A blue jay in shadow, in front of a burst of bright early summer greens.

Saturday reflections

I love these colors, on West 52nd Street in New York.