Astronomy Tuesday

Here's a last look at Comet Leonard, which has completed its swing around our sun and is now headed out of the solar system. You can really see the colors in this image, the green coma surrounding the head of the comet, and the blues in the tail.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales found that the green color that surrounds the heads of some comets is caused by the reaction between diatomic carbon—a highly reactive form of carbon found in stars and comets—in the comet's coma and the ultraviolet radiation from the sun. The blue color in the tail comes from carbon monoxide.

Image Credit and Copyright: Blake Estes (itelescope.net)

Sunday bird blogging

The beautiful summer colors of a starling in Central Park.

Saturday reflections

The Corinthian columns in front of Grand Central, on 42nd Street.

The Gunks

Those views of the Palisades reminded me of this: the Shawangunk Mountains in Ulster County, a ridge that forms part of the western boundary of the Great Appalachian Valley.

Two more from Fort Tryon Park

These are from late November.

View from Fort Tryon Park

I'm going to try to catch up on some old pictures before school starts again. The skies here may look wintry, but this picture looking up the Hudson from Fort Tryon Park was taken on a rather mild day in October.

Astronomy Tuesday

NGC 1333 is a reflection nebula in Perseus. The dust hides much of what is going on, but those red spots are called Harbig-Haro objects, bright patches of partially ionized gases associated with newborn stars.

Image Credit and Copyright: Michael Sherick

Sunday bird blogging

A typically gorgeous female cardinal in Central Park.

I am about 99% asymptomatic this morning, so I'm going to consider myself out of quarantine as of tomorrow. I think I will treat myself to a drive.

Saturday reflections

This is a view of Midtown West in Manhattan. I'm not crazy about most of these buildings, but as a group, all that glass reflecting all that sky is pretty stunning.

Life in quarantine

This picture is actually from last winter, but since we got our first real snowfall last night, it's appropriate. And since I'm in quarantine, I can't go out and take any pictures of this storm—a concept that, apparently, some people have a hard time understanding.

I'm in Publix, this lady in front of me has a cart full of stuff. The cashier casually asks her "are you stocking up on groceries to stay safe". The lady responds "I actually tested positive 3 days ago. I'm in quarantine now"

My face: pic.twitter.com/GxFF0ZnMCJ

— You ever seen a baby pigeon? (@Real_JRoe) January 7, 2022

Astronomy Tuesday

The spectacular Comet Leonard is unfortunately not really visible from my part of the planet, but at least I can look at the pictures.

Image Credit and Copyright: Rolando Ligustri (CARA Project, CAST) and Lukas Demetz

Well, damn

So Christmas weekend I got to have that lovely adventure on the fire escape. And New Year's weekend, I tested positive for Covid.

No, I don't know how I got it; I wasn't anywhere except the supermarket and the laundry room during the estimated incubation period, and never without a mask. Apparently omicron really is as insanely contagious as we've been told.

Fortunately, I seem to be having the typical experience of the fully vaxed; it's like coming down with a bad cold, with a little less snot and a lot more brain fog.

I went for a PCR test today just to confirm, though now I'm not really sure why I bothered. The labs are overwhelmed so I won't get the results for at least 5 days, at which point I'll probably be symptom-free and out of quarantine. And getting the test meant standing in line for three hours in sub-freezing temperatures with an upper respiratory infection, not exactly best medical practice. I came home, took a hot shower, and went to bed, where I intend to remain until, oh, maybe Thursday.