Urban poetry

They don't let you even bring cameras into the court buildings in downtown Manhattan (except for those attached to cell phones and iPads) so I didn't carry a camera around with me while I was on jury duty last week.

But I did get this picture the first day -- filming a music video in one of the many downtown alleys near the courts.

Astronomy Tuesday

This is Arp 188, called the Tadpole Galaxy because of that spectacular tail.

Astronomers theorize that a smaller galaxy got a little too close, and gravity and tidal forces snagged a long tail of stars and gas from the intruder, creating an impressive accessory. Arp 188 is about 420 light years away from us, but that tail is 280,000 light years long.

Like all tadpoles, this galaxy will eventually lose the tail. Gravity will continue to do its job, and those bright blue star clusters will eventually coalesce into satellites of the main galaxy.


Image Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, ESA, NASA; Processing - Bill Snyder (Heavens Mirror Observatory)

Neighborhood watch

Bonus bird blogging.

Today was a perfect day to be in the park -- balmy and  breezy spring, leaves just starting to come out, and winter birds and new arrivals singing their whole-hearted approval of the situation. I had jury duty Thursday and Friday and had to work most of yesterday to catch up on things, so I needed the sanity break in the park more than I needed to tackle the backlog of chores.

Just inside the Ramble, there was a rumble. Two birds were flying at each other, tumbling through the air together, screeching and squawking. One was this red-bellied woodpecker, which broke away and climbed into this hole. The other was a starling, which was obviously trying to sublet this cozy little studio apartment in the trees.

There was a gang of three more starlings on a nearby branch, but after a few more angry exchanges the starlings left. The woodpecker continued to keep watch; it was a lot of work digging that hole and he's not about to give it up without a fight.

The pictures below aren't very clear. This female robin is building a nest; she was way back in the trees and I didn't want to try to get closer. Birds nesting: must be spring.

Sunday bird blogging

The peculiar profile of an African goose, at Fireman's Park in Graham.

Like most geese I've encountered, this bird was neither quiet nor well-behaved. Not satisfied with terrorizing the other birds in the vicinity, he came after me, squawking threats at high volume. I've been bitten by geese before -- those big beaks bite hard -- so I retreated. Quickly. 

Very quickly.

Saturday reflections

A cityscape, reflected in the back of a car on Tenth Avenue.

Urban poetry

I realize that, by some standards, Jacksboro, Texas (population 4511, as of 2010) does not qualify as "urban."

But I pulled over here to take this picture, before turning on to Texas 199 and continuing on my merry way to Fort Worth and DFW and home, because I was charmed by the idea of a drugstore that advertises both a soda fountain and a fax machine -- artifacts of two very different eras.

Also, by the way, Texas Department of Transportation? That road sign there? Great idea. Very handy. You could use a lot more of them.

Astronomy Tuesday

Saturn is just so photogenic.

This is an image from 2006, taken by Cassini. The rings are viewed from the side, so only the thin line of their edge is visible (with one of Saturn's many moons visible as a dot) but their shadows loom across most of the planet's northern hemisphere.

Image credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA.

Sunday bird blogging

I remember when all my bird pictures looked like this (and honestly a lot of them still do). I took this through the windshield of Judy's car, and I didn't have the right lens and the bird refused to look in my direction, but I thought it was a sparrow I'd never seen before so I took the picture anyway.

Fortunately the markings are so distinctive it was easy to identify even without a good closeup. This is a lark sparrow, which is common in Texas year-round but never visits the East Coast at all, so I'm glad I have the picture.

Saturday reflections

Spring puddle in the park.

Urban poetry

I've taken a lot of pictures of a new hotel being built on 50th Street, but these feet -- apparently unaffiliated -- are my favorite.

Astronomy Tuesday

The moon as photographed by the Zond 8 Russian satellite. I didn't see the lunar eclipse last night, though there was a spectacular almost-full moon in the Texas sky Sunday night.

I'm still going through Texas pictures, and will post them when I can. I was going to experiment with putting everything on Facebook and making it public, but I still just don't get the point of Facebook. (I'd say this is because I'm not a teenager, but most of the teenagers I know wouldn't be caught dead on Facebook anymore.) I've looked at the pages of people I know who post a lot, and still -- just don't get it.

The Square

I like these pictures in an old-style black and white. The square in Graham -- America's largest! -- keeps the old buildings and the original facades and turns them into new businesses.