SPOCK'S BEARD

WHERE EVERYTHING IS MADE UP AND THE POINTS DON'T MATTER

[namedvesta]

Touching Christ, Louise Bourgeois

[of-stars-and-dust]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

2026 May 18

Unraveling NGC 3169

Image Credit & Copyright: Simone Curzi and the ShaRA Team

Explanation: Spiral galaxy NGC 3169 looks to be unraveling like a ball of cosmic yarn. It lies some 70 million light-years away, south of bright star Regulus toward the faint constellation Sextans. Wound up spiral arms are pulled out into sweeping tidal tails as NGC 3169 (left) and neighboring NGC 3166 interact gravitationally. Eventually the galaxies will merge into one, a common fate even for bright galaxies in the local universe. Drawn out stellar arcs and plumes are clear indications of the ongoing gravitational interactions across the deep and colorful galaxy group photo. The telescopic frame spans about 20 arc minutes or about 400,000 light-years at the group's estimated distance, and includes smaller, bluish NGC 3165 to the right. NGC 3169 is also known to shine across the spectrum from radio to X-rays, harboring an active galactic nucleus that is the site of a supermassive black hole.

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)

NASA Official: Amber Straughn

A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,

NASA Science Activation

& Michigan Tech. U.

[tyronepowerbottom]

couldn't sleep, so I put on an episode of Twin Peaks................... um

it actually is Thursday the 23rd

[gemlikeabovethebay]

Incredible excerpts from a new interview with Terror Camp alumnus Paul Ready

[anti-parent]

teamwork makes the dream work. and dreamwork. makes shrek

[szymon]

Sarah Espeute

[nonlynear]

[suddenly disillusioned] my illusions..

[spocksbeard]

[henk-heijmans]

Sinaloa, Mexico, 2025 - by Juan Carlos Beltrán (1991), Mexican

[szymon]

rotative studio

[szymon]

Bornstein Lyckefors

[holohedral]

wildflowers thriving on the side of the road i see you i love you girls

[pmamtraveller]

By Sumeyra Yuce

[zelenskringe]

by Built Márquez

Philippines, 2018

[a-light-seeking-dream]

antarctic ice by natgeo photography duo yva momatiuk & john eastcott

[a-light-seeking-dream]

antarctic ice by natgeo photography duo yva momatiuk & john eastcott

[dailyoverview]

The Juruá River is a southern tributary of the Amazon River, flowing approximately 1,500 miles (2,400 km) through Brazil and Peru. For most of its length, the river winds through the Amazon basin and is generally curvy and sluggish.

See more here: https://bit.ly/2sjkECW

-2.635833°, -65.756111°

Source imagery: Planet

[nasaimages]

NASA Image of the Day (July 21, 2026)

Psyche Approaches Mars

This composite of images taken by NASA’s Psyche mission shows the crescent of Mars grow as the spacecraft approached the planet for a gravity assist from May 2 to May 15, 2026. Because Psyche approached Mars from a high phase angle, the planet appeared as a thin crescent in the days running up to the close approach, lit by sunlight reflecting off its surface.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU