2ND QUARTER 2009
MOTTO
“Galileo oh Galileo,
Do not tweak the ears
Of your old boots!”
-Urmuz
(1883-1923, Romanian avant-garde writer)-
-SONGS OF APRIL-
*
MOON
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
If the world crisis disturbs us so much
that we have not time for long vacations
and have not money for long trips on Earth,
at least we can visit more lunar destinations
by telescope.
*
CRATER COPERNICUS
-photo by Lucian Curelaru-
*
VENUS TRANSFORMATION
-by Arlene Carol (Turkey;
born in U.S.A.)-
In the first part of 2009,
Venus delighted us as the evening star.
At the end of March this year,
We who gaze on the cosmos were spiritually gathered
To commemorate yet another event of significance.
Those of us who could,
were granted the royal pleasure of witnessing
her full grace and beauty twice in a single day.
At both dawn and dusk.
Cheeky Venus….
only once every 8 years...
does she put on this double display.
But now, from April on,
Venus will delight us as the morning star…
*
MOON AND VENUS IN THE MORNING AURORA
(2009.04.23)
-photo by Valentin Grigore-
*
TRANSIENT LUNAR PHENOMENON
-by Steve Sneyd (U.K.,
Director of Hilltop Press, Editor of Data Dump,
and Laureate of Peterson Trophy)
forty of their years now
since stranger feet from
blue world first came
disturbing us but still
we don’t feel safe:
uneasy our see-through
spirit selves must rise
time upon occasional time
to check they’re not come back.
*
LUNAR SCENERY
-photo by Maximilian Teodorescu-
*
SPRING APOGEE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
When the Sun passes
through the constellation Ram
we can abandon
the Argonauts’ Expedition.
The Golden Fleece drops
through every sunbeam.
*
SUNRISE
-photo-series by Catalin Timosca-
-QUARTERLY VIEW-
*
UNDER A BRITISH SKY
(Some Thoughts from 2009 April to June)
-by Alastair McBeath (U.K.,
Vice-President of the International Meteor Organization)-
April 4 brought another widely-seen fireball to the British Isles,
around 23:32 UT, the magnitude -8/-10 object probably moving roughly
south to north over western Wales or the seas nearby.
A "cluster" of additional fireball reports, mostly from single witnesses only,
occurred around the Lyrid maximum later in the month,
though oddly most appeared not to have been Lyrids!
That shower was free from moonlight near its best, and although my weather
(close to the long-term average for clearer nights in April)
allowed a good view of the activity overnight on April 21/22,
almost nobody else seemed to have been so fortunate in Britain.
The Lyrid rates I saw seemed fairly typical for the shower,
something that was borne-out by reports from other parts of the world later.
A pity so few others here were able to see it though.
May produced an excellent crop of clearer skies overnight,
equal second-best with May 2001 in my records,
though much of the first half was stormy,
and I had no luck in getting better skies
to hunt for some ever-elusive Eta Aquarids then.
Elsewhere, May 11 produced a magnitude -9 fireball at 21:35 UT or so,
which was seen from all parts of the British Isles once more.
This time, the event appeared to have been heading south to north
over eastern England, perhaps high above East Anglia,
to end over the North Sea off northern England.
May also sees the theoretical start of the noctilucent cloud (NLC) "season"
from my latitudes, though past Mays have rarely produced anything for me.
However, the helpfully clear skies allowed plenty of chances to check,
and I was lucky in catching two weak displays on May 28/29 and 29/30,
thereby doubling my entire tally of definite May NLC nights
from the past 30 years!
June's overnight skies were a lot poorer,
half the total number of clearer nights in May for me,
so most of the month was spent wondering when the next better night might appear.
Others were more fortunate, and from Internet reports, it became clear that
mid June especially was turning into an NLC spectacular,
with amazingly bright, almost all-sky displays,
spotted on many nights in the third week especially, all across the country.
I managed to catch a couple of those on June 17/18 and 18/19,
while even a very poor night on June 19/20 wasn't enough to prevent
glimpses of the NLC then.
Two more all-night events followed later in the month here,
that on June 25/26 again stunningly bright and complex at times.
Being up all the short night in June has much to recommend it
(though not the unexpectedly late, patchy frost on June 17/18...),
particularly when the crescent Moon starts or ends the night,
and still more so when the Moon slips by a planet or two,
like the brilliant Venus and the binocular-bright Mars on June 19.
Magical!
-CONJUNCTIONS-
*
LYRIDS 2009
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
Meteors joyously running,
the Milky Way moistening the Swan,
Selene walking arm in arm with Venus…
More than a Lyrid night!
*
LYRID NIGHT
(2009.04.22)
-photo-series by Catalin Timosca-
*
FALLING STARS
-by Marge Simon (U.S.A.,
Editor of the Science Fiction Poetry Association)-
the universe is not
in iambic pentameter
it's all free verse
*
MOON-VENUS CONJUNCTION IN THE MORNING AURORA
AFTER THE LYRID METEOR SHOWER MAXIMUM NIGHT
(2009.04.23)
-photo by Valentin Grigore-
*
DIARY OF A MINI-STAR PARTY
-words and photo by Raul Truta-
April 25/26, Setref Step, Rodnei Mountains, 900m altitude.
An observational night of 10 hours,
between Mercury (at sunset) and Venus (at sunrise).
Targets for our telescopes:
-4 planets:
Mercury (phase),
Saturn (rings, 4-5 satellites, 2-3 atmospheric bands, the shadow of the ring),
Jupiter (4 satellites, too few details on the disc because of the turbulence),
Venus (phase).
-3 comets:
C/2009 F6 (YI-SWAN), C/2006 W3 (Christensen), C/2008 T2 (Cardinal).
-Many deep sky objects:
Messier, Leo I, Coma-Virgo;
-ISS (very bright through the telescope).
Other delights:
the zodiacal light, a few Lyrid and sporadic meteors,
two Iridium satellites, the Milky Way with impressive details.
A fine night,
in spite of the wind, cold and distance.
The galaxies ceased to be just different spots.
Through our telescopes,
their spiral arms, their nucleuses, and their various bands of dust
became so evident, so living …
*
MOON-MERCURY CONJUNCTION
(2009.04.26, evening)
-photo by Cornel Apetroaiei-
*
MOON-MERCURY-PLEIADES CONJUNCTION
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
I can dance
neither with Selene
nor with the Pleiades.
Today
Mercury is
the favourite knight.
*
EVENING OF 2009.04.26
-photo-series by Sorin Hotea-
*
HEAVENLY PARTY
-by Ion(ut) Moraru-
The Moon, Mercury and the Pleiades
thought to make a party:
The Moon turned off the light on her surface,
Mercury turned to the Sun,
and the Pleiades exploded:
fireworks!
*
MOON-MERCURY-PLEIADES CONJUNCTION
-photo by Catalin Timosca-
*
CONJUNCTIONS
-by Boris Marian (Mehr)-
We live on the same longitude,
Beatrix, beatitude,
But the heavenly bodies do not abandon the conjunctions,
They are like the ideas with functions,
“Give me an example”, says the man
Who plants the Tree of Life between Earth and Sun,
The Tree of Knowledge, which
We have forgotten, defeated by kitsch.
*
EVENING OF 2009.04.27
-photo-series by Valentin Grigore-
*
I SAW VENUS DURING THE DAYLIGHT
-by Alin Iosif-
One day in May 2009
I installed myself at my job office
and went outside to discover the planet Venus.
Covering the Sun with my hand, with a paper and with a CD,
I found the Moon at about 11 o’clock.
It was lightened only 10%,
and its sickle was thin like the top of a nail.
Lowering a few times after its apparent diameter,
I finally found Venus,
which stayed alone over there,
camouflaged by the blue of the sky.
I would say that the planet hid every time
after I ceased to look at it.
At about 12 o’clock,
my boss asked me again what happened with me.
I tried to show him the reason, but he could find only the Moon.
It was enough:
he didn’t note me as an absent at the job office.
*
MOON-VENUS-MARS WATCHED BY JUPITER
(2009.05.21)
-photos by Alex Conu-
*
MOON-VENUS-MARS CONJUNCTION
AND THE WITNESS JUPITER
(2009.05.21)
-astro-photo-poem by Valentin Grigore-
Beautiful morning.
An absolutist cloud
hid Venus and Mars,
and only the twilight
could disperse it.
I wish you to have mornings full of
heavenly beauty,
scent of acacia
and concerto of nightingale…
…as I had here.
*
JUPITER-NEPTUN CONJUNCTION
-by Dimitrie Olenici-
Another very rare phenomenon in 2009:
the triple conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune on
May 27th, July 10th and December 21st.
Their simple conjunctions happen
once in 12 years and a month,
and their triple conjunctions happen
once in a few hundred years.
Maybe we need this lesson
to rediscover Neptune…
*
JUPITER-NEPTUN CONJUNCTION
(2009.05.27)
-photo by Catalin Timosca-
*
MOON-MERCURY- MARS-VENUS-ALDEBARAN CONJUNCTION
(2009.06.19-20)
-astro-photo-poem by Danut Ionescu (New Zealand,
Auckland Astronomical Society; born in Romania)-
Wake up to see the wonders
of the morning sky.
This is “my” conjunction
in the Southern Hemisphere.
(I remember that recently
a crater on Mercury was named after the Romanian national poet
Mihai Eminescu - 1850-1889 -,
the author of the astropoetic masterpiece
and “the longest love poem of the world”,
“Luceafarul”
- translated as the Evening Star, or the Morning Star,
or Lucipher, or Hyperion -,
and nicknamed after the hero of his own poem…
Mercury is also a kind of “Luceafarul”,
but smaller on the canopy
of the morning or of the evening…)
Well,
now I’m waiting for “your” conjunction
in the Northern Hemisphere!
*
MOON-VENUS-MARS CONJUNCTION
(2009.06.20, Transylvania, Romania)
-photo by Catalin Timosca-
-I LOVE ASTRONOMY-
*
“I have this year attended a conference in Washington D.C.
to create a U.S. Department of Peace in our government.
We spoke to several of our representatives
and already 66 have signed the bill for it.
I also told people about IYA 2009
and the "We share one sky" adventures.
One very beautiful sharing at the conference was
a song by the granddaughter of the person
who wrote the poem for our national flag;
it was very beautiful about the flag of stars above us all,
and had wonderful children from Africa and America there
singing it with images of the sky and universe!
Best in the cosmos' song,
Kala Perkins” (U.S.A.,
artist and poet, participant at the Art Exhibition
of the IYA Opening Ceremony at UNECO in Paris, January 2009)
*
SOCIALIZING ASTRONOMY
-photo by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”-
*
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMY DAY 2009
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
In the beginning of May…
another impulse to remind that
we pass through the astronomy year
and this way
every day should be
the astronomy day…
*
DECIPHERING THE WALKING ON THE CELESTIAL SPHERE
-by Mirel Birlan (France,
astronomer at Paris Observatory;
born in Romania;
in 2001 an asteroid was named after him)
Usually,
the simple things are hardly explainable.
You begin to work in a field,
then you become aware of this connection
(invisible before)
between you and your activity.
You find a number of arguments
equal to the number of asteroids from the solar system.
For each of them you have something to say,
each of them awaits to be discovered.
My love for astronomy was not one at first glance.
It appeared as I tried to go up
to the concrete from over this science.
My big pleasure is to watch the sky
and to look for objects that are not too far from Earth.
The pleasure to decipher their walking on the celestial sphere
(their origin,
their mineral structure,
their encounters on the orbit).
*
HAIKU
-by Boris Marian (Mehr)-
I’m watching a star.
I ask her: “Who are you?”
She is blinking to me.
*
ASTRONOMY AND BEGGARY
-by Dimitrie Olenici (Planetarium Suceava)-
Those who make popularization of astronomy
without authorization in public places
should not be worried.
What kinds of authorizations have the beggars
who stress the people anyywhere?
What kinds of authorizations have those
who propagate pseudo-medicine like in the markets of the Middle Age?
What kinds of authorizations have the false priests
who ask for donations in the name of the Saviour?
Poor Christ!
*
ASTRONOMY DAY 2009 IN THE CISMIGIU PARK, BUCHAREST
-photo by Alex Conu-
*
“My only regret is that the Sun had not
at least a poor sunspot.”
-Cristina Tinta (co-organizer
of the International Astronomy Day 2009 in Bucharest)-
-CHOICE ASTROPOETRY -
*
MY POLAR STAR
-by Boris Marian (Mehr)-
Oh my polar star
I saw you for the first time
When I was a child
You showed me the way
by shining in the sky
from the Little Bear
You dissipated my forgetfulness
And helped me to find my love
You are the cosmic vestige
polarizing the wastage.
*
POLARIS
-photo by Catalin Timosca-
*
A GATHERING OF DRAGONS
-by Marge Simon (U.S.A.,
Editor of the Science Fiction Poetry Association)-
Dragons slept a thousand years
until the new world of machines
shook them rudely awake.
A cacophony of discords,
unacceptable as jagged rainbows,
with smoke and smog and gasoline
that choked the air and made them sneeze,
and not a sign of wizardry remained.
They met on the highest peak
to discuss the situation.
"Let us blast them with our breath,
and make them cow like days of yore!
Let our mighty wings unite
to whip the seas with hurricanes,
and send tornados 'cross the land,
destroy their ugly industries
and bring us peace again."
Then spoke the Dragon King,
the largest, fiercest of them all,
"You waste your time," he said.
"It won't work, man has gone too far.
It's us who must consider change,
and I know the very place to start."
He turned and pointed to the night.
And so it was the dragons left
the earth to its condition.
When the gibbous moon is bright
and Mare Nectaris is in sight,
you can see the dragon flight
across a lunar sea.
*
MOON
-photo by Catalin Timosca-
*
SOUND OF GALAXY
-by Irina Cristescu-
A stellar wind announces
the change of galactic clothes -
celestial memories become
icons of light,
old moments melt into
the rumble of current steps,
new thoughts can be read
in clusters of stars, in meteors, in sounds of nebulae…
Timid evenings, with clear skies,
when we amazingly raise our heads
to the stars.
*
BARNARD’S “E” (DARK NEBULAE)
-photo by Catalin Timosca-
*
MISANTHROPIC MOON
-by David Turner (England,
a guest of UK’s Authors)-
In the low South-East
A red full-moon rises
Through cold May mists.
Its vivid hue
Decorates the darkening evening
As it balloons above the horizon,
Unblushing as it climbs
From red to orange to yellow.
The sad face of the man in the moon,
Obliged by forces of gravity and tide
Acting over aeons of time
To forever observe
The follies of the world below,
Stares mournfully down.
When at last the world goes dark
And the white moon goddess
Has ascended her throne
In the starlit canopy,
The world's wailing and weeping
Grows to a crescendo of discordant cries.
But the Queen of Heaven
Has ears only for the Music of the Spheres.
*
YOUNG MOON
-photo-series by Maximilian Teodorescu-
*
HAIKU
-by Iulian Olaru-
Childhood -
on the fence of a church
it tastes cherries and stars
*
THOUGHTS ON DEATH, STARS AND FOREVER
-by Arlene Carol (Turkey;
born in U.S.A.)
Nothing lives forever, does it?
We’re born, we live, we die...
Eternity only seems real because of the stars.
Stars live forever, or so it seems.
Even when they die, after rethinking their existence,
they re-assemble and are reborn as new stellar systems.
Can not the same be true of our frail bodies?
Can we not re-form and return as a living entity?
If stars can re-form their dust, why can’t we?
*
ASTRO-TELEPHONY
(variant 2009)
-by Lucian Boboc-
I needed to speak with a quasar,
but the delicate voice
of a Cassiopeid girl
announced me:
“Your card has just expired.”
Disappointed,
I had to pawn
a nova from Orion
in order to buy another card
for my cosmo-phone.
*
ASTRAL REVERIE
-photo by Valentin Grigore-
*
HAIKU
-by Gerald England (U.K.,
Editor of New Hope International,
Laureate of Ted Slade Award,
Honorary Member of the International Artists and Writers Academy)-
something stirs
on one of the moons
of Saturn
*
PLANETS
-by Doina Chilargi-
It is said that
some planets are too hot
and other ones are too cold,
but I still believe that
somewhere in the universe
there is life
as long as from the skies
thousands of sweet lights caress me
as thousands of angelic eyes.
*
ALONE, AGAIN
-by John Francis Haines (U.K.,
Leader of the Eight Hand Hang - British network of SF poets)
After the fury of the tsunami subsided,
We saw the Moon was gone,
Wrenched out of its orbit and flung
Across the sky, to become
Just another minor planet.
*
SOUTHERN MOON
-photo by Danut Ionescu (New Zealand,
Auckland Astronomical Society; born in Romania)
*
FOOD OF LIGHT
-by Dan Mitrut-
the food of light
is almost plundered
masters of supernatural
pull out stars
from among ribs
we rationally consume
sequences of an aseptic cosmos
on a subtitle from another life
in this rabble without the Polar Star
day by day we become more solitary
rescue
through fairytale:
dissidence
in the name of Perseus
*
OF TIME AND THE SIDEREAL SHORE
-by Bruce Boston (U.S.A.,
the first Grand Master of Science Fiction Poetry)
Time and again
I have known the moment
that is ever spawned
in the onrushing change
of dark to dawn
and down again.
I have seen it light
upon the breakers
and dash against the sky.
I have watched it curl
along the dunes,
elongate and limpid,
slippery as a skin of oil.
As petals flare
against the foliage
and the sea cliffs
rise about me,
tier upon staggered tier
studded with greenery,
a vertical prairie
of succulents
living from the rock itself,
how the seconds tremble,
how the light
runs to slaughter
in the swerve and bend
of gravity's calling,
how the star-streaked waves
contain the night
and all of space beyond.
*
M8 AND M20
-photo by Radu Gherase-
*
IN THE MEMORY OF NICOLAUS CUSANUS (1401-1464)
-by Pompiliu Alexandru-
“The universe is the sphere with its centre anywhere and its circumference nowhere.”
-Cusanus-
It seems that a question like
“what is the form of the Universe”
receives a pertinent answer from Cusanus’
“De Docta Ignorantia”:
essentially, I don’t know!
Or, for those who wait for a scientific answer:
let’s assume the unknown as a base.
“Doctia Ignorantia” is a real answer.
It is an answer through negation.
But Cusanus has a superior sense of thinking the principles,
and gives positive mental structures as arguments.
Cusanus gives the equivalent of “I don’t know” by identifying
the absurd and paradox that appear in the most stable frames of reasoning,
the mathematical ones.
Thus,
we have to remember just those parallelisms through the images of
the infinite without form, but with form,
the Universe in explosion and in soul implosion,
the both contradictory and coherent game
between astronomy and alchemy,
between mathematics and poetry…
*
A TREE AND THE INFINITE
-by Alfredo Caronia (Italy,
co-discoverer of 3 asteroids)-
The infinite cycle of the events
written in the foliage of a tree,
in the wind…
they speak to my heart and my mind
and, strongly,
remit your murmur
lying on my breath,
and the furrow of the trunk,
now dry,
returned
to death
while is
laying
on the ground
that feeds the tree,
becomes
a hissing voice,
a greeting
from the heart
of a wounded lumber,
an echo,
carved
into my veins,
which, in the sign of a body,
leaves its trace.
*
STAR TRAILS (SERPENS CAPUT)
-photo by Catalin Timosca-
*
AN EYE OF THE EARTH
-by Zigmund Tauberg-
As reality
has always been a challenge
for humanity,
the people have always watched
the heights through their eyes,
in their unending tries
to find more about the skies.
So that today
humanity has new eyes -
lunettes and telescopes -
which bring closer far heavenly bodies.
But the greatest current eye
is not placed on Terra,
it is placed beyond the atmosphere.
It is the Hubble eye,
which has given us new valuable knowledge,
new galaxies and nebulae,
black matter and black holes,
superdense bodies,
and all that evolve in immense abysses.
The Hubble Space Telescope has also made us
look to the past,
to things happening
when stars and clouds were just born,
so now we know
that our world is a result
of an intense explosion
from a superdense formation,
and, as Edwin Hubble demonstrated,
the Universe tends to expansion.
And obviously
the telescope has been named
to the astronomer’s glory.
*
MOON AND INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
-photo by Catalin Timosca-
*
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
-photo by Maximilian Teodorescu-
*
TANKA
-by Steve Sneyd (U.K.,
Director of Hilltop Press, Editor of Data Dump,
and Laureate of Peterson Trophy)-
Whispers sideways: “I
won’t apologize for why
times I turn sharp on
you”, says moodswung not drink: through
her fine head Big Bang ripples.
*
NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS
-by Ion(ut) Moraru-
I just saw a special sunset,
followed by darkness and silence.
Then,
in the brains of the skies,
on the canopy of the atmosphere,
those clouds with crystals of ice appeared,
bringing the light back.
It seemed like
the Moon transferred
its brightness to them,
the stars twinkled
through windows of nebulae,
and, against the rules,
even the Sun rose
one more time.
*
NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS OVER IRELAND
(2009.06.15/16)
-photos by Catalin Fus-
*
NEPTUNE
(fantasy)
-by Victor Chifelea-
Space voyager,
if you venture
to the frozen ocean of the universe,
among stormy billows,
and get to the black sea of velvet,
you will enjoy the bluish light
of the planet from the depths.
Then you have to be careful,
because many space ships sit sunken
and ripped by the sharp fangs
of the trident.
*
THE AMABASSADOR FROM DEEP SPACE INSPECTS THE OORT'S TROOPS
-by David Kopaska-Merkel (U.S.A..,
Editor of “Dreams of Nightmares” - the magazine of fantastic poetry)
Inside,
the icy world's warm: 19 K at least
we've a billion colonies
bored into these worldlets
our people number trillions
more every year
my host boasts
its armies are honed
to the edge of readiness
what of the enemy?
scouts have been sent
close to the primary
none returned alive
[Attacked?
Melted or ablated by solar wind.]
but I think we can dismiss
any potential threats posed by
nine worlds and their few satellites,
one ring of a mere million stones
what of the ice rings of the
fourth world in?
I ask
oh please:
gravel
though it's the only place
life as we know it
could hide in any numbers
the worlds too hot
(save the small outermost)
the satellites nearly devoid of solid methane
without which I believe
life's impossible
we avoid hotspots
anything above 81 K
(giving a 10-degree safety margin)
we'll be alright
I nod
Helium crawls!
It returned the traditional salute:
helium crawls!
*
COMET C/2006 W3 CHRISTENSEN
(2009.06.20)
-photo by Adrian Bruno Sonka
(Coordinator of “Admiral Vasile Urseanu” Bucharest Municipal Observatory)
*
COMET CHRISTENSEN
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
A new space tourist in Perseus:
“The constellation looks good.”
says the comet.
Then to the people:
“Hopeful premises
for a fine tan in August
under the light
of the Perseid meteors.”
-ATMOSPHERICS-
*
RAIMBOW OVER BRASOV
-photo-series by Lucian Curelaru-
*
HAIKU
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
every ideal -
raised by rainbows,
harnessed by clouds
*
CLOUDS OVER BUCHAREST
-photo by Alex Conu-
*
HORRORSCOPE
-by John Francis Haines (U.K.,
Leader of the Eight Hand Hang - British network of SF poets)-
Ghost planet in our
Sky brings zombie invasion,
Vampires and werewolves.
*
CLOUDS OVER BUCHAREST
-photo by Cristina Tinta-
*
ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
Sometimes I ask myself
if the atmospheric phenomena belong
to the earth or to the sky.
And I answer to myself:
the atmospheric phenomena are
celestial shows on Earth.
*
ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA
-photos by Ctalin Paduraru “Sarpe”-
-ABOUT THE GLOBAL WARMING-
*
A MAY 2009 ASTRO-PHILOSOPHICAL DEBATE
-by…
Radu Gherase:
If the sun is calm, then why are we so agitated?
In my opinion,
the idea that the sun has a smaller influence than CO2
to the global warming
is as if someone prefers to warm the water by pomp,
not by flame.
Alin Tolea
(professional astronomer in U.S.A.; born in Romania):
I’m afraid you will remain he who takes the “NO”
in his arms.
Valeriu Tudose
(professional astronomer in Holland; born in Romania):
However,
the scientific community has ceased to have doubts that the antropic activities
are some of the determinant elements of the global warming.
Laurentiu Alimpie:
I personally begin to think that this problem is politicized.
It seems incredible that the Sun has just a minuscule effect to the clime.
Catalin Mitu:
I personally don’t understand:
if the Sun has a minimum activity for so long time
that we have forgotten the aspect of a serious sunspot,
then how will 2009 be one of the warmest years in history?
Anyway,
we are just witnesses in front of the phenomenon…
Valeriu Tudose:
The global warming is just a theory…
such as evolutionism, gravity, etc.
Laurentiu Alimpie:
The cause of the global warming is a theory.
The global warming is a fact.
Valeriu Tudose:
If the scientific community lies on the causes of the climate change,
how can we believe the same community when it speaks about
gravity, evolutionism
and especially quantum mechanics
(which is totally contra-intuitive)?
Laurentiu Alimpie:
It is not necessary to lie.
But maybe they aren’t right.
When Ptolemy said that the Earth is the centre of the Universe,
he didn’t lie.
But he wasn’t right.
Valeriu Tudose:
Yes, they can be wrong,
but those who study gravity, for instance, can be wrong too.
So let’s be consistent.
Let’s doubt of all.
Catalin Constantinescu:
I still believe that,
one way or another,
the Earth is the centre of the Universe.
*
SUNRISE
-photo by Catalin Timosca-
-CLUSTERS OF STARS-
*
TO THE ASTROPOETIC FATHER
COSTICA GHEORGHE
(1927.05.24-2007.11.26)
-artworks (after folkloric models) by Steliana Gheorghe (wife)
and verses by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (son)
There are people
who want to be blessed
not by words of the other ones,
but by their own deeds.
There are people
who want to be blessed
not by waves of glory,
but by wings of humanity.
There are people
who want to be blessed
not by stacks of money,
but by clusters of stars.
-BEYOND SATURN-
*
LIMITS
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
Using a lunette,
Galileo showed that
the sky of the fixed stars
is not a stellar limit.
Discovering the planet Uranus,
Herschel showed that
the planet Saturn
is not a planetary limit.
We still have to discover that
love and passion
are not human limits.
*
SATURN
(2009.05.10 - the Royal Day of Romania)
-photo-collage by Vlad Dumitrescu-
*
URANUS
-by Zigmund Tauberg-
Relatively far from the Sun,
Uranus is a strange planet.
Particularly, he advances on his orbit
through roll!
Even his motion is original:
one by one,
his poles are closer to the Sun
than his equatorial plane!
And here, another curiosity:
the biggest cold is at his poles,
as in a comedy!
Obstinate Uranus!
He is always different,
but coquettish,
and has a lot of rings,
and many satellites
that have not names like in mythology,
but they are named after characters of drama,
as heroes of poetry!
It’s obvious,
Uranus and his children are done
to be rebellious
in the world of the Sun.
*
NEPTUNE
-by Boris Marian (Mehr)-
Crazy Neptune,
scientists write so many pages about you,
it is true,
the Earth is a dwarf
and you are so big,
only Uranus
(a former god)
competes with you,
but you were both
a mystery and an imbroglio,
those people with lunettes didn’t know
what you are,
a planet or a star,
we had luck with mathematics,
you were a soloist
in the astral choir,
you had your own tune,
so they said you are a float
and named you Neptune,
although the Nereids
do not laugh near you…
You have not air and water,
and are too cold,
but it doesn’t matter,
what can we do?
We really love you
and write about you,
we don’t take a rest
and we shall go to you
like Voyager, an iron guest.
*
THE AMERICAN SOLAR SYSTEM
-by Marge Simon (U.S.A.,
Editor of the Science Fiction Poetry Association)-
Pluto remains number nine
in primary schools where
teachers must use manuals
updated time to time.
Astrophysicists may
change their minds...
-INTERLUDE-
*
ASTRO-PHOTO-POEMS
-by Dan Mitrut-
lost on the canopy,
a cloud
over the sleepy village
who will tell him
about the road
of stars or of flowers
*
the water mirror
throws its trawl
towards the Fishes
only a few stars
get free at dawn,
and a numb bat
*
after the storm,
the night
the lake
blue above
and the shivering stars below
-SHE IS AN ASTRO-ART-POET
(dedication to “She is an Astronomer”,
a Cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy)-
*
EXTREME PERSPICACITY
-astro-art-poem by Ana Maria Scortan-
Will for Truth…
Love for Stars…
Both of them,
in the Cosmos.
*
ANGRY WITH THE STARS
-astro-art-poem by Arlene Carol (Turkey,
born in U.S.A.)-
I think I’m angry with the stars.
They are such liars.
Appearing to be there, when in reality,
They may have gone millennia ago.
*
GENESIS
-astro-art-poem by Diana Alexandra Ardelean-
The Creator made the Earth and the Sky
only through His thought and His word,
and pushed the stars on their roads.
Now all is harmonious and eternal, oh Lord.
*
LIVING ASTRONOMY
-astro-photo-poem by Cristina Tinta-
Oh
fade speeches
of those who make astronomy
only in locations of “5 stars”…
Conclusion:
“E pur si muove!”
*
THE COLORS OF STARFLIGHT
-astro-art-poem by Marge Simon (U.S.A.,
laureate of the Bram Stoker Award and the Rhysling Award for her poetry,
and the James Award for her art)-
 |
THE COLORS OF STARFLIGHT the artist's matrix spinning through time galactic rainbows © 2009 (artwork and haiku) Marge Simon |
*
GIVE ME A STAR
-astro-art-poem by Arlene Carol (Turkey,
born in U.S.A.)-
Whoever said ‘Give me a star to steer by’?
They knew nothing of stars...
Stars might be here today
and gone tomorrow!
*
THOUGHTS TO THE IYA
-astro-art-poem by Cristina Tinta-
Beyond activities and ways to contribute
to the International Year of Astronomy 2009,
I think it is more important for us
to wonder together of the starry sky,
to be round-eyed when we see a meteor,
to fill childishly ourselves with joy when we watch
a galaxy, a planet, or a cluster of stars.
We have become too serious even in astronomy,
a field which should relax us,
which should make us understand
how beautiful the Cosmos is
and how lucky we are
that the Universe is in front of us…
in order to be discovered.
-HEAVENLY SPARKLES
(dedication to Dark Skies Awareness,
a Cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy)-
*
LIMERICK
-by David Asher (U.K,
astronomer at Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland,
and Counsellor of the International Meteor Organization)-
Modern times have us wondering why
The nebulae of the deep sky
Are destroyed by bad lighting.
We better start fighting,
Else the beauty of night-time will die.
*
M8
-photo by Maximilian Teodorescu-
*
DARK SKY
-tipuritura by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
The naked eye, a star counter.
The lunette, a star hunter.
*
GREATNESS
-by Pompiliu Alexandru-
The Universe is the first creation,
which carries the greatest divine attributes.
However, it is limited and mortal.
But this feature does not help us too much
to understand it,
because the Universe is too “over” us,
becoming this way eternal
in comparison with the incidents
from our pellet of earth.
*
LIGHT POLLUTION
-by Io(nut) Moraru-
As I’ve lost my special place
for watching the stars,
now I have to console myself
with beautiful sunsets…
*
TIPURITURA
-by Steliana Gheorghe-
The singing star takes the risk:
She wants to record a disc.
*
STARS
-by Raluca Matei-
Kiss me, my love,
and let’s plunge together
into the black water of the sky
where the words dance
our story.
*
ASTRO-RHYME
-by Felician Ursache-
Certainly
Astronomy
Should be
Over any
Polluted vanity.
*
HAIKU
-by Steve Sneyd (U.K.,
Director of Hilltop Press, Editor of Data Dump,
and Laureate of Peterson Trophy)-
Her head shored in Core’s
starbucket, brights too fight-packed
to sup darkness through
*
PRESSED BY THE LIGHT POLLUTION
-by Dan Mitrut-
I throw the dice
hoping they will imagine
an entire constellation.
*
REAL “BLACK SKY”
-by Florian Gabriel Bratu-
However,
there are still pure and happy zones on Earth
where you can see
M13 by the naked eye,
so many stars
that you need more time to distinguish
the shapes of the constellations…
…and the Milky Way
lightens the earth.
*
MILKY NIGHT
-photo by Catalin Timosca-
*
MILKY WAY
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
Galaxy -
heavenly milk for people
nectar for gods
*
ILLUMINATIONS
-by Zigmund Tauberg-
When a town is spectacularly illuminated,
It seems more civilized,
But those lights blur
The canopy of heaven,
And the price is too high
Against the dark sky
Because there are so fascinating views
With sparkles of wonderful stars
(Witnesses of cosmic evolution)
In places far from the light pollution!
*
EXISTENTIAL
-by Ovidiu Vaduvescu (universal citizen,
former professional astronomer on 3 continents,
current astronomer in the Canary Islands, Spain,
Leader of the EURONEAR Project;
born in Romania)
What do you use as sources of corrections?
Stars from your fields?
*
ASTRAL SLEEP
-by Boris Marian (Mehr)-
The golden stars fell asleep,
the slow river shivered below,
the light fell asleep,
only the Bull still mooed.
*
TIPURITURA
-by Diana Maria Ogescu-
I’m angry and do not feel free,
There’s too much sky mystery.
*
DARK SKY
-astro-photo-poem by Valentin Grigore-
The dark sky means
the sky just as it was left
to be seen by people,
in order to become the main connection
between man and universe.
The pollution of the sky is not
only an exterior one,
but also an interior one.
Thus,
many times we have to see the sky
as the telescopes show it to us,
but not as it really is.
The dark sky is
the sky that does not hide.
The sky’s liberation
depends on
the people’s transformation…
-FROM MOON TO STARS-
*
COLORED MOON
-image by Maximilian Teodorescu-
*
MEMORABLE MOON
-artworks by Calin Niculae and verses by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
For humanity,
the Moon has always been the Cultural Capital of the Night Sky…
…so any star should feel better
when a man observes her.
*
COLORED MOON
-image by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”-
*
After all,
I’m afraid that the Moon of yesterday
will become tomorrow
just a poor refuge for stellar expeditions.
-Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
*
A TRUCK FOR THE MOON
-photo by Alex Conu-
*
REFUGE AMONG THE STARS
-photo by Valentin Grigore-
*
Dear sky lovers,
when you are seduced by the stars’ brightness,
do not forget the satellites
please.
-Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
*
STAR TRAILS AROUND POLARIS
-photo by Catalin Timosca-
*
COMET YI-SWAN
-technical drawing by Catalin Timosca-
*
LOOKING FOR STARS
-photo by Alex Conu-
*
LIGHTS FROM THE HEAVENS
-verses by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe and artwork by Adrian Macinca-
If we generously watch the Universe,
then our world lives a fascinating adventure
among the lights of the heavens,
and every bright element
becomes…
…an astral present.
-THE COMEBACK OF SUNSPOTS-
*
SUNSPOTS OVER THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
-astro-photo-poem by Danut Ionescu (New Zealand,
Auckland Astronomical Society; born in Romania)-
Today we celebrate the Queen Day
through rest.
It has been an opportunity for me to look at the Sun,
which presents a few small spots.
I’ve even tried to photograph them.
The result:
a mixture between sunspots
and grains of dust from my camera.
Anyway,
today we are free of jobs and clouds.
Long live the Queen!
*
SUNSPOTS OVER THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
-astro-photo-poem by Maximilian Teodorescu-
The 1019 group of sunspots
has broken the ice of
the images of the Sun
in white light…
This make us remind
that we have something to do
not only during the nighttime,
but also during the daytime…
-CELEBRATING THE SUMMER SOLSTICE-
*
NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS, MOON AND VENUS
OVER THE BUCEGI MOUNTAINS
(2009.06.21, morning)
-photo-collage by Valentin Grigore-
*
If we celebrate
almost a half of a year
and the longest day,
then we should be
almost luminous.
-Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
*
NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS OVER BACAU
(2009.06.21, evening)
-photo by Dan Mitrut-
*
I wish all of you
clear skies and astute minds
because the summer is so short!
-Mihai Rusie-
*
NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS OVER BUCHAREST
(2009.06.21, evening)
-photo by Alex(andru) Conu-
-2ND QUARTER POST-SCRIPTUM-
*
EFFECTS OF ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH
or
THE LIFE OF AN ASTROPOET
(dedication to Cosmic Diary,
a Cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy)
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
I’ve heard about a lot of things
in the last time,
from tragedy
- the collision between two galaxies -
to poetry
- a planetary nebula is sleeping
in the arms of an open cluster of stars.
I’ve heard about small black holes
that are straying in the galaxy.
Maybe they are not so chaotic
as the politicians in a parliament.
I’ve heard about new discoveries
- a small exoplanet,
brown dwarf stars,
twin black holes -
but no new fireball
has smiled to my life.
Go on, Universe,
and allow us to cling to you.
I’ve heard that the gamma rays
go extremely rapid through space.
I am also in a hurry
when I go to my workplace.
I’ve heard that the solar wind
tans the asteroids.
Sadly, I’m afraid I cannot go too soon
to the seaside.
I’ve heard about a NASA mission
for repairing the Hubble telescope.
Maybe I should also go
to the doctor.
*
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