INTERNATIONAL MASTER FESTIVAL

DIMENSIONS OF COSMOGONIC DOUBT
-by Bruce Boston (USA,
the first Grand Master of SF poetry)-

There was a time before TIME
when nothing could proceed.
Stars were waiting to be born
and LIFE was just a seed.

KA-BANG! went the cosmic goo,
and TIME and SPACE began:
suns and moons and planets
that led the way to MAN.

At least that's how MAN calls it,
but who's to say he's right?
He’s only one-quadrillionth
the size of any star in sight?

MAN AND MILKY WAY
-photo by Sabin Fota-



PROGNOSES
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

The sky introduction to GAM 2012
was a superb dance of Venus and Jupiter.

We can anticipate the sky introduction to GAM 2013
through both
consulting prognoses
of astronomy
and trustfully awaiting
the heavenly creativity.

VENUS AND JUPITER
-photo by Calin Niculae-



GAMs
-by David Kopaska Merkel (USA,
President of the Science Fiction Poetry Association)-

In America, gams are legs
If they are anything, shapely female ones,
And therefore sexist and sinister
(through a connection to gangsters),
But look anywhere that's “up,” which is
Planetdweller speak for “out,”
And you see stars, comets, rocky lumps,
Nebulae, clusters, and so on: stuff,
Which you can think about one 12th
Of the time, thank GAMs,
Though when you think about it,
That cosmo-stuff is nearly everything,
And deserves a bit more of our time.

PEARL OF ORION
-photo by Emil Pera-



VENUS AND JUPITER OVER THE IASI CATHEDRAL
-astro-photo-haiku by Iulian Olaru-

Watch the skies
clutched at the trunk
of each day



UNDER A BRITISH SKY -
SOME ASTRONOMICAL THOUGHTS FROM 2012 MAY TO 2013 APRIL
-by Alastair McBeath (England, UK,
past Vice-President of the International Meteor Organization)-

Much of 2012 was characterised in Britain by some extremely poor,
very wet weather, which reduced the chances
for nocturnal astronomical observing quite considerably in general.
However, there was an interesting opportunity to follow
the workings of the inner Solar System when I spotted
Venus near the crescent Moon in the evening sky of May 20,
then exactly two months later on July 20,
I saw Venus and Jupiter with the stars of Taurus nearby in the morning sky,
Venus on the other side of its solar conjunction!

Yet another cold,
cloudy summer in the seemingly endless run this millennium
reduced my chances for meteor watching to just two nights,
one in late July, the other, more successfully, on August 14-15.
Although the Perseid maximum was over by then,
meteor activity was still quite healthy,
and I was fortunate in seeing my only fireball of 2012 at 23:22 UT,
a magnitude -3 Perseid,
though I caught it only from the corner of my eye.

Having retired as SPA Meteor Director in 2012 April,
I'd expected my meteor analysis days were over,
but September 21 produced an unusually very slow moving spectacular fireball
which passed over the central British Isles,
taking several minutes to accomplish its visible flight - oddly,
the second exceptionally slow-moving fireball seen from Britain
during 2012 (the first was on March 3).
As the newly-appointed Meteor Director Tony Markham was away
on La Palma for the International Meteor Conference when the event happened,
and for much of the following week,
it fell to me to collect and analyse the incoming data.
Ultimately, I dealt with 990 individual observations of this event,
from all parts of the British Isles,
the seas nearby and parts of northwestern Continental Europe,
because this object's visible flight actually began over northern Germany,
so reports of it were made from southern Norway, Denmark
and northwestern Germany westwards to the Atlantic shores of western Ireland!

After a modest-length Geminid meteor watch on December 13-14,
curtailed by more encroaching bad weather,
2013 arrived, bringing with it the start of celebrations for
the SPA's 60th anniversary. Given my astronomically disappointing 2012,
I thought I would try to make some astronomical observations each month in 2013
for that anniversary.
To improve the chances of accomplishing that,
I decided to restart my daily (as far as conditions allowed...)
solar projection observations, using a little 25mm terrestrial refractor.
I'd done this regularly for twenty years through to early 2000,
when various circumstances meant I had to stop,
partly as a point of interest,
partly as an early warning system for possible auroral activity.
Given that a typical observation like this takes only five to ten minutes to complete,
I thought this would help reach my 2013 observing goal.
It's certainly proven its worth so far, after an unusually long, cold, snowy "tail"
to the 2012/13 winter here, and it's been interesting to follow
the development of the various spot-groups over time.
Plus it's a great excuse to have to stand outdoors in the sunshine
for ten minutes a day - when there is any, at least!

The year has not all just been occasional solar drawings so far though,
as I also managed to follow Comet Panstarrs on ten nights
in 2013 March and April, when skies allowed, between March 13-14,
when the crescent Moon was just nine degrees away
and the comet was setting not long after the Sun, deep in evening twilight,
until April 16-17, by when it was visible all night in Cassiopeia.
Although most of those sightings were with 7x50 binoculars,
I even managed to glimpse it with the unaided eye on several nights in March.
A very pleasing little comet overall,
with a chance to spot two elongated misty smudges in the sky near one another,
when it passed through the same binocular field as the Andromeda Galaxy, M31,
in early April, and as it transpired, neatly completing my baker's dozen (13)
of naked-eye comets since IRAS-Araki-Alcock in early May 1983.

Hopefully, there'll be plenty more of astronomical interest to come
during the rest of the year too!

SKIES
-photo-collage by Eliza Teodorescu-



ASTROARTWORK
-by Miruna Popescu
(coordinator of the International Year of Astronomy in Ireland,
born in Romania)-



ASTROARTISTIC POEM
-by Ion(ut) Moraru-







ASTROARTWORK
-by Corina Chirila-



ASTRO-HAIGA
-by Gerald England (England, UK,
Editor of New Hope International,
honorary member of the International Writers and Artists Association,
laureate of the Ted Slade Award)-



PHENOMENAL
-by Dominic Diamant-

I don’t know what happened with me,
my light and energy were absorbed
by a fantastic and dark appearance
in an eonic fraction.

I hardly breathed when
suddenly I woke up in a new reality,
much brighter and more powerful
than I had seen before.

So I thank the Creator
for the cosmic privilege
to lighten among the stars.

MILKY WAY IN THE VALLEY OF THE BEAUTY
-photo by Mihai Curtasu-



LUMINOUS
-astro-photo-poem (cosmopoem) by John Goldsmith (Australia,
Celestial Visions producer,
member of The World At Night)-



UNIVERSAL SHOOT
-by Marge Simon (USA,
laureate of the Rhysling Award)-

He owns it all, the guy in the white shirt.
Owns all his sources, camera teams, screens,
latest gizmos to capture secrets of the universe,
but he really doesn't get it.

It's not just the view, it's about the view
from our vantage point to this great glory.

MY PLANET
or
THE UNIVERSE IN A DROP
-photographic poem by Attila Munzlinger-







HAIKU
-by Steve Sneyd (England, UK,
editor of Data Dump and director of Hilltop Press,
laureate of the Peterson Trophy)-

Beacons lit to show
universe birth shine farthest
ever seen quasars

STARTRAILS OVER THE ROMANIAN SPHINX IN MOUNT BUCEGI
-photo by Zsolt Kiss-



RUNNING… AND COLORED ASTRONOMY
-astro-photo-poem by Ioan Mircea Corpodean-

Running,
watching the Sun
I enter the east
erasing the fog
from myself.
I tasted on the bald peaks
the warmth comprised by
thousands of light years,
from when Terra was
just a small dusty agglomeration.
Then I felt my power
coming from stars
and flowing through my veins.
I imagined the rainbow
as a colored flag
connecting the worlds
of south and north
to the worlds
of east and west.
Sand, fishes and waters
make the sea,
and I make verses
representing
only my thoughts.







THE ZEN OF DARK MATTER
-astro-art-poem by Arlene Carol (USA,
residing in Turkey)-

After weeks of hearing about dark matter and the god-particle, and etc. etc.,
on an almost daily basis in the media, I have been thinking about what it means to me
as a visual artist…

Visualize a piece of porcelain, a beautiful fine bone china cup or bowl.
think of its shape and its design ..

what makes this cup useful in a practical sense isn’t what we can see…
it’s the invisible – the void - it’s what holds it all together.

so too with the dark matter in the cosmos.
Without the ‘empty’ it has no meaning.

Without the ‘background’ the stars wouldn’t be so beautiful.

What a challenge to try capturing that in a piece of art! .





AND YET WE MOVE…
-astro-photo-poem by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”-

Hi!



I don’t know if it is clear for anybody
that we rotate on an ellipse in space,
so that I made a collage with the Sun
close to the perihelion
and close to the aphelion.

(The images are put together for an
easier comparison of the apparent diameter.)



CELESTIAL CONTRAST
-astro-art-poem by Ion(ut) Moraru-

When the desert is more waste
The oasis is more green.
When our Moon is more sterile
The trees are more numerous.



The scenery seems so dull
That an astronaut takes off his helmet
And the sand is more ashen
When the oxygen-imagination grows.



UPON OUR FERTILE LAND
-by Tony Berendsen (USA,
President of the Northern Nevada Science Coalition)-

Four billion years so short a time
A drum beat of existence.
Where multitudes form and collide
And accretion rules for those; not disqualified.
An unending beat, not ending now.
Till one day a sudden crash to end us all.
But carved from the skin of a wandering star
They are found to lie upon our fertile land.
Give us hint, a beginning too
Or shall we go beyond the wild guess
To lay with devils, so they say.
Our mind linked to far away?
A desert shore of oceans past
Within our mind’s repugnant gasp
The planet Mars once was that.

PLANETS
-photo-collage by Maximilian Teodorescu-



SKINNY SUN
-by Dan Mitrut-

The skinny sun spun dreams
in the twilight.
The rabbits lubricated their skin
with his beams.
We stalked unshod the word,
changing breaths with the taste of herb.

Years passed,
but the canopy of heaven remained known.
The same gods,
the same stars
toward forgetfulness.

If you want to be an evening star-beacon,
leave me alone to become the Hunter on duty.

One after another,
stars will fall
and we will find our silence
on chords of Full Moon.

SUPER MOON AND MICRO MOON 2012
-photo-collage by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”



FANTASTIC MOON
-photographic poem by Andrei Marian Stoian-





ARTISTIC MOON
-photographic poem by Maximilian Teodorescu-











GREAT PHENOMENA 2012
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

On 6 June 2012
Venus passed through the front of Helios.

On 15 July 2012
Selene passed through the front of Jupiter.

The two greatest masculine bodies
in the solar system
didn’t have any reaction,
so vivat transit,
vivat occultation!

It seems that the sky wanted
to show us that an important duty
is to show real politeness
to the eternal feminine beauty.

VENUS TRANSIT 2012
-photographic poem by Maximilian Teodorescu-









VENUS TRANSIT 2012
-photo by Shinsuke Abe (Taiwan National Central University,
born in Japan)



MOON-JUPITER OCCULTATION 2012
-photographic poem by Valentin Grigore-













MOON-JUPITER OCCULTATION 2012
-photo-collage by Constantin Psenitchi-



MOON-JUPITER OCCULTATION 2012
-astro-photo-poem by Alex Conu-

Sunday morning…
I observed how the Moon passed
through the fore of the planet Jupiter.
The phenomenon is called occultation,
although it has nothing occult.

Together with more amateur astronomers
I went to the east of Bucharest,
close to Fundulea,
where we have a traditional place for observations,
a field like a giant saucer for pizza,
with a good view to any directions,
a decent sky
and unfriendly mosquitoes.

I leave you with a photo-gallery from that morning,
with the Moon, Jupiter…
and people gladdened by stars.











MOON-JUPITER OCCULTATION 2012
-photo-collage by Adrian Bruno Sonka-



MOON-JUPITER OCCULTATION 2012
-astro-photo-poem by Maximilian Teodorescu-

A new rare astronomical phenomenon:
the (apparently) bigger body passed over
the (apparently) smaller body.

Here is my timeless presentation:













Superb phenomenon.

When is the next one?

MOON-JUPITER OCCULTATION 2012
-photos by
1.Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”
2.Octavian Stanescu
3.Nagy Istvan
4.Catalin Timosca









ANDROMEDA
-by Kim Goldberg (Canada,
winner of the Rannu Fund Poetry Prize for Speculative Literature)-

Chained to a rock beside the night’s
angry sea (someone had to pay
for Cassiopeia’s pride), that thick hiss
of surf just your stellar gasses
sighing as the cold
breath of Cetus strikes your neck before
the bite.
The pounding
in your chest will soon
be eclipsed by hoof beats of a
winged steed.
Yes—

help is on the way. And it will arrive
in time. But you do not know this yet,
nor do we. And so you lie forever pinned
midway between the betrayal
of your Queen, and your salvation
by Perseus aboard Pegasus—a beast
you somehow conjured
from your own thundering heart.

ANDROMEDA
-photo by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”-



ANDROMEDA
-artwork by Ramona Achim-



THE FLAMES AND THE SKY
-astro-photo-poem by Alfredo Caronia (Italy,
residing in Romania,
co-discoverer of 5 asteroids)-

Meteor trails of
hope or flagella of
a hard life burned
and sunburnt in an impact
fiery
of desperate wrath,
turning of impetus
get inflamed
in a surge
above a hard life
and slowly
consumed.
Embraced to the rush
of a meteor unexpected
is the trembling
of a whole life on hold
that
wants burn as a flame of
surprise to shake
a life too
surrendered!
Shrew
life, now
flies and
jumps like a meteor,
branch detached from the
scheme of a storyline
lived tiredly and
in your days
repeated,
now breaks the
patterns ,
shine with rush
in an impact fierce for one
last turn proud,
blaze on
this reality always
suffered!
Tear the troubles of
life, hit the
flame before
it is over!



[(AC Note:
Image taken from my archive
1- Ufo Analyzer software has classified the meteor
as belonging to the class "IW_BCA" Beta Cassiopeids
( Beta-Cassiopeids meteor maxima on the 29th July, in the constellation Cassiopeia. )

ZHR=10
Velocity=51.6 km/s
Radiant: RA=23.6h/353° Dec=59.1° (J2000)
(Source: Astronomy - Active Board)

The stream is active from the 3rd July to the 19th August.

with estimated magnitude: - (minus) 3.3!

2 - Latitude and Longitude of observing station - Piatra Neamt - Romania:
Lat 46.933300 North -
Long 26.366600 East -

3- Date of sighting:
M08 Y2012 D13
H 01 M 07 S 33 - (Universal Time)]

ASTRO-HAIGA
-by Gerald England (England, UK,
Editor of New Hope International,
honorary member of the International Writers and Artists Association,
laureate of the Ted Slade Award)-



PERSEIDS 2013
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

Oh admirable Perseid meteors!
They seem like
luminous heroes
who put in motion
the entire night sky!

PERSEIDS 2012
-photo-collage by Alex Conu-



PERSEIDS 2012
-photo by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”-



PERSEIDS 2012
-photographic poem by Laurentiu Alimpie-







PERSEIDS 2012
-photo by Ciprian Grigorescu-



PERSEID 2012 IN THE IC1805 NEBULA
-photo by Mihai Curtasu-



DIMENSIONS
-by Dominic Diamant-

For our dimensions
there are not bigger disasters
than our disappearing.

We try to fly only pushed
by a predisposition to other miracles
and by an ancestral twitch.

PHENOMENA OVER THE WORLD
(1, 4.Australia 2.Mexico 3.UK 5.Romania)
-photographic poem by Gabriela Iacobuta-











21 AUGUST 2012 CONJUNCTION:
MOON, MARS, SATURN, SPICA
-astro-photo-poem by Maximilian Teodorescu-

Such a beautiful show!

The Moon with her grey light,
orange-reddish Mars,
yellowish Saturn
and the star Spica from the constellation Virgo.

This ephemeral alignment
can be compared, in a way,
with the Summer Triangle
(the stars Vega, Deneb and Altair),
and I would name it…
the Summer End Triangle!



DIMENSIONS
-by Irina Cristescu-

The sky keeps more ages,
he embraces you,
he leaves you,
he lures you,
he calms you,
and in the evenings with the New Moon
he teaches you the destiny of the stars.

Only dust of time and space
appears in the extent of the verses -
with a living
you comprehend all
in eyes of nebula.

HELIX NEBULA
-photo by Marian Lucian Achim-



A POST-CARD FROM NEREID
-by Sarah Doyle (England, UK)-

The Solar System’s prodigal,
an errant moon, one of a kind.
Compelled to rove, elliptical,
my path leaves Neptune way behind;
immune to my own planet’s call,
my orbit’s arc so far inclined -
and oh! the places I have been,
the joy I’ve known, the wonders seen.

A voyager to my very core,
a gypsy moon, in soul and heart,
exploring where no moon before
has ever been. No map, no chart,
just me, the sky’s conquistador,
alone. I need no counterpart -
and oh! the places I have been,
the joy I’ve known, the wonders seen.

I’ve spun through space at lightning speed
and danced with stars, a vagabond,
gyrating like a dervish, freed
of all constraints, to roam beyond
this world. A pioneer, indeed;
no shackle, manacle or bond -
and oh! the places I have been,
the joy I’ve known, the wonders seen.

A humble moon in comet’s guise;
a wanderer, who needs no rest,
but slips the Solar System’s ties
to spread my wings and fly the nest.
Mine are the winds, the stars, the skies -
I’m Nereid and I am blessed,
and oh! the places I have been,
the joy I’ve known, the wonders seen.

SUNSET WITH MOONRISE
-photos by Maximilian Teodorescu-





STARTRAILS IN NATURE AND IN THE CITY
-photos by David Erwin Sever-





STARTRAILS AND NEBULAE
-photos by Catalin Timosca-





BLACK HOLE
-by Dominic Diamant-

They mobilized so much
and sunk their telescopic antennas
in the cosmic black hole
till they understood that
it reflects them
into other identical Universe.

HEART AND SOUL NEBULA
-photo by Mihai Curtasu-



SILENT NIGHT CONTROL
-photographic poem by Florin Emil Ghebosu-





RING HEBULA
-photo by Radu Gherase-



ASTRO-SIGNS
-astrotourist-photo-poem by Jos Nijland (Holland,
member of the International Meteor Organization)-

In the sky or on the ground
be alert and look around.
On the road to Texas or by foot in Benningbroek.
As a tourist in Amsterdam or just reading a book.
Suddenly you will see an astro-sign.
They are the moments I feel fine!



ROSETTE NEBULA
-astro-photo-poem by Emil Pera-

I couldn’t resist to photograph again
(this time as a mosaic)
the rose near the constellation Orion…



HAIKU
-by David Asher (Northern Ireland, UK,
astronomer at Armagh Observatory;
famous meteor shower predictor
and discoverer of asteroids)

Astro-photographs
Allow you to admire,
And to imagine.

ASTROPHOTO 2012
(SARM’s national contest of astrophotography in Targoviste, 7th edition)
-photos by Ciprian Grigorescu and Maximilian Teodorescu-



















THE TREE OF MEMORY
-by Boris Marian (Mehr)-

He who thinks he is the centre of the world
will never fly.

Time is a costume becoming smaller.

I opt for only one sunbeam
and a fortress in the sun
shining like a sacrificed god.

Somewhere the stars are respected.

The light doesn’t have patches.

Do something,
change your face,
goddess of the darkness!

IN THE ORCHARD OF MY GRANDMOTHER
-photo by Daniel Mirotoi-



3 NOVEMBER 2012
-photographic poem by Valentin Grigore-





AMONG BEAUTIES
(1.Photographer’s Shadow on the Lazarea Church
2.Milky Way over the Red Lake in the Carpathians
3.Startrails over the Danube Delta)
-photographic poem by Attila Munzlinger-







DARK SKIES
-by Antonio Martinez Picar (Spain,
member of the International Meteor Organization,
born in Venezuela)-

My mom is a mathematician.
My dad is an astronomer.
Both are great,
I see them happy with what they do.

I also want to be an astronomer,
and that's why I collect stars.

I'm keeping them one by one,
patiently in my secret hideout.

Although I still have a problem:
I am told that at night,
they often escape and spread all over the sky!
Naughty stars...

PS:

When I am an astronomer, I will study them, understand them
and, finally, I'll take care of them so well
that they will not want to escape anymore.

COMET HERGENROTHER
-photo-collage by Maximilian Teodorescu-



BOLIDE OF TEIDE, TENERIFE
(November 2012)
-photo by Alex Tudorica (Germany,
born in Romania)-



COSMIC FRUSTRATION
-by Dominic Diamant-

A planet before us, visibly melting,
became smaller.
What do you think is going on,
honey?

She lost her combustible
because of the close mega-star.
Say if it is honest!

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE 2012 IN AUSTRALIA
-photographic poem by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”-







TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE 2012 IN AUSTRALIA
-photographic poem by Catalin Fus-







TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE 2012 IN AUSTRALIA
(In November 2012 a Romanian-Australian expedition,
conceived by Catalin Beldea and Florin Mingireanu,
and initiated by the Romanian magazine Science and Technique,
realized a world record of altitude for a balloon launched during a total solar eclipse)
-photographic poem by Catalin Beldea-











GEMINIDS
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

“Castor is better than Pollux
in mythology!”
said some people.

“Pollux is brighter than Castor
in astronomy!”
said other people.

“We don’t listen to you,”
replied the Twin Brothers,
“we will always remain
good Gemini
and we will always be united
to give you in December
beautiful Geminid meteors.”

GEMINIDS 2012
-photo-collage by Maximilian Teodorescu-



GEMINIDS 2012
-photo-collage by Sabin Fota-



GEMINIDS 2012
-photographic poem by Valentin Grigore-











GEMINIDS 2012
-photo-collage by Alex Conu-



GEMINIDS 2012
-photographic poem by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”







ARISE SLAVES
-by Larry Jaffe (USA,
coordinator of Dialogue among Civilizations through Poetry Readings 2001-2004,
founder of Poets for Human Rights)-

Are we not all slaves?
beholden to work and ruler
that only take
or give too much
from self-proclaimed divinity
declaring dependence
when what we really seek
is independence?

Are we not all slaves?
to thoughts and notions
taking umbrage
at verbal onslaughts
and physical manifestation
and now dethroned
from the pinnacle
we mourn our destiny
venturing in denial.

Are we not all slaves?
to our own ignorance
of people and places
losing bearing
and orientation
to a secretive compass
that controls the stars
our supposed eternity

Are we not all slaves?
waiving impotent rights
to a lesser champion
when the one we seek
resides within us
calling out
to break these chains
of betrayal.

Are we not all slaves?
pounding doors
rattling chains
and manacles
as fashion statement
mutated fetters confining
spirit and imagination.

Are we not all slaves?
to fad, desire, peers
and pressures.

Slowly relieving themselves
of these tentacles
of uncivilization
emancipation
unfolds and blooms.

WINTER SOLSTICE 2012 IN ENGLAND
(1.Stonehenge
2-3.Salisbury Cathedral
4.The Medieval Clock
5.Winchester Cathedral
6.The Round Table)
-photographic poem by Megan Argo (England, UK,
professional astronomer)













MOON OVER RHEINFALL, SWITZERLAND
-photo by Bogdan Cernea-



ROMANIAN MONUMENTS
(1.Carol I Park, Bucharest
2.Comana Monastery,
founded by Vlad Tepes Dracula in the 15th century
3.Constantin Brancusi’s Infinite Column in Targu Jiu,
created in 1938
4…End)
-photographic poem by Ciprian Grigorescu-









MY PRIVATE OBSERVATORY IN HORODNIC
-photo by Dimitrie Olenici-



CHRISTMAS CONJUNCTION IN TARGOVISTE
-photographic poem by Valentin Grigore-







GALAXIES WAR
(or Speaking With The Magellanic Clouds)
-astro-photo-poem by Danut Ionescu (New Zealand,
born in Romania)-

One day, hundred light years ago,
two galaxies against the Milky Way.
And the result we can see now on the sky:
two "French crepe" on the Southern Sky.
Last night I asked them:
Hey, why did you plot against my Galaxy?
Look at you now,
you’ve lost your shape
and my Galaxy has only a distortion
on the galactic plan.
But they said:
Oh, your Isaac Newton is only guilty for that.
He discovered the gravity attraction.
And also Galilei:
"Eppur si muove, si muove, si muove"...
It is what we are doing now,
going fast far from the Milky Way,
as per Einstein’s Relativity Law.
And bye from now!



TO THE BORDER BETWEEN 2012 AND 2013
-photographic poem by Valentin Grigore-

















NOI SI CERUL / US AND THE SKY
TV SHOW, COLUMNA TV, TARGOVISTE
INTERNATIONAL EDITION DEDICATED
TO THE PASSING INTO THE NEW YEAR 2013
-directed by Valentin Grigore,
who captured for this chapter more images as an album with greetings from
AWB national coordinators, TWAN members, leaders of international projects,
other personalities and sky lovers from all over the world…-



























































































FAST PLANET
-by Dominic Diamant-

You will never touch me,
said the fast planet to a monstrous fireball.
Ha-ha-ha…

But she couldn’t finish
her provocative peals…

The whole sky suddenly illuminated,
traversed by an immense echo:
Yo-ho-ho! Yo-ho-ho! Yo-ho-ho…

FIREBALL OVER ROMANIA
(January 2013)
-photo by Valentin Grigore-



NEAR-EARTH OBJECT
-by John Francis Haines (England, UK,
leader of the Eight Hand Gang - British network of SF poets,
editor of Handshake)-

Thousands of miles away
An unexpected lump of rock

Passes safely overhead:
But they do not always miss -

No problem if the only damage
A pine forest smashed to bits,

A deep hole in the desert’s heart,
Broken windows. Frightened people.

ASTEROID APOPHIS
(which will pass close to Earth in 2029)
-image by Jan Ovidiu Tercu and Alex Dumitriu, Galati Observatory-



ASTEROID 2012 DA14,
THE CLOSEST EVER!
(February 2013)
-image by Jan Ovidiu Tercu, Aurel Chirila and Alex Dumitriu, Galati Observatory-



ANOTHER ROMANIAN NAME IN THE SKY
-astro-art-photo-poem by Adrian Bruno Sonka-



A new Romanian name was put on the sky.
Officially.
Now an asteroid in the main belt
is called (346261) Alexandrescu,
having about 600m
and a period of about 3.36 years.

This asteroid was discovered
by the EURONEAR team
(coordinated by Ovidiu Vaduvescu)
that have put more Romanians on the sky.

Its name belongs to Harald Alexandrescu (1945-2005),
past coordinator of
Admiral Vasile Urseanu Bucharest Municipal Observatory.

And because I knew him very well
(he was my former chief)
I can say that he fully deserves an asteroid
in this incredibly complex sky…







TO HARALD ALEXANDRESCU
-by Tit Tihon-

An astronomer climbed toward the sky
to eternally wander among the stars,
to read in telescopes for comets
with living tears near the Sun.

The light pillar of the night (named Moon)
cries a song of Romanian observations,
explaining to the sad planets
that an astronomer is gone.

The evening stars cries too
near metamorphosed nebulae,
observed in clear nights,
sublime worlds in far light years.

And the asteroid named after him,
a Romanian tribute to the research of the world,
will evoke to the Universe
the endless veneration of the Sky.

PLEIADES
-photographic poem by Maximilian Teodorescu-







PERCEPTION
-by Marge Simon (USA,
laureate of the Rhysling Award)-

The heavens compose a mural
that evade man's perception.
Always have, always will,
as long as motion holds.
We'll never know it all at once
until it stops.

OVER THE VILLAGE
-photographic poem by Ionut Cirja-





COUNTLESS DETAILS
-by Dan Mitrut-

Dispense me from all these countless details,
there are too many stars
and two eyes are too much.

All I can see is enough
for the shell of a snail:
the condensed light
and the same forms without answers.

We should not look at the map!

Better you take my hand and tell me
how the stars reflect the light of my body.

I am too lonely to admit two crazy people
on the same perfumed bark
of a virgin moon.

Tomorrow you will repeat all,
but I do not write works of
the cosmology of the thought.

There are too many stars!
Only one look is too much!

PERPETUUM MOBILE
-photo by Zsigmond Andras Vas-



HAIKU
-by Steve Sneyd (England, UK,
editor of Data Dump and director of Hilltop Press,
laureate of the Peterson Trophy)-

No clue in ripple
aurora green eyes her thoughts
supernova burst

AURORA BOREALIS IN FINLAND
-photo by Marian Bica-



AURORAS
-by Alfredo Caronia (Italy,
residing in Romania,
co-discoverer of 5 asteroids)-

Two
polar rings
are the
sign of integral
power of the mother star,
the Sun that inflames
of himself with spirals of flow
cosmic, circumpolar latitudes
making
nights fluctuating under a
veil of solar particles
ionizing!
Caresses of light,
faded traces of
power of the sun,
confound the night
of regal majesty of lights!
Equinoctial months
favor an
embrace of lights
making the stars
crepuscular companions
of jets
of the sun in
vibrant combination with
breaths of atmosphere
fused
in solar chemistry.

AURORA BOREALIS IN NORWAY
-photo by Alex Conu-



THE SOLAR SYSTEM CONFERENCE
-by Zigmund Tauberg-

Humanity is agitated,
the leadership of the solar system
organizes a meeting
on an artificial planet.
They talk about the close future
when the proud Sun will dilate,
swallowing the entire Earth.
So, will we leave our native planet
to disappear?

Although it was evacuated a long time ago,
Terra has a historical value, however!
We have means to save it!
We can move it far-away!
But the costs are immense!

The debates being too stormy and contradictory,
finally they proposed a referendum…

So,
people from all over the solar system,
let’s go
to decide the Earth’s destiny:
YES or NO?

ZIGMUND TAUBERG
(age 85, teacher of mathematics
and president of the Jewish Reality literary circle in Bucharest)
celebrates Global Astronomy Month 2013
reading his poetry…



SUNRISE AT THE BLACK SEA
-photo-collage by Maximilian Teodorescu-



VENUS AND JUPITER
-photo-collages by Minodora Carmen Lipcanu-





ROLLING ON SATURN’S RINGS
-photographic poem by Cristina Tinta-Vass-





HAIKU
-by Steve Sneyd (England, UK,
editor of Data Dump and director of Hilltop Press,
laureate of the Peterson Trophy)-

Best utter distance
watched, love’s destruction dance of
neutron star, white dwarf

MILKY WAY ON THE SHOULDERS OF THE FAGARAS MOUNTAINS
-photo by Alexandru Gerard Pavel-



STEPS TO GAM 2013
-photographic poem by Valentin Grigore-







JUPITER AND ORION,
TERRESTRIAL CLOUDS AND GALACTIC CLOUDS
-photo by Maximilian Teodorescu-



DREAM
-by Doina Chilargi-

Close your eyes and dream!
It is a so clear night!
Just like little stars dance around,
Spreading their light!

Give me your hand, my love,
Together to start
On unknown paths
To the far world!

A ship of dreams
Will carry us among the stars,
Worlds described by nobody
Patiently await us.

Close your eyes and dream!
It is a so clear night!
Little comets dance around.
It’s a darkness full of light!

EQUINOX HALO 2013
-photo by Eliza Teodorescu-



WAITING FOR COMET PAN-STARRS
-photographic poem by Valentin Grigore-







YEAR OF COMETS
-by Alfredo Caronia (Italy,
residing in Romania,
co-discoverer of 5 asteroids)-

Kind seeds of meteors
overlooking frequently in
this year
of
proscenium,
fore and rhythmic palio, of the
twirl of comet
with
code
snaking,
ruts
of
dust and ions
spread in swish of sublimated
reality, in orbits rarefied
of silence,
dominant, fascinating parables or
ellipses of continuous in a
nuanced path at every trajectory
until be consumed after so much
glory
and up to extinction
as a life ended,
after having enchanted
by having you with eyes
embraced,
She greets us!

COMET PAN-STARRS
-photographic poem by Maximilian Teodorescu-











COMET PAN-STARRS
-astro-photo-poem by Dan Uza-

Still in convalescence after an unpleasant illness,
I hardly was on a shore of the Somes River,
next to Cluj-Napoca,
to see the comet.

There, to the west,
over the Horei hills,
I found out the pellet
one hour after the set of the Sun,
whose gravity implacably connected
the destiny
of the two heavenly bodies.



PAN-STARRS AND CHANGES
-by Dimitrie Olenici-

After Aristotle
the comets bring floods, drought, earthquakes…
Later other ones added wars and maladies,
or various changes.

Now, since the
Director of the Astronomical Institute of Romanian Academy
has just retired,
it seems that Comet Pan-Starrs brings
changes of chiefs.

With all best wishes…

COMET PAN-STARRS OVER BONN, GERMANY
-photo by Alex Tudorica (Germany,
born in Romania)



COMET PAN-STARRS OVER SIGHET
-photo by Sorin Hotea-



MOON AND COMET PAN-STARRS
-photo by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”-



COMET PAN-STARRS OVER COLORADO, USA
-photo by Alin Tolea (USA,
born in Romania)-



COMET PAN-STARRS OVER DAMBOVITA COUNTY
-photo by Ciprian Grigorescu-



COMET PAN-STARRS OVER ROMANIA
-photo by Jan Ovidiu Tercu, Alex Dumitriu and Galati Observatory-



SUPERNOVAE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

Many outbursts in
the Cosmos and the best would
be a love outburst

SN 2013am
(discovered in 21 March 2013)
-photo by Jan Ovidiu Tercu, Alex Dumitriu and Galati Observatory
(1-2 April 2013)-



BIDIMENSIONAL ILLUSION
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

Two goddesses lost in space,
Comet Pan-Starrs and the Andromeda Galaxy,
hope to be saved
so that they still await me.

COMET PAN-STARRS AND M31
IN OUR FAMILY
(6 April 2013)
-photo by:
1.Maximilian Teodorescu
2.Eliza Teodorescu
3.Eliza and Maximilian Teodorescu







MY SUN DAY
-astro-photo-poem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

Because during SunDay 2013 (8 April)
the sky was cloudy,
I decided to celebrate my own SunDay
on 11 April,
looking for a high place in Bucharest.

And all was fine:
first the sunrise…









then the sunset…









and the melancholic look
of the city.





STARPEACE 2013 AT
NOI SI CERUL / US AND THE SKY
TV SHOW, COLUMNA TV, TARGOVISTE



When the caravan of one of the greatest projects of GAM 2013,
30 Nights of StarPeace,
longitudinally arrived in the 5th zone - including Romania -
of 10 zones of the earth,
Valentin Grigore invited a few representatives from other countries,
placed in the same “region”,
to contribute to this new special TV show.
The answers…

-Sweden,
materials send by Peter Linde:

















-Holland,
materials sent by Casper ter Kuile:















-Belgium,
materials sent by Raoul Lannoy:











-Albania,
materials sent by Herald Buned:















-Macedonia and Finland,
materials sent by Martin Stojanovski:





















-Rwanda,
materials sent by Pheneas Nkudabakura:















-Tanzania,
materials sent by Mponda Malazo:









































…the Mbozi Meteorite







…the Uhuru Peak



…and two images by the famous astrophotographer
O Chul Kwon (Korea)





-Romania,
through the host of the Noi si Cerul / Us and the Sky TV Show:





LIFESTREAM
-by Marge Simon (USA,
laureate of the Rhysling Award)-

Through the prism of a child's eyes
night is a black dome, spread with sparkles.
Born as we all from Mother Night,
the very young find it familiar,
but when they learn to speak,
grasping a parent's hand
some quiet night beneath the stars,
wonderment arrives.

STARRY NIGHT
-photographic poem by Ciprian Grigorescu-





TO YOUR SKY
-by Diana Mitrut-

Is it a clear sky?

Because I’d like
to fly toward the Sun
and to come back as a crane,
to have dust of stars on a wing
and drops of clouds on the other wing,
germs for smiles and cures for storms
on my leg,
to bring light to your heart.

Is it a clear sky?

A crane lands
from the Sun.

SUNDOG IN FINLAND
-photo by Traian Abrudan-



ISS TRANSIT ACROSS THE SUN…
IN OUR FAMILY
(24 April 2013)
-photos by:
1.Eliza Teodorescu
2.Maximilian Teodorescu-





ASTROTIPURITURA
(the shortest Romanian poetic form)
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

Just celebrate astronomy,
But don’t forget your galaxy!

GAM 2013
AT THE HENRI COANDA TECHNICAL COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
IN BUCHAREST
-photo-collage by Valentin Grigore-



GAM 2013 IN NEW ZEALAND BY ASTRONOMY AOTEAROUA
-materials sent by Paul Moss (StarPeace national coordinator)











GAM 2013 IN TARGU JIU BY SRCSTV
(“Youth for Future” Romanian Society for Science and Culture)
-including the picture which won the award for planetary photography
at the national contest for beginners,
Jupiter by Dorin Blajan,
along with an exhibition with images by Marian Lucian Achim,
Emil Pera, Sabin Fota, Ramona Achim etc.-





GAM 2013 IN BRAZIL
-materials sent by Marcelo de Oliveira Souza (AWB national coordinator)













SARM CELEBRATES GAM 2013
AT THE DAY CENTRE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN TARGOVISTE
-photos by Valentin Grigore and SARM-

Astroriddle (1)

It consists of billions of stars,
Milk foam appearing in the night sky,
But we cannot see it from the city.
So… what can you say?

(Answer: Milky Way.)

-Marian Pirvu-
(survivor of Romanian Revolution in 1989,
when he was shot by defenders of totalitarianism)













Astroriddle (2)

It re-appears
After many years
On the heavenly canopy.
White boulders, tails of cotton wool…
Do we know what we see?

(Answer: Comet.)

-Marian Pirvu-













PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE OF 25 APRIL 2013
-astro-photo-poem by Dimitrie Olenici-

With a duration of 27 minutes
this was the second shortest lunar eclipse
of the 21st century,
so the photographs become important documents.

One of my photos was made
through a green filter,
so for me it has a special charm.



The shortest lunar eclipse in this century
will have 12 minutes
and will be visible in 28 September 2049.

So, see you after only 36 years!

PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE,
25 APRIL 2013
-photo-collage by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”-



PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE,
25 APRIL 2013
-photographic poem by Valentin Grigore-









PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE,
25 APRIL 2013
-photo by Maximilian Teodorescu-



CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO LUMINOUS SPHERES
-by Dominic Diamant-

Where do you want to halt, baby?

A little in Cassiopeia,
just enough to charge the batteries,
then the direction of Orion!

And what do we do there?

Forget?
We celebrate an era of happy togetherness!

It was in the early 2500…

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION FOR GAM 2013
AT THE DAMBOVITA HISTORY MUSEUM IN TARGOVISTE
(images by the Hubble Space Telescope
and by members of The World At Night;
special guest: Babak Tafreshi - Iran/Germany -, founder of TWAN)
-photographic poem by Valentin Grigore-




















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