Random Thoughts From My Day

It's almost August.

I don't know how this year moved by so fast, after two years when time seemed to stand still.  I'm home sick today.  I thought I was going into work, until I was filling my travel mug and the kitchen decided to rotate around me.

This is one of the side-effects of the pandemic.  Our immunities are down and most people that I know are catching anything and everything, then sharing it with others.  We've taken "Sharing is caring" a bit too far. I've been sick more in the last year than in five years of the before-times.  Heck,  I'm fully vaccinated and have gotten mild covid thrice. I don't want to think how it would have been without the shots. 

My flower beds are handling the heat pretty well.  Of course, my eldest laid out soaker hoses when we added the beds. The lawn - not so much.  They are pretty crunchy even after two days of rain.

We've got houseguests. I thought it would be my eldest daughter when her landlord decided to have friends rent the place. But she moved in with friends down the thruway an hour. 

My friends faced a similar situation, their home was bought by someone who wanted to toss people out and jack up the rent. They stayed at a hotel as long as they could then asked if I could take in their pets while they camped in their van whatever they could.  I have full bedrooms with my family, but they are in my driveway and have access to the house and pool.  Good news though.  Other friends sent them money for a new apartment. In one day!  We cried.  Apartments are in short supply in Troy (where their kids go to school - they are at their dad's for now). Most are rented to college kids, but she is talking to a possible landlord right now while her hubs is working from home in my dining room.

Somewhere under my furniture is one of their cats.  My eldest is trying to coax her out.  If anyone can get her out it would be The Cat Whisperer.  I'm sure she'll be happy when she's surrounded by familiar furniture again - it's all in storage.

My oldest is home on vacation.  I'm pretty sure we ruined his plans by being in the house.  After we've binge-watched a few episodes of The West Wing (my third round) I'm going to need to go into MLS and see if any more homes have been posted that he might want to look at (the benefits of working in real-estate).  I'll miss him when he finds a place. I did make him promise Sunday dinners at my house (which he gladly agreed to).

When the younger kids headed off to work this morning,  I was enjoying the solitude of being home.  Sometimes, on slow work days,  I miss home. I know the kitties and Doggo miss me.  The sad side is that I have to think about dinner.  Maybe I'll smoke some burgers on the PitBoss that my youngest bought me for Mother's Day last year. 

Because I've become completely fascinated with the Webb Telescope,  I'll leave you with this photo.  It's the wallpaper on my cell. 

WEBB'S FIRST DEEP FIELD (NIRCAM IMAGE) 

 

About This Image

Thousands of galaxies flood this near-infrared image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. High-resolution imaging from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope combined with a natural effect known as gravitational lensing made this finely detailed image possible.

First, focus on the galaxies responsible for the lensing: the bright white elliptical galaxy at the center of the image and smaller white galaxies throughout the image. Bound together by gravity in a galaxy cluster, they are bending the light from galaxies that appear in the vast distances behind them. The combined mass of the galaxies and dark matter act as a cosmic telescope, creating magnified, contorted, and sometimes mirrored images of individual galaxies.

Clear examples of mirroring are found in the prominent orange arcs to the left and right of the brightest cluster galaxy. These are lensed galaxies – each individual galaxy is shown twice in one arc. Webb’s image has fully revealed their bright cores, which are filled with stars, along with orange star clusters along their edges.

Not all galaxies in this field are mirrored – some are stretched. Others appear scattered by interactions with other galaxies, leaving trails of stars behind them.

Webb has refined the level of detail we can observe throughout this field. Very diffuse galaxies appear like collections of loosely bound dandelion seeds aloft in a breeze. Individual “pods” of star formation practically bloom within some of the most distant galaxies – the clearest, most detailed views of star clusters in the early universe so far.

One galaxy speckled with star clusters appears near the bottom end of the bright central star’s vertical diffraction spike – just to the right of a long orange arc. The long, thin ladybug-like galaxy is flecked with pockets of star formation. Draw a line between its “wings” to roughly match up its star clusters, mirrored top to bottom. Because this galaxy is so magnified and its individual star clusters are so crisp, researchers will be able to study it in exquisite detail, which wasn’t previously possible for galaxies this distant.

The galaxies in this scene that are farthest away – the tiniest galaxies that are located well behind the cluster – look nothing like the spiral and elliptical galaxies observed in the local universe. They are much clumpier and more irregular. Webb’s highly detailed image may help researchers measure the ages and masses of star clusters within these distant galaxies. This might lead to more accurate models of galaxies that existed at cosmic “spring,” when galaxies were sprouting tiny “buds” of new growth, actively interacting and merging, and had yet to develop into larger spirals. Ultimately, Webb’s upcoming observations will help astronomers better understand how galaxies form and grow in the early universe.

Have a wonderful day!