I Am Once Again Asking For Recommendations Of Greek Myth Inspired Books 📖 So Far I Loved Reading The

Books & Nooks It rained yesterday, which never happens at this time of the year in California. Made me feel all cozy~

And of course it’s raining on the inside… where the books are…

The Dumbbell Nebula M27

Another planetary nebula, the Dumbbell nebula lies around 1,300 light years from Earth in the constellation of Vulpecula. It's estimated from it's expansion to have been from the collapse of the white dwarf (centre) around 10,000 years ago.

The average planetary nebula is thought to be visible for around 20,000 years, which is a blink of an eye in terms of the life length of even the shortest lived stars.

Telescope Dome, Mt. Wilson Observatory, Angeles National Forest, California, 2023.

The beginnings of "big science" and the evolution of astronomy as more than speculative star gazing are both encapsulated in this structure. Its telescopes are now obsolete for most kinds of optical observations in the visible spectrum as larger mirrors and locations far from urban light pollution make other observatories more useful for those. Mt. Wilson Observatory is still used for some other types of astronomical explorations. Amazing that only a little more than a century old, the observatory saw the known universe expand from a single galaxy to one of countless galaxies spread over billions of light years even as the number of planets known to orbit around stars has grown exponentially. Mt. Wilson's telescopes and the early astronomers who worked there laid the groundwork for all of the magnificent facilities now available to astronomy and astrophysics and for the discoveries they are making. Not least of those is the Webb Telescope in space 1.5 million + km from earth.

Kowloon: The Walled City

The Ksar Draa in Timimoun, Algeria, is an ancient ruin that stands out in the middle of an ocean of dunes, and it's history has been lost over the centuries. The only news related to it is that for a certain period of time it was occupied by the Jews of the Timimoun region

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“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of a Library.” -Jorge Luis Borges ♡

George Palmer Putnam paused at the airport long enough to tell reporters of his offer of a $2,000 reward for information of his missing wife, Amelia Earhart, July 29, 1937. She, her navigator, and her plane were believed to be somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The money is directed particularly at Japanese fishermen.

Photo: Associated Press

Spread your cosmic wings 🦋

The Butterfly Nebula, created by a dying star, was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in this spectacular image. Observations were taken over a more complete spectrum of light, helping researchers better understand the “wings'' of gas bursting out from its center. The nebula’s dying central star has become exceptionally hot, shining ultraviolet light brightly over the butterfly’s wings and causing the gas to glow.

Learn more about Hubble’s celebration of Nebula November and see new nebula images, here.

You can also keep up with Hubble on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Flickr!

Image credits: NASA, ESA, and J. Kastner (RIT)