Desperate-times - Back On My Bs

2022 July 10

In the Center of the Cat’s Eye Nebula Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, HLA; Reprocessing & Copyright: Raul Villaverde

Explanation: Three thousand light-years away, a dying star throws off shells of glowing gas. This image from the Hubble Space Telescope reveals the Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543), to be one of the most complex planetary nebulae known. Spanning half a light-year, the features seen in the Cat’s Eye are so complex that astronomers suspect the bright central object may actually be a binary star system. The term planetary nebula, used to describe this general class of objects, is misleading. Although these objects may appear round and planet-like in small telescopes, high resolution images with large telescopes reveal them to be stars surrounded by cocoons of gas blown off in the late stages of stellar evolution. Gazing into this Cat’s Eye, astronomers may well be seeing more than detailed structure, they may be seeing the fate of our Sun, destined to enter its own planetary nebula phase of evolution … in about 5 billion years.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220710.html

the number of people in the notes of the last reblog who *were* on tumblr at 11 or have answers like 1d and minecraft youtubers... 💀

2022 July 28

North Celestial Tree Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN)

Explanation: An ancient tree seems to reach out and touch Earth’s North Celestial Pole in this well-planned night skyscape. Consecutive exposures for the timelapse composition were recorded with a camera fixed to a tripod in the Yiwu Desert Poplar Forests in northwest Xinjiang, China. The graceful star trail arcs reflect Earth’s daily rotation around its axis. By extension, the axis of rotation leads to the center of the concentric arcs in the night sky. Known as the North Star, bright star Polaris is a friend to northern hemisphere night sky photographers and celestial navigators alike. That’s because Polaris lies very close to the North Celestial Pole on the sky. Of course it can be found at the tip of an outstretched barren branch in a postcard from a rotating planet.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220728.html

2022 July 31

Starburst Galaxy M94 from Hubble Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Explanation: Why does this galaxy have a ring of bright blue stars? Beautiful island universe Messier 94 lies a mere 15 million light-years distant in the northern constellation of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici). A popular target for Earth-based astronomers, the face-on spiral galaxy is about 30,000 light-years across, with spiral arms sweeping through the outskirts of its broad disk. But this Hubble Space Telescope field of view spans about 7,000 light-years across M94’s central region. The featured close-up highlights the galaxy’s compact, bright nucleus, prominent inner dust lanes, and the remarkable bluish ring of young massive stars. The ring stars are all likely less than 10 million years old, indicating that M94 is a starburst galaxy that is experiencing an epoch of rapid star formation from inspiraling gas. The circular ripple of blue stars is likely a wave propagating outward, having been triggered by the gravity and rotation of a oval matter distributions. Because M94 is relatively nearby, astronomers can better explore details of its starburst ring.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220731.html

Stonewall History

To kick off the beginning of Pride Month, I thought I’d share my favorite articles about the Stonewall Riots.

The first is actually a collation of several accounts from 1969 that describe the events of those nights, compiled and edited by Stonewall historian David Carter. Clicking this link will download it as a word doc. This collation goes into a lot of detail, and Carter attempts to resolve some of the apparent inconsistencies between accounts (see the footnotes). While it takes a decent amount of time to read through, I think it’s worth it for the thorough coverage of the initial riot and following nights.

The texts document how the raid on Stonewall–the second within a week–came after a series of raids and closures of gay bars during the past several weeks. Bars such as the Stonewall were targeted by the police for operating without a license, which the State Liquor Authority denied to establishments that catered to gay clientele. After confiscating cases of liquor, the police began arresting the management and some employees, and checking patrons for IDs and (as I understand it) gender-suitable attire. As patrons were released one by one, a crowd began to gather outside, which became more defiant after a police van showed up and employees and drag queens were loaded inside. Multiple reports cite a butch lesbian resisting arrest as a turning point in the mood of the crowd. The police vehicles left to take away those who’d been arrested, leaving the police at the bar unguarded. More objects began to be thrown and the police that remained retreated to the bar and barricaded inside. Windows were smashed, a fire was started inside the bar, and the door was forced open–reports say that a parking meter was used as a battering ram. Police had begun pointing guns at the crowd from the open door by the time backup arrived, at which point the crowds were dispersed.

The second article is called “Movements and Memory: The Making of the Stonewall Myth” by Elizabeth A Armstrong and Suzanna M Crage. This is an academic article that analyzes how Stonewall came to achieve a central place in gay collective memory. (Try not to be put off by the first few pages that deal with theoretical concepts and research design.) It looks at other events that failed to gain similar annual commemoration–the San Francisco New Year’s Ball Raid (January 1965), the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot (San Francisco, August 1966), the Black Cat Raid (Los Angeles, January 1967), and the Snake Pit Bar Raid (New York, Mary 1970)–and discusses how Stonewall came to be successfully recognized as worthy of annual, national, public commemoration. The authors reveal that this was not a spontaneous occurrence, but “spread through the numerous, deliberate activities of individuals and groups.”

Reading these gave me a better understanding of what occurred at Stonewall and how we came to celebrated Pride, so I wanted to share them with anyone else who might be interested.