Snowy Spiral

Messier 83 by space.by.jase

The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, M83 // Matthew Russell

“Hydra’s Pinwheel” by Peter Ward.

Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille first observed what later became known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy on 23 February 1752 from the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. This image, taken exactly 270 years later, combines a deep set of H-alpha exposures along with color data to highlight the ruby-like star-forming regions of this beautiful barred spiral galaxy.

Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest

Southern Pinwheel Galaxy

"The outlying regions around the Southern Pinwheel galaxy, or M83, are highlighted in this composite image from NASA Galaxy Evolution Explorer and the National Science Foundation Very Large Array in New Mexico."

Image and information from NASA.

Hubble Views Stellar Genesis in the Southern Pinwheel by NASA Goddard Photo and Video

NEWBIE NEEDS HELP

Hello all. Very new and currently reaserching. Looking for guidance and reading materials. I will give some backround info, the reason I'm reaserching, and what I have consumed already.

Backround on me. I am an Italian American, mostly southern Italian, primarily Sicily. (As far as I know, i will be takeing an ancestory DNA test soon) My family was running from organized crime and wanted to "americanize" fast so I did not really grow up culturally scicilian. I grew up catholic. I generally consider myself an architypical theist. I am not opposed to others views and practices like some people that use a similar identity. I have been passively practicing various traditions at my leisure for a few years now. Some inspiration from Wicca, the Heathen Reconstruction Movement, and more modern eclectic writers like Mat Auryn's "Psychic Witch." With all that being said I am a casual practioner of witchcraft at best but am very much convinced of a creator diety.

Recently I have came across itallian folk traditions and found striking similarities with my family and "what we did in Sicily" as my grandpa would say. About 2 years ago there was a lot of random shitty things happening in the family. My grandpa instructed my sister to gift me a cornicello neclace because he thought this is the work of the Mal'occhio. (he pernounced it ma-luk-e-a) Ever since I've worn it everyday. After a recent death in the family I decided to research this further and came across a YouTube video by Chaotic Witch Aunt that was a kind of "beginners guide," from here is where my general research has taken off from. I noticed, in my family, a focus on saint veneration, saint punishing, Mal'occhio, and stories of my great Grandfather describing a kind of shamanism in his "pinwheel village". My guess is that my recent family partook in a type of Benidictaria. And yes I know they would not have called themselves that as far as I know everyone has been Devote catholics, even though they don't really act like devote catholics. I COULD BE WRONG OFC.

Some of the stuff I consumed so far is various blog posts and reddit threads relating to symbolism, charms, icons.., the previously mentioned YouTube video, a interview with Angela Buca from Chaotic Witch Aunt, I started reading "itallian witchcraft" by Raven Gramassi (taking it with a grain of salt), and I will occasionally crack into the 13 part paper "Spells, Saints, and Strege." By Sabina Magliocco, not much yet though.

My to read list is this right now.

Finishing Sabinas paper.

The things we do, Augustino Taumaturgo.

Aradia, Charles Leland. Stregheria, Leland.

Etruscan magic and occult remedies, Leland.

Pre prints that Angela Buca has made available.

My goal here is more so in the realm of reconstruction, history, and gathering more info. I have made the decision to experiment with saint veneration since it is somthing I have done in the past and somthing that feels natural to me. I do not want to jump into a new practice all willy nilly without the proper reaserch.

Looking for more reading materials, guidance on prioritizing the materials I already have listed, general advice to newcomers into the community, personal stories of your practice or relationship with italian folk traditions, and a reason why everyone seems to hate Gramassi haha.

Sorry this post is so long I felt it necessary to explain my intentions and where the come from. I understand that this is a diverse and nuanced community and subject to research.

Feel free to reach out in DMs aslo.

do you picture all these Fizzies with different voices?

Yes and No!

They all got a Fizzarolli voice box, but that doesn't mean that they all utilise it the same way. Some of their voices have changed depending on where they live, what they do, their world view... and who they associate with.

✒ Thizzy (Therapist!Fizzy) has Fizzarolli's voice, but it's much more flat, tired, not nearly as animated as Fizz's is... He sounds more like a bitter chainsmoker than Fizzarolli.

✚ Doc (... Doctor!Fizzy) is pretty similar to Pinwheel, who in turn is similar to Fizz of course... except he doesn't have the same theatric Flair that our favourite cryptid utilises, nor does he stutter and glitch out like the old man does. He tends to giggle and make little noises as he moves through his daily routines, mimicking the sound of a car crash when ramming into Thizzy, making airplane sounds as he goes in with the drill, and in general just has a much more goofy way of getting his message across.

დ Mizzy (Maid!Fizzy) has a much more squeaky voice than Fizzarolli, like it is constantly trying to sound cutesy. It also has a bit of a vocaloid-like melody to its voice, a customization that her current owner paid for (the old voice box was messed up anyway). They also generally tend to have a much more gentle way of speaking, constantly trying to make itself adorable, or uh... """moe""" if you will. Kyaaa senpai you dummy!!!

Mizzy confirmed cringe.

☾ Fuzzy (Caretaker!Fizzy) is just so tired... his voice is not that different from Fizzarolli's, except that it's much more strained and frantic than his is. He stutters and his voice can suddenly speed up or become frantic at the drop of a hat, depending on his current stress-levels (they tend to be high). Sometimes it'll crack completely, his voice box has taken a lot of hits from both shouting all day, as well as literal hits from feral, curious children.

♤ Mort (Undertaker!Fizzy) has been living in Wrath for so long. He's steeped in both the accent and the lifestyle, and it shows in his voice that's straying further and further away from Fizzarolli's every day. He's got that Southern American drawl, and his voice is short and to the point. Uh. Imagine something like this. And this. Yer welcum.

＄ Bozzy (Manager!Fizzy) has been around for a long time, and he's adopted that Australian accent straight from the source itself. His voice is really nothing like Mammon's though, nor does it resemble Fizz's much anymore. It's much more smooth, every word is chosen carefully, and the raspiness that is so very Fizzarolli is barely there.

⚙ Factory!Fizzy (Factory!Fizzy, won't somebody give this child a nickname-) has the standard Fizzarolli voice. They have no life experience outside the factory that is.. filled with fizzies, and has barely heard any other voice save for, well, Fizzarollis. So that's what it is. When it comes to how they speak though, their voice is very quiet, uncertain and wavering. They're not used to being heard, and so their attempts to speak up are rather meek.

Random ass Unova headcanons I have (as someone who lives around the area Unova was based on and also as someone who sees more than just NY in Unova)

You know the NJ Pork Roll VS Taylor Ham debate? Unova has that. Northern Unova calls it Taylor Ham while Southern Unova calls it Pork Roll. Central Unova? It's a toss up.

Castelia City has THE BEST pizza you can get in the region and it has to be from the pizza places that are secretly fronts for the mafia

Unovan mafia exists and is real and Grimsley owes them A LOT of money

The crosswalk exists. Does that mean people actually use it half the time? No. Not really. What are you gonna do? Run over the cute girl with an eevee in the middle of the road? What are ya? A monster?

Castelia City is 100% NYC, no doubt about it

Fuck what bulbapedia says, idc that Floccesy Town and Ranch are based on North Jersey towns. The farms are in South Jersey. Floccesy is basically Southern New Jersey and you cannot change my mind

I like to think Nimbasa is a nice mix of NYC, Philly, and Camden because of the entertainment district, the railways, and the sports complexes. All three of these cities have things similar irl

Okay here me out. Nacrene City? The Museum? That's soooooo a mix of the Liberty Science Center and the Franklin Institute. Very Philly and Philly suburb-coded to me, honestly

Unovans will be the first to argue with each other, but catch someone from like, I dunno, Galar, butting in or saying something bad about Unova then it's suddenly like the Unovans that were arguing are best fucking friends

Pinwheel Forest? No, that's the fuckin Pine Barrens in NJ bro

RARE AND IMPORTANT JOHANNES SPITLER (1774-1837), SHENANDOAH (NOW PAGE) CO., SHENANDOAH VALLEY OF VIRGINIA, PAINT-DECORATED YELLOW PINE BLANKET CHEST

the hinged rectangular lid with applied edge moldings of square profile with angled lower edge, over a dovetailed case with applied ogee base molding and cut-out bracket feet of subtle ogival profile. Interior with lidded till. Original oversized wrought-iron strap hinges with rounded terminals and butterfly-type ends attached to exterior of backboard. The moldings, feet, and bottom board are all attached with wooden pins. Two wrought-iron nails are used to attach the rear foot supports. Retains original polychrome painted surface, the front panel featuring a central zone with six-petal rosette/pinwheel perched atop an inverted heart, flanked by parallel outer zones, each with characteristic lovebird/distelfink perched on a stylized tulip flanked by opposing orbs balanced on an inverted arc.

Catalogue Note: In the field of American Decorative Arts, the paint-decorated furniture of Johannes Spitler (Virginia/Ohio, 1774-1837) of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia holds a special place. Working during the nascent years of the Republic in an isolated region of the country, Spitler developed an iconic style by blending Old World traditions with New World techniques. His paint-decorated case pieces now reside in numerous institutions throughout the country, and the landmark 2004 sale by auctioneer Jeffrey S. Evans of the Modisett family hanging cupboard, a masterpiece decorated by Spitler, still holds the record auction price for folk art paint-decorated Southern furniture at $962,500. Since the artist was first identified by Don Walters in his 1975 article for The Magazine Antiques, the body of Spitler’s work, and our understanding of it, has continued to grow as unrecorded pieces come to light and new information is discovered.

Jeffrey Evans

Choir of the Damned

by Theakrus

A pregnant moon illuminated the sprawling mountainside cityscape that was the sleeping metropolis of Borvø. On the cities great north wall standing high over the Silver Prairie stood a trio of guards gazing over the swaying sea of ghostly pale grass stretching out to the edge of the Echo Wood. The summer breeze was cool and refreshing in the hot southern climate. The air was filled with the chirping sounds of the long legged moon crickets and the rustle of the plain grass caught in the breeze. A large formation of roiling dark clouds moved across the open night sky and before long it began to move across the face of the moon. As the trio of guards looked over the prairie, the moonlight faded casting all before them in the barest light and deepest shadows. The steady autumn breeze fell away, the rustling sway of the pallid plains grass stilled, and the lively chirping of the normally lively crickets ceased. The silence stretched for a long moment, the guards were rooted in place by the sudden shock of sensory starvation.All along the shadowed edge of the Echo Wood swaying pinpricks of light sprung into being. One of the guards broke the silence looking to the watch leader “Fireflys yeah?” he said with an obvious lack of surety in his tone. The watch leader turned back to the man “There are no Fireflys this time of year, and not that color.” a look of confusion clear on his face. The youngest of the bunch stood wide eyed and pale faced, not taking his eyes off of the floating lights, his mouth barely opened as he whispered a single word “Eyes.” In the silence that one word cast a blanket of dread on the other 2 guardsmen. The watch leader looked back across the prairie and saw the young guardsmen was right, the lights floated in pairs. As the horror settled over the watch leader, alarm bells along the wall began to ring, and then a scream so sickeningly unholy in the highness of its pitch filled the night. The young guardsmen was frozen in place, a dark stain running down his pant leg as he pissed himself. There was whistling that followed the unholy scream, one moment the guard on the watch leader's left was there and then next he was gone.

Something had grabbed him and pulled him into the sky. The poor man's terrified screams were already fading with distance by the time the watch leader looked straight up and glimpsed giant bat-like wings carrying his companion into the darkness of the clouds above. A light shower of warm blood and viscera fell watch leader and younger guard. The clatter of a spear on stone and the wet thud of the arm still holding it sounded against the parapet to his side as he watched it pinwheel  over the wall into the darkness below. The quickly fading death screams of guards all along the wall filled the night like a profane choir. And so with the opening notes a symphony of death commenced in the city of Borvø. From the plains a somber chorus rose. The lone guard watched as twisted and bent forms rose from the plains grass. Each one with a disfigured mouth agape forming a mournful choir of the damned. In the sockets of their warped skulls a sickly purple light glowed, it trailed like luminescent smoke as the forms shambled towards the walls. A rack of grizzly antlers slowly rose above the parapet in front of the lone guard, gently a slender hand with long needle clawed fingers reached over the wall grabbing hold of a crack in the flagstone and gracefully a tall emaciated monster pulled itself over. 3 more of its blasphemous kin followed, each with the desiccated skull of a different creature for a head and sporting a pair of antlers. They sadistically danced about the now kneeling guard, he began to violently sob and curl into a ball. In unison the monsters released sickening shrieks and raised their putrid claws above the broken man before them. Together the emaciated creatures fell upon him in a flurry of excessively savage slashes, the whimpering of the guards sobs were replaced with sounds akin to the violent tearing of parchment and slapping of wet rags against a washboard. City guards stood at the wide silver gates of Borvø  spears held leveled in shaky hands. Black robed figures moved into the street behind the guards. They fell upon the terrified city defenders with crude blades chanting profane prayers. Blood and cries of agony filled the streets as the robed figures butchered them to the last.  A host of nightmares flooded the city streets and the dreadful wails of the living dead rose to a gleeful crescendo. Men cried out in bloodcurdling screams as all manner of mind shattering horrors tore them apart. Mothers abandoned their children to the night as their sense of maternity was neutralized by the palpable miasma of death and dread surrounding them. Children stood like statues wide eyed, mouth agape and pale as milk confronted with the ludicrously macabre scene playing out before them. Borvø became an abominable festival of death and dancing nightmares. As the screams faded and the choir quieted an empty peace befell the city, a peace shadowed in the fading veil of growing twilight but peace none the less. 

(all photos are licensed through shutterstock and are sued as an immersive elements to glimpse how I see the horror of this story)

The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy

The Southern Pinwheel galaxy—also known as M82—is ablaze with star formation. Hundreds of thousands of stars live and die in clusters in the spiral arms. This Hubble image unveils a tapestry of the drama spread across 50,000 light-years. Credit: NASA, ESA.

The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, M83 // Tony Hallas

Hubble finds spiralling stars, providing window into early universe Nature likes spirals – from the whirlpool of a hurricane, to pinwheel-shaped protoplanetary disks around newborn stars, to the vast realms of spiral galaxies across our universe. Now astronomers are bemused to find young stars that are spiraling into the center of a massive cluster of stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The outer arm of the spiral in this huge, oddly shaped stellar nursery called NGC 346 may be feeding star formation in a river-like motion of gas and stars. This is an efficient way to fuel star birth, researchers say. The Small Magellanic Cloud has a simpler chemical composition than the Milky Way, making it similar to the galaxies found in the younger universe, when heavier elements were more scarce. Because of this, the stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud burn hotter and so run out of their fuel faster than in our Milky Way. Though a proxy for the early universe, at 200,000 light-years away the Small Magellanic Cloud is also one of our closest galactic neighbors. Learning how stars form in the Small Magellanic Cloud offers a new twist on how a firestorm of star birth may have occurred early in the universe's history, when it was undergoing a "baby boom" about 2 to 3 billion years after the big bang (the universe is now 13.8 billion years old). The new results find that the process of star formation there is similar to that in our own Milky Way. Only 150 light-years in diameter, NGC 346 boasts the mass of 50,000 Suns. Its intriguing shape and rapid star formation rate has puzzled astronomers. It took the combined power of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) to unravel the behavior of this mysterious-looking stellar nesting ground. "Stars are the machines that sculpt the universe. We would not have life without stars, and yet we don't fully understand how they form," explained study leader Elena Sabbi of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. "We have several models that make predictions, and some of these predictions are contradictory. We want to determine what is regulating the process of star formation, because these are the laws that we need to also understand what we see in the early universe." Researchers determined the motion of the stars in NGC 346 in two different ways. Using Hubble, Sabbi and her team measured the changes of the stars' positions over 11 years. The stars in this region are moving at an average velocity of 2,000 miles per hour, which means that in 11 years they move 200 million miles. This is about 2 times the distance between the Sun and the Earth. But this cluster is relatively far away, inside a neighboring galaxy. This means the amount of observed motion is very small and therefore difficult to measure. These extraordinarily precise observations were possible only because of Hubble's exquisite resolution and high sensitivity. Also, Hubble's three-decade-long history of observations provides a baseline for astronomers to follow minute celestial motions over time. The second team, led by Peter Zeidler of AURA/STScI for the European Space Agency, used the ground-based VLT's Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument to measure radial velocity, which determines whether an object is approaching or receding from an observer. "What was really amazing is that we used two completely different methods with different facilities and basically came to the same conclusion, independent of each other," said Zeidler. "With Hubble, you can see the stars, but with MUSE we can also see the gas motion in the third dimension, and it confirms the theory that everything is spiraling inwards." But why a spiral? "A spiral is really the good, natural way to feed star formation from the outside toward the center of the cluster," explained Zeidler. "It's the most efficient way that stars and gas fueling more star formation can move towards the center." Half of the Hubble data for this study of NGC 346 is archival. The first observations were taken 11 years ago. They were recently repeated to trace the motion of the stars over time. Given the telescope's longevity, the Hubble data archive now contains more than 32 years of astronomical data powering unprecedented, long-term studies. "The Hubble archive is really a gold mine," said Sabbi. "There are so many interesting star-forming regions that Hubble has observed over the years. Given that Hubble is performing so well, we can actually repeat these observations. This can really advance our understanding of star formation." The teams' findings appear Sept. 8 in The Astrophysical Journal. Observations with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope should be able to resolve lower-mass stars in the cluster, giving a more holistic view of the region. Over Webb's lifespan, astronomers will be able to repeat this experiment and measure the motion of the low-mass stars. They could then compare the high-mass stars and the low-mass stars to finally learn the full extent of the dynamics of this nursery. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington, D.C. IMAGE....The massive star cluster NGC 346, located in the Small Magellanic Cloud, has long intrigued astronomers with its unusual shape. Now researchers using two separate methods have determined that this shape is partly due to stars and gas spiraling into the center of this cluster in a river-like motion. The red spiral superimposed on NGC 346 traces the movement of stars and gas toward the center. Scientists say this spiraling motion is the most efficient way to feed star formation from the outside toward the center of the cluster. CREDIT ILLUSTRATION: NASA, ESA, Andi James (STScI)

I managed a little bit of a decent outing today after messing up my medication so badly and being in so much pain ... Wasn't the easiest or most fun thing- but I was mobile, and I got out, and I found some things I enjoyed, and that's really all that honestly matters in the end I think?

We stopped by the Garden Council Plant sale that I've been looking forward to since it was announced at the April Master Gardeners' meeting. There wasn't a whole lot of Herbs this year, but I did pick myself up some Tarragon (Artemisia Dracunculus), Orange Mint (Mentha Aquatica var. Citrata), and some Silver Mound Artemisia (Artemisia Schmidtiana) for the garden.

Then we went to a local Antique Mall and I picked up a bit of new Jewelry- including a couple pairs of very old screw backs, a pair of newer floral clip on's, a pair of 80's square studs in green, two Hummingbird brooches, and a faux pearl bracelet and necklace set; I also found and snagged a 2000's edition of Southern Living's 'Landscape Book'.

Then my Husband wanted Candles, so instead of braving WalMart at noon on a Saturday (yikes and screw that), we went to Hobby Lobby and picked some up instead- which meant I finally got my giant new multicolored Pinwheel for the garden that I've been eyeballing all spring. And I picked up this stupid cute little dragon meant for "Fairy Gardens", and now he lives in my hanging pot with my Orange Balm (Melissa Officinalis 'Mandarina') and Lime Balm (Melissa Officinalis ssp. Altissima); his name is now Goldie after the Gargoyle in 'The Sandman'- who I absolutely adore to bits.

After that we came home and I watered the garden ... And instantly discovered upon checking everything afterwards that I, uh ... May or may not have somehow forgotten to drill the holes in the bottom of the Sage pot before filling it 😬 So I found it absolutely flooded.

I fetched my Husband in a bit of a panic before he managed to actually start us lunch, and he helped me move everything into the old Basil pot to drain (which was thankfully empty and is very much full of plenty of holes; once it's sufficiently drained I'll move it back into its spot and re-plant everyone again.

I was wondering why my Sages weren't doing well. That really explains why. The pot's been flooding every time this whole time, and waterlogging them to Antarctica and back. And they're some of my most expensive plants, too. I nearly killed them because I didn't pay attention to what I was doing. Eugh.

Spiral Galaxy M83: The Southern Pinwheel

Credits: Robert Gendler, Stephane Guisard