Orion the hunter is one of the most beautiful and recognizable constellation in the night sky. The brightest stars Betelgeuse and Rigel sit at the top left and bottom right of the rectangle. The flame nebula is close to the leftmost star of the three that form the belt; the running man and the great Orion nebulae form the sword of Orion.
This is a long exposure showing all the dimmer background stars that we can’t usually see with naked eyes.
Only 1 in 4.3 billion of the Sun’s photons are intercepted by the eight planets of our Solar System – the rest escape into interstellar & intergalactic space.
Malcolm Gladwell or Barack Obama - excellent orators that can hypnotize you with their word wizardry and convince you even to eat your own shoes. Not that they have any bad intentions but, I always have my guard up when I come across these smooth talkers.
This whole election of house speaker is so sad and disgusting. McCarthy lost the vote 11 times. When will he get that they don’t want him? Even for something that I really really want, I’d give up at 4th or 5th “NO” but, I am not a powerhungry politician with no selfrespect.
FWIW – It has been 6 years since I stopped using Facebook and I don’t miss it at all. I have only sporadically used Twitter in last few weeks since deleting the app. I’ll stop using it all together in a few more weeks and won’t miss it.
42 months. That is enough time to get an undergraduate degre. I wish he was awarded more to add a PhD on top of that.
During the holiday break, this article with me as a co-author was published in J.Med.Chem. Congrats to lead author Allyn Londregan and all the collaborators.
“Discovery of High-Affinity Small-Molecule Binders of the Epigenetic Reader YEATS4”
First day back to work since Dec 16th. It was such a nice break. Glad that I could log into my work computer after only a couple of tries and didn’t get locked out. Calling helpdesk as my first work activity would not have been good.
Finished watching season 3 of Jack Ryan. DO NOT watch this show. It was horrible. I’ve taken a bullet for you. Don’t waste your time. Very poor writing and just bad overall. Especially after watching “Slow Horses”, this was garbage.
Keeping up with my usual start of the year —> To make up for all the gluttony of last month or so, no alcoholic beverages for the next 2-3 weeks.
Check out Slow Horses on Reelgood. See where it’s streaming and more!
Finished reading: What We Carry by Maya Shanbhag Lang 📚
What a fantastic memoir!!! A breathtaking journey through changing relationship between a daughter and her mother. I couldn’t put it down. Finished it in less than 24 hours from when I started reading it. One lesson to take away is to buy good long term care insurance and make use of it before I think I really need to.
A look back at 2022
Adit:
- now a senior in high school
- college visits, applications
- selected for New England music festival and Connecticut All State music festival
- auditioned and was selected for 2022-2023 season of Connecticut Youth Symphony
- selected for participating in “Music adventures in Italy” a 2 week summer camp in Italy
- ELHS boys swim team came in second at ECC championships.
Ashwini:
- finished freshman year at Bowdoin and now a sophomore; planning to double major in Environmental studies and Biology and possibly minor in English
- continued to play Cello in Bowdoin Orchestra and also in a chamber group; enjoying her college experience
- worked at “The Bowerbird” in Old Lyme over summer and holiday break; next work experience will probably be an internship
Wife:
- busy at work; started going back to site a few days a month in second half of the year; started some travel for work as well
- very serious about joining and completing Peloton challenges. Rode more than 2500 miles on Peloton in the year
Me:
- cycling: rode 3000+ miles in the year but didn’t reach my goal. Missed a couple of opportunities to do century rides due to scheduling. The rides in Maine during vacation and ride around Sacandaga lake with Manoj were the highlights
- hiking: hiked a lot in land preservation and town open space areas in and around East Lyme, especially on Lyme Land Trust trails. Really enjoyed these forest bathing sessions.
- astronomy: highlight of this year. Joined a local astronomy group and participated in regular public viewing sessions. It was fun to do this after so many years. Bought some new equipment and improved on processing techniques to make good looking images of deep sky objects. Feels like a good achievement.
Vacations:
- college visits for Adit. Pennsylvania colleges in February break. Drove down to Charlotte during Spring break in April and did many college tours along the way. Nice to meet the Pathaks on this trip.
- went to India in May and brought my parents along to spend the Summer with us. It was really nice that we were able to do that. They had a good time.
- Damariscotta lake, Maine in August with my parents. Weeklong relaxing vacation; not many activities. Some bike rides, walking, kayaking, oyster shucking, and relaxing on the lake front.
““Home is where you go when everything is closed. Like when Ben and Jerry’s is closed and the park is closed and the library is closed, you go home. Home is the place that’s always open.””
— What We Carry: A Memoir by Maya Lang a.co/9GnGZA0
Posting some of my favorite astrophotos of 2022 in this thread over next 2 days. #Paragastro2022
Link to previous post in this thread.
Happy New Year to you all. Wishing you a great 2023.
Here are last two pictures in this series from Cygnus:
19. Western Veil nebula
20. Butterfly nebula around Sadr
Posting some of my favorite astrophotos of 2022 in this thread over next 2 days. #Paragastro2022
Link to previous post in this thread.
One of our closest and farther away neighbors.
17. Lunar eclipse
18. Andromeda galaxy
Posting some of my favorite astrophotos of 2022 in this thread over next 2 days.
Link to previous post in this thread.
Two views of Elephant trunk nebula
15. Wide angle with a DSLR (Nikon Z6)
16. Cropped view with an astro camera ASI533MC-Pro
Posting some of my favorite astrophotos of 2022 in this thread over next 2 days. #Paragastro2022
Link to previous post in this thread.
Two views of a large nebula complex in Cygnus -
13. Cygnus wall from North American nebula
14. Pelican nebula
