What Sutherland’s power made a demand, Callas’ grace made a prayer – Casta Diva from Bellini’s Norma

Callas’ stage presence is magnificent.

What is truth?

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NGC 2442: Galaxy in Volans

‘Appearance…constitutes the actuality and the movement of the life of truth. The True is thus the Bacchanalian revel in which no member is not drunk; yet because each member collapses as soon as he drops out, the revel is just as much transparent and simple repose. Judged in the court of this movement, the single shapes of Spirit do not persist any more than determinate thoughts do, but they are as much positive and necessary moments, as they are negative and evanescent.’

G.W.F.Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, Trans., A.V.Miller, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1977, 27-28 (Preface, 47)

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Royal National Park, New South Wales

 

Banksia spinulosa

Banksia spinulosa

 

White roses

White Roses

White Roses

There is nothing in the world but matter in motion

SolarSystemPosters_NASA_1080

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A word once out is out forever

Socrates

Bust of Socrates in the Palermo Archaeological Museum

To master words is to not only know and master oneself, but to know others.

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Scumble and glaze – or what you can do with a fox fur, unicorn horn and Christmas tree

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Wide Field: Fox Fur, Unicorn and Christmas Tree

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A dance written not only in the stars – congratulations NASA!

每日天文一图(北京天文馆镜像)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

探索宇宙!每天发布一张迷人宇宙的影像,以及由专业天文学家撰写的简要说明。

2020-03-04

2003041557520052577

星系NGC 5394和NGC 5395的双人慢舞

影像来源及版权:GeminiNSFOIR LabAURA文字:Ryan TannerNASA/USRA

说明:如果你喜欢慢舞,那么你可能会喜欢上这幅图。图中的这支舞,一个转身就需要几亿年。两个星系NGC 5394和NGC 5395在引力的相互作用下围着对方缓慢绕转,一些新的恒星得以形成,像是点缀在其间的火花一般。这张由位于美国夏威夷莫纳克亚山上的双子座北8米望远镜拍摄的图片,是四个波段的照片叠加处理而成。来自氢气的辐射用红色表示,那里是恒星诞生的温床。这些新恒星的诞生将推动着星系的演化。同样可见的还有暗尘带,这里将最终演化成恒星诞生地。如果观察仔细,你将在背景中发现更多的星系,它们中的一些正在上演属于自己的宇宙舞蹈

(翻译:北京天文馆杨斌)

明日一图预告:open space

‘Let us, then, make a mental picture of our universe: each member shall remain what it is, distinctly apart; yet all is to form, as far as possible, a complete unity so that whatever comes into view, say the outer orb of the heavens, shall bring immediately with it the vision, on the one plane, of the sun and of all the stars with earth and sea and all living things as if exhibited upon a transparent globe.’  Plotinus, The Enneads, V.8.9

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A visitor

The other day I met a visitor at the door – a gentleman. He was quietly spoken (in fact, he said nothing at all). The movement of his legs – box-cutter slashes appended from a box-cutter line – was graceful and refined. He did his best to blend in with the scenery – impossible! – then, disturbed, departed. Black micro-dot-eyed, he fluttered his lime-green wings in the middle of his foot-long length and, flying slowly at 45 degrees, completely disappeared into a thick bush nearby.

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Coincidentia oppositorum

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NGC 2392: Double-shelled planetary nebula

‘(Coincidentia oppositorum is) a state or condition in which opposites no longer oppose each other but fall together into a harmony, union, or conjunction…a unity of contrarieties overcoming opposition by convergence without destroying or merely blending the constituent elements…it…sets forth the way God works, the order of things in relation to God and to each other, and the manner by which humans may approach and abide in God’

H. Lawrence Bond in Nicholas of Cusa, Selected Spiritual Writings, trans., H. Lawrence Bond, Paulist Press, New York, 1997, 335-336 

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