Astronomy - MOON SETTING BEHIND TEIDE VOLCANO

 2026 May 11

Moon Setting Behind Teide Volcano
Video Credit & Copyright: Daniel López (El Cielo de Canarias); Music: Piano della Moon (Dan Silva)

Explanation: These people are not in danger. What is coming down from the left is just the Moon, far in the distance. Luna appears so large here because she is being photographed through a telescopic lens. What is moving is mostly the Earth, whose spin causes the Moon to slowly disappear behind Mount Teide, a volcano in the Canary Islands of Spain off the northwest coast of Africa. The people pictured are 16 kilometers away and many are facing the camera because they are watching the Sun rise behind the photographer. It is not a coincidence that a full moon sets just when the Sun rises because the Sun is always on the opposite side of the sky from a full moon. The featured video was made in 2018 during a full Milk Moon. The video is not time-lapse -- this was really how fast the Moon was setting.

Astronomy - COMET R3 PanSTARRS AND ORION

 2026 May 10

Comet R3 PanSTARRS and Orion
Image Credit & Copyright: Luc Perrot (TWAN)

Explanation: Orion never had a sword like this. As Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) heads out of the inner Solar System, it is putting on quite a show for long exposure cameras. Currently seen toward the constellation of Orion the Hunter, the distant Orion Nebula is visible on the upper right. Comet R3 PanSTARRS is now showing two distinct tails: a short dust tail pointing toward the top of the image and a long and wavy ion tail trailing off toward the upper left. The ion tail points away from the Sun and glows blue from excited carbon monoxide. Large particles in the dust tail somewhat resist the radiation pressure that push them away from the Sun and so retain a bit of the comet's orbit. The dust tail shines by reflected sunlight. The featured image was taken a few days ago from France's Reunion Island in the southern Indian Ocean.

Astronomy - MESSIER CRATERS IN STEREO

 2026 May 9

Messier Craters in Stereo
Image Credit: Apollo 11, NASA; Stereo Image Copyright Patrick Vantuyne

Explanation: Many bright nebulae and star clusters in planet Earth's sky are associated with the name of astronomer Charles Messier from his famous 18th century catalog. His name is also given to these two large and remarkable craters on the Moon. Standouts in the dark, smooth lunar Sea of Fertility or Mare Fecunditatis, Messier (left) and Messier A have dimensions of 15 by 8 and 16 by 11 kilometers respectively. Their elongated shapes are explained by the extremely shallow-angle trajectory followed by an impactor, moving left to right, that gouged out the craters. The shallow impact also resulted in two bright rays of material extending along the surface to the right, beyond the picture. Intended to be viewed with red/blue glasses (red for the left eye), this striking stereo picture of the crater pair was recently created from high resolution scans of two images (AS11-42-6304, AS11-42-6305) taken during the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon.

Santé/Médecine - LES SYMPTOMES DE LA FIBROMYALGIE: 10. AUTRES SYMPTOMES - (12/12)

Quels sont les autres symptômes de la fibromyalgie ?

À ces principaux symptômes s’ajoutent aussi des symptômes moins caractéristiques, mais tout aussi pénibles :

 

- vertiges et maladresse 

- sensation de chaud ou froid, qui est due au fait que l’organisme n’arrive pas à correctement régler la température corporelle

- impatiences, ou syndrome des jambes sans repos (SJSR), une envie irrésistible de bouger les jambes lorsqu’elles sont au repos 

- sensations de picotements et d’engourdissement au niveau des pieds et des mains (aussi appelée paresthésie) 

- un besoin fréquent d’uriner, souvent associé à des douleurs lorsque l’on fait pipi 

- chez les femmes, des règles beaucoup plus douloureuses qu’à la normale 

- anxiété, souvent liée à la crainte de souffrir d’une maladie grave.

CommentEconomiser

Astronomy - COMET R3 PanSTARRS BEFORE RIGEL

 2026 May 8

Comet R3 PanSTARRS Before Rigel
Image Credit & Copyright: Jakub Kuřák & Martin Mašek (FZU of the Czech Academy of Sciences)

Explanation: Which way is Comet R3 PanSTARRS going? Not towards the star at the top of the image, because that is Rigel, which, being far in the background, is unrelated to the comet. Not through the nebula in the image middle, because that is the Witch Head Nebula and it, too, is far in the distance -- but not far from Rigel.  Not into northern skies because over the past week Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) has moved into southern skies and is now best visible in Earth's Southern Hemisphere toward the west after sunset.  Angularly, Comet R3 PanSTARRS is slowly moving toward the upper right, night by night, and will soon be in the constellation Orion. Spatially, the comet is now headed out of our Solar System but should remain visible to cameras in southern skies for about a week. The featured image was captured last week near Cerro Paranal in Chile.

Santé/Médecine - LES SYMPTOMES DE LA FIBROMYALGIE: 9. Un état dépressif - (11/12)

Parce que la fibromyalgie est une maladie invalidante, la dépression apparaît parfois chez ceux qui en souffrent. Lorsque c’est le cas, la dépression entraîne à son tour d’autres symptômes, y compris :

 

- un état dépressif constant, 

- un sentiment de découragement et d’impuissance, 

- une perte d’intérêt pour le monde extérieur. 

Si vous pensez souffrir de dépression, parlez-en à votre médecin. Ou encore, si vous en avez déjà consulté, à un professionnel de santé spécialisé dans la fibromyalgie.

CommentEconomiser

Astronomie - ÉTOILE FILANTE DANS LE CIEL JAPONAIS

Magnifique étoile filante associée à l'essaim météoritique des Perséides photographiée dans le ciel de Narusawa-mura, au sud-ouest de Tokyo, le 13 août 2016. Comme on peut le voir, le bolide semble avoir été décoché par Persée (à gauche de la photo). La grappe d'étoiles en dessous de l'horizon est celle des Pléiades (Subaru, en japonais).

© reonides, Flickr

Santé/Médecine - LES SYMPTOMES DE LA FIBROMYALGIE: 8. LE SYNDROME DE L'INTESTIN IRRITABLE (SII ) - (10/12)

Beaucoup de personnes qui luttent contre la maladie souffrent aussi du syndrome de l’intestin irritable (SII). Le SII est plus rare chez ceux qui luttent contre la fibromyalgie, mais aussi gênant que les autres symptômes de cette liste. En effet, le SII provoque de nombreux troubles digestifs, y compris : 

- diarrhées, 

- ballonnements, 

- constipation et 

- douleurs abdominales.

CommentEconomiser

Astronomy - THE RETROGRADE DANCE OF SATURN AND NEPTUNE

 2026 May 6

The Retrograde Dance of Saturn and Neptune
Image Credit & Copyright: Tunç Tezel (TWAN)
Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)

Explanation: What does it mean for Saturn and Neptune to be in retrograde? Featured is a composite of images taken over 34 nights from May 2025 to February 2026 tracing Saturn (brighter, foreground) and Neptune (dimmer, background). Over that time, the two planets exhibited retrograde motion, meaning they appeared to move backward in the sky. This apparent backwards motion occurs when Earth overtakes the slower outer planets as they orbit the Sun. Imagine the Solar System is a running track. Earth "runs" faster along the inside of the track compared to the outer planets. As Earth approaches, aligns, and then "laps" the outer planets, they change position from ahead to behind from the Earth's perspective. This perspective shift is what causes the outer planets to change position in the night sky. An animation corresponding to today’s image shows Saturn and Neptune’s months-long dance across the northern night sky. Saturn stepped from the Pisces constellation into Aquarius and back again while Neptune remained in Pisces. This is the closest Saturn and Neptune have been in the sky since their last conjunction in 1989.

Astronomy - ORION OVER MOUNT TEIDE

 2026 May 5

Orion over Mount Teide
Image Credit & Copyright: Marcin Rosadziński

Explanation: Orion is rarely seen like this. To achieve this majestic vista, you need a camera capable of taking such long duration exposures that faint features in the night sky become revealed. Iconic nebulas that appear include the Orion Nebula, the Flame Nebula, and Barnard's Loop. For contrast, it also helps to have a volcano on the foreground, in this case the Teide volcano on Tenerife on the Canary Islands of Spain. But if you want your Teide volcano snow-covered, you also need good timing -- because that only happens, typically, for a few days each year. Good timing also includes waiting for Orion to appear just behind Teide, which occurred late last year after sunset. The featured image is the result of a series of images taken consecutively with the same camera from the same location.