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Space Rocks!

 Friends,

Turning 55 today has me pondering the great philosopher Sammy Hagar's inability to drive my age. As the eighties earworm echoes in my head, another lead-foot comes to mind: the late Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) probe, which was doing 14,000 MPH when it clocked into Dimporphos, a 525 foot diameter asteroid, on Monday, If you missed the crash, google "DART probe." When you do, an animated probe will crash into the results page, tilting it one degree—which was the desired post-impact change in the asteroid's trajectory! (pardon my inner geek, but that alone is pretty cool!).  Watching the last image of the live transmission, it occurred to me that the asteroid's rocky texture would make a great rock album cover (get it?). In fact, the barrage of space images coming-in these days seems purpose built for cover art. Bands of all genres could save a ton by using these amazing pics. To illustrate my point, I've mocked-up a few ideas, using real bands and whimsy album titles (sorry, no red rocker tunes in this collection). So grab a donut and peruse the records. Afterwards, you might play a match on your pew, pew, pewter Star Wars chess set. Alright, I'm all out of funny.

Image Credit : NASA, DART image of Dimorphos (right before the crash) transmitted 9/26/2022

Image Credit: ESA, IC 5332 Galaxy's "bones", shot by Webb Space Telescope 9/28/2022

Image Credit: NASA, Tarantula Nebula shot by Webb Space Telescope 9/6/2022

Image Credit: NASA, Neptune, it's rings and satellites shot by Webb Space Telescope 9/21/2022

Image Credit: NASA, Carina Nebula (a star nursery) shot by Webb Space Telescope 7/13/2022

Image Credit: NASA/ESA?CSA, Phantom Galaxy shot by Webb Space Telescope 8/29/2022

Happy Friday!

P.S. A special thank you to Marilyn Bromberg for the wonderful birthday poem.

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