Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2002 September 10 
Posted on 09/09/2002 9:27:35 PM PDT by petuniasevan
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2002 September 10
Explanation: A thunderstorm, lightning, a bright star and a bright planet all graced an evening sky for a short while near Bismarck, North Dakota, USA two weeks ago. Thick thunderclouds from a passing storm are the origin of a strong cloud to ground lightning strike. Small areas of rain darken portions of the orange sunset, visible at the horizon above the vast prairie. The planet Venus peeks below the clouds on the lower left of the image. Blue sky shines high above the distant storm, streaked with high white cirrus clouds. The bright star Arcturus glitters near the image top, just left of center. Just a few minutes later, only a memory and this picture remained.
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Somewhere neither up nor down
not the earth and not the clouds
Somewhere in reality and imagination
in truth and dream alike
Somewhere we can never travel
and yet we always go
Somewhere there is no real color
so color is all that we see
Somewhere there is a line drawn
that disappears once you get there
Somewhere no one ever realizes
between the darkness and the light.
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