Astronomy Picture of the Day – The Crown of the Sun

During a total solar eclipse, the Sun’s extensive outer atmosphere, or corona, is an inspirational sight. The subtle shades and shimmering features of the corona that engage the eye span a brightness range of over 10,000 to 1, making them notoriously difficult to capture in a single picture. But this composite of 28 digital images ranging in exposure time from 1/1000 to 2 seconds comes close to revealing the crown of the Sun in all its glory. The telescopic views were recorded near Kochenevo, Russia during the August 1 total solar eclipse and also show solar prominences extending just beyond the edge of the eclipsed sun. Remarkably, features on the dark near side of the New Moon can also be made out, illuminated by sunlight reflected from a Full Earth.

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Wordle

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

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Here’s an example using U2’s “One.”

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Elvis’ Boyhood Church Re-Opens

The simple wood chapel 110 miles southeast of Memphis, Tenn., is no Crystal Cathedral. But the East Tupelo First Assembly of God building had a greater effect on 20th-century music than any of America’s gilded mega churches.

Inside its walls, Elvis Presley discovered God and gospel music and learning to strum a guitar and sing.

Closed to the public for more than 50 years, the building was restored this year by the Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation. Today, after a brief ceremony and prayer, the historic Pentecostal church will again open its doors to the world.

Full Article

Update:  Here’s an updated article.

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