COSMOPOETRY INTERNATIONALS XXII:
RETURN TO ASTROPOETRY
by SARM’s Cosmopoetry Master Club and Friends
(from the Science Fiction Poetry Association, Astronomers Without Borders,
International Meteor Organization, astronomy.ro and others around the world)
*
WELCOME BACK
by Antonio Martinez Picar (Royal Observatory of Belgium,
member of the International Meteor Organization,
born in Venezuela)
Good morning ladies and gentlemen,
this is your soul speaking:
The outside temperature is about 300 Kelvin
and conditions are predominantly stable.
We take this opportunity to convey our best wishes,
although we know that you feel already at home.
We also hope that both the time and all the circumstances
needed to be overcome
in order to get here have been rewarding.
Finally, on behalf of all your friends and acquaintances,
we welcome you back to
Astropoetry!
JANUARY 1, 2017
(with Sun, Moon and Venus on the Voivodes Hill, Targoviste,
former headquarters of SARM’s annual Perseid Event
and the birthplace of the Cosmopoetry Festival)
a photographic poem by Valentin Grigore
RETURN TO ASTROPOETRY
astro-photo poem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
We live in changing times,
when words are (more or less) replaced
by (static and especially moving) images.
To keep the equilibrium between them
I think that from time to time
we should remember that the Word
was primordial for our world.
Astropoetry + astro (photo or arts) = Cosmopoetry,
so that Cosmopoetry without Astropoetry would not really exist,
or it would be just sentimental images without illuminating words.
To carry in thoughts
a deep sky object,
a total solar eclipse,
the crowned moon,
the apparent closeness of two or more planets among the stars,
or simply a heavenly body
is not the same
as only visiting them
occasionally
on the Internet.
ILLUSION/DISILLUSION
by Arlene Carol
(USA, residing in Turkey)
We are all the product of our own illusions.
We imagine that the cluster of stars we have named and befriended all of our lives
are as we see them.
Eventually, we come to realize that it is our location in the solar system
that gives these stars their substance;
move a million miles to the right or left and the illusion disappears…
they are no longer what we imagined them to be.
This is also true with much of life.
UNDER QUADRANTIDS
photographic poem by Valentin Grigore
THE PAINTER TRAVELING THROUGH TIME & SPACE
by Marge Simon
(USA, Poet-Laureate of the Rhysling Award)
She synergizes,
twists and turns
twirling her rainbow skirts
to astral symphonies
she weaves
the warp and weft
of temporalities
she sculpts
the curvature of space,
a swirl of elements
she paints
the skies of earths unknown
from possible/probable’s
in galaxies of a million suns
as she performs
her dance though time.
HELIX NEBULA
photo by Mihai Dumitrica
JANUARY ICE STARS or TELESCOPE AND MICROSCOPE
astro-photo-poem by Maximilian Teodorescu
I caught Horsehead and Flame by telescope
and now…
I’m in hibernation mode…
No clear skies for some time now,
lots of snow, very cold, not much to do…
It’s the perfect time to take a few
shots of…snowflakes!
These images were all taken from my balcony,
on a microscope slide that I’ve placed outside my window for a few minutes
at -10 degrees Celsius.
Note the lovely rainbow colors at the edges and small features of the flakes.
IT’S NOT GOOD
by Tit Tihon
I know relativity
and what happens
in the Universe.
It’s not good…
I watched a star
and I am sad by
her death in the galaxy.
It’s not good…
I watch constellations
and I see life in the past
from beyond the clouds.
It’s not good…
I transform myself into quanta
measured in the parsecs
from beyond the Sun.
It’s not good!
What would the right road be
for my soul
toward the Creator from myself?
CROWNS AND HALOS IN JANUARY 2017
photographic poem by Valentin Grigore
FEBRUARY 10 - IN BRIEF SHORT
astro-art-poem by Adrian Bruno Sonka
(coordinator at the Bucharest Municipal Observatory)
1. A penumbral lunar eclipse appears on February 10/11
2. The Moon enters not the Earth’s shadow, but its penumbra
3. Watch the Moon on February 10
4. You can sleep until 01:00 on February 11
5. Watch the Moon at 01:30: the upper side on the left is more yellowish
6. Watch the Moon at 02:30: a half of it is darker
7. Use your phone cell, make a zoom and photograph the Moon with a short exposure
8. Watch the Moon at 04:00: the darker side is smaller and moved to the right
9. Now you can go to sleep
10. After you wake up, put the photo on Facebook
Others were faster!
PENUMBRAL LUNAR ECLIPSE
photo by Octavian Stanescu
MOON SICKLE
astro-photo-poem by Adrian Bruno Sonka
(coordinator at the Bucharest Municipal Observatory)
In February 2017
a beautiful thin sickle was visible after sunset:
with the naked eye, without details;
through the telescope, with many craters.
We say that the age of the Moon
was two days.
FORGOTTEN STAR
(A memorial to you)
by Larry Jaffe (USA,
coordinator of Dialogue among Civilizations through Poetry Readings 2001-2014,
founder of Poets for Human Rights)
Long before
this universe was born
you were likened to a star
a glowing tribute
to your own existence.
In those days before time
there was no such thing
as burnout
you simply forgot
you are a star
SIRIUS AND SIRIUS B
photo by Maximilian Teodorescu
MACROBALL AND MICROBALL
photo by Cristina Tinta-Vass
UNIVERSAL FORCE
by Dominic Diamant
How many galaxies are in the Universe?
Nobody knows.
Is love just the universal force?
Who knows?
I only feel
its cosmic rustling.
MARKARIAN CHAIN
photo by Maximilian Teodorescu
AN ANNIVERSARY
WITH AN IRIDESCENT CLOUD AND A SMALL LUNAR CROWN
astro-photo-poem by Valentin Grigore
49 years
of watching the show of life
surrounded by skies!
And I am a part of it!
So I thank the Creator and everyone who honors me
as part of my life!
ABOUT THE SCALES OF THE COSMOS
by David Asher
(UK, born in Scotland, astronomer at Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland,
discoverer of asteroids and predictor of meteor showers)
From a neutrino
Up to the whole universe:
Cosmological.
COMET 41P, M108, M97 (OWL)
photo by Cristian Danescu
WONDERFUL DESCENT
by Iulian Olaru
On the beam of a star
The light of the consciousness
Came down to us
ALTAIR AND THE MILKY WAY
photo by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”
BIRTH OF AN ASTROPHYSICIST
by Bruce Boston
(USA, first Grand Master of Science Fiction Poetry)
Chasing equations
down an inclined plane
he fell into sidereal night.
The itch of uncountable
stars soon became
his joyous obsession.
SKY LOVERS IN DAMBOVITA COUNTY
(Targoviste’s Dracula Tower, Voivodes Hill, Manesti, Runcu Stone)
photographic poem by Valentin Grigore
RECIPE
by Victor Chifelea
The ingredients for the creation of the Universe
seem to be banal,
a few gases for nebulae,
a little dust for stars,
here and there a few explosions
and, in time, heavenly bodies will begin to shine…
We wait to develop the composition
and certainly it will begin to extend.
What is it necessary further?
Consciousness!
Its scope?
Edification of infinity!
ELEPHANT TRUNK
photo by Cristian Danescu
EQUINOX XIV (2017)
(National children’s festival of astronomy and astronomical creation)
photographic poem by Suceava Planetarium and Observatory
EVENING STAR 2017
astro-photo-poem by Dan Uza
During the last days with the Evening Star
before being lost in sunlight,
on March 13, I found the planet Venus
in the western sky among the clouds.
Its angle diameter being close
to one minute of arc,
people with visual acuity
could discern its phase of sickle.
Unfortunately
I was not among them!
EVENING VENUS 2017
photo-collage by Maximilian Teodorescu
EVENING VENUS 2017
photo-collage by Valentin Grigore
GLOBAL WARMING
by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
Sometimes the weather
Is extremely hot,
So that I’d go to
Jupiter’s Red Spot.
JUPITER 2017
photo by Adrian Bruno Sonka
(coordinator at the Bucharest Municipal Observatory)
JUPITER
photo-collage by Maximilian Teodorescu
JUPITER
photographic poem by Ciprian Vintdevara
(coordinator at the Barlad Observatory)
JUPITER 2017
photo by Eugen Florin Marc
THE POLE STAR
by Bob Eklund
(USA, editor of the Astropoetry Blog of Astronomers without Borders)
Behind the north wind
all the stars are trembling --
even Polaris.
POLARIS
photo by Maximilian Teodorescu
REVELATION
by Gelu Claudiu Radu
I’ve found who I am
A fool in the Universe
Who just rides a star
HORSEHEAD NEBULA
photo by Cristian Grigorovici
CELESTIAL IMAGINARY LINES
astro-art-poem by Adrian Bruno Sonka
(coordinator at the Bucharest Municipal Observatory)
We all have imaginary problems.
The same about the canopy of heaven.
You would believe that the canopy has a clear personality,
but you are wrong.
No problem is so difficult
as that of imaginary celestial lines!
It is hard to decipher the constellations,
and when you find out about the systems of sky coordinates,
you risk falling down.
For example, here are the imaginary lines
that show the altitude of a star.
Here are the imaginary lines
of the azimuth.
Here are their combination
(simple, isn’t it?).
But from all the imaginary lines
there must be a favorite one.
(If you have ten outfits,
one of them must be the best!)
Miss Line of the Universe is…
the Meridian!
She doesn’t exist,
but she is visible,
uniting the south with the place from over your head and with the north.
All stars and all planets arrive at the Meridian once a day
(some even twice),
and when they are over there,
they are at the highest altitude over the horizon.
That’s why the Meridian is the most beautiful and smartest line,
who graduated with three doctorates
and wants to change the world
and to stop the famine.
And she looks so good
dressed in stars!
STARRY SUNFLOWER
photo by Claudiu Crianga
THREE VISIONS OF THE MOON IN 2017
astro-photo-poem by Mircea Pteancu
February 11 - Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
Do not lose any occasion for observations,
It never comes back to give us for a second chance!
June 30 - Moon and Jupiter
Two astronomical lollipops!
August 7
Last night I followed the Moon among the clouds and…
goodbye Astronomy until the next clear sky!
SIX WEEKS OF METEOR SHOWERS
by Christina M. Rau
(USA, member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association)
A memory of you
around small stars
tilted planets
Heavenly bodies
burned out
not broken
Gone by the time
we get there, where they
used to be back
then when they were
beautiful
LYRID NIGHT
photo by Vlad Dumitrescu
PICTURES OF AN ALEX CONU EXHIBITION
(ARCUB, Bucharest, May 20, 2017 )
introductory picture by Alex Conu (member of The World At Night)
tipuritura and letter by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
photos after Alex Conu exhibition by Valentin Grigore
Sometimes the Northern Lights become a dream
Which comes to us thanks to a human beam.
Dear Alex Conu,
a few years ago you moved to Norway
to make your own multicolored mantle adorned by stars.
But it is inexhaustible and so beautiful,
that you prefer to share it with the entire world.
Thank you,
Romanian Photo-Explorer of the Northern Skies!
ENCELADUS
by Zigmund Tauberg
During clear nights we can see
How Saturn shines,
A planet surrounded by rings
And numerous satellites.
One of them, Enceladus,
Is quite fabulous,
An icy realm
Which makes me think
Of a cosmic skating rink…
Under its clothes
There could be life,
And this makes me wonder at other wonders
Which could be
Hidden in far worlds,
In our galaxy!
EUDIA PAVONIELLA AND SATURN
photographic poem by Maximilian Teodorescu
AGONY AND HOPE
by Alfredo Caronia
(Italy, residing in Romania; discoverer of asteroids)
While a pale agony
accompanies a probable death
of the Earth,
we cherish and are proud of the remote dream
to contact another distant civilization!
Perhaps curious and not tamed by the difficulties
of exchanging synchronous signals
or at least echoes of past existences!
Accumulated by a future destiny
of progressive extinction of biological life on this Earth,
miraculously carved
in an ideal orbit
in a wonderful geometry
of celestial mechanics,
we probe parallel real worlds
in an imaginary or unlikely
contact!
We are sudden reverberations
of moments vanished among daring signs,
elusive beyond known spaces
to chase traces of stories
that arduous will be to scan
between distances that rarefy
signals, heirs of impossible contemporary actuality!
We will be witnesses to death
or messengers of lives perhaps
extinct, maybe of forms of life in progress!
However inside our planetary orbits,
we are transits equi-distant
to the lack of communication!
One day maybe we’ll study another geography!
Perhaps one day
we will study the stories of the Worlds!
ASTRONOMY AT THE GRASS ALTITUDE IN JUNE 2017
photographic poem by Valentin Grigore
ASTROHAIKU
by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
Magic Milky Way
the secret summer compass
for my confused soul
I LOVE THE MILKY WAY
photo by Attila Munzlinger
RETURN TO ASTROPOETRY
astro-art-poem by Ion Moraru
For a few evenings I thought
I penetrated a temporal ringlet,
I saw the Moon like a splinter
And Venus close to it,
So the Earth still revolved.
Then the seasons came back
And I returned to astropoetry,
I chose a summer to fall on an exo-planet
And to bath myself in a sea with sweet water.
Suddenly I woke up on a chair on a trolleybus,
The Moon (round now) smiled to me,
My clothes were soppy
And I sipped extraterrestrial water from them.
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MODELS
photographic poem by Dan Mitrut
SURPRISES
by Jos Nijland
(the Netherlands, member of the International Meteor Organization)
Sometimes our Universe has a lot of surprises for us.
A supernova, fireballs, constellations or a beautiful comet
or even more disastrous a meteorite
with an enormous impact on earth…
Sometimes planet Earth has a lot of surprises for us.
Wonderful sunny or snowy days, aurora, beautiful nature,
or even more disastrous a house burned down
and nothing left than your own family…
Sometimes people around have a lot of surprise for us.
A gift, a hug, a smile, a kiss,
or even better than that,
a warm heart and a temporary home to stay for a while…
SOLAR ERUPTIONS
photographic poem by Maximilian Teodorescu
GENESIS AND SCIENCE
by Boris Marian (Mehr)
The wanted beam of the sun comforts me,
Out of you I don’t find another sly,
But with you I’ve lost the Word, so that
In the beginning was the Non-Word,
Scientific heresies feed me,
Who does know in what field of science
We can find love
PICKERING TRIANGLE
photo by Mihai Dumitrica
QUEST
astro-photo-poem by Ciprian Grigorescu
I’m looking for something between
a golden age
and a blue night…
FLORAL ASTRONOMY
photographic poem by Valentin Grigore
ANDROMEDA
photo by Vlad Dumitrescu
NATURAL ASTRONOMY
photographic poem by Ciprian Vintdevara
(coordinator at the Barlad Observatory)
AT SARM’S PERSEID EVENT XXV (2017)
astro-photo-poem by Valentin Grigore
Awaiting the Perseids,
Much heavenly show:
Crowned Moon, stars and
Waves of airglow!
…And, after all,
The Perseid super-show!
PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE
(2017-08-07)
photographic poem by Galati Observatory (coordinator Jan Ovidiu Tercu)
with the eclipse photo by Florin Matei
PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE
(2017-08-07)
photographic poem by Valentin Stoica
ONE -LINE ASTROPOEM
by Mirel Birlan
(Romanian-French astronomer at the Paris Observatory;
in 2003 an asteroid was named after him)
A shadow in the Universe looks for the genitor beam of light.
M27
photo by Mihai Dumitrica
THREE DIMENSIONS OF THE WORLD
astro-photo-poem by Adrian Zota
Manipulation…
Feelings…
Chaosmos!
NORTH AMERICA NEBULA
photo by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”
ECLIPSE
by Marge Simon (USA,
Poet-Laureate of the Rhysling Award)
When a hush fell over the grounds surrounding his cave,
the Neanderthal shaded his eyes.
He looked to the heavens to see what happened to the ball of light,
for it was too early for it to leave - it had been in the middle of the great blue above -
and he and all his people knew great fear,
and tore their hair and ran to hide inside their cave.
And when it had passed and all was bright again, they were amazed.
Then did one of them come forth to make it known
that they must bring fruits and furs and pretty stones to a special place
he found in his own cave, lest the sun be eaten by the sky again.
They must do this whenever he said it was time.
He was the first prophet, the first politician and the first skinflint.
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE - USA, 2017
photo by Alin Tolea
(USA: Romanian-born astronomer)
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE - USA, 2017
photo by Yasuhiro Tonomura
(Japan, member of the
Nippon Meteor Society, Oriental Astronomical Society
and International Meteor Organization)
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE - USA, 2017
photo by Casper ter Kuile (the Netherlands,
member of the International Meteor Organization)
18 YEARS AFTER THE GREAT EUROPEAN ECLIPSE
composition by Dimitrie Olenici
I was convinced and implemented my idea of
tabulating solar eclipses in the form of a spiral
in 1999 (on the occasion of the Great European Eclipse,
with the point of the Greatest Eclipse in Romania)
and published it in my book
“Eclipses. Since the World, the Sun and the Moon”
(in Romanian – “Eclipsele de cand Lumea, Soarele si Luna”).
Moreover on the occasion of SEC 2007,
held at the Griffith Observatory in LA,
I attended and brought 75 copies of a poster
that I had made to explain my spiral diagram
and I distributed them to many of the participants
(some of them probably remember the matter).
My explanation included a description of how this spiral mode of display shows:
succession according with Saros cycles - spiral series,
succession according to Methonic cycle - radial series,
and succession according to the lunar year of 354 days - circular series.
It is also presented a connection between Saros cycles
and Maya intervals of 177 days of succession of eclipses.
It is interesting the fact that in the spiral representation of the eclipses
we can see when the Saros series begins and when it ends.
In my spiral diagrams, I adopted the sense to the left
because this is the sense of the Sun on the sky in ecliptic coordinates.
At that time,
I was flattered that this method of eclipse layout and display
was praised even by “Mr. Eclipse” himself,
Fred Espenak,
who actually signed and dated one copy which I kept.
(Also “symbolic as between physicists”
I have had before
a discussion with Albert Einstein
about my spiral diagrams of Saros series of eclipse
in one of my dreams).
GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE 2017
photographic poem by Dan Zavoianu
(from the SARM expedition)
GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE 2017
astro-photo-poem by Ioana Ciuciulica
(from the SARM expedition)
A very round reason for us
to be together…
GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE 2017
photographic poem by Mihail Macovei
(from the SARM expedition)
SOLAR ECLIPSE WITH AN AIRPLANE
photo-collage by Dan Moldovanu
(from the SARM expedition)
GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE 2017
photographic poem by Ioana Stelea
(from the SARM expedition)
GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE 2017
photographic poem by Cristian Daniel Grigore
(from the SARM expedition)
THE SARM GROUP FOR THE GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE
photo by Vlad Popescu
GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE AND GUEST REGULUS
photo by Valentin Grigore
(leader of the SARM expedition)
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
The most fascinating phenomenon,
independent and imperial
through itself and divine grace,
involves two major options:
1. To watch it on TV or Internet.
2. To run to really catch it.
The second variant would be,
for any guy,
certainly a vain action,
but possibly a nice try.
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE - USA, 2017
photographic poem by Alex Stefanescu
(Canada, born in Romania)
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE - USA, 2017
photo by Alex Conu (member of The World At Night)
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE - USA, 2017
photographic poem by David J. Schuman (Canada)
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE - USA, 2017
photographic poem by Catalin Beldea and Catalin Fus
NEBULAE
by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
Should I watch like Iris?
Should I shine like Helix?
Should I smile like Omega?
Or…
Should I continue to solicit
a tensioned Heart
to keep up
a still living Soul?
HEART & SOUL NEBULAE
photo by Maximilian Teodorescu
ARTISTIC MOON (?)
astro-photo-poem by Gabriel Corban
If this lunar image seems to be artistic
the Universe is guilty,
not me…
Central-down, Mare Fecunditatis.
Up-left, Mare Nectaris.
A patch of the sky which I like.
I also like the micro-craters
produced by the impact of the meteorites,
and I like even more their trails
when they arrive, somehow tangentially, on the surface.
It was both a challenge and a pleasure for me
to catch in this image, through processing,
more very fine “scratches”
provoked by these collisions…
OCEANIC MOON
astro-photo-poem by John Goldsmith
(Australia,
member of the World at Night,
producer of Celestial Visions)
M101 AND EAST VEIL
astro-photo-poem by Emil Pera
M101.
The longest processing in my life.
Seven years of work from the capture.
East Veil.
The shortest processing in my life
(totally about 20 hours).
After so many difficult deep sky objects,
a more luminous nebula made me remember that
astrophotography could be not only frustrating and tiresome,
but also funny…
PLANET AND SATELLITE
by Dominic Diamant
Planet: Why do you turn around me
And feverishly prowl me?
Satellite: For my love to not tumble,
This is my eternal destiny!
INTERIOR PLANETS
(Mercury and Venus)
photo-collages by Constantin Sprianu
PLANETS
(Mars and Neptune, Jupiter and Venus)
photo-collages by Maximilian Teodorescu
GIANT PLANETS
(Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus)
photographic poem by Constantin Sprianu
NEPTUNE
photo by Balint Forro Eugen
ASTRO-CONFESSION
composition by Attila Kosa Kiss
In 1974, I began to observe variable stars with the naked eye
in the zone of my native town, Salonta
(north-west Romania, near the border with Hungary).
I continued through binoculars (8x30 and 7x50),
refractors (63/840 mm and 80/480 mm)
and a small telescope (Newton 156/1500 mm).
An observation needs 2-8 minutes,
depending on the luminosity of the star
and the (more or less known) stellar field.
I can make 100-115 estimations
when the sky is pure…
THE RELAY
by Tit Tihon
On the galactic relay station
Silence over the research zone,
Strange information mysteriously decrypting,
The square of the new constellation contoured.
The beginning was made
Beyond agglomerations of asteroids,
Binary movements of the spiraled arms
Creating astral formations, parallel to nioth energies.
The information, irradiated by hormonal thorns,
Wrongly calculated the distance in parsecs,
A strange hypnosis was induced on the living spiral of synchronicity,
Decomposing into the fractals of the new consciousness.
New forms of life contoured on tablets,
Planetary systems created by the green star,
At over one thousand light years from Terra
Artificial intelligences materialized a chaos.
A new geometric form became real,
Combining and reproducing the new cell,
The comet created by the living sphinx of the pyramid
Which irradiated in quanta the human making.
COMETS 2017
(2P, 45P, 41P)
photographic poem by Maximilian Teodorescu
SEPTEMBER COLORS
astro-photo-poem by Valentin Grigore
September bathed in colors,
painted by twilights reflected in the mirror of the lake
and vibrating in the soul of the astro-photographer,
who thought how he could surprise the emotion of those moments…
just because soon the tree leaves will also borrow
these autumn colors.
MEMORY
poem by Dragos Brasov
(president of Urania Astronomical Association, Bucharest)
photos by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
When I was a child
I saw the Moon on the corner of a block of flats
and I wanted to go to it.
Lucky me,
the doors were closed!
RED OCTOBER
astro-photo-poem by Gerald England (UK,
Poet-Laureate of the Ted Slayer Award)
Remnants of Hurricane Ophelia
draws air full of Saharan dust
and debris from forest fires
in Spain and Portugal.
A bright sun struggles
to break through.
COSMOPOETRY AWARD
ASTRONAUT AND PHILOSOPHER
by Dominic Diamant
Astronaut: I know I’ll lose myself in infinity,
Without knowing if I’d be a winner.
Philosopher: Anyway, you’d be accomplished
And the Universe will be your kingdom!
MOON AND FLYING MACHINES
(airplane and ISS)
photographic poem by Maximilia Teodorescu
ALL THE YEARS THEY DIDN’T
(After Passengers, 2016)
by Christina M. Rau (USA,
member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association)
A meteor a month out—
the time it takes to tie a shoe
in fake gravity. He woke her.
After he woke up
couldn’t fall back down
suspended alone
aging
while everyone else rests.
One tree starts a forest,
one death a decade.
In good time, bottles and dancing
lifetime light-years redefined.
Left back old souls,
a real peace
home.
ORIONID NIGHT
photo by Valentin Grigore
A LEAP FOR ADVANCED ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY
(Heart, M101, M13, M33, Pelican)
astro-photo-poem by Iosif Bodnariu
An entire life of targets for astrophotography
is not enough in this beautiful Universe
which allows us to discover it…
ASTRO 2017 NATIONAL EVENT AT RUNCU STONE
photographic poem by Valentin Grigore
THE ANTIGRAVITY LAW
photo-poem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
One morning after rain
I saw how a few happy doves
left their high positions
and sipped water from a puddle.
But soon a car stopped right there,
chasing them away.
Certainly,
the driver was much more important,
he was a man.
All that remained for doves
was to defy gravity again
and to fly in the sky.
END OF NOVEMBER AT RUNCU STONE
photographic poem by Valentin Grigore
THE DAY WHEN A STAR
WILL BE REPLACED BY THE MOON
astro-art-poem by Adrian Bruno Sonka
(coordinator at the Bucharest Municipal Observatory)
I’m so sorry,
the constellation Leo will lose the brightest star,
which will be replaced by the Moon,
who quickly moves in the sky
and many times meets stars on her road.
She does not avoid them,
on the contrary,
she passes over them.
Thus, in December 2017 around 23:30,
the Moon will cover the star Regulus.
But do not cry too much!
The star will re-appear in the sky after about 30 minutes.
That’s all!
LIGHTS AT ZIGO DOME
photo by Casper ter Kuile (the Netherlands,
member of the International Meteor Organization)
ROMANIAN PLANETARIA
Baia Mare, Constanta, Bacau, Pitesti, Galati
ISAAC NEWTON TELESCOPE 50
(December 1, 2017)
composition by Ovidiu Vaduvescu
(Romanian-Canadian-Spanish astronomer in La Palma,
Leader of the EURONEAR Project)
INT turns 50 in 2017,
being born in the same year with me (1967).
Inaugurated by Queen Elisabeth,
it was installed in Herstmonceux (near London) for the first 12 years,
but, affected by the bad weather in England,
it was not too productive,
so in 1984 it was improved and shipped to La Palma.
I am glad I am a part of its history since 2009,
managing its annual program for students
and among the research themes,
coordinating the discovery of the first near-earth asteroids here.
INT turns 50 in 2017,
and right now a few colleagues of mine are working on it,
trying to observe the same star which was the “first light” 50 years ago.
We should never cease to dream
to arrive where we want,
in spite of any obstacle.
Thus, we would be surprised
to exceed our own fears and limits,
which, in fact,
do not quite exist in the Universe.
MOON AND JUPITER OVER ROMANIA
photo by Raul Truta
SUNSET IN PORTUGAL
photographic poem by Emmanuel Schwalb (Israel) and Codruta Negoitescu
RAINBOW OVER ROMANIA
photo by Gabriel Corban
SUNRISE SCENERY IN ROMANIA
photo by Valentin Grigore
NO EXPLANATION
photo by Thilina Heenatigala (Sri Lanka,
astronomy educator at Leyden Observatory, the Netherlands,
and former national coordinator of Astronomers Without Borders)
SUNRISE OVER ROMANIAN MOUNTAINS
photo by Valentin Grigore
DUTCH SECENERY WITH FOG AND SHADOWS
photo by Casper ter Kuile (the Netherlands,
member of the International Meteor Organization)
SUN AND MOON OVER NORTH AMERICA
photographic poem by Alin Tolea (USA,
astronomer born in Romania)
WATCHING GEMINIDS
by Kim Goldberg (Canada,
winner of the Rannu Fund Prize for Speculative Literature)
We waited til dark to go
down to the docks and watch the Geminids
spit from the sky. But all we found
was a deadman’s fog
shrouding ships and their slumbering
cargo. Our eyes
were no good so we used our minds to feel
our planet hurtling through the gritstorm
of an ancient asteroid shedding itself across
the galaxy, dropping bits
and pieces on our hopeful yearning heads
anointing us, each fiery cinder hissing softly
when it hits the fog.
GEMINIDS OVER GERMANY
photo by Adrian Zota
GEMINID TIME 2017
by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
Pollux and Castor
strategists of meteors
on Geminid nights
ASTRAL LINE UP 2017 DURING THE GEMINIDS
photographic poem by Valentin Grigore
GEMINIDS 2017
astro-photo-poem by Alex Conu (member of The World At Night)
Two Geminid meteors travelling on parallel trajectories
above the Genoese fortress of Enisala, Romania.
A car driving on the road to the fortress illuminates the stage.
Passing cirrus clouds enhance star color
and make the landscape above Lake Razim look somehow eerie.
Two Geminids are visible (one in Orion and another in Gemini).
A bright meteor, not belonging to the Geminids, can be seen close to the horizon.
Composition of multiple Geminid meteors above Enisala, Dobrogea,
during the night of December 12-13, 2017.
I only selected the brighter meteors shot during the night;
there are also two non-Geminids there (can you spot them?).
Out of all meteors shot during that night, one was beautifully colored.
Six Geminids were composited in this image of the Winter Hexagon.
The Winter Hexagon is an asterism with vertices at stars Rigel (in Orion),
Aldebaran (in Taurus), Capella (in Auriga), Pollux (in Gemini),
Procyon (in Canis Minor) and Sirius (in Canis Major).
I normally don't use foregrounds with people for this kind of compositions
as I usually composite meteors that have been photographed during a full night,
but this time it was different.
All meteors were captured in only three frames shot one after the other,
during a moment of increased activity in the evening of December 14.
I've been standing there for the duration of five images.
Three of them were the lucky ones.
PRIDE
astro-photo-poem by George Tanase
I’m proud
to be a Romanian sky lover…
and to spend a night with the Ursid meteors…
ASTRO-CHERITA
by David Kopaska Merkel (USA
Editor of Dreams and Nightmares,
former President of the Science Fiction Poetry Association)
two bottomless wells
a wary dance
at last, they kiss
the cosmos rings
sweeping through space-time
wave without a shore
COSMOPOETRY AWARD
DEEP SKY OBJECTS
(Crescent, Orion Nebula, Pacman)
photographic poem by Bogdan Bancila
THE DIVINE COMMANDMENT
by Tit Tihon
The NASA man, thinking he is the master of the Universe,
Made rockets to conquer planets,
After the science of new formulae and relativistic theories,
He launches modules toward the Moon and Mars.
Many people at Cape Canaveral
With human joy and prayers for the new launch,
Toward the canopy of heaven, where only the gods live,
Advising the earthlings about their future.
3, 2, 1, Start. The rocket detaches from gravity,
Motors throw on Earth garlands of smoke,
Astronauts in special costumes
Go toward the heavens with astral speed.
But close to the horizon a minuscule white plate
Separates from the titanium alloy of the big rocket,
Provoking the unpredictable disaster,
All disintegrates, all explodes in blazes.
The people thunderstruck watch the sky
Covered by black clouds lowering white tornados,
Torrents of tears from thousands of hopes,
The fatal negligence pulverizing the divine commandment.
ISS SOLAR TRANSIT
photographic poem by Maximilian Teodorescu
STAND WITH ME, STRANGER
by Marge Simon (USA,
Poet-Laureate of the Rhysling Award)
Behold the moon!
a graft of simple being,
a swift and sudden fiat
burning in the sky
against a perfect black.
Cloud passages reveal
all reds and blues,
that disturb the sands
of sleeping epochs,
forming lunar continents
for the first time in centuries.
Stand with me, stranger,
I don't need to know your name.
What we witness is no less
a miracle than the zygotes’
breath and all that remains
is a prayer that some race out there
will note this spectacle, and trace
our footprints in moon dust,
perhaps speculate why we
never reached the stars.
MOON SICKLE
photo by Sorin Hotea
MYSTERIOUS MOON
photo by Vlad Dumitrescu
LUNAR MOSAIC
photo by Emil Fruntelata
LUNAR IMAGES
(Theophilos, Pythagoras, Platon)
photographic poem by Maximilian Teodorescu
INTERGALACTIC DIALOGUE
by Dominic Diamant
Galaxy 1: We loved each other, we multiplied,
And today nobody knows how many we are
And from where we arrive.
Galaxy 2: Nothing bad in this.
Stars have flourished,
Skies have illuminated
And our symphony
Is magnificent and immortal.
BODE & CYGAR
photo by Razvan Rabei
SOLSTICE LETTER TO THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
text and haiku by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
photo 1: by Danut Ionescu
(Auckland Astronomical Society, New Zealand,
born in Romania)
photo 2: by Valentin Grigore
Dear Danut Ionescu:
Do you remember how
before the 2014 winter solstice
you invited me to celebrate together
15 years of astro-friendship
through an inter-hemispheric work
(because in the 2000s you moved to New Zealand),
including my haiku
and your solar photo made through
the installations of Auckland StarDome Observatory,
and then you published it on Facebook
in the Worldwide Solstice Festival 2014?
Here is the reproduction of our work in tandem:
Solstice festival -
I hope the Sun is also
a Facebook lover
I’ll never forget that you were the first
who published some of my astropoems in the astronomical magazine
you edited in Romania in the 1990s,
Orion,
and then you introduced me into the atmosphere of SARM’s Perseid event,
organized by Valentin Grigore and his team.
And we (just three dreamers)
officially started the cosmopoetry project in 1995!
That’s why, wishing you all the best,
I’ll end this letter with another work in tandem
(as a warm salute from our Romania),
this time around the 2017 winter solstice,
with another haiku by me
and a solar photo made just by Valentin Grigore:
Joyous sunrises
always carrying new hopes
and at least a dream
TRAGIC ASTRO-HUMOUR
by Dimitrie Olenici
Since in the last years Romania lost for a few times
the chance to have a large telescope,
the same question re-appears:
When will this country have such a telescope, however?
Probably this is the only case when
the astronomers could ask the astrologers.
CRESCENT NEBULA
photo by Topacid
PAINTING
astro-photo-poem by Valentin Grigore
It is so good to see
the sky painted by stars…
CALIFORNIA NEBULA
astro-photo-poem by Maximilian Teodorescu
A colorized version,
using my own “artistic feeling”
this object resembling a little
“Nexus ribbon” from one of the Star Trek movies…
MYSTERIES
astro-photo-poem by Dan Mitrut
The sky’s enigmatic feast
Always awakens the mysteries from us:
Venus flowing toward the east…
COSMOPOETRY AWARD
AR 2682 AND 2683
photo by Maximilian Teodorescu
FOLLOWING PHENOMENA THROUGH EUROPE
(1. Solar Halo over Romania;
2. Solar Arc over Spain; 3. Lunar Crown over Romania;
4. Solar Halo near an Ukrainean-Moldavian Border)
astro-photo-poem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
I cannot taste them
but the phenomena are
very sweet for me
CAROL
by Iulian Olaru
Toward the upper rise
With the Star of Magi -
The cave of the heart
HAPPY NEW YEAR WITH MOON AND SIRIUS
photo by Attila Munzlinger
LET’S HOPE THEY APPRECIATE THE HUMOR
by Arlene Carol
(USA, residing in Turkey)
A billion years in the future, some cosmic entity
will come across
a shiny red convertible,
driven by a robot in a space suit
speeding endlessly through the universe.
Perhaps he will simply shake his head
and ask to no one in particular,
“I wonder what highway exit this guy took to end up so far from home!”
THE LAST DAY OF 2017
(Moon-Aldebaran Occultation, Sunrise, the Moon)
photographic poem by Valentin Grigore
WHAT A PLEASURE
by Antonio Martinez Picar (Royal Observatory of Belgium,
member of the International Meteor Organization,
born in Venezuela)
Hey! How are you? How did it go? Is everything OK?
I saw you in the distance and I ran a little to say hello,
before you run away again…
Me? Well, you know, I'm a very stubborn guy,
a bit rebellious, and I do not like to wait too long for things.
But, honestly speaking, I’m delighted to see you again.
It has always been a relief sharing with you.
The truth is that I would like to see you more often, having you closer.
Because, seriously, you do my soul good.
I've missed you.
AstroPoetry,
what a pleasure to find you again!
HAPPY NEW YEAR
postcard by Andrei Juravle
ASTROMYTHOLOGICAL HEROES
by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
Two Romanian mythological heroes,
Harap-Alb (who used
to fly to the moon and stars)
and Greuceanul (who liberated the sun and the moon
from the claws of the dragons)
just came back
from the Galactic Congress of the Mythological Heroes,
that took place in the constellation Orion.
Don’t worry, they said to me,
all of us (from Gilgamesh to Luke Skywalker)
will continue to fight against the polluting monsters,
pressing humanity to preserve on Earth
zones of clean sky
for the progress of astronomy,
the glory of culture
and the flourishing of astropoetry!
CANOPY OF HEAVEN
photo by Valentin Grigore
*
Coordinator: Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
President of SARM: Valentin Grigore
Proofreader: Arlene C. Brill
Design: Florin Alexandru Stancu
© 2017 SARM
(Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy)