The stars depicted in the blog banner was taken by JP Astrophotography It is NGC6960, taken over 8 hours 51 minutes on 10/1-10/3, 540mm, full moon.

Night Shift With An Astrophotographer

Fantasy Romance February

Vampire Day Edition

On a very special Night Shift featuring JP Astrophotography, and just in time for Valentine’s Day (aka Vampire Day) here is a Night Shift on heart shaped, red hued nebulas to get you in the mood…

In honor of Valentine’s Day, JP Astrophotography is offering 10% off all metal prints, with code LOVELIGHT

Pagan Origins of Valentine’s Day 

February 14th is the feast of St. Valentine in the Catholic church, but it was not always so. Parts of the celebrations on the 14th of February can be traced back to the pre-Roman empire festival of Lupercalia, a mid-February health and fertility ritual that was also used as a means of averting evil spirits.

The saint himself, Valentine, was purportedly martyred at the command of emperor Claudius II at the festival of Lupercalia, as a warning against the excesses of Pagan celebrations of love and love making. The irony. 

Luckily, the pagan elements of Lupercalia have stuck around, and the gift of flowers, chocolates, champagne are associated with this transformed holiday, and not being flogged with strips of bloody animal hide. (Romans, smh.)

Sources: Llewellyn’s Sabbat Essentials, Imbolc: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for Brigid’s Day @Llewellynsbooks

Heart and Soul 

A Vast Star-Forming Complex

Not just the song your piano teacher made you practice, they are Nebulae too!

The Heart and Soul Nebula pair are located in the Perseus spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy, in the constellation Cassiopeia.

Named because of their shape and color, the Heart and Soul of the Universe present stunning images of star cluster metamorphosis. 

The two nebulae have been described by NASA as “massive star-making factories”. The bubble rim apperance of the nebula that gives its distinct heart shape is due to the dust, radiation, and wind from the star clusters formation. 

The Heart Nebula

Slightly larger than its Soul counterpart, the Heart Nebula is 650 light years across and is slightly farther from Earth at 7,500 light-years away. This iridescent nebula gets its name from both the bright pink ionized hydrogen gas and dark dust clouds giving it the familiar shape of a human heart.

In the heart of the Heart Nebula are young stars in an open star cluster; the energetic ionized light and winds of the star cluster are eroding the dust and particles within the nebula, creating irregular and mammoth shaped pillars of debris. Inside the cluster are a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun! 

The Soul Nebula

Also formed around an open cluster of stars, the Soul Nebula is located approximately 6,500 light years from Earth and is about 150 light years across. Sometimes called the Embryo Nebula, it is estimated the cluster formed about a million years ago. Similar to the Heart Nebula, light and winds from the young stars in the cluster are creating a dark cavity and giant pillars of dust within the nebula cloud, all pointing to the central star cluster of the Soul Nebula.

Source: NASA https://sciehttps://science.nasa.gov/heart-heart-nebula nce.nasa.gov/heart-heart-nebula

https://science.nasa.gov/heart-and-soul-nebulas

The stars depicted in the blog banner was taken by JP Astrophotography It is NGC6960, taken over 8 hours 51 minutes on 10/1-10/3, 540mm, full moon.

Night Shift With An Astrophotographer

Featuring Katie Anne of JP Astrophoto

Pleiades Cluster

Known by many names, the Pleiades Cluster, aka the Seven Sisters is an open cluster of hot blue stars. 

An open star cluster is a group of stars that were formed by the same molecular cloud and have, roughly, the same age.

Pleiades’ cluster is estimated to have formed within the last 90-150 million years. With luminous blue stars that are most visible in the night sky during winter in the Northern hemisphere, Pleiades is the closest star cluster to Earth. It is easy to spot in the night sky, so it is no wonder that stories about this cluster have existed on Earth for over 100,000 years and from almost every continent.

“Pleiades is one of my favorite stargazing subjects  It’s a group of stars so deeply connected to human history and storytelling. Ancient cultures from opposite sides of the world all share a common tale of seven young women in the sky (all missing their seventh sister) – and astronomers are starting to put together, based on the movement of the stars, that this might be a story that our human ancestors brought with them as they migrated around the world from Africa. Amazing.”

-Katie Anne from JP Astrophotography.

Galileo is credited as first glimpsing the the Pleiades through a telescope. He published a sketch of the Pleiades showing 36 stars in 1610, though the actual number of stars in the cluster is closer to 800 or more.

Astronomers know this deep sky object as M45, or Messier 45. Pleiades received this designation when the French astronomer included the cluster in his published astronomical catalogue, a study of 110 nebulae and faint star clusters eventually referred to as Messier’s objects.

The nine brightest stars of the Pleiades cluster are named for the Seven Sisters of the same Greek myth: Sterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Alcyone, as well their parents Atlas and Pleione.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the Pleiades star cluster is visible in the night sky until spring. Or, you can gaze upon the Seven Sisters any night (or day) of the year with this sweet cosmic print – original photo by local astrophotographer Jeff Palmer (of JPAstrophotography).

Keep looking up and stop by the blog next week for a very special  edition of the Night Shift, just in time for Valentine’s (aka Vampire) Day!

Want these blog posts to come straight to your Inbox? Be a Cosmic Newsletter Subscriber.

Indies Supporting Indies Featuring

Elicia Hyder

HAPPY BOOK LAUNCH FOR DETACHED, BOOK 1 OF THE SAPHERA NYX SERIES

I have a lot of fond memories of growing up in a small town, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Elicia was actually my older-sister’s best friend growing up. I have so many memories of sleepovers with my sister and her. We even made our own family sitcom on a camcorder at some point! (Regretably the film is lost, ah well.)

Elicia always had charisma and a story to tell, even when we were kids. Now she is a successful indie author, and just like when I was a kid, I’m looking at her thinking, “Now that’s cool.” 

Her Soul Summoner series is an international best-selling sensation. There are nine books in the series, along with three tie-in companion novellas. Check them out here!

Also to my fellow #indieauthors and #Writers, Elicia has a wonderful website that I have frequently referred to in my journey to self-publishing. Great tools and tips to get you started: Check it out!

The much anticipated Saphera Nyx Series has debuted!

After nine novels in the Soul Summoner Series Elicia is now pivoting to a new series–Saphera Nyx. I’ve read the first chapter of Detached and it is gritty, with great dialogue and some intriguing characters. I can only imagine the anxiety of starting a new series after finishing a super successful one, but Elicia has totally done it! I just ordered my autographed copy on her website, which means I also get the ebook for free! Head on over to her author website if that seems like your cup of tea.

So far this novel feels different than Soul Summoner, Saphera is NOT Sloan Jordan. It has a supernatural, crime procedural feel to it and I am excited to dive in to more this weekend!

Detached is available NOW wherever books are sold!

Writing Healthy

Why is the first month the longest month of the year? And this year it seems particularly long…

On the plus side, January is also a great month for snuggling under a blanket with a good book!

I think it’s so bizarre in our western culture that we follow the most work intense month of the year with the month that we are supposed to enact huge changes in our life, routine, schedule, diet, or exercise ie New Year’s Resolutions. And when these inevitably fail (as they often do, except if you were like me and made excellent and achievable New Year’s resolutions like “floss more” and “use less plastic”) folks are often left with a feeling of ‘not doing enough’, or ‘not working hard enough.’ Maybe that’s my millennial experience with grind culture talking, but I know I’m not alone in this feeling.

2020 subverted the normal, so why would January 2021 be any different? I chose rest, and reset for January instead of resolutions. 

Working From Home, the 2021 experience

I, like so many people, started to work from home in 2020. What does that mean? First it meant setting up a desk in the living room. Then a small book case. Now a rolling cart full of books and a second desk–and a printer. Next is some additional lighting because it’s dark in my home office at night. 

Also, did I mention I can see the kitchen from my office?

Working from home is full of distractions. I have done several things to implement a creative, awesome space where I am inspired, can be organized and have different spaces to work. 

 Writing Healthy

Body Movement

“Sitting for long periods of time can cause a number of health concerns which include obesity, increased blood pressure, increased stress levels, and it can also affect your posture, your mental health, as well as create stiffness and soreness in the body. It is important to get up every hour and move around, which will help increase blood flow and mobility, as well as  help to strengthen the muscles and bones. Moving around also helps our brain release mood-enhancing chemicals and helps to get rid of brain fog.”  

  – Jill Pheonix, Integrative Nutrion Health and Registered Yoga Teacher

Now that part of my job is sedentary I have really had to step up my game to get at least 10,000 steps in. In January I reinstituted walking days, where I begin and end my Tina Capricorn home office hours with a walk on the nature trail by my house. But I know there are other things I can do to help alleviate the stiffness in my neck and shoulders from computer work, as well reinvigorate my lower back and legs from sitting for so long.

I chatted with my friend Jill Phoenix, who is an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and a RYT-500 (Registered Yoga Teacher with 500 Hours of Advanced Studies in Yoga) about ways to implement more movement and stretching into my home office days.

20-8-2 Rule

 Jill also suggested the 20-8-2 rule for my home office days.  The 20-8-2 rule: Sit for no more than 20 minutes at a time, stand in one position perhaps at your desk, for no more than 8 minutes and also try to take a 2-minute movement break at least twice an hour to stretch or walk around. 

This is totally perfect because I just got a sand-timer for writing sprints that is 20 minutes in duration!

Standing Forward Fold

The second is a Standing Forward Fold, which you can also do right at your desk!

• Stand with your feet at hips-width distance, and slowly bend forward from the hips to come into the forward bend. 

• Allow your hands to rest on the ground or you can grab opposite elbows, and allow your chin to relax towards your chest so the neck can be free. 

• To take the strain off the lower back, bend the knees as deeply as you would like. 

• You can also bring the elbows to the thighs and stick the hips back as if you were going to sit in a chair, if folding forward is too intense on the low back and hamstrings.

• Then, try adding an arm bind to stretch the shoulders: Interlace your hands at the lower back and stretch the arms over your head and hands towards the ground in front of you. 

• For those with tight shoulders, hold a belt or a dish towel between your hands, allowing the shoulders to get a deep but less intense stretch. 

• To release and come back to standing, bend the knees and roll up slowly with an inhale.

 To learn more about the importance of body movement, or to chat with Jill about ways to implement more healthful practices in your life check out her website and follow her on Instagram!

 It’s Capricorn Season!

I have been staying home and staying safe in 2021 so far, and I hope you have as well. The cabin fever gets me sometimes but I have been implementing nature walks, as well as taking time to do artwork, snuggle Bella, and reading. 

Right now I am reading The Book Of Life by Deborah Harkness for the first GGGC/Garden Party Vampire Book Club meeting of 2021 on January 24th! Harkness’ writing is sumptuous and her world building truly mesmerizing. I save her books because I just can’t put them down!

The updated 2021 GGGC Booklist has been sent to Cosmic Newsletters Subscribers and will go live online next week! I have titles set up through June 2021. This book list has been created through hours of scouring Goodreads, contacting indie booksellers for recommendations like Malaprop’s and The Ripped Bodice (an awesome indie romance bookseller in CA that definitely deserves your bookish love if you’re keen to shop online. My book is available there through IndieBound! Huzzah!).

Character Portraits from The Anchor of Time

I have been really enjoying learning a digital art program called ProCreate and have been making character portraits from The Anchor of Time. If you are signed up for Bella’s Cosmic Newsletter you got to see Peaches and Vincent this month! I am planning on releasing a portrait of my characters every other week until I am ready to do a cover reveal for Book 2…

Light Breaker

Speaking of Book 2 in the Forgotten Queen Series, Light Breaker is coming along! I made a 30k NanoWrimo Holiday edition challenge and managed to eek in a little over 30,000 words in December. My hope is to have a Rough Draft by the end of this month and send off for my first round of edits sometime this March/April.

Shadowglass

I am also in the outlining phase of a short story/magnet reader that will be available FOR FREE this Summer 2021. This story will be a flashback story of how Vlad and Renata first met, and will have direct repercussions on Book 2, as well as fill in some timeline gaps.

For instance, we will see Renata meet Vlad and Lachlan for the first time–as well as meet Eva, Aldric’s mysterious wife that died in childbirth and whose final word is her daughter’s name — Peaches.

To receive this free short story all you have to do is be a Cosmic Newsletter subscriber!

For the rest of Capricorn Season I am doing a very special Indies Supporting Indies, another epic Night Shift with an Astrophotographer, as well as some Writing Healthy blogs, with great tips on stress management, incorporating mindfulness and movement into your work from home routine!

Be well!

Xoxo Tina

The stars depicted in the blog banner was taken by JP Astrophotography It is NGC6960, taken over 8 hours 51 minutes on 10/1-10/3, 540mm, full moon.

Night Shift With An Astrophotographer

Galaxies and why they’re amazing AF

“Galaxies are fun subjects to photograph. I love to imagine all of the worlds and possibilities that lay inside them. It’s a challenge to get a good shot because they are so unimaginably far away, but every time I do – without fail – it blows my mind.” – Jeff Palmer, JP Astrophotography

What is a galaxy?

A galaxy is a smorgasbord of stellar remnants, dust, gas, stars and dark matter that are gravitationally bound. Our solar system is located in the Milky Way Galaxy.

The word galaxy itself is Greek in origin and literally translated means “milky”, a reference to the Milky Way, and is probably a reference to the milky-light band of stars we see in the night sky, which is actually us looking toward the center of the galaxy from our position on the Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way.

So, how big is a galaxy?

Galaxies come in all shapes and sizes. Ranging from dwarfs that have only a few hundred million stars to giant galaxies with over one hundred trillion stars. All of the stars, gas, dust, debris, and inner stellar matter of a galaxy orbit the galaxy’s center of mass.

Galaxies are huge, and are measured in parsecs. Parsecs are a unit of measurement used to calculate astronomical distances. A single parsec is approximately equal to 31 trillion kilometers or 19 trillion miles! One parsec=3.3 light years. Most galaxies are about 1,000-100,000 parsecs in diameter. The Milky Way Galaxy is 30,000 parsecs or 100,000 light years across.

Galaxy morphology

Galaxies are categorized by astronomers by their visual structure. They are categorized as elliptical, spiral or irregular.

Galaxies and Black holes

It is thought that many galaxies have supermassive black holes at their center–this would explain the tremendous gravity causing stars, interstellar remnants, dust, and even dark matter to orbit the central mass.

Our very own Milky Way Galaxy has a central black hole known as Sagittarius A, and has a mass four million times greater than the Sun!

A view of the past

Viewing other galaxies through telescopes can be breathtaking, but did you also know it is seeing into the past?

That’s right. Your very own sight is a version of time travel. Don’t believe me? Because of the speed of light, and the vast distances of galaxies from our location, the light we observe is often millions or even billions of light-years old. The light the star is currently emitting won’t be visible to us for millions or billions of years in the future.

The Light Year Misnomer

Often, because it includes the word “year”, the term light-year is misinterpreted as a unit of time! The term light-year is actually an expression of astronomical distance. 

A light year is the length light travels in a vacuum in one Julian calendar years (about 365.5 days) according to the International Astronomical Union. In terms of lengths and measurements we use here on Earth, a light year is equivalent to 9.46 trillion kilometers or 5.88 trillion miles.

The light-year is most often used when expressing distances to stars and other distances on a galactic scale. Google Maps will not be expressing your trip distance in light years… yet!

So… how many galaxies are out there?

Estimates were revised in 2016 for galaxies in the observable universe from the previous estimate of 200 billion to two trillion or more! All the stars combined in these galaxies total more than the grains of sand of the Earth.

Order JP Astro Prints and Wake Up to a Galaxy Every Day

“We have a metal print of one of our deep space photographs hanging on the wall next to our bed. I love that it is usually the first thing I see when I open my eyes in the morning – an intergalactic bridge between sleeping and waking life. Before starting my Earthly activities for the day, I like to take a few moments to get lost in the vastness of it all and appreciate how we are at once both so insignificant and so important in the Cosmos.” – Katie Towner, JP Astrophotography

It is not too late to own your very own JP Astro Print this holiday! Wake up to a gorgeous photograph of a galaxy far, far away and at a price that is affordable for any art lover’s budget. 

Support indie! Support WNC artists Katie Anne and Jeff, and own a view of the night sky that rivals any other. Visit JP Astro Photography, 

Prints make AMAZING gifts and couple well with a time travel paperback… wink wink.

Want to know when the next Night Shift Blog Post drops? Sign up for Bella’s Cosmic Newsletter to have these blog posts sent right to your Inbox and follow me on Instagram @Tinacapricornwrites to get bonus features and behind the scenes info on My Writerly Life. Until then have a merry, merry star gazers!