You are sending a link to...
Aussiegirl, R.I.P.
The Ultima Thule blog will go on, but alas its creator has passed away. I and many many others have spent a lot of time at her site, whether for her news of the heavens or tributes to Beethoven. Of herself she wrote,
I am a naturalized Ukrainian-American, fortunate enough to have been admitted to this great land as an immigrant. My personal history is the spur for this blog. My parents lived through the Ukrainian Genocidal Famine of 1933, survived years of Communist persecution, fled to the West, endured forced labor in Nazi Germany, and following liberation, ended up in Allied internment camps fighting forced repatriation to the Soviet Union under the Yalta Agreement. Their courageous struggle to bring our family to freedom, and their example of unflinching faithfulness to truth and honor, have left an indelible impression on me. My parents did not save me from Communism and Nazism for me to go gently into dhimmitude or slavery. Hence my passion and my mission to expose threats to freedom and democracy wherever they are found. This blog is a testament to their courage and my small gift to their heroism.
One Aussiegirl's favorite sites was Spaceweather, from which the recent photo below is drawn. I have no doubt she would have enjoyed it.
Comet McNaught, Auckland New Zealand
Even experienced astronomers have never seen anything like it--a sweeping fan of comet dust visible to the unaided eye despite city lights and twilight. Jamie Newman sends this picture from Auckland, New Zealand.
Aussiegirl's friend Paulette MacQuarrie, one of her many Ukranian friends, posts her tribute here. As MacQuarrie says, "Vichnaya Pam’yat, Aussiegirl."
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
%20(2).jpg)
.jpg)
