NASA's Orion spacecraft and its crew splashed down safely in a deep blue Pacific Ocean, marking the successful end of the Artemis II mission.

🎉#Artemis II update: Integrity is back on Earth! At 01:07 BST/02:07 CEST, Orion and its crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
🚀Our European Service Module propelled Orion over 1 million km through deep space, before burning up in Earth's atmosphere, its job complete 🔥

www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

The Moon seen backlit by the Sun during the solar eclipse period on 7 April CEST, is photographed by one of the cameras on the European Service Module’s solar array wings. Orion is visible in the foreground on the left. Earth is reflecting sunlight at the left edge of the Moon, which is slightly brighter than the rest of the disk. The bright spot visible just below the Moon’s bottom right edge is Saturn. Beyond that, the bright spot at the right edge of the image is Mars.

Graphic showing Artemis II position and trajectory

✅ #Artemis II update: Day 7, Orion now heading back to Earth at 2245 km/h, 367 530 km from Earth and 77 666 km from the Moon. Image is from early morning of 7 April, during the eclipse period (pic: NASA). Track at nasa.gov/missions/art...

@exploration.esa.int

We are working on a mission that would use the Moon to occult the Sun to observe total solar eclipses like this on a regular basis: discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10....

I love this image taken by the Artemis II crew. Their view of a total solar eclipse - revealing the faint light scattered by dust around the Sun and electrons in the atmosphere of the Sun itself: images.nasa.gov/details/art0...

Today’s the day of the Artemis II lunar fly by! The astronauts will set the record for furthest distance humans have travelled from Earth (previously held by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970) & at around 7:45 pm BST lunar observations will begin.

More Mare Orientale in this new Artemis II image - www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2... - than in the first one with a long focal length presented. The lunar flyby webcast www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-j1... will begin at 17:00 UTC today, and the lunar observations run from 18:45 UTC to 1:20 UTC on 6 April.

Looking through one of the four windows of the Orion spacecraft, a crescent Earth is illuminated against the blackness of space and grows smaller as the crew journeys closer to the Moon. This image was taken by an Artemis II crew member on the fifth day of the mission.

✅ #Artemis II update: Day 5, Orion is moving at 1536 km/h, 356 379 km from Earth and 89 967 km from the Moon. One last look at Earth before arriving at the Moon (pic: NASA). See nasa.gov/missions/art...

@exploration.esa.int

Getting to the Moon has been an international effort. Find out about the European service module here: www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

That's home. That's us.

This image of home just came down from the Artemis II crew.

Taken after their translunar injection burn, there are aurorae at top right and lower left, and zodiacal light at lower right.

Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

T-6️⃣ days until launch!

DYK? Smile will observe the northern lights non-stop for 45 hours at a time for the first time ever.

This will give us a better idea of how geomagnetic storms lead to auroras, but also of other consequences on our infrastructure 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

🔭 ☀️🧪

The four Artemis II astronauts are no longer orbiting Earth, but are now headed towards the Moon www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

We’re about to see Earth’s magnetic shield like never before YouTube video by European Space Agency, ESA

For four billion years, Earth has been under attack.

Travelling at 2 million km an hour, the solar wind heads directly our way.

Luckily, we have an invisible shield that keeps us safe.

Understanding this shield, how it holds and how it breaks will be Smile's goal 👉 youtu.be/XS3INI9IsME 🔭 🧪 ☀️

The Sun’s been active today. Let’s hope we have no major space weather events that affect the Artemis II launch www.spaceweather.com

Artemis 2 countdown clock is now counting down.

The Royal Astronomical Society logo over a purple, starry background.

The RAS is alarmed by the threat to ground-based astronomy posed by proposals put forward by Elon Musk's SpaceX and Reflect Orbital.

We have opposed the plans with @eso.org and the International Astronomical Union. Find out more at: ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...

Interested in doing a PhD in space heritage? If so, this opportunity might be for you!

🤣

I finally get to see the Sun (in Winchester Cathedral)

Great detective work combined with a stroke of luck!

It’s raining here, sadly!

#Aurora over Alveston near Bristol. Could see no colour unless looking through the iphone. Now cloudy ☹️

Amazing data in real time from the @esa.int #SolarOrbiter magnetometer @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social show that this storm will keep its main Bz > 0 field and its total field will decline, resulting in a West-North-East (WNE) flux rope. At the end there should be an interval Bz < 0 (=more aurora!)

Beautiful!

Amazing view towards north-east at Hoher Sonnblick in #Austria!
Monday Jan 19 2026 22:40 CEST
#polarlights #northernlights #spaceweather
www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/klein...

A fast coronal mass ejection from the Sun has arrived at Earth! If you have clear skies tonight, you might be lucky enough to see some aurora. It’s cloudy where I am so send photos!

Proba-3: our eyes on the Sun’s inner corona Proba-3: our eyes on the Sun’s inner corona

Wow! You have got to see the spectacular prominence eruptions in this latest movie from the European PROBA-3 mission! Congratulations to Andrei Zhukov and his team! 🧪🛰️🔭☀️

The Sun is joined by three planets in the sky this week. Can you guess what they are before opening the thread?

NASA’s IMAP Reaches Orbit to Start Study of Heliosphere and Space Weather NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) has reached its destination of the first Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L1), where it will start its prime mission of studying the heliosphere and ...

NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) has reached its destination, from where it will study the inner regions and the edge of the vast magnetic bubble created by the Sun: www.jhuapl.edu/news/news-re...

Congratulations!

Are you (or do you know of) an undergrad with an interest in solar physics? Check out the Leiden/ESA Astrophysics Program for Summer Students (LEAPS 2026). Myself, Andy To and Henrik Eklund invite you to come work with us at ESTEC on "Catching the Solar Wind in Action". leaps.strw.leidenuniv.nl#none