BIG FIGHT AT POLAND’S WROCLAW ZOO!!!

The Veil derives its name from the delicate, draped filamentary structures, but is actually the debris of one of the best-known supernova explosions. About 10,000 years ago, a massive star – which was 20 times the mass of the Sun – lived fast and died young, ending its life in a cataclysmic release of energy called a supernova. At the time of explosion, the supernova would have appeared brighter than Venus in the sky, and visible in daytime. Despite this stellar violence, the shockwaves and debris from the supernova sculpted the Veil Nebula’s delicate tracery of ionized gas – creating a scene of surprising astronomical beauty. The fast-moving blast wave from the ancient explosion is plowing into a wall of cool, denser interstellar gas, emitting light. The Veil Nebula lies around 2,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus (the Swan), making it a relatively close neighbor in astronomical terms. The entire nebula is 110 light-years across, covering six full moons on the sky as seen from Earth. Using images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope between 1997 and 2015, the expansion of the Veil Nebula has been directly observed, at the rate of about 1.5 million kilometers per hour. The Eastern segment of the Veil nebula is also sometimes referred to as the Bat nebula. It spans about 1/2 degree in our skies, which translates to 12 light years across at its estimated distance of 2,400 light years. The Western segment of the Veil nebula carries the moniker "Witch's Broom". It spans about 35 light-years. The bright star in the frame is 52 Cygni, visible with the unaided eye from a dark location but unrelated to the ancient supernova

The Veil nebula, imaged from my deck👇🏽!
Named for the delicate, draped filamentary structures, but is actually the debris of one of the best-known supernova explosions!
More in the Alt-txt

The Veil derives its name from the delicate, draped filamentary structures, but is actually the debris of one of the best-known supernova explosions. About 10,000 years ago, a massive star – which was 20 times the mass of the Sun – lived fast and died young, ending its life in a cataclysmic release of energy called a supernova. At the time of explosion, the supernova would have appeared brighter than Venus in the sky, and visible in daytime. Despite this stellar violence, the shockwaves and debris from the supernova sculpted the Veil Nebula’s delicate tracery of ionized gas – creating a scene of surprising astronomical beauty. The fast-moving blast wave from the ancient explosion is plowing into a wall of cool, denser interstellar gas, emitting light. The Veil Nebula lies around 2,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus (the Swan), making it a relatively close neighbor in astronomical terms. The entire nebula is 110 light-years across, covering six full moons on the sky as seen from Earth. Using images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope between 1997 and 2015, the expansion of the Veil Nebula has been directly observed, at the rate of about 1.5 million kilometers per hour. The Eastern segment of the Veil nebula is also sometimes referred to as the Bat nebula. It spans about 1/2 degree in our skies, which translates to 12 light years across at its estimated distance of 2,400 light years. The Western segment of the Veil nebula carries the moniker "Witch's Broom". It spans about 35 light-years. The bright star in the frame is 52 Cygni, visible with the unaided eye from a dark location but unrelated to the ancient supernova

The Veil nebula, imaged from my deck👇🏽!
Named for the delicate, draped filamentary structures, but is actually the debris of one of the best-known supernova explosions!
More in the Alt-txt

#Saturn in 2025 and over the last 5 years👇🏽

I imaged Saturn two nights back & have been imaging since 2020. Notice how the rings have gone from nearly face-on to edge-on? This is a 13 to 15 year cycle and is due to Saturn's ring tilt of 27deg to Earth's orbital plane. Saturn just had Equinox in May!

This is an approximately 2 deg field of view of the Markarian Chain of galaxies in Virgo. Besides the 8 galaxies in the chain itself, there are about 3 dozen more galaxies in the background, for a total of 43 galaxies.

Annotated image of the Markarian chain of galaxies in Virgo

Haven’t posted anything in a while but here’s something that always amazes me: the Markarian Chain in Virgo is a gravitationally interacting set of 7 galaxies (or 8 depending on who you ask) but there’s many more lurking in the background… in fact 35 more!!👀🤩

Taken from my deck in SF Bay Area👇🏽

WO Zenithstar 61

M104, the Sombrero galaxy

NGC4565, the Needle Galaxy

The Leo Triplet: M65, M66 and NGC3628

Markarian’s chain in Virgo: M84, M86,and more. M87, not a part of the chain, is at the bottom of the photo

Did some first-time imaging with the ASIAir in the live-stacking mode, and boy did I catch some galaxies in their act! 🤩
👇🏽Just 10 min exposures (each 5sec)

The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as Messier 104 (M104), is a massive spiral galaxy that resembles a wide-brimmed Mexican hat. It's located in the constellation Virgo, roughly 28–30 million light-years from Earth. The galaxy's most striking feature is its bright, white core surrounded by thick dust lanes that form its spiral structure. The Sombrero is tilted nearly edge-on, so the dust appears to cut through the galaxy's core.

This is my take of the Sombrero galaxy, with amateur equipment

The night sky is not bad either.. (that’s an understatement😇, given there’s a waxing moon this week). Can you identify the constellations? Shot with just a handheld iPhone

Yosemite National Park

Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite National Park

Upper Yosemite Falls, Yosemite National Park

At Yosemite Valley for spring break, and trying to stay away from the 24 hour news cycle (highly recommended for the times). The scenery is not only spectacular but the size of some of these formations is also truly mind boggling😳

There was a rainbow 🌈 earlier today, right across my work place.. amazing part was that it was almost at eye level.. felt like you could reach out & grab it.. hint of turning a corner?🤗

Happy Saturn ring-plane crossing Day!👇🏽😎

This is a composite of my own takes of Saturn over the last few years. Looking forward to imagining Saturn in the fall when the rings will still be near invisible!🫥

Two images of Saturn, one from December 1994 when you can the gorgeous ring is prominent around the planet. The one from May 1995, the ring has vanished leaving only two bright dots which are two of Saturns moons. From: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/1995/news-1995-25.html

It's #Saturn ring-plane crossing day! A once in a 13-15 yr event when Saturn's rings are edge on, as viewed from Earth, making them appear to disappear! I'm so infuriated that the Sun is in the way meaning no-one will see it! 😡 We'll just have to imagine it 😞

👇The last time it was seen in 1995. 🔭🧪

Caught this pair a short while back. Bay Area, Calif
Venus (upper right) and Mercury (lower left)

The M81 Group is a galaxy group in the constellations Ursa Major and Camelopardalis that includes the galaxies Messier 81 and Messier 82, as well as several other galaxies with high apparent brightnesses. The approximate center of the group is located at a distance of 3.6 Mpc, making it one of the nearest groups to the Local Group. The M81 Group, the Local Group, and other nearby groups all lie within the Virgo Supercluster (i.e. the Local Supercluster).

Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Messier 81 was first discovered by Johann Elert Bode on 31 December 1774. Thus, it is sometimes referred to as "Bode's Galaxy". In 1779, Pierre Méchain and Charles Messier reidentified Bode's object, hence listed it in the Messier Catalogue.

Messier 82 (also known as NGC 3034, Cigar Galaxy or M82) is a starburst galaxy approximately 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It is the second-largest member of the M81 Group, is about five times more luminous than the Milky Way and its central region is about one hundred times more luminous. The starburst activity is thought to have been triggered by interaction with neighboring galaxy M81.

The magnificent pair of interacting galaxies, M81 and M82 from my deck👇🏽
M81 aka Bode’s galaxy is a grand design spiral galaxy. M82 aka the Cigar is a starburst galaxy.
Repeated encounters between the two is triggering star formation in M82 but also tearing it apart
#astronomy
#astrophotography

Pluto IS a planet… it is a MINOR planet😉

This is the last four years of Saturn … Equinox is coming 🔜!

Fair enough but in terms of the harshness of the environment (cosmic rays, meteorite impacts, temp cycles etc), is it a luna-tic idea or not?

First-ever data center on the Moon set to launch next month Florida-based startup Lonestar Data Holdings plans to launch the first Moon-based data center dubbed the "Freedom Data Center." The compact but fully operational information hub will piggyback...

@philplait.bsky.social
What’s your take on this?

www.techspot.com/news/106470-...

And what about the president himself? His wives? Wasn’t his mother from Scotland?

Venus, currently exhibiting a half-phase is about 93 million kms & inside of Earth’s orbit Saturn, with its rings nearly edge-on is 1535 million kms in the far reaches of the Solar System

Venus, currently exhibiting a half-phase is about 93 million kms & inside of Earth’s orbit Saturn, with its rings nearly edge-on is 1535 million kms in the far reaches of the Solar System

Venus, about 12,000 km in diameter is currently exhibiting a half-phase and is about 93 million kms, inside of Earth’s orbit

Saturn, about 120,000 kms in diameter is seen with its rings nearly edge-on currently. It is about 1535 million kms in the far reaches of the Solar System.

Venus & Saturn conjunction earlier today 👇🏽
While they are two degrees or four Moon-widths apart from one another in our skies, in reality they are over a billion and a half kms apart
Their true distance scale in the alt-txt

Venus, currently exhibiting a half-phase is about 93 million kms & inside of Earth’s orbit Saturn, with its rings nearly edge-on is 1535 million kms in the far reaches of the Solar System

Venus, currently exhibiting a half-phase is about 93 million kms & inside of Earth’s orbit Saturn, with its rings nearly edge-on is 1535 million kms in the far reaches of the Solar System

Venus, about 12,000 km in diameter is currently exhibiting a half-phase and is about 93 million kms, inside of Earth’s orbit

Saturn, about 120,000 kms in diameter is seen with its rings nearly edge-on currently. It is about 1535 million kms in the far reaches of the Solar System.

Venus & Saturn conjunction earlier today 👇🏽
While they are two degrees or four Moon-widths apart from one another in our skies, in reality they are over a billion and a half kms apart
Their true distance scale in the alt-txt

I just saw the egress with binoculars though & it was pretty awesome even with hazy clouds!

And this is egress, an hour later
2/2

I didn’t get to capture the occultation of Mars by the Moon on video this time (too low / clouds) but I did make a video last time it happened (on 2022-Dec-7)

This is ingress👇🏽
1/2

Picture of Venus in a gibbous phase, about 50% lit

👇🏽Eath’s “evil twin”, our closest neighbor in space (apart from the Moon)

About the same size as the Earth and formed of the same materials, but a runaway greenhouse effect means surface temps over 900F and clouds formed of sulfuric acid

This is Venus!
#astronomy
#astrophotography

Picture of Venus in a gibbous phase, about 50% lit

👇🏽Eath’s “evil twin”, our closest neighbor in space (apart from the Moon)

About the same size as the Earth and formed of the same materials, but a runaway greenhouse effect means surface temps over 900F and clouds formed of sulfuric acid

This is Venus!
#astronomy
#astrophotography

Venus earlier today👇🏽

#astronomy
#astrophotography

Jupiter, Ganymede (left) and Io (right) from last week

#astronomy
#astrophotography

👇🏽this is 2 hrs on #Jupiter compressed… my best video yet!😎🤩

Watch the Great Red Spot rotate in & out from our perspective, Io (right) and Ganymede (left) in their orbit

The best part? In the first frame, Ganymede is in a partial phase as it has just emerged.. that’s Jupiter’s shadow!

#astronomy