Yes, it's a poorly focused iPhone photo, but I'm so pleased nonetheless that I was able to capture the gorgeous setting crescent moon, Venus, and the late season aurora. It was such a beautiful night. #astronomy #northernlights #aurora #venus #midnightsun

Happy #caturday to all who celebrate! Gary is obsessed with this box. He has never cared for real boxes, and only occasionally uses the fancy cat beds I've bought him. But he's in this fruit box we swiped from Costco daily. (Fun fact: did you know that 75% of #Iceland has a Costco membership?)

Welcome back online, #bluesky! Probably the last big #northernlights night of the season here in #Iceland. G2 geomagnetic storm warning predicted to hit around 21:00-midnight GMT and persist through 6:00. That means North America might be lined up for a prime time show. 📸 April 17, 2025 #aurora

Me, not being able to access Bluesky app all day due to some server issue: #blueskyisdown

Another harbinger of spring? My first time confusion moment of the season. Looked up from book, thought, "oh, it's getting late, I should go to the gym now." I assume it's 19:30. Nope. It's past 21:00. It's still light out. Sun *just* set. So it begins. 📸: one year ago, twilight #aurora hunting.

The other avian harbinger of spring has made its way to Icelandic shores, right on time. The puffin was spotted in two localities last week, Grímsey (north) and Borgarfjarðar eystri (east). It will take them a bit longer to arrive in the south & west. Sea clowns are here! #iceland #birdwatching

One of the big news stories here in Iceland last week is of a newspaper publishing an obituary of a man who turned out not to be dead. The police cited "ongoing bullying" and two women were arrested. The paper apologized and had to fight back on claims they DIDN'T CALL THE DECEASED TO CONFIRM.

As #Artemis2 has landed back on Earth and prepares to leave our news cycle, I want to highlight the crew's poetic quotes from their Houston press conference. I don't know if they understand the magnitude of how many people they've inspired, but #NASA knocked it out of the park with this mission.

Pink hour here in Reykjavík 🩷 Sunset now already at 20:45. Midnight sun is coming. #iceland #sunset #earthjoy

A camera roll reminder. The early days of Covid were an interesting time here in Iceland. Six years ago today, I was out on the south coast, completely alone. All the sites normally swamped with visitors were empty. A scary, but unique time to be on an island closed to the world. #iceland #travel

A lovely #caturday to you all, from Gary the Maine Coon. He's been upset by our late nights watching NASA have upset our sleep schedule. Look at that face 😹

They look so joyful 🥹 I am so relieved and proud. They're off to med bay and I'm off to bed. #Artemis2 #NASA #moonjoy

It's so beautiful! Fist pumps in the air! Our friends, our explorers, are home. #Artemis #NASA #welcomehome Perhaps #earthjoy?

We're now in the six minutes LOS period. 11 minutes until splash down. #Artemis2 #homewardbound

What an evening. The #Artemis2 live stream of reentry and splash down competing with early #northernlights dancing in the sky. Two of my passions happening at once 🤩 There might have also been a yummy bowl of mac and cheese in the mix too. #NASA #aurora #moonjoy

"Copy moon joy." Today's re-entry of #Artemis2 will begin at 23:30 GMT (19:30 EDT) and splash down will be at 00:07. #NASA have all the details here with cool diagrams and maps. Will you be watching? www.nasa.gov/blogs/missio...

Eruptive Episode 44 of Kilauea in Hawaii has begun. Fountains reported to be 200 m right now. Lots of excellent lava channels on live cam right now. Eruptive episodes, on average, are decreasing in length of time. From days to hours now. Wishing safety to the island, as always! #kilauea #volcano

Wanted to do a quick reintroduction after all the (some friendly, some not) new visitors to my account. I'm a geologist here in #Iceland, with a background in earth science and astrophysics. After being quite sick in 2024-25, I quit my job and now run my own #travel experiences company for nerds!

Yesterday, the crew of the ISS called the crew of #Artemis2 and had a short conversation in between their busy schedules of research and documentation (I promise, to a scientist, that's more fun than it sounds!) This was the first ship-to-ship communications ever to take place in space. #NASA

One of the wildest things I've had to digest since Artemis II launched is how many people on (other, not here) social media truly believe that the moon landing, space travel are fake. That literally entire nations are in on some giant conspiracy to fool people. 🥲 #NASA #Artemis2 #lunarflyby

Uh, the world is sh!tshow, but I will never tire of Earth. Our wonderful planet, I promise, has much beauty and mystery left for us to enjoy. First photo taken of Earth from the dark side of the moon released by #NASA now. All props and accolades to the phenomenonal #Artemis2 crew and mission team.

Total solar eclipse from the Artemis II wing Go-Pros is just total darkness (duh), with a special guest appearance by Venus, and what appears to be Astrophage ;) Astronauts describing the sun's corona as sci-fi like and the moon's detailed appearance in earthshine. #NASA #Artemis2 #lunarflyby

Artemis now going into it's LOS period but I was able to snap this picture of all of us before they entered the far dark side. #familyphoto #NASA #Artemis2 #lunarflyby

Icelandic Highlands just got a shoutout from the Science Team at Mission Control!! 😭🥹 Sit. rep.: interior crater textures apparently looking like ʻAʻā lava and frozen lake waves. #NASA #science #Artemis2 #lunarflyby Photo is mine from Mývatn or Victor's from the moon? ;)

Me a geologist (who had an internship at NASA's JPL testing possible comet substrates waaay back in the day) hearing the astronauts describe the moon's rocks as green and brown: #NASA #Artemis2 #lunarflyby

Astronauts: we're seeing amazing features in Mare Orientale. The terminator is impressive. Science Lead: thank you and fist pumps in the air as you send detailed sit reps of things never before seen. Mission Control: uh, yeah, you're gonna need to stop using the toilet. #NASA #Artemis2 #lunarflyby

Mission Control just replied to Integrity "Amaze amaze amaze" 👎 What a call 🥹🪨

Oh wow. Absolutely losing it at all four Integrity astronauts crying and embracing as they announce they have named a crater for Carrol, Reid's late wife. ♥️ Congrats to Christina, Reid, Victor, and Jeremy, the Artemis II crew, for being the furthest traveled humans ever. #NASA #Artemis2 #lunarflyby

There's a running joke here that we will always get a big storm on Easter holiday and/or snow on the first day of summer. So far, the #weather gods continue to prove their sense of humor. If you're in #Iceland tomorrow, it's looking like a no travel day across much of the island. Be safe out there!

Well, it took me almost ten years of aurora hunting, but I believe I have found the source of the northern lights. 😂 But what do you see? Might be a pop of activity this evening for us in northern latitudes, as we wind down the season up here. Keep looking up! #northernlights #aurora #iceland

We interrupt our regularly scheduled content with a #caturday post because I cannot stop laughing at this picture of my cat. Why is he so long? This is absurd 😹 (Or is the Cat content the real content and everything else is just fluff?) #funny #mainecoon

The curtain is rising and the show is starting. 🍿 Amazing conditions finally after weeks of snow. Keep your eyes peeled this evening, everyone. The show should be good for a few more hours. #aurora #northernlights #iceland

We've hit G3 geomagnetic storm conditions (Kp has hit 7). Once it gets dark, if you aren't being attacked by clouds, and you're in Northern (& possibly Central) Europe: look up! You could be treated to some colorful lights in the sky. Conditions could stay strong for NA. #aurora #northernlights

There's ~2 weeks left in Iceland's northern lights season before midnight sun foils our chances to see aurora in the night's sky. Yes, the sun keeps us from seeing, uh, well, the sun 😂 (or, the sun's ejected particles interacting w/our geomagnetic field). The irony! #northernlights #aurora #iceland

T-minus five minutes now for Artemis II launch. 2.3M people and I currently watching the NASA live stream. God's speed. #NASA #returntothemoon

Gary and I are Go For Launch too! I miss my JPL days 🥹 good luck to every amazing scientist and engineer who has put their hearts and brains into this. Already tearing up as we gear up for the Artemis II launch to the moon. Amaze amaze amaze 👎 #nasa #returntothemoon #neverstopexploring

Last night's CME is either incredibly late or missed earth entirely, which is frustrating to those of us who braved life and limb to cross the local mountain pass to find clear sky. Clear sky was briefly found but only the smallest of aurora spotted. #fullmoon (almost)

There was an X-class solar flare yesterday morning; an associated CME is heading our way. Forecasts vary wildly about magnitude & timing. Expect at least G2 storm conditions, possibly up to G4, this afternoon or evening (UTC time) But will the terrestrial weather cooperate? #northernlights #aurora

Happy #caturday! Caught Gary being a weird little (big) dude again this week. Moved this stool for maybe 90 seconds to vacuum and came back to him perched. Refused to move, too. #catsky #mainecoon #shenanigans

Every road leading out of Reykjavík is currently closed and it's a bit windy out there. It's March 26th. #iceland #weather #climate

I can't stop meme'ing the incoming blizzard. It's all I can do to cope. Will it go red? #iceland #weather #yellowcard

"How are you all doing over there in Reykjavik?" We're on our fourth straight day of snow, 90 cars are stranded in the mountains, there was an earthquake swarm offshore, and the volcano is in a will-it-or-won't-it-erupt holding pattern. So, pretty much normal. #iceland #weather #geology

Not sure why I'm not seeing media attention this time, but last night's geomagnetic storm did not disappoint! We hit G3 conditions. In Europe, horizon aurora was spotted as far south as Italian Dolomites and Préalpes d'Azur in France, and good shows throughout UK & Baltics. #northernlights #aurora

The spring equinox is one hour away (14:45 GMT), and uh, here's literally the weather in my neighborhood right now. Happy spring, everybody! (And where my dad lives, they're smashing all-time heat records; it's going to be 36°C today. Absurd.) #springequinox #iceland #weather #climate #heatwave

Hello! Do you like lights in the sky? Well you might have a chance to see some. NOAA has issued a G2 geomagnetic storm watch as 7 potential CMEs hurdle towards earth. Some predictions cited one should have arrived by now but not here (yet). Keep an eye on forecasts! #northernlights #aurora

Lousy Smarch weather. Be safe out there, krakkar. #iceland #weather

I have a joke about geology but it's not very gneiss to say schist like that.

Per my last post: it appears some of you are not familiar with clover (Trifolium) taxonomy. That's OK, I'm here to help! A clover, a plant of the genus Trifolium (from Latin tres 'three' and folium 'leaf'), are three-leafed legumes. The four leaf variety is a mutant and very rare. #science

Happy St. Patrick's Day from a country close to Ireland (both geographically and spelling-wise). The below #aurora shot reminded me of part of a clover. Do you see it? Maybe it's a stretch. ;) (also can you tell what's wrong with the picture?) #northernlights #iceland #sláinte

Solid weekend. Pi Day. Ides of March. Selection Sunday (iykyk, rcjh).