It seems every time we attempted to finalize edits, the software essentially threw up! So before finalizing this one, we made a screen capture and I’m glad! Numerous spicules can be seen along the rim, and the prominence itself has an unexpected dynamical look. #solarobserving #solarastronomy #sun

Difficult to image but fascinating to watch as involved, this dynamic prominence. It was on the northeastern Solar limb and, we think, collapsing during our observing run. It’s the first time we’ve noticed changes in such a feature in real time. Cloudy days ahead. #solarastronomy #solarobserving

Well I was thinking of going to the gym this morning. Hardly seems worth it now.

“Keivan Stassun, a physicist and astronomer at Vanderbilt University, who has been a board member since 2022 said he had personally received confirmation from a third of the board members that they had been terminated by the boilerplate emails, which provided no reason.” wapo.st/3P3DSY2

Happy National Library Week! 💙📚

“International Dark Sky Week is hailed as a global celebration of the night and a call for less light pollution. In some cities internationally, local governments are trying to find a solution to lighting … better serve critical wildlife ecosystems and humans alike.” www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

The National Science Foundation which funds a quarter of all basic scientific research in the country is being dismantled.

Albert Einstein passed away #OTD in 1955 due to complications from a ruptured abdominal aneurysm. Doctors recommended surgical intervention but Einstein declined, saying “I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly." Here is his office as he left it. 🧪 ⚛️ Image: R. Morse/LIFE

Our Sun has been at low activity levels but that doesn't mean it has been without interesting features. Active Region 4419 has been providing the majority of flaring activity; its bright plages are caused by intense magnetic fields, also expressed in web-like shapes seen in the solar plasma.

NASA Shuts Off Instrument on Voyager 1 to Keep Spacecraft Operating The Low-energy Charged Particles experiment has been operating almost without interruption since Voyager 1 launched in 1977 - almost 49 years. 🧪🔭 #Voyager science.nasa.gov/blogs/voyage...

Partly to mostly sunny skies drew us to set up the solar scope this morning and Sun did not disappoint! This large prominence and dynamic filament offered interest and challenge. We also imaged a sunspot that is displaying its complex magnetic fields in the medium of solar plasma!#solarastronomy

Here’s a link to NASA’s FULL LUNAR FLYBY GALLERY! Real images for people who love them. #ArtemisII www.nasa.gov/gallery/luna...

Just read that this photo was captured by the cameras aboard Orion and transmitted to Earth via the Quantum Optical Ground Station (QOGS) at the Mount Stromlo Observatory in Canberra. This is the demo laser comms tech that @scienceanu.bsky.social are working with. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 📸 NASA

"COMET MAPS HAS BEEN DESTROYED: Hopes for a bright daylight comet ended April 4th when Comet MAPS (C/2026 A1) skimmed the sun and disintegrated. SOHO coronagraphs recorded a sudden outburst ... followed by a spray of narrow dust streamers. See the full length movies at Spaceweather.com."

NASA #Artemis II flyby coverage schedule; all times in Eastern. You can follow along live on NASA+ (plus.nasa.gov) or on the NASA YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/@NASA). It should be amazing to watch!

Our Sun has been busy, of late, even if we couldn't see it due to clouds. Saturday was sunny so we mounted the Sky-Watcher Heliostar on its Heliofinder mount (the pier was occupied) and captured some views. Prominences large and small were visible as were some very distinct filaments.

Last night we finally had an opportunity to check out the C-11 in the observatory. The 24-year-old scope had languished in storage for a very long time after daytime collimation efforts without real world tests. The sky was mostly clear until, of course, we opened the dome. 1/2

With precision, a scientific illustration of this morning’s meteor event!

From NASA's Micrometeoroid Environment Office: "An analysis of all currently available data places first visibility of the meteor at an altitude of 50 miles above Lake Erie, off the beaches of Lorain in northern Ohio. Moving east of south at 40,000 miles per hour, the fireball - caused by ...

“Make a pie to celebrate Pi Day on March 14, 2026! The date 3/14 honors the never-ending number 3.14159. This is the sort of holiday only celebrated by number fanatics, like yours truly (and pie lovers). Let’s have fun with numbers and a nice piece of π…” www.almanac.com/pi-day

This impressive flame-like prominence was visible March 9, 2026, projecting from the southwest quadrant of Earth's Sun. The image has been reoriented for a more pleasing composition, imaged in monochrome via hydrogen-alpha light, false color applied. #solarastronomy

A thready filament was visible in Sun's southeastern chromosphere March 9, and we were pleased to be able to record it in detail! #Astronomy #sun #solarobserving

Mostly sunny skies and mild temperatures gave us an opportunity today to observe and image Sun today. Winds made the atmosphere a bit shaky but the observatory dome sheltered us from ground-level gusts. 1/2

"A bright fireball in the sky, a loud bang – and shortly afterwards a hole in the roof of an apartment building. On the evening of 8. March 2026 a meteorite in the district of Güls in Koblenz caused a rare incident. A fragment ... smashed through the roof ... and eventually ended up in a bedroom."

Last night's quick efforts at capturing Jupiter employed the Askar APO 103, equipped with a 2X Barlow, produced an okay result. Even doubled, however, the planet's image was small on the sensor and required much digital enlargement.

Astronomers for Planet Earth are submitting a statement about some of the proposed megaconstellations that would ruin ground-based astronomy to the FCC. You can read the statement below: 🔭☄️

Permanent Daylight Saving Time may *seem* like a good idea but among other reasons it's not, it's unhealthy. www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vi...

An image of our Sun taken in hydrogen-alpha light reveals a turbulent chromosphere, marked with a few dark filaments, on March 2, 2026. Three sunspots are found in the left-hand portion of the disk though difficult to see via hydrogen-alpha. False color -- yellow -- has been added to this image.

We’re about to turn night into day. Is that a good idea? Proposals before the FCC involve mirrors that could bathe entire cities in sunlight and, from SpaceX, a million satellites to serve as data centers. wapo.st/4rUr58z

It was a bright, sunshiny day but the atmosphere was roiled by northern winds -- seeing was not good; bad by some measures. We did manage to capture some decent images and are happy about that as Sun had much to look at. In the northeast quadrant (upper left of this image) 1/2

I want to repeat comments I already made on this plot since some news outlets seem to ignore them: Hubble will not reenter until early 2030s. The curve here is alarming, but will flatten out as we hit solar minimum in the coming years. I still think it's time for NASA to take action on a reboost.

Late morning today, February 26, provided good viewing conditions and our Sun provided interesting sights. Just appearing over the eastern horizon were Active Regions 4378 (upper) and 4379 -- ending a period of spotless photosphere.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has launched a global campaign to disseminate accurate scientific information about the recently discovered interstellar visitor, 3I/ATLAS. A central piece of that effort is a web page devoted to the science of the comet. iauoutreach.org/comet-3I/ATLAS

As promised yesterday: a new alternative model for Little Red Dots. Maybe they're not stars powered by black hole accretion ... maybe they're globular clusters in formation! That's the suggestion in a new paper led by John Chisholm, anyway. It sounds impossible, but hear me out: 🧪🔭☄️

Very candid NASA report on the Starliner fiasco released planet4589.org/space/misc/s... and even more candid summary from NASA boss Isaacman planet4589.org/space/misc/s...

Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo. Sometimes nicknamed Cor Leonis, the Heart of the Lion. It's not really a single star, but a quadruple system with four stars that orbit as two pairs. One of my favorites. Uintah Mountains, Utah on February 14.

17 Feb: New Moon at 12:02 UT (now). Start of lunation 1276 🌟 The next few days remain a great time for evening #stargazing. Download The Evening Sky Map (PDF) (skymaps.com/tesm/) and enjoy exploring the Universe with just your eyes, binoculars or a telescope! 🔭 #space

Here's a full-disk view of Sun as it appeared yesterday. We were so excited capturing the filaprom that we let the full disk view go. This really shows off the extraordinary prominence activity that was going on midday, February 16! #sun #astronomy #solarobserving

Sun was particularly busy today producing many around its rim. Also visible were intriguing filaments including one showing its true nature: a dark filament in the chromosphere, and as a bright prominence contrasted against the blackness of space. A first for me and delightful to observe! #astronomy

A view of Sun's western horizon. There was plenty of prominence activity along the limb -- some more prominent than others -- a few filaments, much turmoil around Active Region 4373, near the top-center of this image. This is a monochrome image of Sun in hydrogen-alpha light -- false color applied.

Finally a day of clear skies and good seeing; we were able to image Sun without dodging clouds!! Very pleased with the results, as well. This is the Solar eastern limb with several "small-ish" prominences, assorted filaments, and the sunspot 4374 surrounded by magnetic field lines traced in plasma.

I wasn't going to do it. I was sure the sky would be cloudy and the sunspot gone. Today, however, I could see Sun (sort of) so I had to try. Seeing conditions were not poor, they were bad. The atmosphere was stirred up and clouds were present -- at times blocking the view entirely.

Farewell to Active Region 4366 -- Giant sunspot complex seen in Sun's northwest. The region continues to issue flares but is showing signs of decay. Soon the sunspot will disappear over the Solar limb. Sky was clear, and winds were light, but seeing was not good. We take what we can get! #sunspots

Though seeing was predicted to be "bad", the sky was clear and blue, and transparency was very good. So, with the temperature at 14°F, and the wind ripping around the observatory, we recorded images of the sunspot at AR4366.

I knew conditions would be dicey but had to try; the gigantic sunspot complex at AR4366 was something I really didn’t want to miss. So I pulled the telescope out and set it up and waited. A gap between the clouds, a quick imaging run, then wait. Another gap, another run, then wait.

Me, on astronomy funding crisis, on the @ox.ac.uk website: www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-02... 🔭🧪

Astronomers breath sigh of relief in Chile. A proposed green hydrogen plant in Chile that astronomers said would cause devastating light pollution and atmospheric turbulence near some of the world’s most powerful telescopes has been cancelled. www.science.org/content/arti...

First Light image from our new hydrogen-alpha telescope, on a day of poor seeing. The sky, typically cloudy in winter, was clear though unsettled, allowing at least a trial of the new scope. We're also experimenting with new software so that when good skies return, we'll be ready!

With a beautiful clear, blue sky today, we recorded Sun in hydrogen-alpha light. Of particular interest, active region 4341 and it was particularly active right after we imaged it. “Sunspot 4341 erupted today (Jan. 18 @ 1809 UTC),” reported Spaceweather .com, “producing an X1.9-class solar flare.”

Our first sun shot of 2026 relied upon our DSLR rig and sub-optimal seeing conditions. Still, we imaged Active Region 4336 with its large spot, which produced the majority of recent flare activity on the Earth-facing disk. The region is observed to be weakening. #solar #astronomy