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

NEW YORK (AP) — NASA is cutting a mission aboard the International Space Station short after an astronaut had a medical issue. The space agency said Thursday the U.S.-Japanese-Russian crew of four will return to Earth in the coming days, earlier than planned. apnews.com/article/nasa...

You *asked* for a star! — Astronomer foxtrot.com/wp-content/u...

Satellite trails could taint roughly 96% of the images taken by some space-based telescopes in the next decade, astronomers predict. Around 15,000 satellites currently orbit Earth, but that number could balloon to more than 550,000 …. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

NASA has completed the construction of #NASARoman! Last month, technicians joined the inner and outer portions of the observatory in Maryland. After final testing, Roman will move to the launch site at the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations in summer 2026: https://go.nasa.gov/48EqnE8 🔭 🧪

If you need to talk, the 988 Lifeline is here. Whether you're facing mental health struggles, emotional distress, alcohol or drug use concerns, or just need someone to talk to, our caring counselors are here for you. You are not alone. 988lifeline.org

"Whatever the cost of our libraries, the cost is cheap compared to an ignorant nation." -- Walter Cronkite (1916-2009. American broadcast journalist) in American Library Association "Libraries Change Lives" Campaign, 1995.

“[I]f you're … using SSDs for cold storage, expecting the drives lying in your drawer to work perfectly after years, you might want to rethink your strategy. Your reliable SSD could suffer from corrupted or lost data if left unpowered for extended periods.” www.xda-developers.com/your-unpower...

Cloudy, windy, chilly today so a good time to swap out telescopes and put the big Meade up. We’re eager to try the 6-inch out again for solar including imaging in calcium-K. Maybe sunny tomorrow. Maybe we can try then. Continued strong winds expected, tho.

Lots of folks captioning aurora photos like "for a few minutes we didn't think about politics" guess I'm built different, every time I'm out trying to see night sky stuff I frequently think about how much light pollution is entirely preventable with just a tiny bit of regulation

Here are some views of the sunspot that blew off the CMEs that caused the geomagnetic storms that made the auroras that raised all the hubbub this week. The sunspot at Active Region 4274 is responsible for all the action. Where we show two sunspots, the smaller one (bottom edge) is AR4275. 1/2

I first heard rumours about this in September. We're currently without one of our most powerful tools for communicating with spacecraft in deep space, and it's not clear when we'll get it back.

Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.

Close-up views of Sun's northeastern quadrant, made this morning, display the turmoil surrounding very active Active Region 4272. CMEs thrown off by the sunspot have caused auroral displays already with more intense activity expected tonight. Clouds are likely to spoil the view from here.

Solar activity went high this week with, especially, AR4274 firing off a powerful X1.8 flare with a partial halo CME. A wind-roiled atmosphere at our site reduced imaging quality for us but Sun’s northeast rim was still an impressive sight. This view via our Herschel wedge. #sun #sunspots

We used to print these and hand them out at the open nights we hosted at the college observatory. A fine resource.

it’s giving Jupiter south polar vortex tbh

I'm sitting in my office writing my next article for Scientific American about a topic I'm fascinated with, reading journal papers and really enjoying myself. I was hit with a wave of nostalgia; I miss when this was what occupied the majority of my mind during the day. I really love astronomy.

Al Nagler, of TeleVue fame, has died. His son made the following announcement: www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_...

🔭 Chile’s dark skies remind us of what billions have already lost spectrum.ieee.org/scale-of-lig...

Using the Baader Planetarium Herschel Wedge attached to the Askar refractor, today, we observed Sun in white light. Several active regions (AR) were visible but those shown here were particularly interesting to view. Sunspots at AR 4246 and 4248 are primed to make powerful flares.

Once again a bit late in the day for optimal solar observing conditions but we work with what we've got! "A potentially dangerous sunspot: It's big, and a little weird. Sunspot 4246 has grown rapidly into one of the largest sunspots of Solar Cycle 25." ... #sunspots

JPL Hit With Layoffs: bsky.app/profile/phil...

Holy crap. This is terrible. The article states it's "not related to the current U.S. government shutdown". But of course it is: they are both connected by the GOP destroying everything good about this country from the top down and the bottom up.

The view of Sun today in hydrogen-alpha light revealed the solar limb sizzling with prominences! Here are a few views recorded late this afternoon. By the time we were able to get to this, Earth's atmosphere was riled up and cost us some sharpness. #sun #solarastronomy #astronomy

A few adjustments in data capture parameters was all it took to make a big difference in image processing and results! We're very pleased with Barlow-boosted views though we're still having some issues with achieving even lighting across whole-disk views... #sunspots

We're off solar max but our Sun has been fairly active of late, even causing recent "surprise" auroras! We may be in for more. "Two of these sunspots (4230 and 4236) have 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic fields" reports SpaceWeather.com, "that harbor energy for X-class solar flares." #sunspots

Still working to get the best finished images from our solar scope data. Reprocessed Sunday's images today in PixInsight/SolarToolbox (color) vs. Photoshop (mono). Pretty colors in the first, better detail from Photoshop! Note "peach fuzz" spicules in the tight crop. Synoptic Map credit: NOAA/SWPC.

We stepped back a bit and used a DSLR for our sun shot: Canon EOS 7D Mk. 2 with 400mm telephoto lens, no extender, plus white light solar filter. A grainy view but showing a good selection of sunspots. AR 4232 is reported to be growing more active, throwing off M-Class flares. #sunspots #astronomy

Clear and quiet skies this morning made for excellent seeing. Our Sun has been active lately and it showed in the form of prominences all around the rim. A big group on Sun's western limb (right) drew attention away from the high-flying prom at about the 11 o'clock position. #sun #sunspots

Our recent solar flare research was published! We present the first spectral observations of ‘Supra-Arcade Downflows’ (SADs) since 2003. SADs are dark finger-like downflows seen above solar flare loops, but their origins remain elusive! What do we find? 1/6

A daytime First Light for our observatory. We attached the Canon EOS 5D Mk. 4 to the Vixen Cassegrain, installed the Astrozap solar filter, aimed skyward. A nice assortment of sunspots was present, eastward of Sun's center, AR4220 developing rapidly. The spots are reported to be stable and quiet.

“JUPITER, the European Union’s new exascale supercomputer, is 100% powered by renewable energy. Can it compete in the global AI race?” #ai #computing #energy www.nature.com/articles/d41...