Next-generation Moon rocket targets April 1 launch for first deep space astronaut mission in more than half a century My Substack: substack.com/home/post/p-...

Good morning from Kennedy Space Center! Weather forecast still 80% favorable for April 1 launch of #Artemis2

NASA’s launch window for the crewed Artemis II mission around the Moon will open this Wednesday, April 1, 2026 through April 6- Current scheduled liftoff is at 6:24pm ET on April 1 and will send 4 astronauts on a 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth on board the Orion capsule.

Thanks to @pbs.org for including my processed image of the Apollo 11 landing site in their latest episode of “Horizons,” but @NASA did the heavy lifting by actually going to the Moon, and the ISRO sent their lunar satellite in 2021 which spotted it while conducting other surveys! 🤣🚀👨‍🚀👨‍🚀🛰️

🚀 Big news! My processed images of the Apollo 11 & 12 landing sites are being included in @pbs.org’s next episode of "Horizons" this Friday March 20, 2026 around 7 PM ET online at www.pbs.org/show/horizons, or Saturday evening on your local PBS station. (Check your local listings)

🚀 Starting my 10th year as a NASA #SolarSystemAmbassador! 🎤 My next free, public event (registration required) is Saturday, April 11, 2026, 2pm at the Bethlehem Area Public library main branch pabapl. Details on my website BackyardAstronomyGuy.com

Got some much needed telescope time tonight- enjoy my shots of Jupiter and our Moon! 🔭 Sky Watcher AZ-GTI/SkyMax 127 📷 Canon EOS R6 Mark III

🌕 Full “Snow” Moon rising: February 1, 2026 Which one do you like better? Image 1 taken at 5:41pm ET, Image 2 taken at 6:19pm. 📷 Canon R6 Mark III/RF 24-240 @ 240 & cropped.

During the Artemis I uncrewed test mission around the Moon in November 2022, I had a special message displayed in the Orion cockpit! This message was shown at Mission Elapsed Time (MET) of 02:09:35:21 (2 days, 9 hours, 35 minutes, 21 seconds), at a distance of 189,616 miles from Earth!

Cold 2-hour hike through Jacobsburg State Park today on my last day of vacation & playing around with my Canon USA R6 Mark III’s settings.

This is still my best telescope photo of the International Space Station from April 2021, with NASA’s reference in next post of what was docked at that time. 🔭📷: 10” Dobsonian (manually tracked!) & Canon 60D

From NASA JPL: Make a 2026 Moon Phases Calendar, and follow the lunar cycle all year long! 🌖 All you need is a printer, scissors, tape, and a brass fastener: www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/resource...

Tonight’s 7.5% illuminated waxing crescent Moon’s “Earthshine” was quite a view, which can only be seen a few days before and after the new Moon. Earthshine is Earth’s reflected sunlight on the Moon’s night side. 📷 @canonusa R6 Mark III, RF 24-240 lens @240 and cropped.

Before sunrise, December 16, 2025. 🛩️🌘 📷 Canon R6 Mark III Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Getting creative with the Full Moon and my new Canon R6 Mark III 📷. Which one do you like best?

Caught a comet tonight! I stacked 75 images of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon), using my Canon 60D/300mm lens. Wish I could do better! I aligned all the images on the comet nucleus, showing some movement relative to stars and a satellite?

I captured my first 22-degree solar halo with sun dogs! 📍Nazareth, Pennsylvania September 30, 2025 at 5:30pm ET

Finally freeing up laptop storage by deleting 10 years’ worth of “bad astronomy.” Thousands of giant .CR2 files of blurry stars, overexposed moons, and what I once swore was Saturn but was clearly just camera shake or bad focus. Hoping to make a new gallery at the end of it all!

🔭🪐 Saturn - September 19, 2025

A satellite photo of a volcano taken from space FROM THE SIDE

Send your name on NASA’s Artemis II Mission around the Moon, launching in 2026! nasa.gov/send-your-name-with-artemis/

Sun rising at 7:13am ET, with some sunspots visible! First two images taken with my iPhone 16 Pro in Raw Max @ 25x zoom, exposure -2.0 and brightness slider turned to lowest setting. Last image is current data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (different orientation than my pics)

Behold… my 66% illuminated #moon photo from September 1, 2025. 🌔

🛰️🌎 Space & Earth lovers: I highly recommend you download the free Sen app and view a 4K livestream of Earth or prerecorded videos of scenic locations around our planet, all from the Sen camera on the ISS! 📲 iOS: apps.apple.com/jm/app/sen/i... 📲 Google Play: play.google.com/store/apps/d...

August 7, 2025: 98% illuminated Waxing Gibbous #Moon. Full Moon on August 9!

🚀👨‍🚀👨‍🚀 On this day: July 20, 1969: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon during NASA's Apollo 11 mission. The clearest photos of the Apollo 11 & 12 Lunar Descent Stages that were left on the surface from were taken in 2021 by the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO)…

Thank you NASA & JPL for my surprise mail this weekend! Being present for the 2024 total solar eclipse at Tupper Lake, NY was the astronomical highlight of my life. Check out my timelapse video of totality! youtu.be/w3Tjr6xWgcA

FACT THREAD on New Interstellar Object #A11pl3Z This story unfolded pretty fast yesterday for a few reasons. The object was discovered on July 1st UTC by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS team. A #NASA funded survey at the University of Hawaii. atlas.fallingstar.com 🔭🧪

Snapped this #sunset on my way home with some snow geese flying through. February 18, 2025 📷 iPhone 16 Pro

#NASARoman: NASA has successfully joined the sunshade to the Roman observatory’s ‘exoskeleton.’ The visor-like sunshade will help prevent unwanted light from entering the telescope: go.nasa.gov/4hQItFR

Large white oval storm system with associated turbulent flows on Jupiter. Mid-northern latitudes. Juno Perijove 65, Sept. 20, 2024. flic.kr/p/2qLfcvy

Jupiter’s North Equatorial Belt and areas north as seen by Juno during Perijove 69, January 28th. flic.kr/p/2qJPSQQ

Maybe, just maybe… everyone should stop getting so excited about SpaceX launches.

Nearing the end of book One of the Silo series and thought I found a hidden note on “precious paper” tucked into the spine- IYKYK. I’m really sitting here trying to peel it out carefully to see if it’s a secret message, or just a manufacturing defect. How cool would that be?

Ok. Chill out, Kevin. Here’s one of my absolute favorites from the Cassini mission: Saturn on September 13 2017. The data for it was downlinked only hours before Cassini descended into Saturn. I was so excited when the data did come down, I ran outside and showed a gathering of friends :-)

Behind the scenes from last night’s Lunar occultation of Mars 🔭 ✅ I used SkySafari Pro to plan the occultation start timing. ✅ Inside & warm I setup my Sky-Watcher USA SkyMax127 and AZ-GTi mount, connected to a 2x Barlow, universal variable adapter with a 20mm 1.25” plossl lens inside, & Canon 60D.

I captured my best video of Mars during tonight’s lunar occultation! January 13, 2025 Sky-Watcher SkyMax 127 & AZ-GTi mount, Canon 60D. #solarsystemambassador

Are you looking tonight at the #Moon like me? Which picture do you like better- 1 or 2?

Sunrise with some light snow last night. 📍Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

The total eclipse from April 7, 2024 was absolutely the astronomical highlight of my life! Please enjoy the entirety of this 3-minute video, combining 3 different videos that I captured into individual 20x time-lapse sequences.

In April 2021, The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)'s Chandrayaan2 Orbiter captured images of NASA's Apollo 11 & 12 landing sites and Lunar Modules. I decided to learn how to view the raw imagery myself from ISRO: www.backyardastronomyguy.com/apollo-isro

This image of Mercury was taken yesterday. The joint ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission snapped this photo during its sixth and final flyby of Mercury; it will enter orbit at the end of 2026. And fun fact: the plain shown by the arrow, Mearcair Planitia, was named by me.

Hello world. Just an amateur astronomer in love with the cosmos & a volunteer #NASA #JPL #SolarSystemAmbassador BackyardAstronomyGuy.com

Nice sunrise this morning (January 9, 2025)

Incredible! 44 individual *stars* observed in a galaxy 6.5 BILLION light years away! Light we're seeing from these stars was emitted before the Earth formed 🤯 This is only possible because of the fun physics of gravitational lensing! Read more: abcnews.go.com/Technology/h... #JWST #NASA #space

Santa told me I’m on the Nice list and should get lots of clear skies in 2025 🔭😄🌌🪐

Don’t miss it: Join me LIVE on December 5, 2024 at 7 PM eastern time on YouTube where I join the “National Capital Area Skeptics” to show how I processed the Indian Space Research Organization’s lunar orbiter imagery of the Apollo 11 and 12 landing sites. www.youtube.com/live/xcNV2uQ...

Caltech planetary scientists anticipate future discoveries from the Europa Clipper mission, which successfully launched on October 14 and is now making its way toward Jupiter’s icy moon. www.caltech.edu/about/news/w...

This is fun! A new #nasa simulation shows the phases of the Moon during 2025 at hourly intervals. Some craters are labeled, as well as Apollo landing spots 😀🌚 www.youtube.com/watch?v=RROl...

‼️ New #jwst image alert ‼️ This gorgeous new view of the Sombrero galaxy shows that unlike in the visible-light images, the brightly glowing core of the galaxy doesn't shine, but we see instead a smooth inner disk, & we can see new details of the outer ring. More: science.nasa.gov/missions/web...