Nice day sailing on Lake Patagonia.

C/2024 E1: 2026 Mar 06 02.42 UT; m1= 9.2; Dia= 4’; DC= 3; 12.5 cm B x20 [Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, USA]

1/2 Today at 02:54 UTC I achieved something of a dream of mine. After several failed attempts over the past few nights, I was finally able to observe one of my comets visually through a break in the clouds with my old Vixen 20x125 binoculars from Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Ok I promise this is the last picture of my comet that I'll post but I think this one is my favorite. Image by Beáta Ujvárosi.

Image of comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos) showcasing what appear to be not one, two or three but four tails. Image obtained by Gerald Rehman and Michael Jaeger.

Congrats to @wierzchos.bsky.social on this beauty! C/2024 E1 (Wierzchoś) is putting on a show for southern hemisphere observers right now. 📷 by renowned comet photographer Gerald Rhemann. 🔭

Always a blast to make it to the print edition of Sky & Telescope.

My son after seeing the sea for the first time :)

For the folks that are still struggling with this. Here is a Venn Diagram. #3I/Atlas #3I 🔭

First time on campus with the baby! I think he had a blast.

Today at the helm of my sailboat "Comet" during her maiden voyage.

Meet Comet, my first sailboat. She's a West Wight Potter 15, a classic design from the 1960s. This example was built in 2003 and is in fantastic condition. This sloop has a cabin with two beds for overnight adventures and her maiden voyage will take place later this month in Patagonia Lake.

FUCK YEAH SCIENCE arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Now if I could have some clear skies...

This discovery by @wierzchos.bsky.social still looks to be on course to become a nice binocular comet or even more around the turn of the year. ☄️🔭 #CometWatch

Art Deco in Tucson shot with Polaroid I-Type B&W film. #polaroid #b&wphotography #analogphotography #filmphotography

Mission San Xavier del Bac shot on Polaroid I-Type B&W film. #polaroid #b&wphotography #analogphotography #filmphotography

Check out the new NASA film, "Planetary Defenders" which features some familiar LPL faces! youtu.be/jOb2DQWvDvc?...

Looking at photographic plates with a loupe is the closet experience to looking through the eyepiece of a telescope. These were obtained by Gerard Kuiper himself.

Achievement unlocked. JWST observed one of my comets. This if from Colin Snodgrass et al. "First JWST spectrum of distant activity in Long Period Comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos)" arxiv.org/pdf/2503.14071

Check this article that features my friend and CSS colleague David Rankin. It's the best description of what we do as the forefront of Planetary Defense. theamericanscholar.org/asteroid-hun...

Working on Kitt Peak tonight. Forecast is looking good.

Dr. Al Grauer is my friend and colleague from the Catalina Sky Survey. Al has been producing his astronomy podcast, Travelers In The Night, for many years. These are brief two-minute episodes of science in the news. Well worth adding to your listening options or passing on to a friend. #PlanetSci

Astronomers of Blue Sky, please sign this petition.

Here is the infamous near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 from Gemini S acquired with a joint proposal from Catalina Sky Survey (Dr. Wierzchos) and Bryce Bolin. It's currently very faint and approaching magnitude 24. Really pops out with the 8m glass. 🔭🧪

Self portrait at work no. 2. This one is the Bok telescope on Kitt Peak (MPC code V00). May the night be clear because I'm itching to find stuff.

Replying to work emails from my backyard when I noticed this deer spying on me.

Well this took more work than anticipated, but my solo guitar EP "A Bouquet of Tunes" is out on vinyl :)

Having fun with Comet for Widows. The last time I used this software I wasn't old enough to vote. I used JPL's absolute magnitude and slope parameter to produce the light curve. Note that comets are notoriously unpredictable and nobody knows if it will reach that magnitude. #CometWatch

My new solo guitar arrangement of Manhã de Carnaval (theme from the 1959 film Black Orpheus). www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9rC...

Keep Europe Elon-Free.

The night of May 10th brought a beautiful display of aurora borealis to Tucson and also a new comet. This all sky image was taken at Mt. Lemmon at the time of the discovery sequence of comet C/2024 J2 (Wierzchos). I marked the position of the comet upon discovery with a yellow cross.

Last night was something to remember. I have never seen the aurora borealis and seeing the sky turn red was spectacular. I also might have discovered something interesting shooting through the red-tinted sky. Stay tuned..

A man and his boat.

This is my telescope. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

Hello Blue Sky. This really looks like Twitter before it became a total mess.