One of the closest planet-vs-planet for 2026 occurs tomorrow at ~4:00 UT, when Mars passes just 10’ from Venus. Too bad the two are currently hidden on the farside of the Sun versus the Earth. SOHO can see ‘em though, in its LASCO C2 coronagraph: www.youtube.com/shorts/5JzTs...

Refresh, refresh, refresh... Let the 'eclipse weather worries' begin: eclipsophile.com/tse2026/

Models of what these super massive stars match observed spectra. They also explain how we got super massive black holes pretty instantly. These results have been published before, but this is first conference presentation I think.

Coming up in just a few hours: the waning -86% illuminated gibbous Moon occults (passes in front of) the +1.4 magnitude star Regulus (Alpha Leonis) in the first bright star lunar occultation of 2026. The action goes down for central/NE Asia, centered on 17:00 Universal Time (UT).

Today's solar shot. I see the culprit that was producing the loop seen in H-A from yesterday now rotating into view. #Dwarf3

Yup. @unistellar.bsky.social is doing some amazing science with their network of smartscopes - www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSpb...

Venus reaches solar conjunction tomorrow at 16UT/11AM EST, 1.7 AU distant and just 25’ from the Sun. And although -4th mag. Venus is lost in the glare of the Sun for the most part, Joerg Schoppmeyer managed to nab the elusive world with his specialized rig: spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload...

The strange tale of two protostars 1,000 light-years distant: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... - Via @skyandtelescope.bsky.social

I observed the Quadrantid meteor shower on 2026-01-03 from Yuzhno-Morskoy, Nakhodka My report to the International Meteor Organization www.imo.net/members/imo_... @astrodave.bsky.social @davidbflower.bsky.social #PhotoHour #StormHour #meteors #Quadrantids2026 #Quadrantids #meteorshower #astronomy

Two launches by SpaceX (CSG-3 and Starlink Group 6-88) have put the spaceflight calendar in motion for 2026. www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeV6...

Into the depths of a winter sky…….almost full wolf Supermoon, clouds & Jupiter @astrodave.bsky.social @wtop @capitalweather.bsky.social

I remember following NanoSail-D2, back in the day... apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap26010...

The next time it coincides with a Lunar perigee is January 2045

Happy (Merry?) Perihelion today. It may not feel like it, but Earth reaches its closest point to the Sun today at 17:16 Universal Time (UT)/12:16 PM (EST) at 0.9833 Astronomical Units (AU) or 91.4 million miles/147.1 million km distant, +1815 km off of average. astropixels.com/ephemeris/pe...

Almost Full Wolf Supermoon & Jupiter at 6 o’clock position @wtopnews.bsky.social @astrodave.bsky.social @capitalweather.bsky.social

Oooh, nice! Another application for Seestar observations :-)

An end of 2025 look at interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, courtesy of astronomer Gianluca Masi and the Virtual Telescope Project - www.virtualtelescope.eu/2025/12/31/i...

It's Wolf Moon weekend! The first full moon of 2026 has risen. Currently 99% full (reaches maximum whilst set), it will be a 'Supermoon' tomorrow at 2pm. #astronomy #astrophotography @stormhour.com @photohour.bsky.social

If skies are clear, keep an eye out for the brief but strong Quadrantid meteors this weekend. The ‘Quads’ have a brief but strong annual January 3rd peak just after New Year’s Day. Here’s our post on prospects for the 2026 Quads for @universetoday.com www.universetoday.com/articles/the...

Jan Astro Events 3-Earth perihelion 3-Full Moon 4-Quadrantids 6-Moon occults Regulus (NE Asia) 8-Venus v Mars 10-Jupiter opposition 14-The Moon occults Antares (Australia) 18-Mercury v Mars 18-New Moon 27-The Moon occults M45 (Arctic) 29-Mercury v Venus www.universetoday.com/articles/top...

Be sure to celebrate the dumpster fire of a year that was 2025, and welcome in 2026 with the New Year's Eve Dumpster Fire bidding farewell (& good riddance) to 2025, courtesy of Ambient Renders: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xkw...

Calling it. Assuming there aren’t any unannounced ‘rogue launches’ in the next few hours (looking at you, N.Korea/Iran) yesterday’s launch of Shijian-29A/B from Wenchang Space Center in China will close out 2025, with a record-setting 315 launches worldwide reaching orbit. youtu.be/GPYaaa7mc-o?...

Musk critics on X face AI-driven suppression and reach collapse oecd.ai/en/incidents...

Still on X? (I'm sayin', on BlueSky) petapixel.com/2025/12/29/x...

The new object, 2025-002C (62734), is likely an inert jettisoned piece of equipment (docking adapter? refuelling system?) but not impossible it's a subsatellite - will monitor the tracking data for any manuevers

So, how about our New Year's CME? Well, NASA is the most bullish with a flanking hit late on Dec 31. NOAA has a glancing blow early on Jan 1. HUXt just outputted a ~60% chance of arrival with high uncertainty for impact around Jan 1 midday UT.

I think you're correct... we'll probably see lots more new comets (interstellar and intersolar) as new sky surveys come online. We're also due a Hale-Bopp for this generation.

If skies are clear, be sure to catch the final(?) astronomical event of 2025 early on New Years' Eve day, as the +88% illuminated Moon occults the Pleiades for the Arctic ~13:56 UT. Also be sure to spot +6th magnitude Uranus nearby, just 5 degrees away from the M45/Moon pair.

2025 was a decent year for comets, with 59 discoveries overall, 47 found by automated all-sky surveys, and 12 sporting human names. It’s getting harder (though still not quite impossible) for visual observers to find a comet. people.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/

Today's solar shot. Lots o' spots. #Dwarf3

We are very much out of the sunspot "doldrums" we experienced not just a week ago. The estimated SSN is over 140. The visible disk has a 45/10% chance of M/X-class flares. There aren't any complex regions in the Earth-strike zone, so we may have to wait for Earth-directed CMEs.

One loooong Solar Puck exposure from 2025, courtesy of Greg Meyer - www.flickr.com/photos/gomey...

The month-to-date temperature departure from normal for the Contiguous U.S. is +3.9F. If this is how the month ends, December 2025 would finish as the 4th warmest December on record (1895-present). 4 of the top 5 would include 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025. It's as if something has changed. 🤔

Had a great year's finish with visual #CometObs . Four out of the last five mornings I was able to observe. This morning: 3I/ATLAS: 11.5 mag, 2.3', DC3 24P/Schaumasse: 9.5 mag, 6', DC3 🔭☄️ Image of 24P on Dec 26 by Roland Fichtl, reference see ALT

It was a busy year for spaceflight in 2025. The year set another record with 313 launches worldwide successfully reaching orbit as of December 29th, with at least 3 more set to launch this week before the New Year. Over half 165 were by SpaceX alone, most of which 122 were Starlink batch launches.

Possibly spotted: the first known 'super-kilonova' - via @skyandtelescope.bsky.social - skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

Today's Dwarf3 solar shot. Activity is picking up a bit, going into the end of 2025.

2026 is a great year for eclipses. The 1st eclipse season starts with a remote annular solar eclipse on February 17th, spanning the Antarctic.

SpaceX's 166th and final launch for 2025 is coming right up in just under an hour from Vandenberg, with CSG-3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_0B... Falcon-9 has accounted for over half of the orbital launches worldwide, in a very busy year.

Wowsers. 100 mph winds ripped off one of the Lick Observatory's dome shutters early on Christmas Day. The shutter lodged itself in the roof of the main building, and crews were just recently able to remove it after winds subsided: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYoo...

An amazing ISS spacewalk capture by (who else?) NASA astro Don Petit: petapixel.com/2025/12/24/p...

NGC 1316 and friends in the Fornax cluster. The whirls and bends are an indication of the chaotic interactions after galactic collisions, and at the center of all of this sits a supermassive black hole. From Chile at El Sauce by the SWOS group Hanson, Parker, Magill, Mazlin, and me. My process. 🔭

2025 was a busy year for spaceweather, as we come down off of the solar maximum for Cycle 25 in 2024. The past year was still active, and the climax was arguably the November 11th Veteran’s Day solar storm which sent Kp values through the roof, and sent aurora to low latitudes that rarely see them.

An amazing capture of Comet k1 ATLAS from December 15th, courtesy of Dan Bartlett - app.astrobin.com/i/xo16zj?r=0

🚨🔥 Warmest Christmas on record for the Contiguous U.S.! The average high of 57.9F and the average low of 36.6F each broke the Christmas record by a full 3F. 🔥🚨

2025 was an amazing year in astronomy, with more to look forward to in 2026. The coming year sees the return of total eclipses lunar & solar, a possible spring comet, and more. Here’s our 2026 skywatching guide (now in its 17th year!) for @universetoday.com www.universetoday.com/articles/top...

Activity is picking up again... here's today's Xmas Day solar shot. #Dwarf3

I remember it well (& the butterflys in my stomach) Dare mighty things 🚀🛰️🔭📡

Remembering Christmas Day not all that long ago in 2021, when we were all awaiting an extra special astronomical present: the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana on an Ariane 5 rocket. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViXo...

Spending #ChristmasDay playing #boardgsmes with @astrodave.bsky.social. Starting with a game of #Abducktion. Have a cool Yule, y'all!