Sunday is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. Why does our planet have seasons, when other planets like Venus and Jupiter do not? I posted a full explanation at: www.fraknoi.com/.../winter-s... #astronomy #astroed #sky #scienceteaching #scienceeducation #science

Nice surprise. The editor of Worlds Within magazine nominated my science-fiction story "The Lurker" for a Pushcart Prize. It's about a probe from another civilization waiting on an asteroid; at: theworldswithin.net/the-lurker/ #sciencefiction #SETI #astroedu #science&fiction #science #astronomy

Sat night, the #astrosociety of the Pacific gave the 2025 Fraknoi Award for extraordinary support of the Society's educational work to Connie Walker of #NOIRLab For more on her work see: bit.ly/2025fraknoia... #astronomy #astroedu @conniewalker.bsky.social #lightpollution #scienceawards

Teaching a fun, illustrated Zoom course on atomic science for poets (meaning everyone.) Tuesdays Oct & Nov through the SF State OLLI program. For details & how to register: bit.ly/atomscourse #science #physics #atomic #scienceeducation #astroedu #onlinecourses #Zoomcourses #sciencefiction #quantum

This wonderful cartoon was sent out today in an email from The New Yorker magazine. All teachers will especially appreciate this. #cartoons #teaching #astroedu #education #teachers #politicalcartoons #humor

My latest astronomical #sciencefiction story (my 11th) was recently published. It's a new twist on doomsday & advanced #extraterrestrials - "In Conversation with the Downloaded Me." It's at: bit.ly/downloadedme A list of all my published stories: bit.ly/sfbyfraknoi #astroedu #hardsf #space #scifi

The 136-year old Astronomical Society of the Pacific is holding an exciting one-day nontechnical symposium on the future of #astronomy Aug. 21. Great speakers, time for breakout groups. See: bit.ly/ASP2025SYMP (Early bird pricing ends 7/31) #astroedu #space #telescopes #amateurastronomy #science

🚀 Register now for #ASP2025 #Virtual #Symposium: Eyes on the Cosmos -- Embracing the Future (Aug 21)! Save with early bird registration by July 31. Explore 4 themes: Questioning, Investigating, Adapting & Connecting. Explore discoveries, strategies & shared sky stories. 🔭🧪 🔗: bit.ly/ASP2025SYMP

This uncanny image shows LDN43, the cosmic bat nebula -- a region of dark dust & dense gas, where new stars are forming. The nebula is 1400 lightyears away and about 12 lightyears across. #astronomy #astroedu #astrophotos #space #spacephotos #spaceimages #astrophotography #nebula #spacepictures

Beautiful image from Gemini Observatory: the dome of their telescope on Maunkea peak, Hawaii. In this time exposure, see the stars circle the north pole of the sky as our planet rotates. Laser beams that probe atmospheric distortion add interest. #astronomy #astroedu #astrophotos #spacephotos #sky

Friday will be the #summersolstice -- the longest day and shortest night for the Northern Hemisphere. For the full story of how an ancient cosmic accident is responsible for our seasons, see: www.fraknoi.com/seasons/frid... #astronomy #astroedu #space #science #seasons #sky #solstice

Amazing star-forming region, the Tarantula #Nebula, 160,000 lightyears away & 600 lightyears wide. Another great composite image produced by noted amateur astronomer #RobGendler. Massive, luminous baby stars help it to glow. #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacephotos #astroimaging #sciencephotos

This coming weekend the summer meeting of the American Astronomical Society #AAS starts. If the administration's budget is passed by Congress, the science of #astronomy will be decimated in the U.S. #astroedu #sciencefunding #UFOs #extraterrestrials #cartoons #sciencecartoons #astronomycartoons

My latest #sciencefiction story "The Lurker" is just out in "The Worlds Within" online magazine: theworldswithin.net/the-lurker/ Just as we send probes to other planets, might advanced aliens not send AI probes to our system? Please check it out. #astronomy #astroedu #SETI #scifi #extraterrestrials

My latest (short) science-fiction story "Eclipsed" was published today. It's about how rare total eclipses might be, not just in the solar system, but the universe. See: bit.ly/eclipsedsfst... #astronomy #astroedu #scifi #sciencefiction #hardsf #hardsciencefiction #eclipses #eclipsechasing

For those who enjoy #StarTrek and fine art, this is a T-shirt you can buy. (I am not involved with the company, just amused.) #astronomy #astroedu #sciencefiction #art #scifi #VanGogh #sciencehumor #astroart #scienceandart

We see the Veil Nebula, a small part of a vast ancient remnant of an exploded star, still glowing with colorful emissions from hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur atoms. #astronomy #astroedu #astrophotography #space #spaceimages #spacephotos #astroimages #NASA #sciencephotos

Today is the birthday (in 1900) of Cecilia Payne, the astronomer who wrote what some historians call the most important PhD thesis in astronomy -- showing that stars were made mostly of hydrogen and helium. #astronomy #astroedu #astronomyhistory #historyofscience #womenastronomers #womeninscience

#Astro4Earth and #debrafischer just posted a 1-min public video: huge cuts in proposed US budget for #NSF and #NASA & about the beauty and value of astronomy, at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZsQ... Please share if you resonate with it. #astronomy #astroedu #space #science #sciencebudget #budgetcuts

Beautiful image by Robert Fesen & collaborators showing a Wolf-Rayet star (WR8) -- a massive star violently letting go its outer layer (blue) against a background of glowing gas. #astronomy #astroedu #astrophotography #space #spacephotography #astroimages #sciencephotos #spacephotos #astrophotos

Complex, beautiful image, assembled by Rob Gendler, from several visible-light & Infrared telescopes, shows the Ring Nebula, with its many shells of material emitted by a dying star. #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacephotos #astroimaging #stars #sciencephotos #astrophotography #spaceimages

Beautiful new #HubbleTelescope image of the "death-shroud nebula" with catalog designation #NGC2899. The central star is giving off its outer layers in dying. What does the cavity in the gas look like to you? #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacephotos #astroimaging #astronomyphotos #sciencephotos

Sign in a bookstore window, appropriate for the day after Earth Day. (Now that I am a published science-fiction writer, I pay special attention to such signs.) #climatechange #science #sciencehumor #apocalypse #globalwarming #sciencefiction #bookstores

Tonight and tomorrow night are peak times to see the #Lyrids #meteorshower -- a time when more shooting stars are visible if you go to a dark, open site and are patient. The chart shows you the main showers of 2025 and rates them. #astronomy #astroedu #sky #amateurastronomy #darksky #space #meteors

Beautiful composite image by #RobertGendler of galaxy M83, 12 million lightyears away. The red regions are nebulae, where gas clouds are glowing with the energy of recently-formed baby stars within them. #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacehotos #astroimages #spacephotography #astrophotos #galaxies

Nature's variety never fails to surprise us. Astronomers using the #ESO #VeryLargeTelescope have found a planet in a perpendicular orbit around 2 failed stars (brown dwarfs) that orbit each other: www.eso.org/public/news/... #astronomy #astroedu #space #sciencenews #astronomynews #exoplanets #sci

Beautiful new infrared image of "star-death" nebula NGC1514 with the #JamesWebb telescope. The dying star in the center is actually a pair of stars that orbit each other in 9 years; the #nebula is hourglass shaped. #astronomy #astroedu #NASA #JWST #space #spacephotography #astroimages #spaceimages

128 new moons have recently been identified around Saturn, bringing its total number of moons to a record-breaking 274. Some of the new moons orbit Saturn backward, indicating they're captured and not original. #astronomy #astroedu #planetaryscience #NASA #space #Saturn #spacephotos #spacenews

Nonprofit #OpenStax announced that the free, online book #Astronomy has now been used by 1.3 million students at 2100 colleges, saving them $92 million in textbook costs. Anyone can read it at: bit.ly/astronomytex... #astroedu #textbooks #freeontheweb #sciencebooks #opensource #openeducation

Apr. 9 UC Professor #JonathanFortney will give a free, public, nontechnical talk on latest #JamesWebbTelescope results on #exoplanet atmospheres. #FoothillCollege in Los Altos, CA, 7 pm in Smithwick Theater. If you can't go, it will be on the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures #YouTube channel later.

#Hubble telescope image: NGC3350, a spiral galaxy, 40 million lightyears away. The bright central star is actually in our own Milky Way, just 10,000 LY away. It's a chance superposition. #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacephotography #scienceimages #spacephotos #astrophotography #HST #astronomyimages

#Nvidia announced they'll be naming an advanced chip for doing AI after astronomer #VeraRubin, whose work led to our understanding that a major part of the universe is made of #darkmatter, whose nature we don't understand. #astronomy #astroedu #womeninastronomy #space #astronomyhistory #scientists

Brand new #JamesWebbTelescope image of the outflow from a young star, with a #galaxy far, far away, at its upper left tip. In this infrared view, heated dust regions glow reddish. #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacephotos #astronomyimages #science #sciencephotography #astrophotos #spaceimages #JWST

In this remarkable image, Rob Gendler combines #Hubble telescope and ESO infrared data to show the dark Horsehead Nebula in Orion and a bright region of glowing gas that reminds me of a bulldog face. #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacephotos #astronomyimages #sciencephotos #spacephotography #science

Spring #equinox coming: morning of Thu 3/20. Day & night will be equal. See diagram: we have seasons because Earth's axis is tilted - due to a cosmic accident. Something hit us billions of years ago. Like many accident victims, we could never stand up straight. #astroedu #astronomy #space #science

This beautiful image of the Trifid Nebula, assembled by Rob Gendler, shows lanes of dark dust trisecting the glowing gas. This is a region of new star formation some 9000 lightyears away. #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacephotos #spacephotography #scienceimages #astronomyphotos #nebulas #science

This #Hubble telescope image shows the Trumpler 14 star cluster some 8000 lightyears away. The stars are extremely young, only half a million years old. Many will end their lives in a few million years in great explosions. #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacephotography #astronomyimages #sciencephotos

The Blue Ghost Lander on the #Moon photographed last night's #lunareclipse from its unique vantage point. From the Moon, the Earth covered the Sun; here the Sun emerges from eclipse. #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacephotograph #spaceimages #sciencephotos #astrophotography #astronomyimages #science

Happy Einstein's Birthday March 14th. Despite all the crazy politics in the world, I hope you can have a relatively happy celebration for one of the greatest minds in human history. #Einstein #science #physics #astronomy #astroedu #sciencebirthdays #piday #sciencehumor #scienceportraits

This remarkable image, processed by Robert Gendler, shows the complex region of the Vela supernova remnant, the glowing material from a massive star that exploded some 11,000 years ago. #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacephotography #astroimaging #astronomyimages #photography #spaceimages #science

Astronomers have found 128 new moons orbiting the planet #Saturn, bringing its total number of moons to 274, the largest of any known planet. These are small worlds, but they orbit like other moons. #astronomy #astroedu #planets #space #spacephotography #astronomyimages #solarsystem #sciencephotos

Another beautiful image, processed by master astro-photographer Robert Gendler from #Hubble and ESO data. Barred spiral NGC 2442, nicknamed the Meathook Galaxy, is roughly 50 million lightyears away. #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacephotographs #spaceimages #photography #scienceimages #galaxies

The magnificent Rosette #nebula, a region of recent star formation, with a cluster of adolescent stars at center. It's about 5000 LY away and about 130 LY across. (Photo by Rob Gendler) #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacephotography #astronomyimages #science #sciencephotos #stars #astrophotography

Total #eclipse of the #Moon visible in N and S America the night of Mar 13. See my sheet: bit.ly/2025eclipse Such an eclipse is seen as an eclipse of the Sun (by Earth) from the Moon. The Blue Ghost lander will photograph it! #astronomy #astroedu #space #lunareclipse #moonlander #science #nightsky

Among the most beautiful of #astronomyimages is the view of the Pleiades - a cluster of stars ~450 lightyears away, that are moving through are region of dust and gas, which reflects their light with a blue glow. #astronomy #astroedu #space #spacephotography #spaceimages #scienceimages #starclusters

Another favorite #astronomyimage -- the cloud of cosmic raw material (glowing gas and dark dust) that is sometimes nicknamed the Boogeyman nebula because of the threatening dark figure you can see within. #astronomy #astroedu #science #space #spacephotos #astronomicalpictures #sciencephotos #scary

Stand Up for Science! Mar. 7, science supporters are mobilizing in Washington DC and across the nation to keep science free from interference and censorship by government officials. See www.standupforscience2025.org #science #protest #scienceeducation #astronomy #astroedu #skepticism #sciencepolicy

buff.ly/AsWCczj @fraknoi.bsky.social is a man on a mission—a space mission, that is. For decades, he’s inspired and educated students and the public on the wonders of astronomy, from Foothill and Cañada colleges to San Francisco State University. “This is the golden age of astronomy." 🧪

Free Astronomy Textbook: Interested in #astronomy ? A reminder that the #OpenStax free online introductory textbook is available to anyone. Used by 1.2 million students and over 100,000 independent readers so far: bit.ly/astronomytex... #astroedu #space #science #textbooks #education #openeducation

Another favorite image: the globular cluster 47 Tucanae - a massive collection of a million or more stars, many very old. Such clusters let us trace the shape of our galaxy & estimate its age. #astronomy #astroedu #Hubble #NASA #space #astronomyimages #spacephotography #HST #sciencepictures #science