The more I read this article on a 'surge' in meteor strikes, the more skeptical I become. Is there any reason to think the increase it talks about is not simply down to random chance? The analysis itself seems to read like something an AI would cook up... amsmeteors.org/ams-q1-2026-...

The great comet of 1882 was extraordinarily bright, so much so that it could be seen even in the middle of the day as it approached the Sun. Here it was photographed from Cape Town by David Gill. #historyofastronomy #space #comets #photography

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Space exploration should never be about trying replace the Earth. It must be about inquiry, about a desire to learn and to better ourselves, to explore. There is great beauty out there, but there is no other home for humanity.

How anybody can look at this image and think there are better options out there is entirely beyond me. The only planet with whales, and butterflies, and giant sequoias. Home.

The Orion Nebula, photographed by George Ritchey in 1901. #historyofastronomy #space #photography #history

Posting this here because @nasaspaceflight.com hasn't yet NASA's engineering cameras for #Artemis2 images-assets.nasa.gov/video/KSC-20...

Imagine waking up to that view! #NASA #ArtemisII

Quite unfortunate that most of the exciting Artemis activities are taking place during European sleeping hours!

Oh wow, the photos already released from NASA for the launch of Artemis II from the NASA HQ flickr.

The lunar plain of Mare Humorum sketched by Etienne Trouvelot in 1875. To the bottom right is the crater Gassendi, on the top left the craters of Vitello and Doppelmayer. #historyofastronomy #space #artemis #art #science

Before the age of astrophotography, the night sky had to be drawn. Here is the work of one of the greatest. #historyofastronomy #art #space #history

The Orion Nebula, photographed in 1883 by Andrew Ainslie Common. This image was the first to reveal stars too faint to be seen by the human eye. #historyofastronomy #space #photography #history

The Earth, seen by the crew of Apollo 17. Since that flight no human has gone high or far enough to see the entirety of the Earth silhouetted against the void. #space #historyofastronomy #NASA #artemis #apollo #photography

It worries me less that the president—whose is, as we all learned long ago absent of morals and decency—would say this, but more that 40% of the U.S. population remain unmoved by such despicable comments.

Oh okay, we're now at the point where America is threatening to commit terrible war crimes. What more red flags do you need to realise something is terribly wrong?

Have you ever heard of the red supergiant problem? 🧪🔭

The world is a wonderful place

LLMs do not offer objective feedback. If you ask them is something is good they will tell you it is. If you ask them to criticise they will. Even if you ask them to criticise their own output!

Unfavorable weather conditions have pushed the launch date of the next Isar Aerospace Spectrum flight to no earlier than 23 March. Image credit: Isar Aerospace

Got to love tech CEOs announcing future products that break the laws of thermodynamics. Don’t worry though, they have their best engineers at work on it. #nvidia

This week's newsletter looks at the changing face of WOH G64, covers the latest plans to return to the Moon, examines the newest pictures of 3I/Atlas, and asks if it is time to take panspermia seriously. 🔭🧪

"I would not be surprised if we fly 400 Starship launches in the next four years,” Shotwell said in 2024. Considering they have flown just six times in the fifteen months since, they are really going to have to pick up the pace if they want to hit this ridiculous target!

It's not just you, orbiting data centres really are a stupid idea. #space #spacex #ai #astronomy

Is anyone running the US not currently a psychopath?

The Chinese networks are a big threat to Starlink's dominance. They are unlikely to be used in the US, but there are plenty of places around the world that will see the value of an alternative and likely cheaper system.

I never see anyone address the question of how Musk's massive arrays of solar panels are supposed to dodge debris and avoid collisions...

Cool solar eclipse seen from orbit this week! Plus a look at the possibilities of nuclear electric propulsion, a possible sighting of a failed supernova, a revision to the dimensions of Jupiter, and another delay to Artemis II. #space #scicomm #astronomy #science 🧪🔭

In 2012 the Hinode satellite photographed Venus silhouetted against the Sun. This will not happen again until December 2117. #space #art #astronomy

...and started asserting that he can build a city on the Moon instead. I wonder what happens when he learns how long the lunar night is?

New post today: Hubble picks up signs of dwarf worlds colliding around Fomalhaut. 🧪🔭

Time to stand up to the bully

This is quite a post www.planetearthandbeyond.co/p/reality-is...

What do the colours of astronomical images actually mean? And why can the same object appear very different depending on the telescope we use to look at it? 🔭🧪

New post up, looking this week at how the sister-stars of the Pleiades are now scattered across the night sky. 🧪🔭

This is 1) a stupid idea and 2) something that will never work economically anyway.

This is an incredible image of comet 3I/ATLAS, taken by Satoru Murata ICQ Comet Observations group on 16 November 2025 from western New Mexico. Structure within the major dust tail from the comet is clearly visible, together with two smaller jets trailing the nucleus and maybe even an anti-tail.

I am not sure this work is better than my bot's, but I did try to integrate all NIRCam data. I had to compromise the resolution, it was too much for my laptop to handle in full scale. JWST 🔭: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI.

New post up about the recent big and beautiful auroral displays. #space #science #technology 🧪🔭

Do people really want to read easily understood descriptions of recent papers in astronomy or physics? Astronomers probably don’t, or if they do, the audience of potential astronomers is so small and so poorly paid that they don’t make a viable audience.

In today's post I look at NASA's struggles to get back to the Moon, the perihelion of interstellar comet 3I/Atlas, and the end of our last probe around Venus (we really should send another one!) 🔭🧪 #astronomy #space #nasa

Mars may have once hosted life. In 2024, Perseverance found minerals that, on Earth, would be clear biosignatures. A big discovery—but not yet proof of life beyond Earth. Plus: TRAPPIST-1e, a folly of a new Moon race, and the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. #space #astronomy #science

This is really not a surprise - the details of the project always made it impracticable. Fun idea, but not a realistic way to reach the stars any time soon.

In this incredible image, the Earth eclipses the Sun. Viewed by the returning astronauts of Apollo 12, and credit goes to them and to NASA. #space #art #historyofastronomy

What is it that lies beyond the edge of the solar system? What fills the space between the stars? These are questions we are beginning to answer - and, for the first time, we have probes that are venturing out into this untouched terrain. #science #space

Two years ago I published a list of serious and free physics resources. The idea was to create a guide for those studying physics, either alone or as part of a course. I'm now working on an update - and, if you know of free and good physics resources like those here, I'd love to hear of them. 🧪

A concept from 1969 of a space station. It was to be made of old Apollo stages, and to make sure the astronauts living there did not suffer from endless weightlessness, the station was supposed to constantly spin as it orbited the Earth. Credit, of course, to NASA. #space #art #NASA