Thank you Congressman Jamie Raskin from all decent people in the UK. Good job! 😀
Amateur astronomer and astrophotographer, including Sirius, meteors, noctilucent clouds and aurora. Articles and pictures published in books and magazines. Been on TV and radio talking about astronomy. Always need more sleep.
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Thank you Congressman Jamie Raskin from all decent people in the UK. Good job! 😀
Did a short video of the airglow I caught on the night of 31 August to 1 September 2025: #Astronomy #Astrophotography youtu.be/LKNWxOxIsA8
Glad you managed to escape to tell your story. 😉😀
I went to bed - too cloudy. Nice to hear it was a reasonable display. First of many hopefully for the autumn.
BBC laying it on thick with an image like that! Let's just hope the aurora delivers 😀
A timelapse looking south towards the Milky Way last night. What's more interesting though is the strong airglow on display, taking the form of arcing green bands crossing the sky. Been a while since I've caught that from North Yorkshire. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Space #StormHour
All times and positions based on a northeast UK location. All graphics are from Stellarium and all pictures are my own. Wishing you all clear skies! #Astronomy #Stargazing
25th: Ganymede is eclipsed by Jupiter's shadow from 04:08 UT (05:08 BST). 27th: The shadows of Io and Europa cross Jupiter's disc from 04:54 UT (05:54 BST). 28th: The shadow of Io and Ganymede itself cross Jupiter's disc from 23:26 UT (00:26 BST).
20th: Titan and its shadow cross Saturn's disc from 04:13 UT (05:13 BST), until Saturn sets around 06:00 UT (07:00 BST). 21st: Saturn reaches opposition today. 22nd: Autumn equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. 23rd: Neptune reaches opposition.
19th: Occultation of Venus by the 5% lit Moon this morning. Venus disappears behind the lit portion of the Moon around 11:48 UT (12:48 BST). It reappears from behind the dark portion of the Moon around 13:07 UT (14:07 BST). Take care when viewing this one as the Sun isn't far away.
15th: Callisto's shadow crosses Jupiter's disc between 01:30 and 04:13 UT (02:30 to 05:13 BST).
12th: The 68% lit Moon occults the Pleiades open cluster as the pair rise this evening. Look to the northeast from around 20:00 UT (21:00 BST). The stars of the Pleiades will be tricky to spot when so low down. The Moon leaves the cluster around midnight.
8th: Saturn is near the 98% lit Moon this evening. 12th: Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is eclipsed by the planet's shadow from 03:10 UT (04:10 BST) this morning.
7th: This evening sees a total lunar eclipse. This will be a tricky one as the Moon is rising from the UK as it is fully eclipsed. Look low to the east from 18:45 UT (19:45 BST). You'll need a good unobscured horizon to see it but it could make a good photo opportunity.
5th: Activity for the minor Aurigids meteor shower ends today.
2nd: Bright planet Venus appears close to the Beehive Cluster in Cancer this morning. Look low to the east-northeast from around 02:30 UT (03:30 BST). The pair remain close for the next couple of days.
The astronomy highlights for September 2025, a thread: There is a total lunar eclipse this month, albeit not ideally placed from the UK. There is also a lunar occultation of Venus in the daytime sky. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Stargazing
We are awaiting the arrival of a CME from the Sun tonight based on what the majority of models are saying (HUXt is an outlier with an arrival just after 16 UTC tomorrow). The Met Office's model goes for an arrival at 20 UTC (21 BST) with a chance of G2/G3 geomagnetic storm.
The minor Aurigids meteor shower peaks from the night of 31 August into 1 September. You could see one or two meteors an hour from a dark location. The shower is best seen in the early hours of the morning of 1 September. #Aurigids #Astronomy
"It's like a red line on a white line and it means something, or yea. Anyway fancy a pint?" Typical Brits can't even be arsed to fash properly.
How does lava sound when it comes to the surface of the Earth? Listen to a lava flow oozing out of its effusive vent high on the southwestern side of #Etna, 28 August 2025. That day no visits by tourists were allowed on the site, which permitted this (relatively) clean recording
Bob Lunsford's Weekly Meteor Activity Outlook for August 30-September 5, 2025, is online! If you want to check which meteor showers are active this week, do not hesitate to have a look: www.imo.net/meteor-activ...
Lovely picture. Hale-Bopp was one of the things that started me out on my astrophotography journey. Basically my inability to get a photograph of it sparked a desire to know more and one day have the ability and equipment to take such shots.
Comet Hale-Bopp back in 1997. Taken with ye olde film camera. You can just about see the blue gas tail.
I'm sketching them all. I started doing it that way a few years ago, so there's no way I'm not going to complete them all as sketches 😀 Imaging them methodically can come later - it'll be another nice project to work on.
Didn't know that - interesting! I found it interesting when I moved from M22 to M75 just how small the latter is. I almost missed it.
Yea, I've got a couple of cheap second-hand DSLRs that I use for meteor work.
Yea, it is still a popular list to go for. I'm aiming to complete it visually first and then might have a go at photographing each one later. I've done a few anyway but not yet dedicated myself to going through the list systematically.
Got another two targets from the Messier catalogue ticked off last night, thanks to some clear skies. I observed M22 and M75. Only 13 more objects to go 😀 #Astronomy
Looks pretty good to me 😀
The method paid off though as I managed to capture some lovely Perseids this year. 😀
The capture rate sounds very low but photographing meteors is a numbers game. The chances of capturing a meteor in a single shot is exceedingly low. Therefore, you have to take a great many shots over the course of a night to stand a chance of capturing a meteor at all.
The drop in capture rate is likely because I took shots spanning a wider range of dates than in 2024. So, I took more shots away from the dates of highest activity, therefore skewing the results. The bright moonlight this year will have also resulted in fewer meteors captured.
My #Perseids photography summary for 2025: In nine nights of Perseid meteor shower observing this year, I took 19,317 shots and captured a grand total of 53 #Perseid meteors. A capture rate of 0.27%. That's about half the rate from 2024. 🧵 #Astronomy #Astrophotography #PerseidMeteorShower
"We have just folded space from Bricks"
Unfortunately it seems so.
It's a ridiculous stance for them to take. They should be attacking him on every front and treat immigration as the low-key issue that it is. "Like the NHS? Say goodbye to it under Farage.", "Enjoy your human rights? You'll have none under Farage." etc.
😂
I caught this #Perseid meteor in Aquila on 15 August 2025. It just about stayed in the frame of my camera 😀 #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
The best night sky I've ever seen was at Kielder in the UK. I had trouble at first recognising the constellations as there were so many more stars visible. It's a Bortle 3 location which is pretty good for the UK. Would love to experience a Bortle 2 or 1 one day 😀
We all know someone like that 😄
The #AstronomyWeather for my local patch - results for July 2025: Clear sky: 7 nights Partly cloudy sky: 13 nights Overcast sky: 11 nights July was all about noctilucent clouds, with a bright meteor thrown in for good measure! 😀 #AstroWeather #Astrophotography #Space
A #Perseid meteor captured on 13 August 2025 at 22.45 UT in Draco. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
Thanks! Glad you got to see some 😀
Yea, they said the same then. Always the same story for attention. Just be inspired by the wonders of the natural universe 😀
Indeed 😁
Once again - comet 3I/ATLAS is NOT alien technology. Stop even mentioning the suggestion that it could be. It's always "Here's the science but there is this other idea. Stay tuned." Just stop this ridiculousness. #Astronomy
A nice line-up of planets with the very thin crescent Moon early tomorrow morning, 22 August. #Astronomy #Space
Here's a #Perseid meteor doing its best to defy the bright Moon next to it on the morning of 13 August 2025. Even in the bright moonlight a bit of colour can be seen in the meteor trail. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
Another bright and colourful #Perseid meteor from the peak night - this one from early in the evening and caught through a lucky gap in the cloud. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
A stunning eruption of filament plasma from the Sun this morning! This size of event can cause strong aurora activity if directed towards Earth, but alas – this one was not. #spaceweather
Caught this nice #Perseid just above a rooftop on the peak night of 12-13 August 2025, at 01.09 UT. It has a nice burst at the end of the trail. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
The constellation of Draco seemed to attract the good meteors during the peak of the #Perseids. Here's another nice #Perseid ending its journey amongst the four stars forming the head of Draco, the dragon. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
One to see if you happen to be up very early tomorrow morning. #Astronomy #Space
I caught this nice #Perseid meteor between Draco and Hercules on the night of the peak on 12-13 August 2025. I caught it visually too and it was one of the best of the night. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
I'm not about to waste what precious little time I have on this Earth sitting in a water filled wheelie bin doing "breath work", whatever that is 🤪
Take a look at this for #NeutronStarWeek There's a system that features a neutron star + pulsar. They orbit a common centre of mass. Einstein's General Relativity (GR) tells us that they should inspiral and radiate gravitational waves. GR prediction is red line. Blue data points are data! 📸 MPIfR
Video of a bright #Perseid meteor in the constellation of Draco on 13 August 2025 at 01:08 UT. The constellations of Cygnus and Lyra are to the left of the meteor. It left a bright green train behind that lasted a few seconds. #Astronomy #Perseids #Astrophotography #PerseidsMeteorShower
It's terrible that one should have to wait a whole entire year between birthdays! 😁
A nice #meteor I caught last night, 14 August. Looks like a random, sporadic one. It lines up with the antihelion - a collective source of weakly active showers opposite the Sun's position in the sky. #Astronomy #Astrophotography
If you haven't had enough of meteors this week, then note that the peak of the minor Kappa Cygnids meteor shower is on the 16th to 17th August. The shower isn't as prolific as the Perseids though - you'll only see one or two per hour from a dark site. #Astronomy #MeteorShower
Captured this nice #Perseid meteor through the clouds last night 😀 #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
Caught this colourful #Perseid meteor last night, next to the small constellation of Delphinus. There is a faint vertical satellite track crossing the meteor trail. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
Yea, it is. There is about 7 seconds between each 2.5 second shot.
I caught 28 on camera over around 4 hours. I was seeing 5-10 visually over the same time. Passing cloud reduced the rate at times though. It seemed like a reasonable peak given the bright moonlight.
Once I'd finished watching the Perseids last night there was just time to catch the conjunction of #Jupiter and #Venus rising in the east 😀 #Astronomy #Astrophotography
Seems to have been quite a good #Perseids peak, despite the bright moonlight and clouds last night. Pics later... 😀 #Perseid #PerseidMeteorShower
He's never going to be able to outdo them. Copying them in any way will just be a disaster.
Starmer should literally wade into the sea to welcome some asylum seekers off their boat, drive them to London in his own car and then personally give them a tour of the House of Commons, all just to make far-right heads explode up and down the country.
ESA is working on an automated system for avoiding collisions in orbit. The future platform will allow satellite operators at risk of a collision to interact and coordinate a response while keeping the sensitive data of all parties secure. Info: www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
Totally cloudy for me this evening so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the #Perseids at their peak. Good luck and clear skies to anyone observing this evening and may you see many #Perseid meteors! 😀 #Astronomy
If you're up (very) early over the next couple of days, check out #Venus very close to #Jupiter in the morning sky. Look low to the east-northeast from 03:00 to 04:00 BST (02:00 to 03:00 UT). Something to see just before you go in having watched Perseid meteors all night 😀 #Astronomy
Perseid meteor shower: When, where and how to catch a glimpse (for the UK). Stargazers will soon be treated to what could be one of the year's most dazzling displays, with the #Perseid meteor shower reaching its peak on Monday and Tuesday nights. #Perseids www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The UK's seas have had their warmest start to the year since records began, helping to drive some dramatic changes in marine life and for its fishing communities. #Climate www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
From the International Meteor Organization: Meteor velocities range from about 11 km/s (very slow) to 72 km/s (very fast). 40 km/s is roughly medium speed. The Perseids are fast at 59 km/s.
I thought maybe at could be at the time but it didn't actually line up with any of the active showers at the moment. Just a nice sporadic.
Another good #Perseid meteor captured on the night of 9-10 August 2025. This colourful one appeared just above the Pleiades open cluster in Taurus at 02:37 UT. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
The best #meteor I caught last night wasn't even a Perseid, but rather a random one, known as a sporadic. I observed it visually too and it was bright, an intense yellow-orange colour and pretty slow (for a meteor). It also had several bright flares along the trail. #Astronomy #Astrophotography
Mars rock found in Niger sells for millions in New York - now the country wants answers. #Mars #Meteorite #Space www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Oh, I didn't know the New Atheists had got back together. Can't wait for their new album. 😉😀
Thanks 😀 The settings are in the ALT text. The camera was a Canon 250D with the kit 18-55mm lens at 18mm focal length. I find this is one of the best for capturing meteors - a good compromise between field of view and meteor size.
Another #Perseid meteor from last night - this one passing nicely through Ursa Minor and close to Polaris. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
Venus and Jupiter (with Galilean moons Callisto, Io, Europa, Ganymede). 2024UT 10 August 2025. 🔭 🧪 🎨 #astrophotography #SciArt #photography #StormHour #ThePhotoHour
I captured this small #Perseid meteor at 02:58 UT this morning (10 August) as the sky brightened with the approaching dawn. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
There is going to be a few clear nights over the next week so now is a good time. However, the Moon is bright also and in a southerly direction so that will make it tricky to get Milky Way shots. Looking north for star trails around the Pole Star will have the least impact from the Moon.
Star trails shot with the #meteor I caught this morning 😀 #Astronomy #Astrophotography #SciArt #Photography
Scientists have found strong evidence of a giant gas planet in the nearest star system to our own. At four-and-a-half light years away, the planet would be a close neighbour to Earth in astronomical terms and could have moons that sustain life. #Astronomy #Space www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Wow! My camera caught this bright and colourful #meteor this morning (02:33 UT on 9 August 2025). The Pleiades and Hyades clusters can be seen below right of the meteor. It isn't a Perseid as it doesn't line up with the radiant. Likely a random, sporadic meteor. #Astronomy #Astrophotography
Wonderful 😀
NASA launched two Voyager probes in 1977, currently humanity's most distant objects. Voyager 1 continues to operate and send back data from interstellar space. I created this artwork using pastels & acrylic on A4 black art paper. #NASA #Voyager #art #pastel
Search for life on #Mars takes major leap forward. Scientists detect longest organic molecules on planet to date. #Astronomy #Space www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/mars-lo...
RIP Jim Lovell. One of the first three astronauts to fly to and orbit the Moon in Apollo 8. Then he survived Apollo 13. . Prior, he flew on two Gemini missions (7 & 12). He was 97. ☝️He played himself in The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) and the captain of the USS Iwo Jima in Apollo 13 (1995).
Excellent. Paying off already 😀
Thanks! On that night, the Moon set in the late evening so the sky was dark for observing. The same can't be said of the next few days though.
I managed to catch this bright #Perseid meteor last night, despite the bright Moon in the sky. If you don't go out, you won't see anything 😄. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
The best #Perseid meteors I managed to capture on the night of 4-5 August 2025. #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Perseids #PerseidMeteorShower
Remains of an extinct species of Bronze Age cattle have been discovered by archaeologists in a cave in the Yorkshire Dales. Researchers working with cave explorers uncovered the remnants of an aurochs while surveying a number of caverns and sinkholes near Ingleborough. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Yes indeed.
Nice one! I caught a good one myself that evening too: bsky.app/profile/did:...
I always make a point in finding this small constellation every summer. Despite its small size it is easily found near Aquila. The minor planet 2 Pallas is passing through it at the moment, close to Zeta Delphini. I plan to take a few shots the next clear sky I have.