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sjbastro.bsky.social
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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Let’s talk about the Vera C Rubin Observatory! We got the first images released today and holy crap 🤩 this one shows a region near the Virgo Cluster that is just chock full of galaxies. And this is only 1/50 of the telescopes full field of view 🤯 (1/n) 📸: NSF DOE Rubin Obs.🧪🔭

submitted 10 hours ago • 6 comments

Too cloudy to spot any #NoctilucentClouds from North Yorkshire this evening. I took a few test shots but didn't capture any. If you have clear skies it might be worth going out to take a look though. #NoctilucentCloud

submitted 11 hours ago • 0 comments

Holy shit. One of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's first-look images. This image is 3,840×2,160 but the original image is 40,000×21,047 px. Virtually every pixel is a star or a galaxy. VIRTUALLY EVERY PIXEL

submitted 18 hours ago • 6 comments

Still got to wait until 4 August for any true darkness but after today the nights will get longer day by day. Happy #SummerSolstice everyone! 😀 #Astronomy

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Update! 4 successive nights of the Mars and Regulus conjunction. The objects are now separating, getting too low and light. Comment in ALT. #astronomy #astrophotography @stormhour.com @photohour.bsky.social

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Interesting clouds just now over North Yorkshire 😀 #Weather #Clouds #StormHour #PhotoHour

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Ketamine-induced unhinged tweet binge weekend dropping in 3-2-1... 🙄😄

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

The "Beverly Hills of Roman London" - archaeologists have pieced together thousands of fragments of 2,000-year-old wall plaster to reveal remarkable frescoes that decorated a luxurious Roman villa. #History #Archaeology www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Finally observed my first #NoctilucentClouds of the season last night. It was a faint display and very low down but nice to have caught them at last. Hopefully we'll get better displays in the next few weeks. #NoctilucentCloud #NLCs #Astronomy

submitted 6 days ago • 2 comments

The #AstronomyWeather for my local patch - results for May 2025: Clear: 10 nights Partly cloudy: 6 nights Overcast: 15 nights Slightly better than average May. The highlight of the month was Mars crossing the Beehive Cluster. #AstroWeather #Astrophotography #Astronomy #Space

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

More than 30,000 lightning strikes were recorded overnight after thunderstorms swept across parts of England, the Met Office has said. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

Looking south last night towards Scutum and Scorpius just as the Moon was rising (the glow behind the tree, bottom left). Pretty bright sky but typical of June in the UK 😀 #Astronomy #Astrophotography

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

New before seen views of the Sun's south pole! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Noctilucent clouds were discovered for the first time 140 years ago today by Thomas William Backhouse.

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

NASA Mars Orbiter Captures Volcano Peeking Above Morning Cloud Tops A new panorama from NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter shows one of the Red Planet’s biggest volcanoes, Arsia Mons, poking through a canopy of clouds just before dawn. 📷 NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-ma... 🧪🔭 #Mars

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

Well this couldn’t have come at a better time www.bbc.com/news/article...

submitted 18 days ago • 126 comments

Right-wingers fighting with each other again, on both sides of the pond. Normal service has resumed I see. The sooner this bunch of clowns are out of our lives the better 😂

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

A new study of the motion of Jupiter’s moons has revealed that the king of planets, when it was young, was at least twice as large and 50 times more magnetically potent than it is today. #Space #Astronomy #Jupiter skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

First sighting of #noctilucentclouds (#NLC) this season from the Netherlands, spotted by several observers. I took these images from #Vlieland between 21:59 and 22:13 UT on 2 June 2025. @sjbastro.bsky.social @davidbflower.bsky.social @leonoor.bsky.social @johanklos.bsky.social @annqld1.bsky.social

submitted 20 days ago • 3 comments

There could be a reasonable chance of seeing #NoctilucentClouds tonight low to the north. Already appearing on European webcams. Maybe a possibility of #aurora too. I've got total cloud cover all night so hoping someone else out there gets to see one or both! 😀

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

Lunar Mare! The Sea of Serenity and (below it), the Sea of Tranquility - the first place that humans stood other than on planet Earth! #astronomy#[email protected] @photohour.bsky.social

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

Hmm, weather sites say totally clear tonight. Looking out of my window - totally cloudy! 🙄

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

I think the answer is 'no'. Well, 'maybe'. The storm seems to have weakened for now. Take a look if it's clear just in case but I'm not going to put all my gear in the car just yet... 🤔😀

submitted 22 days ago • 1 comment

Will we see a repeat of this tomorrow night? Maybe, but wait and see what the models say. We will know more tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy! www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbN3...

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments