"A bright fireball in the sky, a loud bang – and shortly afterwards a hole in the roof of an apartment building. On the evening of 8. March 2026 a meteorite in the district of Güls in Koblenz caused a rare incident. A fragment ... smashed through the roof ... and eventually ended up in a bedroom."
If we are graced with clear skies again tonight we'll try again, this time with the Vixen and its 1,800mm focal length; still not huge but it outta help! Anyway, pleased to be also able to pick up the Galilean Moons in this effort.
Planet Jupiter appears in the center, its equatorial bands quite distinct. There is a dark spot (not the Great Red Spot) near the center of the northern band. Above, and to the left of the planetary circle are moons Europa and Ganymede. Below and to the right are moons Io and Callisto, all appearing as small dots against the black space background.
Last night's quick efforts at capturing Jupiter employed the Askar APO 103, equipped with a 2X Barlow, produced an okay result. Even doubled, however, the planet's image was small on the sensor and required much digital enlargement.
Astronomers for Planet Earth are submitting a statement about some of the proposed megaconstellations that would ruin ground-based astronomy to the FCC.
You can read the statement below: 🔭☄️
Permanent Daylight Saving Time may *seem* like a good idea but among other reasons it's not, it's unhealthy.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vi...
As described in post but fleshed out a bit: The data collected were in hydrogen-alpha light and depict well the turbulent curves in the chromosphere resulting from Solar plasma interacting with strong magnetic fields surrounding two sunspots shown here. Several tenuous prominences are found along the rim of the circle. This is a non-colored monochrome image.
This image depicts the northeast quadrant of our Sun. The data collected were in hydrogen-alpha light and depict well the turbulent curves in the chromosphere resulting from Solar plasma interacting with strong magnetic fields surrounding two sunspots shown here.
As described in the post.
An image of our Sun taken in hydrogen-alpha light reveals a turbulent chromosphere, marked with a few dark filaments, on March 2, 2026. Three sunspots are found in the left-hand portion of the disk though difficult to see via hydrogen-alpha. False color -- yellow -- has been added to this image.
A beautiful photograph!
We’re about to turn night into day. Is that a good idea? Proposals before the FCC involve mirrors that could bathe entire cities in sunlight and, from SpaceX, a million satellites to serve as data centers.
wapo.st/4rUr58z
A closer view of the sunspots in the northeast quadrant of the Solar surface. This image is monochrome and, while recorded using a hydrogen-alpha telescope, is nearer a white-light depiction. We didn't know we could do this but is is interesting! We'll try again with, hopefully, better seeing conditions.
...sunspots are appearing from over the horizon. Several large filaments were visible, especially along the western rim, and many prominences were visible. Hoping for another chance tomorrow but not holding our breath! 2/2
Sun depicted as a yellow-orange circle, its surface mottled by convective activities. Several dark blotches are shown, most of them along the right-hand edge of the circle. The sunspots in question are in the upper-left area of the circle.
It was a bright, sunshiny day but the atmosphere was roiled by northern winds -- seeing was not good; bad by some measures. We did manage to capture some decent images and are happy about that as Sun had much to look at. In the northeast quadrant (upper left of this image) 1/2
I want to repeat comments I already made on this plot since some news outlets seem to ignore them: Hubble will not reenter until early 2030s. The curve here is alarming, but will flatten out as we hit solar minimum in the coming years. I still think it's time for NASA to take action on a reboost.
In the hydrogen-alpha view of the chromosphere we see those areas as bright patches on the left edge of the Solar disk. A nice prominence was also visible on Sun's southwest edge. All-in-all a good observing session.
Late morning today, February 26, provided good viewing conditions and our Sun provided interesting sights. Just appearing over the eastern horizon were Active Regions 4378 (upper) and 4379 -- ending a period of spotless photosphere.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has launched a global campaign to disseminate accurate scientific information about the recently discovered interstellar visitor, 3I/ATLAS. A central piece of that effort is a web page devoted to the science of the comet.
iauoutreach.org/comet-3I/ATLAS
As promised yesterday: a new alternative model for Little Red Dots. Maybe they're not stars powered by black hole accretion ... maybe they're globular clusters in formation! That's the suggestion in a new paper led by John Chisholm, anyway. It sounds impossible, but hear me out: 🧪🔭☄️
Very candid NASA report on the Starliner fiasco released
planet4589.org/space/misc/s... and even more candid summary from NASA boss Isaacman planet4589.org/space/misc/s...
Pines trees in snow banks beneath a hazy night sky. A blue-ish star glows in the mist at the center of the frame, within the constellation Leo. Impossible not to love. Photo: Bill Dunford
Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo. Sometimes nicknamed Cor Leonis, the Heart of the Lion. It's not really a single star, but a quadruple system with four stars that orbit as two pairs. One of my favorites. Uintah Mountains, Utah on February 14.
17 Feb: New Moon at 12:02 UT (now). Start of lunation 1276
🌟 The next few days remain a great time for evening #stargazing. Download The Evening Sky Map (PDF) (skymaps.com/tesm/) and enjoy exploring the Universe with just your eyes, binoculars or a telescope! 🔭
#space
The full circle disk image of the sun in hydrogen-alpha light (false color applied) depicts our local star with flame-like prominences at multiple locations around the rim -- the filament/prominence -- filaprom -- feature is at about the fout o'clock position on the disk.
Here's a full-disk view of Sun as it appeared yesterday. We were so excited capturing the filaprom that we let the full disk view go. This really shows off the extraordinary prominence activity that was going on midday, February 16! #sun #astronomy #solarobserving
The mottled surface of our Sun, this image showing the southwestern quadrant of that orb. Two flame-like structures are seen on the edge of the disk -- the filaments mentioned in the post. The upper filament crosses over the edge.
Sun was particularly busy today producing many around its rim. Also visible were intriguing filaments including one showing its true nature: a dark filament in the chromosphere, and as a bright prominence contrasted against the blackness of space. A first for me and delightful to observe! #astronomy
A view of Sun's western horizon. There was plenty of prominence activity along the limb -- some more prominent than others -- a few filaments, much turmoil around Active Region 4373, near the top-center of this image. This is a monochrome image of Sun in hydrogen-alpha light -- false color applied.
I have several additional views I’ll want to post but ran out of steam. So, more later!
A portion of the solar disk is seen via hydrogen alpha light on February 13, 2026. Swirling patterns in the photosphere plasma indicate solar magnetic field lines — especially twisted in the vicinity of sunspot 4374 which is in the upper right hand area of the image.
Finally a day of clear skies and good seeing; we were able to image Sun without dodging clouds!! Very pleased with the results, as well. This is the Solar eastern limb with several "small-ish" prominences, assorted filaments, and the sunspot 4374 surrounded by magnetic field lines traced in plasma.
The sky this afternoon… aww, c’mon!
So, with all of those qualifiers, here is our best effort recording departing sunspot AR4366 -- weakening but reportedly still issuing flares -- and a couple of its companions.
I wasn't going to do it. I was sure the sky would be cloudy and the sunspot gone. Today, however, I could see Sun (sort of) so I had to try. Seeing conditions were not poor, they were bad. The atmosphere was stirred up and clouds were present -- at times blocking the view entirely.
Farewell to Active Region 4366 -- Giant sunspot complex seen in Sun's northwest. The region continues to issue flares but is showing signs of decay. Soon the sunspot will disappear over the Solar limb. Sky was clear, and winds were light, but seeing was not good. We take what we can get! #sunspots
They turned out well. Good thing, too, since the enormous sunspot complex is moving toward Sun's western horizon and will soon disappear. We may have another opportunity tomorrow! For now, we're pretty happy.
Though seeing was predicted to be "bad", the sky was clear and blue, and transparency was very good. So, with the temperature at 14°F, and the wind ripping around the observatory, we recorded images of the sunspot at AR4366.
