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Eliud Bonilla

@eliudbonilla

Member of the Parker Solar Probe Mission Operations team. Interests include astronomy, history/archaeology, and STEM.

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20.01.2025
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Latest posts by Eliud Bonilla @eliudbonilla

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NASA’s IMAP Reaches Orbit to Start Study of Heliosphere and Space Weather NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) has reached its destination of the first Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L1), where it will start its prime mission of studying the heliosphere and ...

NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) has reached its destination of the first Sun-Earth Lagrange point, where it will start its groundbreaking mission of studying the edge of our solar system and advancing our knowledge of space weather. https://jhuapl.link/35e

12.01.2026 22:09 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Happy "Three Kings Day"!

06.01.2026 11:27 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Comet 3I/ATLAS is seen as a fuzzy little ball in the middle of the FOV.

Comet 3I/ATLAS is seen as a fuzzy little ball in the middle of the FOV.

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What do you do when your dog wakes you up at 4:30AM on a frigid (18F / -7.8C) winter Monday morning? Get the telescope out (eVscope2) and start imaging from your backyard of course! Here is a sampling: 3I/ATLAS (5 mins), the Hamburger Galaxy aka NGC 3628 (10 mins), and M98 (10 mins). #Astronomy

15.12.2025 16:57 👍 13 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Parker Solar Probe is heading towards these sunspots, got a direct hit from the CME they unleashed some days ago. #heliophysics #astronomy

03.12.2025 19:28 👍 10 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Looks like Parker Solar Probe is right in the path of the latest CME! Go Parker!
iswa.gsfc.nasa.gov/downloads/20...
iswa.gsfc.nasa.gov/downloads/20...
#heliophysics #astronomy

01.12.2025 20:02 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Last night I was finally able to image comet C/2025 K1. It took 3 mins exposure to get decent signal-to-noise (Bortle 8 skies, quarter moon, freezing temps) from my driveway. Nothing spectacular but still makes me smile. #astronomy #planetarysci

29.11.2025 16:50 👍 17 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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On Oct 20th I imaged comet C/2025 R2, nice fuzzy streak with only 2 mins of integration. I heard yesterday that there was a fragmentation event and wanted to try to check it for myself. It was definitely much fainter, integrated for 5 mins total. The COBS light curve helps a lot. #Planetsci

06.11.2025 02:53 👍 15 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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Very quick capture (2 mins total) of the Dumbbell Nebula, in windy/cold & Bortle 8 skies, with my eVscope2. @unistellar.bsky.social #Astronomy

04.11.2025 00:44 👍 12 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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Been supporting the IMAP mission, since pre-launch, launch (Sept 24th), and now the commissioning stage. Lots of work with the spacecraft plus 12 science instruments. We should complete placing it in it's permanent L1 orbit, in full ops mode, by the end of January 2026. #heliophysics #astronomy

26.10.2025 14:34 👍 9 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

....C/2026 A6!

25.10.2025 23:21 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Oooops...C/2025 A6!

25.10.2025 23:21 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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I was looking forward to taking images of comet C/2026 A6 (Lemmon) last night, but the clouds moved in and made it impossible. #Astronomy #Planetsci

25.10.2025 23:19 👍 25 🔁 3 💬 2 📌 1

BTW I plan on observing 3I/ATLAS with my personal eVscope2 smart telescope in November. It should be within the imaging range for several weeks. If successful I'll share images here, it should be fun! @unistellar.bsky.social @allplanets.bsky.social @joseptrigo.bsky.social @calgaryrasc.bsky.social

25.10.2025 14:55 👍 6 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0

I agree, but unfortunately our planetary scientists are asked these, and other, nonsensical questions and hypotheses all the time. Its tough to keep a balance between of providing accurate/scientific/interesting messaging to the public while clarifying misconstrued info.

25.10.2025 14:49 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

#planetsci #astronomy

25.10.2025 14:33 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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NASA group launches defense probe to protect Earth from Manhattan-size comet A NASA-backed planetary defense group has reportedly begun efforts to pinpoint comet 3I/ATLAS after it was observed emitting an alloy not seen in nature and exhibiting other strange behaviors.

Sometimes you just have to chuckle and admire the "artistry" of misrepresentation and misleading practiced in some news organizations! Who says the press is dead? 😏 @Planetsci @astronomy
nypost.com/2025/10/23/s...

25.10.2025 14:13 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 2 📌 2

Over here we just have clouds, cuds, and more clouds. Next opportunity might be in a week.

25.10.2025 14:14 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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NASA group launches defense probe to protect Earth from Manhattan-size comet A NASA-backed planetary defense group has reportedly begun efforts to pinpoint comet 3I/ATLAS after it was observed emitting an alloy not seen in nature and exhibiting other strange behaviors.

Sometimes you just have to chuckle and admire the "artistry" of misrepresentation and misleading practiced in some news organizations! Who says the press is dead? 😏 @Planetsci @astronomy
nypost.com/2025/10/23/s...

25.10.2025 14:13 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 2 📌 2

Lamentablemente tenemos cielos nublados todos estos dias .

24.10.2025 13:51 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Hola, ?opera el telescopio en Montseny presencialmente, o remotamente? Gracias.

11.10.2025 13:42 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Awesome start to the IMAP mission! For the next week we'll be 24/7 all-hands on deckin the Mission Operations Center (MOC) guiding it through several trajectory correction maneuvers (TCMs). Go IMAP!
#astronomy #heliophysics

24.09.2025 15:10 👍 7 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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After early struggles, NASA’s ambitious mission to Titan is “on track” for launch “Probably the best part of my day is watching that team hit their milestones.”…

arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...
#planetsci #astronomy

10.09.2025 19:39 👍 16 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0

As a city dweller my brain is usually confused and disoriented at first, too many stars to process! The Milky Way is a special treat, especially seeing the dark shadow regions. Then as my brain and eyes adjust, a deep and calm sense of wonder takes over.

31.08.2025 12:58 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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3 min total exposure of the Ring Nebula (M57), from my typical light polluted urban skies, with my eVscope2 telescope. Testing the vivid vision tech algorithm which corrects the stars' colors based on Gaia databases as well as some sharpening and background subtraction.
#Astronomy

31.08.2025 12:13 👍 34 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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It's been a long time since I've used my telescope, but the Sun rewarded me today with a lot of sunspots. Let's hope for clear skies tonight!
#heliophysics #astronomy

30.08.2025 18:06 👍 25 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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NASA’s New Horizons Enters Mission’s Longest Hibernation Period - NASA Science Running with updated onboard fault protection software that improves its ability to operate farther from the Sun than originally designed, NASA's New Horizons

My colleagues at the New Horizons mission
keep doing amazing space operations!
science.nasa.gov/blogs/new-ho...
#Planetsci #Astronomy

23.08.2025 01:35 👍 12 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Less than 46 days until launch (Sept 23rd)! We're going through launch & commissioning rehearsals to get our operational team as sharp as possible for the Launch and Early Orbit phase (LEOPs) activities. Very cool and exciting!
www.jhuapl.edu/destinations...
#heliophysics #astronomy

09.08.2025 14:23 👍 9 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Sometimes you need to have fun and decompress a little.

21.07.2025 02:12 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

A very well presented exposition.
#Planetarysci

18.07.2025 16:57 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Well I couldn't resist and just got my digital subscription to the magazine! 🙂

15.07.2025 22:23 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0