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Mark McCaughrean

@markmccaughrean.bsky.social

Former Senior Advisor for Science & Exploration at the European Space Agency / JWST Science Working Group Interdisciplinary Scientist / Co-founder Space Rocks / Refugee from the other place / Author, cycling, music, science, & Tigger

38 Posts570 Follower2 Folgt
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Mark McCaughrean@markmccaughrean.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Two planets for the price of one 🙂👍 Playing around in Celestia, I was able to identify the approximate time & orientation of that #Artemis II shot of Earth's nightside. Revealing that the bright object at lower-right is Venus. Thanks to @Nina_cried@mastodonapp.uk for suggesting that I check 🙇‍♂️

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MMark McCaughrean@markmccaughrean.bsky.social · 6mo ago

You'll have seen this – Earth from #Artemis II en-route to the Moon. But look again – it's Earth's *nightside*, lit by the near-full Moon, not the Sun 🌕️ The aurorae, airglow, stars, & city lights in Europe, Africa, & the Americas give the game away. Cool. NASA/Reid Wiseman #Space #Photography

A picture of the Earth from space illuminated by the full Moon – it looks like daylight, but this is the night side of the planet, not the day side. There are city lights on the continents and a green aurora towards the north and south poles, plus a faint rim of upper atmosphere airglow as well. You can also see a faint dark rim of the Artemis II window frame and the zodiacal light (probably). North is at lower-left and you can see North Africa, then Spain and Portugal on that side. You can see South America and North America on the right side.
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Mark McCaughrean@markmccaughrean.bsky.social · 6mo ago

/cc @thocarp.bsky.social @yuvharpaz.bsky.social @melina-iras07572.bsky.social Aloha folks – just to let you know that these data go public tomorrow, but we're still working on them, as there tricky issues with saturation, banding, noise, etc. Plese be sure to tag me if you also make & post images 🙇‍♂️

MMark McCaughrean@markmccaughrean.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Sneak preview 👀 More of our #JWST data are going public tomorrow, for the galactic star-forming region Sharpless 305 & nearby massive protostar RAFGL5232. Work in progress, as the data are rather problematic 😬 But as others will be quick to post images, here's our snapshot first 😉 #Astronomy

A colourful field of stars sprinkled across purple ionised gas and redder dust. The main cluster of stars is seen in a cavity to the upper right, while a very bright source surrounded by more gas and dust is seen in the lower left corner, with the characteristic six bright spikes due to diffraction in the optics of JWST. With a credit line in the lower-left corner that reads "Sharpless 305 & RAFGL5232 with JWST NIRCam / Credit: Mark McCaughrean, MPIA / NASA, ESA, CSA"
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Mark McCaughrean@markmccaughrean.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Sneak preview 👀 More of our #JWST data are going public tomorrow, for the galactic star-forming region Sharpless 305 & nearby massive protostar RAFGL5232. Work in progress, as the data are rather problematic 😬 But as others will be quick to post images, here's our snapshot first 😉 #Astronomy

A colourful field of stars sprinkled across purple ionised gas and redder dust. The main cluster of stars is seen in a cavity to the upper right, while a very bright source surrounded by more gas and dust is seen in the lower left corner, with the characteristic six bright spikes due to diffraction in the optics of JWST. With a credit line in the lower-left corner that reads "Sharpless 305 & RAFGL5232 with JWST NIRCam / Credit: Mark McCaughrean, MPIA / NASA, ESA, CSA"