Stargazing Goat

I'm an amateur astronomer who just wants to share the cool stuff I'm learning in a bite-sized Astronomy Fact of the Day.

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Source: "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming," @plutokiller, 2010.

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Clyde Tombaugh discovered #Pluto using a "blink comparator." Each session, he spent over an hour in the dark to adjust his eyes, then would load glass plate photographs into the comparator, which would allow him to "blink" back and forth to see any celestial movement over time.

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Even amateur astronomers can control the #weather. From the day you get your first #telescope, you can expect 2 weeks of cloudy nights. Invite some friends over for meteor-spotting or #moon watching, and you've just booked a rainstorm!

Source: I bought a nice new eyepiece.

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Source: https://t.co/Xlz5Dg4vv9

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

The shortest amount of daylight occurs on the winter #solstice 21 Dec. But the earliest #sunset of the year at my location (Midwestern US) was yesterday: 07 Dec at 17:22:16 EST. From today, sunsets get a bit later each day. Sunrises will continue to get later until 04 Jan 2023.

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Got my own Mars/Moon #occultation pictures. It's just me holding my phone to the eyepiece of an 8" SCT "#telescope, but I'm still happy. And btw, it was behind a thin layer of clouds the whole time.

#moon #mars #occult #astronomy #astrophotography #night #stargazing

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Source: "How I Killed Pluto and Why it Had it Coming, Mike Brown, 2010

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Before #Pluto, Ceres was the original 9th #planet discovered in 1801. It's the only object in the #asteroid belt large enough to be a sphere. Ceres lost its title when more asteroids were discovered in the 1850s, but was reinstated as a Dwarf planet along with Pluto in 2006.

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Happy Birthday!

Oh... It's not your #birthday today? That's okay. #Hubble has a birthday gift for you anyway. Punch in your birthday (or any date really), and see what Hubble was looking at (year notwithstanding).

https://t.co/Sx9z8elyml

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Source: @AwesomeAstroPod Episode 126, December 2022, Pt1

Source for those of you who can actually read papers: https://t.co/xcR2mkICj9

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Messier 76, the Little Dumbbell Nebula was, until recently thought to be the planetary #nebula result of a single star explosion. New #research leads us to believe that the gas and dust are being illuminated by 2 white dwarves or neutron #stars that lived and died together.

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Source, with data stream video link in-article: https://t.co/bYLMUZpSUk​

A la carte "Dynamite" music video, if you feel like dancing: https://t.co/niOErbn26W

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

S. Korea's #Danuri #spacecraft is the nation's 1st lunar #orbiter. Among other #mission goals, Danuri is testing deep #space internet. The song "Dynamite" by #kpop band #BTS had the honor of being the first music video streamed from 1.28mil km away (3x the distance of the #moon)!

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Source: https://t.co/B0LNcQCmsV

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

The energy of fusing H into He sustains our sun. Larger #stars make heavier elements towards the core, each new round of #fusion producing energy. Until Iron. To fuse Fe would take energy. Once the star runs out of usefully fusable elements, a core collapse #supernova occurs.

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

@Futurevores @DrLenoreNewman I wonder why they don't seem to talk about insect protein? Like, waste food disposal and nutritious food production all in one, right?

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Source: https://t.co/hZSPMmkhxt

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Despite being one of the most famous #landmarks in our #SolarSytem, we know little about #Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Why is it Red?! No one knows! Is it red all the way through, or just on top? Is it the material makeup, or a trick of the light? How deep does the #storm go anyway?

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

Source: https://t.co/owTzX5q4SN

[Stargazing Goat @StargazingGoat]

A 3-planet system exists around PSR B1257+12. Dubbed Poltergeist, Draugr, and Phobetor, they couldn't have survived the #supernova that created the #pulsar. Therefore, they must have formed afterwards, from the wreckage.

Check out @NASAExoplanets website for more cool #scicomm.