robthacker.bsky.social (he/him)

Regular cohost of #sciencefiles on @citynewshfx. Astrophysicist & geek✨Director of @smuscience Outreach. #firstgen You are made of the ❤ of stars. Astro is 🤯!

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

View of this morning's partial solar #eclipse over McNabs Island in #Halifax harbour. Very lucky to catch a glimpse, it clouded over 15 minutes after sunrise. Plus, however you look at it, a rising crescent Sun is pretty amazing! #photography

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

The colours are still glorious in the low morning ☀! Just a few quick pics from the @smuhalifax campus this morning. Dare I say there is a little bit of pareidolia going on in the pic of the canopy of the crimson maple? 😀#photography

[LeVar Burton @levarburton]

This is as humblebraggy as it gets… #bydhttmwfi

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

@Cyclone_Fogarty Have to agree it looks strange! 😀*On launch* the large plume is a result of the water deluge system (cools and reduces noise) interacting with the exhaust so you inevitably gets lots of steam. Plus the landing booster is likely around (under?) 1/10th of the launch mass.

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

This is not a computer rendering. Congrats to the SpaceX engineers. Truly incredible piece of spaceflight engineering.

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

@NSwilderness Although I would say if your phone makes the northern lights look like the pepsi logo there's a bit of an issue there...

[SMUScience @SMUScience]

Spectacular northern lights image captured tonight at the Burke-Gaffney Observatory at @SMuhalifax by Devin Williams, PhD student & telescope operator. #NorthernLights #AuroraBorealis #Halifax

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

@allistercanada Overhead in Halifax is nuts, seeing it to the south from Halifax is bonkers!

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

Speechless. Never seen so much red in an aurora! All the way over #Halifax too! I have never ever been able to see aurora to the south of where I was 🤯#aurora

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

@danahlstrand @MarkHodgins957

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

@mitchjones902 There's a small probability of seeing more as the K is still high, but I wouldn't count on it.

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

@mitchjones902 Yup! Really incredible. Honestly speechless to see something like this. Can't ever remember seeing aurora to south when we lived in AB.

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

@EFischerD @tiffzny Beautiful pics! It was amazing!!!

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

@JustHere279331 The storm seems to have passed now unfortunately

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

I just want to emphasize.... This view is looking *SOUTH*

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

For context, lived in Edmonton for a handful of years and saw aurora over city lights. But always to the north of the city.

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

Guessing the auroral oval went as far south as 42-43 lattitude which is truly remarkable.

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

@JustHere279331 West end, but honestly given one of these images is looking directly south it doesn't make a whole lot of difference

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

@tiffzny @BruceFriskoCTV I think it was Oasis... Hoping to be in Cardiff!

[robthacker.bsky.social (he/him) @DrRob_Thacker]

Last night I had a quick chat with @BruceFriskoCTV about SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission, along with some of the key aspects of radiation hazards in space travel. This is obviously relevant to any potential missions to Mars and space weather forecasting. https://t.co/8gkmOtostN