For decades, scientists believed the Moon was completely dry. This video explores how Apollo samples, Clementine, Lunar Prospector, Chandrayaan-1, LCROSS, LRO, and SOFIA gradually revealed the presence of water on the Moon and transformed our understanding of lunar science.
I’m on TikTok (like half the planet), and a prompt came up asking what the most romantic thing I’d ever done for someone was.
I don’t know why, but for the first time, I told the abridged version of a story I’ve never shared publicly.
Back in 2013, while I was working at SpaceX, I used company equipment to sneak a declaration of my affection into the assembly of SES-8. After a couple of launch delays, it finally lifted off on December 3, 2013, and was placed into geostationary orbit roughly 22,000 miles above Earth—where it remains to this day.
It’s probably the most ridiculous, over-the-top, hopelessly romantic thing I’ve ever done, and more than a decade later, it’s still holding its orbit.
Does this nebula violate the law of the speed of light? 🎆⭐️
Astrophysicist Erika Hamden explains that the“Fireworks Nebula” is a nebula that surrounds a binary star system, one of which occasionally puts out a ton of light in a nova explosion. In 1901, astronomers observed this for the first time and assumed the nebula was getting bigger faster than the speed of light. What was really happening was a “light echo” where the light bounces off existing structures. While this does give a cool firework effect, it does not break the law of the speed of light!
This project is part of IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.
The sun isn’t always the exact center of our solar system. ☀️
In this Space Oddity, Erika Hamden explains what the barycenter of the solar system is, and how it may not always be inside of the Sun itself. The variations in the barycenter can be explained by the large masses of the outer giant planets!
Full video here: https://youtu.be/9TpaoCQaVEY
I've created this visualization showing how the sky around us changes over 20 million years as the Sun travels through the galaxy.
Each star moves with its own velocity relative to the Sun, this creates fascinating perspective effects: clusters like the Hyades drifting close and then away again (between -1.5 and -0.5 Myr, low left of the video), periods where the sky is filled with bright stars in patterns we'd never recognize today, and stars that sit near the celestial poles for tens of thousands of years.
**Details:**
- Time span: ±10 million years
- 1 frame every 10,000 years
- Real data from Gaia DR3 + Hipparcos (ESA)
- Linear extrapolation of measured positions and velocities (accurate on this timescale)
This is the first in a series of astronomical visualizations focused on the Local Stellar Neighborhood and the Sun's journey. Feedback is very welcome!
Don’t miss fireballs streaking across the sky during the Alpha Capricornids! ☄️
Beginning on July 3rd and lasting until August 15th, this meteor shower is known for its high quality and intense fireballs. If you are in the Southern Hemisphere or southern US, you may see it overlapping with the Delta Aquariids. Peaking overnight on July 30th into the 31st, this shower is visible from anywhere in the world, so don’t miss it!
The race is on to save a falling orbital telescope!
NASA is attempting a first of its kind space rescue mission to save the Swift Observatory before it falls back to Earth. The plan is to have Katalyst Space’s LINK spacecraft dock with Swift and boost it into a higher orbit. If successful, it could help launch an entirely new era of in-orbit satellite servicing.
A micromoon is arriving June 29th!? 🌕
The full moon this month is going to be 7% smaller and 14% dimmer. This is because it will be at “apogee”, the furthest point in its orbit from Earth. That is about 13,900 miles further away than usual, so this is the opposite of a supermoon. Don’t miss it!