Jason Nishiyama @evilscientistca@octodon.social

In Victoria.

‪In Vancouver waiting to connect to Victoria. ‬

‪Shhhh... our aircraft is sleeping...‬

Awaiting the taxi.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a hurricane larger than the Earth that has been raging for at least 350 years.
(Left, Voyager 1 image, right view through small telescope)

Jupiter has many moons. The four largest, discovered by Galileo, are easily observed with a small telescope or binoculars.

M81 (right) and M82 (left) are two interacting galaxies in the constellation Ursa Major. Tidal forces from M81 are deforming M82 causing massive star formation in M82. This much higher than normal star formation classifies M82 as a starburst galaxy. #astrophoto

Due to tidal forces, our Moon is slowly spiralling away from the Earth.

Spring break!

The Virgo galaxy cluster is about 65 Mly away. It forms the centre of a larger galaxy supercluster of which our own Galaxy is a member. This mosaic image is from the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory 0.5m Baker-Nunn telescope. Each square is 4° on a side. #astrophoto

The vernal equinox (spring) occurs when the centre of the Sun crosses the celestial equator while the Sun's apparent motion is heading north. This happens this year on the 20th of March at 21:58 UT.

Planetary Nebulae - those nebulae formed when low and intermediate mass stars die (~1-7 solar masses) come in various shapes. We're not entirely certain why they do. #astrophoto

http://evl.link/df

A little retro computing tonight.

Solar energy output generally tied to the sunspot cycle. The Sun is more active and producing more energy when at the peak of the sunspot cycle than it is when at the trough.

‪It may be Pi day at work...‬

Messier 87 (shown, centre) is a large elliptical galaxy in the constellation of Virgo. A very large galaxy (perhaps 100 times as massive as our own), at about 53 Mly it is one of the largest galaxies close to our own Galaxy.

The difference telescope focal length will do. Same imager: left image 12.7cm f12 telescope (fl ~1500mm), right image 20cm f3.9 telescope (fl ~800mm).

Aurora occur when charged particles from the Sun, following the field lines of the Earth's magnetic field, impact with the gas in our atmosphere. This excites the gas causing it to glow. (Image courtesy Alan Dyer - AmazingSky.com)