Author | Lightnews

pbjonearth

@pbjonearth.bsky.social

310 followers 520 following 470 posts

Heart of gold, pancreas of plastic, chemist, teacher, cook, astronomer, writer, baseball fan, hiker, eater. OK/NC. Opinions my own and subject to change. He/him. Words: https://pbjcom.wordpress.com/ Pictures: https://www.astrobin.com/users/bunyon/

pbjcom.wordpress.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · Oct 20

2024 has been a year of rare celestial events for me. Total solar eclipse in April, once in generation auroral outburst in May, continuing aurora through the year, and a really nice comet. I even managed five clear nights at star parties. #astronomy #astrophotography 1/n

Baily's Beads during the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse. In a lighter black field, the blacker silhouette of the moon is ringed at the 10 o'clock position by three beads, where sunlight is shining through lunar valleys. Around the beads, from 9 o'clock to noon, pink prominences extend from behind the moon's silhouette.

Pink rays shoot from the center of the field with a few stars in the background during the auroral storm on May 10, 2024. Two prominent, quite bright, rays extend to the lower left, several fainter, stubbier rays extend up and down, and two bright, but not as bright as on the left, extend up to the right. A pink glow diffuses the field.

Pink rays overlay a pink glow behind the silhouette of trees in leaf. Stars are seen in the background. A green glow hugs the horizon, behind the trees, during the aurora of May 10, 2024.

An anvil storm cloud (cumulonimbus incus), bright white at top, increasingly dark and orange lower toward the horizon, sits on the horizon behind a tent, minivan, hatchback, tables and chairs, and an Obsession 15 Dobsonian telescope on a mown tall grass field. This image was made about ten minutes after sunset, so that the field is in dusk while the tall storm cloud to the east is still lit by the sun. Near Merritt Reservoir at the Nebraska Star Party in July 2024.

1 9 80

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 2d

Ha. I wonder. Never identified with their religion, but that aspect - screw these people, I’ll leave the known world - I have.

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 3d

It’s the longest by innings. I’m fascinated by this but haven’t seen it anywhere else. Longer than both 8 game series.

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 3d

Longest World Series in history

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 3d

Tied with 1919.

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 3d

2025 now tied for longest WS in history in number of innings with 1919.

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 4d

The 2025 World Series will see more innings than any series since 1921 (Giants 5-3 win in best of 9). The only series with more innings was 1919 (Reds 5-3 win with one 10 inning game). 11 innings tomorrow gets us the longest series in history. #baseball #worldseries

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 10d

Ha. We did it by winning some fluky close games, having the usual conference powers suck and playing the title game in the rain. Alas, not a repeatable formula (as we showed).

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 10d

I completely agree that Trump will likely be president in 2028. Odds on favorite

Reposted by pbjonearth

Rob Smith @robsmith.bsky.social · 10d

There are far too many people who scoff at just having a good time for its own sake.

1 1

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 10d

This comment should be a vegetable.

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 11d

I sure hope so. But I also have a bad feeling. I’m hoping that bad feeling comes from all the rest of the news and not logic.

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 18d

We had ours a few hours south of last night. Just a perfect night.

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 19d

Griffey Sr never homered in the postseason?! Wouldn’t have guessed.

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 21d

Same. But the way I figure it is, no one learns something fully and deeply the first (or even tenth) time they see it. In the beginning facts have to get wedged in heads so that they can illuminate when the matter is taken up again down the road.

1 2

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 22d

Better than 51. Good luck!

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 22d

Almost everyone assumes that “more light” is always the answer. The world therefore gets both brighter and harder to navigate at night.

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · Oct 2

Absolutely. It’s the only object with a 100% success rate in my experience.

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · Sep 28

I think true in every field. Ideas are easy. Deciding which are good and executing the work are hard. Which is why highly paid (and usually self-proclaimed) “idea men” piss me off so much.

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · Sep 24

Maybe 0.03% of the population appears to listen to lyrics.

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · Sep 21

Here is a gif from the Sept. 20 transit and shadow transit. This covers about half an hour of rotation. #astrophotography 🔭🧪

2 16

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · Sep 21

Saturn was at opposition last night. I imaged Titan and its shadow crossing the disk the night before. Here I show that image with an image of Saturn with Titan's shadow on the disk on Sept 4. Note how much brighter the ring is on the 20th. This is the Seeliger Effect. #astrophotography 🔭🧪

Two photos of Saturn arranged above and below one another. In the top photo, Titan (a very, very small orange ball) hangs to the upper left of Saturn's disk (at about the ten o'clock position) while its shadow is a black spot just on the edge of the disk at about 11 o'clock. In the bottom photo, Titan's shadow is again on the edge of the disk at 11:30 while Titan itself is an orange/grey disk of the same size just to the lower left of the shadow. The two spots just touch one another.

Saturn's disk is a ruddy orange/tan. The rings are nearly edge on and presented horizontally. The equatorial zone, just to either side of the rings is much brighter than the rest of the disk. In both images, the planet's disk is banded horizontally, though it's easier to see in the lower photo due to the seeing and scope collimation being a touch better on that night. In the bottom image, two small storms, presenting as small white spots, are visible in the southern hemisphere.

The rings are much brighter, relative to the planet's disk, in the lower photo, taken the night before opposition, than in the top photo, taken 17 days before opposition. This increase in brightness of a rough, particulate surface, is known as the Seeliger effect, and can be seen in a variety of objects when the light source (here, the Sun) is directly behind the observer.

1 8 52

Reposted by pbjonearth

Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · Sep 19

To my H-1B friends, I am so fucking sorry. This all sucks so much.

1 11 55

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · Sep 17

I sometimes think it's possible that current American politics are simply the result of someone asking a genie for Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to be as humiliated as they possibly could be but not being specific about other outcomes.

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · Sep 11

Melville at the chalkboard:

The Great White Cat, no, no
The Great White Buffalo, no, drat
The Great White Cow, yes!
The Great White Whale, that shoulda worked!

1 2

pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · Sep 4

With Earth crossing Saturn's ring plane, we're being treated to some lovely moon and shadow transits. Titan is currently casting its shadow on the disk every 18 days. With gear too long unused, I managed to catch last night's transit. Color is in Vis light, Gray in IR. 🔭 🧪 #astrophotography

The planet Saturn captured in IR (wavelength 685nm - ~950nm) and, so, presented in grayscale against a black background. The planet is tilted so that the rings stretch from lower left to upper right across the disk. The rings are seen very close to edge on so that they appear to be a thin streak. Across the disk, one can just make out the shadow cast by the rings just below the razor thin rings themselves. Titan is just off the disk at about the ten o'clock position and is casting a shadow onto the disk at about the ten thirty position. The moon is a small gray disk, the shadow a completely black circle on the gray disk, which is covered in darker and lighter bands running parallel to the rings.

The planet Saturn captured in visible light and, so, presented in color against a black background. Saturn's disk is a banded yellow gold. Two equatorial bands, running parallel to the rings are darker brown than the rest of the bands. The planet is tilted so that the rings stretch from lower left to upper right across the disk. The rings are seen very close to edge on so that they appear to be a thin streak. Across the disk, one can just make out the shadow cast by the rings just below the razor thin rings themselves. Titan is just off the disk at about the nine o'clock position and is casting a shadow onto the disk at about the ten o'clock position. The moon is a small orange disk, the shadow a completely black circle.

10 46