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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 21h

It's possible kids will be able to look up at the Moon on their way to school while humans are flying around it.

Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 21h

What will the Moon look like from Earth when the Artemis II astronauts are flying by the Moon? I simulated it in a few places around Montréal...

The earliest possible launch date is February 5th, 2026. The astronauts would arrive at the Moon around February 10th, which I've simulated here.

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 3d

This morning’s Moonset from Rosemont in Montréal

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 4d

The Moon rises in the East tonight in Montréal at 6:03 PM

It’ll look large and orange when it first rises when low on the horizon

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 4d

Sputnik launched on October 4, 1957. The first steps on the Moon were July 20, 1969.

Less than a 12 year gap.

That's the amount of time between the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 17.

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 5d

The Moon and Saturn over Montréal tonight

(and up close in my telescope)

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 5d

You’ll see a point of light underneath the Moon tonight

That’s Saturn

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 8d

Just saw some rainbow-coloured, iridescent clouds over Montréal

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 8d

Mission: accomplished.

Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 8d

The last mission to the Moon was December, 1972. Nobody under the age of 53 has ever looked up at the Moon while humans traveled around it.

That's about 75% of people alive today. 6 billion people.

In just a few months, the Artemis II mission is going to change that.

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 11d

The last time humans went to the Moon was December 1972

All astronauts on the upcoming Artemis II mission were born after, and never saw humans on the Moon live

🧑‍🚀 Reid Wiseman: November 11, 1975
🧑‍🚀 Jeremy Hansen: January 27, 1976
👨🏾‍🚀 Victor Glover: April 30, 1976
🧑‍🚀 Christina Koch: January 29, 1979

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 12d

Had a lovely turnout of people come to see the Moon, Saturn, and the ISS flyover at Pelican Park in Montréal

Perfect skies tonight

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 12d

Awww, dang. See my error now!

*in the Moon*

Very good, Trevor

Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 12d

Montreal: the Space Station will fly over the city tonight, appearing like a bright star moving across the sky

START: 8:07 PM, West
END: 8:12 PM, Southeast

At 8:10 PM, it’ll appear to fly above the Moon in the Moon. Easily viewable, no telescope required!

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 12d

Montreal: tonight I’ll be setting up my telescope at Pelican Park in Rosemont to show the Moon, Saturn, and Space Station flyover

🗓️ Sun, Sep 28
⏰ 7:00 - 9:00 PM
🚀 8:07 - 8:11 PM: Space Station flyover

😊 Free! All ages!
📍Map: maps.app.goo.gl/cPjDL7mMWnrQ...

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 14d

Tonight’s Crescent Moon over Montréal

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 14d

If Artemis II launches in early February, that means we're only 5 Full Moons away

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 15d

There's only ~30 satellites needed to make GPS work around the world. I wanted to show this to students, and I'm super pumped how this turned out!

Working with @gaiasky.bsky.social, we grab the orbital data of each satellite and show them circling around Earth

They look like electrons in an atom

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 16d

This morning I attended the Artemis II crew press conference streamed from the CSA headquarters.

I learned a bunch of new, cool things about the mission. I whittled my long list down and wrote about 5 of them.

plateauastro.com/blog/2025-09...

5 Cool Things I Learned from the Artemis II Crew Press Conference

Some neat tidbits about the Moon mission learned from the crew press conference on September 24

plateauastro.com

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 16d

Went to a press conference at the Canadian Space Agency this morning about the Artemis II mission

The 4 astronauts were down in Houston answering questions

Took a ton of notes and learned some super cool things about the mission. I’ll write a post summarizing the things I thought were super neat.

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 17d

NASA held a press conference yesterday about the upcoming Artemis II mission

One of the announcements was launch dates. It looks like Feb 5, 2026 is when the launch window opens. That’s coming soon!

Highly recommend reading this from Elizabeth Howell with more details:

spaceq.ca/heres-how-ar...

Here's how Artemis 2 will fly around the moon and back

As one NASA speaker put it in a press conference today, Artemis 2 is part of a long series of tests to eventually put humans on the moon.

spaceq.ca

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 18d

But Montréal has a weird quirk!

It's almost exactly halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. On the Equinoxes, the shadow will appear the same length as the stick!

This experiment can also be used to measure the size of the Earth (called the "Eratosthenes Experiment")

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 18d

I measured the shadow at Solar Noon. This is not 12:00 PM noon on your watch, but rather the moment the Sun is exactly south and is at its highest point in the sky that day.

In summer, the Sun is high and the shadows are short

In winter, the Sun is low and shadows are long

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 18d

Today is the Autumn Equinox!

Over the last year, I measured the shadow of a stick on every equinox and solstice to show how the height of the Sun changes through the year...

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Plateau Astro @plateauastro.bsky.social · 21d

@gaiasky.bsky.social Thank you for this morning’s commit

I’ve been meaning to make an issue for this exact feature. In my shows, I pretend we are launching off into space and this makes it so much better

Ditto for an upcoming show about Artemis where we land on the Moon

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