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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 1d

🌌 Missed September’s Westport Astronomical Society Free Science Series Lecture?

Catch Professor Adam Frank’s fascinating talk “The Search for Life in the Universe” — exploring how science hunts for life beyond Earth. 👽✨

🎥 Watch it now (or again!): youtube.com/live/Z89...

#WestportObservatory

Promotional poster for Westport Astronomical Society's 50th anniversary featuring a lecture on the search for life in the universe by Dr. Adam Frank.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 1d

🌏 A powerful M7.4 earthquake struck off the southeastern coast of the Philippines near Mindanao, about 79 miles from Davao. Tsunami warnings were issued. The USGS seismometer at the Westport Observatory detected the quake 8,850 miles away! 🌎 #Earthquake #Philippines #Seismology

Three seismograph charts from Westport, CT, showing blue, red, and green waveform data recorded on October 10, 2025, with time stamps and network status details.
HHZ = vertical
HH1 = North/South
HH2 = East/West

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 3d

✨ Clear skies tonight, Westport! ✨ Join us at the Westport Observatory for Public Night starting at 8PM. Cool, crisp air and perfect views of Saturn’s rings, Neptune, and your universe! 🌌🔭

🔗 was-ct.org/programs/...

The Westport Observatory illuminated at night with a large telescope and trees glowing red under a partly cloudy sky filled with stars.

Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 5d

While interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS steals the spotlight, Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) is rapidly brightening and may soon be visible to the naked eye! It should be a dazzling evening sight around the New Moon in late October. 🌠

Photo: Rolando Ligustri 🇮🇹
🔗 Spaceweather.com

#CometLemmon

Bright green comet with a long, wispy tail streaking through a star-filled night sky.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 7d

🌙✨ Tonight! Join us at the Westport Observatory for International Observe the Moon Night! 🌍🚀

Point a telescope at the Moon, share stories, and connect with millions worldwide.

📸 Share your shots with #ObserveTheMoon + #WestportObservatory! 🌒💫

#MoonNight2025 #NASA

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 8d

🚀 A cosmic visitor is flying by Mars today! Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS will swing just 29 million km from the Red Planet. NASA & ESA orbiters are ready to capture images and data on this rare traveler from beyond our solar system. 🌌

🔗 skyandtelescope.org/...

#CometAtlas #Mars #Interstellar

Mars orbiter spacecraft with large solar panels and a dish antenna hovering above the planet's rocky, dusty surface under a starry sky.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 9d

🌙✨ Join us Sat, Oct 4 for International Observe the Moon Night! ✨🌙

We’ll celebrate Earth’s closest neighbor with telescopes, stories & skywatching fun at the Westport Observatory. 📸 Share your shots with #ObserveTheMoon & #WestportObservatory!

#MoonNight2025 #NASA #WestportObservatory

Westport Astronomical Society celebrating 50 years with a large moon and event details for International Observe the Moon Night on October 4th, 2025, 8-10 pm.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 9d

As we observed Saturn and its moon Enceladus tonight, a new study of Cassini data revealed the icy moon is bursting with complex organic molecules in its plumes — the same kinds linked to life on Earth. 🌊🧬 Its hidden ocean may hold the chemistry for life.

🔗 Read more: www.scientificameric...

Artist’s concept of the Cassini spacecraft passing through plumes venting from Saturn’s ocean moon, Enceladus.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 10d

✨ Clear Skies Tonight! ✨

We’re opening the Westport Observatory at 8 PM, 10/1, for a star party under a gorgeous sky.

🌕 70% waxing gibbous Moon
🪐 Saturn & distant Neptune
🌌 Deep sky wonders

Come see your Universe! was-ct.org/programs/...

#WestportObservatory #StarParty #Astronomy #LookUp

Group of people observing the night sky with telescopes near an observatory building illuminated by red light under a starry sky.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 17d

🌧️☁️ Once again, the clouds win. The Westport Observatory will be closed tonight for public night.

We’ll keep watching the skies — hopefully some clear skies NEXT Wednesday and we’ll open the dome for you. Stay tuned! https://was-ct.org/

#WestportObservatory #CloudySkies #LookUp

Circular fisheye view of a cloudy sky at the Westport Observatory with tree silhouettes around the edges, labeled with cardinal directions and timestamped September 24, 2025.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 18d

🚨 Space weather meets interstellar visitor! 🚨
A solar storm (CME) may collide with Comet 3I/ATLAS on Sept. 24–25, a week before its Mars flyby—where spacecraft are waiting for a closer look.

📸 Sept. 17 image by Gerald Rhemann & Michael Jäger.
🔗 Full story: Spaceweather.com

#31Atlas

Star trails streak across the night sky with a faint green comet visible among the stars.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 22d

As we pack for beautiful nights at the Connecticut Star Party #CSP35 this weekend, we heard we lost a friend from #Stellafane. Dennis Cassia, the cigar chewing smiling bald guy that met everyone at the gates passed this morning. Love to Kim and his family at this difficult time from all of us at WAS

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 24d

🌧️ Once again, the clouds are calling the shots. Wednesday night’s sky is off-limits, and the Westport Observatory will be CLOSED. Don’t worry—those stars can’t hide forever, and we’ll be back as soon as the skies clear! ✨🔭 https://was-ct.org/

#CloudyNights #WestportObservatory #LookUp

A person in a mustard yellow shirt raising a clenched fist under a cloudy night sky with stars.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 25d

🚨 Tonight 8 PM! 🚨 Join us in the Westport Observatory Classroom for our Monthly Lecture Series with astrophysicist Dr. Adam Frank (Univ. of Rochester), live via Zoom: The Search for Life in the Universe 👽🌌

🔗 was-ct.org/events/ad...

Promotional poster for Westport Astronomical Society's 50th anniversary lecture on life in the universe by Dr. Adam Frank, featuring an alien reading 'The Little Book of Aliens'.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 26d

📡 This Tuesday, Sept 16 (10am–2pm), the Westport Observatory (K1WAS) joins a major emergency drill organized by the Trumbull & Aspetuck Health Districts. Local EMS, Red Cross, SART & 5 hospitals team up — with CT-ARES ham radio operators keeping comms flowing! 🚨🚑

#K1WAS #CTARES #WestportCT

Emergency drill at K1WAS scheduled for Tuesday, September 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., involving local health, EMS, Red Cross, SART, and amateur radio teams.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 27d

The Westport Astronomical Society's September newsletter is out! Catch the latest from the Observatory as we head into the busy Fall season. mailchi.mp/was-ct/fo...

#WestportObservatory #Newsletter #WAS #WestportAstronomicalSociety

The Westport Observatory building with a dome, surrounded by trees under a partly cloudy blue sky during daylight.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 28d

☄️ BRIGHT COMET SURPRISE!
Comet SWAN25B has emerged from behind the Sun, bright enough for backyard telescopes. It may fly past Earth in October—if it doesn’t fall apart first!

📸 Imaged just hours after discovery by E. Guido, M. Rocchetto & J. Ferguson.

🔗 Full story: Spaceweather.com

Side-by-side images of Comet SWAN25B: showing its bright nucleus and long tail against a starry background in grayscale and false-color blue.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 28d

🌍 Our seismometers at the Westport Observatory just picked up another massive quake—M 7.4 near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia, over 5,100 miles away!

⚠️ No tsunami warning, advisory, watch, or threat.

🔗 earthquake.usgs.gov/...

#WestportObservatory #USGS #Earthquake #Seismology

Map showing an earthquake epicenter near the Kamchatka Peninsula with concentric intensity rings in the Sea of Okhotsk region.

Three seismograph charts from Westport, CT, dated Sep 13, 2025, showing blue, red, and green waveform data with time on the x-axis and amplitude on the y-axis.
HHZ = vertical
HH1 = North/South
HH2 = East/West

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · Sep 11

🦋☀️ A butterfly-shaped hole has opened in the Sun’s atmosphere! An extreme ultraviolet image taken Sept. 11 by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the 500,000-km-wide coronal gap.

🌬️ Solar wind arrives Sept. 14 — and it could spark G1–G2 geomagnetic storms.

🔗 spaceweather.com

Close-up of the sun showing a dark coronal hole with arrows indicating the outward flow of solar wind from the region.Photographed on Sept. 11th by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · Sep 11

🚨 Mars life clue? NASA says a Perseverance rover rock sample holds the strongest evidence yet of ancient Martian biology—tiny minerals in dark “leopard spots” may have been formed by primitive life. 🪐

But with Mars Sample Return in limbo, the mystery waits…
🔗 spacenews.com/nasa-h...

#Mars

Mars rover captured in a selfie on rocky, dusty Martian terrain with hills in the background under a hazy sky.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · Sep 10

☁️ The clouds have staged a coup—our stars are looking downright gloomy tonight 😢✨ With no moon to help, the sky has shut us down. The Westport Observatory will be CLOSED this evening. We’ll wait for clearer skies to bring back the sparkle!

#CloudyNights #WestportObservatory #SadStars

Dark night sky with sad-faced stars scattered among clouds and tiny twinkling stars.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · Sep 4

👽🚀 Interstellar visitor alert! Amateur astronomers captured comet 3I/ATLAS with a bizarre sunward-pointing blue tail 🛸🌌. The faint, fast mover looks like a glowing tadpole in an Aug. 28th animation by Gerald Rhemann & Michael Jäger. 🔗 Spaceweather.com #3IATLAS #Astrophotography

Black and white astronomical image showing numerous elongated star trails with 3I/ATLAS looking like a tadpole marked by directional indicators.

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · Sep 3

🌕 WAS Weekly Wednesday Star Party at 8 PM! The 78% waxing gibbous Moon dominates early, then after 9 PM Saturn’s edge on rings dazzle & distant Neptune sneaks in. Join us at Westport Observatory & see your Universe!

#WestportObservatory #StarParty #Saturn #Neptune #Astronomy #LookUp

Long-exposure night sky showing circular star trails above the Westport Observatory's "warm room" surrounded by trees and grass.

Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · Sep 1

👽 Are we alone in the universe?

Join us for a lecture with astrophysicist Adam Frank on The Search for Life in the Universe.

📍 Westport Observatory, YouTube/Zoom

🗓️ September 16 at 8:00 EDT

🔗 was-ct.org/events/ad...

#WestportObservatory #Astrobiology #SearchForLife #ScienceTalks #SETI

Alien reading Adam Frank's book titled 'The Little Book of Aliens' under a starry night sky with mountains in the background. Lecture is on Zoom/YouTube 9/16/25 @ 8pm EDT

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Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · Sep 1

⚡ Heads up, skywatchers! A Strong (G3) geomagnetic storm is possible Monday night thanks to a weekend “sun burp.” 🌞💨 Forecasts of timing aren’t perfect, but keep your eyes out—you just might catch the aurora! solarham.com/geo_for...

#Aurora #SpaceWeather #GeomagneticStorm #WestportObservatory

Map of the US showing northern lights visibility tonight, with orange areas for naked eye viewing and brown for photographic visibility under strong G3 geomagnetic activity.

NOAA map showing tonight's aurora forecast with high likelihood in northern Canada and Alaska, using red and green color gradients.