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cmbennett01.bsky.social
CMBennett
@cmbennett01.bsky.social
220 followers 290 following 130 posts
Unless otherwise noted, images I post are in the public domain.
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cmbennett01.bsky.social
The Orion Nebula (M42) A bright emission nebula in Orion. Dark dust and wispy reddish brown clouds surround a bright central region where stars are forming. There is a second bright region and cluster of stars above separated by a dark lane of dust. It is set in a relatively sparse field of mostly dim stars with a couple brighter ones.
December 26, 2025 at 1:49 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
Triangulum Galaxy (M33) A large diffuse spiral galaxy with loosely wound arms and a relatively dim core. You can see compact clusters of stars in the arms and if you look closely there are a few small pinkish regions of ionized hydrogen in star forming regions. There's a few brighter bluish and reddish stars in the foreground.
December 26, 2025 at 1:32 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
Christmas Moon
Waxing crescent moon in the dark sky. Large dark maria are visible and some large craters in the shadow along the terminator.
December 25, 2025 at 10:29 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
Merry Christmas
NGC2264, a cluster of stars with the brighter ones sort of in the shape of a Christmas tree. There's a few bright blue stars in the center, S Monocerotis and others, surrounded by a blue reflection nebula. there are dark patches of dust obscuring a very dense star field.
December 25, 2025 at 2:29 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
It's cloudy tonight but the Super Moon is bright enough to shine through. We won't see anything else in the central Maryland sky tonight though.
Full Moon on a black sky. Several maria (dark flat areas) and large craters are visible. Tycho is quite prominent in the lower right. It's a large crater with bright rays extending out from it.
December 5, 2025 at 12:14 AM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
Last full Moon of the year.
Full Moon seen through silhouette of trees. The moon is obscured by clouds and has a reddish halo.
December 4, 2025 at 11:22 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
The #Sun this morning. The large #sunspot groups are working their way across the face. Just some C-class and B-class flares and no earth-directed CMEs so the chances of a light show on Earth are pretty low.
Image of the Sun on a black background. A large group of irregularly shaped sun spots in the lower left. Actually, three groups 4298, 4294, and 4296. A couple of smaller groups above an on the right.
December 3, 2025 at 3:41 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
There's a new big group of Sun spots coming around, producing some X-class flares. At least one this morning anyway. Doesn't look like we'll get any auroras from it yet though.
Image of the Sun with a large group of irregularly shaped sun spots on the lower left. A few smaller spots on the left and right sides and a pair of very small ones near the center. They are dark brown with lighter areas surrounding. The Sun's surface is granulated deep orange with a few lighter areas throughout.
December 1, 2025 at 4:58 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
What's up? Moon's up.
Waxing gibbous Moon on a dark sky. Several maria are visible; Serenitatis, Tranquilitatis, Crisium, Fecunditatis, Nectaris. Several large craters, including Copernicus, Plato, Archimedes, Aristoteles. Tycho isn't quite visible yet.
November 29, 2025 at 10:39 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
A new sunspot group on the lower left limb of the Sun today. It might torn out to be a big one. There's been some solar flare activity there.
Orange red Sun on a black background. There's a couple irregularly shaped dark spots on the upper right and a larger one on the lower left limb.
November 29, 2025 at 3:14 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
A few spots on the Sun this morning.
Image of the Sun, orange on a black background. The surface has a granular texture from convective cells of hot gas rising and falling. Several sunspots are visible on the left side and a small one near the center. They are dark irregular patches surrounded by a lighter area. There is a largish one in the upper left and a cluster of three large and a few small ones in the lower left.
November 24, 2025 at 7:02 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
The skies were clear last night so I went out to look at the stars. There was a nice crescent Moon up.
A crescent Moon in the evening above a horizon of trees, a few larger leafless trees in the foreground stick above the rest. The sky is pale dark blue turnig to orange in the west.
November 24, 2025 at 6:53 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
The Sun this morning.
Image of the Sun. It's orange (from the solar filter) on a black background. The surface has a mottled texture from the Sun's granulation—the tops of convective cells of hot gas rising and falling. Several sunspots are visible in the upper right and a small one near the center: these are small, irregular dark patches where magnetic activity makes the surface cooler. They are surrounded by lighter, filament-like structures.
November 14, 2025 at 4:48 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
NGC 869 & NGC 884 (The Double Cluster) in Perseus.
Two star clusters, NGC 869 & NGC 884 in the constellation Perseus. The clusters contain many bright blue and orange stars in a fairly dense field of dimmer stars.
October 31, 2025 at 3:36 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
The Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant in Taurus.
The Crab Nebula (Messier 1) — a supernova remnant centered in a moderately dense field of stars. The image is about 30 arcmin across and the nebula is about 4.5x7 arcmin. It is a roughly oval, irregularly shaped, filamentary cloud of gas and dust with a bright, wispy texture. It exhibits pale hues of gray-white with reddish tones from ionized gases (mostly hydrogen, helium, sulfur, and oxygen). The oxygen emission has a bluish color but is not really visible in this image. There is a pulsar at it's center, a fast rotating neutron star, that is the collapsed remnant of the star. It is not visible in the visible spectrum but is very bright in x-rays. It is the remnant of a supernova in the constellation Taurus recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054 CE. It is about 1 degree NW of the magnitude 3 star Zeta Tauri.
October 25, 2025 at 4:44 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
Thank you to everyone that came out to defend democracy.
#NoKings #DC
No Kings Rally on Pennsylvania Ave. in DC
October 19, 2025 at 9:19 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
#NoKings #DC
No Kings Rally on Pennsylvania Ave. in DC
October 19, 2025 at 9:17 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
#NoKings #DC
No Kings Rally on Pennsylvania Ave. in DC
October 19, 2025 at 9:15 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
#NoKings #DC
No Kings Rally on Pennsylvania Ave. in DC
October 19, 2025 at 9:14 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
#NoKings #DC
No Kings Rally on Pennsylvania Ave. in DC
October 19, 2025 at 9:13 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
#NoKings #DC
No Kings Rally on Pennsylvania Ave. in DC
October 19, 2025 at 9:12 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
#NoKings #DC
No Kings Rally on Pennsylvania Ave. in DC
October 19, 2025 at 9:11 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
#NoKings #DC
No Kings Rally on Pennsylvania Ave. in DC
October 19, 2025 at 9:10 PM
cmbennett01.bsky.social
#NoKings #DC
No Kings Rally on Pennsylvania Ave. in DC
October 19, 2025 at 9:09 PM