Colin Stuart 🔭
@colinstuartspace.bsky.social
Stories, sights & secrets of space
Astronomy writer, author & speaker
Asteroid (15347) Colinstuart
More space stories like these (free):
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Astronomy writer, author & speaker
Asteroid (15347) Colinstuart
More space stories like these (free):
astroclub.colinstuart.net
(3/4)
But perhaps the most remarkable use of transits is discovering planets around distant stars.
A star’s brightness drops if there’s an unseen planet temporarily blocking some of its light.
Image: ESO/L. Calçada
But perhaps the most remarkable use of transits is discovering planets around distant stars.
A star’s brightness drops if there’s an unseen planet temporarily blocking some of its light.
Image: ESO/L. Calçada
February 3, 2026 at 9:02 PM
(3/4)
But perhaps the most remarkable use of transits is discovering planets around distant stars.
A star’s brightness drops if there’s an unseen planet temporarily blocking some of its light.
Image: ESO/L. Calçada
But perhaps the most remarkable use of transits is discovering planets around distant stars.
A star’s brightness drops if there’s an unseen planet temporarily blocking some of its light.
Image: ESO/L. Calçada
(2/4)
Mars’s largest moon, Phobos, occasionally transits the Sun.
The timing of these events lets astronomers measure Phobos’s orbit with extreme precision.
There will even be a transit of Earth visible from Mars in 2084.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI
Mars’s largest moon, Phobos, occasionally transits the Sun.
The timing of these events lets astronomers measure Phobos’s orbit with extreme precision.
There will even be a transit of Earth visible from Mars in 2084.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI
February 3, 2026 at 9:02 PM
(2/4)
Mars’s largest moon, Phobos, occasionally transits the Sun.
The timing of these events lets astronomers measure Phobos’s orbit with extreme precision.
There will even be a transit of Earth visible from Mars in 2084.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI
Mars’s largest moon, Phobos, occasionally transits the Sun.
The timing of these events lets astronomers measure Phobos’s orbit with extreme precision.
There will even be a transit of Earth visible from Mars in 2084.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI
That black dot crossing the Sun is Venus.
The Transit of Venus helped astronomers measure the size of the solar system.
And transits remain some of the most important observations in astronomy.
🧵 (1/4)
Image: NASA/SDO
#astronomy
The Transit of Venus helped astronomers measure the size of the solar system.
And transits remain some of the most important observations in astronomy.
🧵 (1/4)
Image: NASA/SDO
#astronomy
February 3, 2026 at 9:02 PM
That black dot crossing the Sun is Venus.
The Transit of Venus helped astronomers measure the size of the solar system.
And transits remain some of the most important observations in astronomy.
🧵 (1/4)
Image: NASA/SDO
#astronomy
The Transit of Venus helped astronomers measure the size of the solar system.
And transits remain some of the most important observations in astronomy.
🧵 (1/4)
Image: NASA/SDO
#astronomy
The seething visible surface of the Sun.
Each of these cell-like structures is about the size of Texas.
They’re granules where hot plasma rises and cooler material sinks back down.
Details as small as 30km are visible.
Credit: NSO/NSF/AURA
#astronomy
Each of these cell-like structures is about the size of Texas.
They’re granules where hot plasma rises and cooler material sinks back down.
Details as small as 30km are visible.
Credit: NSO/NSF/AURA
#astronomy
February 3, 2026 at 2:21 PM
The seething visible surface of the Sun.
Each of these cell-like structures is about the size of Texas.
They’re granules where hot plasma rises and cooler material sinks back down.
Details as small as 30km are visible.
Credit: NSO/NSF/AURA
#astronomy
Each of these cell-like structures is about the size of Texas.
They’re granules where hot plasma rises and cooler material sinks back down.
Details as small as 30km are visible.
Credit: NSO/NSF/AURA
#astronomy
The Earth sinking below the craggy lunar surface, as seen by a Japanese space probe
#astronomy
Credit: JAXA
#astronomy
Credit: JAXA
February 2, 2026 at 12:53 PM
The Earth sinking below the craggy lunar surface, as seen by a Japanese space probe
#astronomy
Credit: JAXA
#astronomy
Credit: JAXA
Astronomers have spotted a planet growing by 6 billion tonnes a second.
Cha 1107-7626 is the fastest-growing planet ever recorded, according to the European Southern Observatory.
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser (animation).
#astronomy
Cha 1107-7626 is the fastest-growing planet ever recorded, according to the European Southern Observatory.
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser (animation).
#astronomy
February 1, 2026 at 9:06 AM
Astronomers have spotted a planet growing by 6 billion tonnes a second.
Cha 1107-7626 is the fastest-growing planet ever recorded, according to the European Southern Observatory.
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser (animation).
#astronomy
Cha 1107-7626 is the fastest-growing planet ever recorded, according to the European Southern Observatory.
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser (animation).
#astronomy
A chasm in the Sun’s upper atmosphere bigger than 60 Earths.
Known as a coronal hole, it’s a cooler, sparser region where the Sun’s magnetic field opens out into space, launching the solar wind.
Credit: NASA / SDO
#astronomy
Known as a coronal hole, it’s a cooler, sparser region where the Sun’s magnetic field opens out into space, launching the solar wind.
Credit: NASA / SDO
#astronomy
January 30, 2026 at 9:32 PM
A chasm in the Sun’s upper atmosphere bigger than 60 Earths.
Known as a coronal hole, it’s a cooler, sparser region where the Sun’s magnetic field opens out into space, launching the solar wind.
Credit: NASA / SDO
#astronomy
Known as a coronal hole, it’s a cooler, sparser region where the Sun’s magnetic field opens out into space, launching the solar wind.
Credit: NASA / SDO
#astronomy