Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies

@palomarskies.bsky.social

3.6K followers 710 following 2.5K posts

Associate professor of astronomy at Palomar College, user of smart telescopes. 🔭 Blog: http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/

visiblesuns.blogspot.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · Sep 3

"The world is still beautiful, even with all the traffic, the injustice, the noise, the wars. The world is still beautiful. It's all we have and we should celebrate it." - Film score composer Lionel Newman

DSCOVR 🔴 EPIC (Unofficial) @dscovr-epic.bsky.social · Jul 21

1:37:11 PM on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, over the North Atlantic Ocean.

Earth from space, centered on the North Atlantic Ocean, captured on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 at 1:37:11 PM by NASA's DSCOVR EPIC camera.

3 16

Reposted by Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies

Nick @musicbox007.bsky.social · 2h

"I'm telling you! There's a Spock out there!"

S P O C K T O B E R has begun!

7 22

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 2h

I totally forgot about Spocktober! 🖖

An image of Mr. Spock on Vulcan giving the Vulcan salute.

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 4h

Beautiful!

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @vrubinobs.bsky.social · 4h

Golden hour hits different above 2600 meters. ✨🌅

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory basks in that sunset ✨glow✨ at its site on Cerro Pachón. And with over 300 clear nights on average per year here, that's a lot of sunset basking we get to do! 🔭🧪

Large boot-shaped observatory with a massive telescope dome reflecting orange and golden sunset light atop its rocky mountain site.

Large boot-shaped observatory with a massive telescope dome atop its rocky mountain site, with the golden glow of sunset over the rolling peaks in the distance.

Large boot-shaped observatory on a rocky mountain peak during a vibrant sunset with layered mountain ranges in the background.

Drone shot of a massive teal telescope within an observatory's dome with a vertical opening, surrounded by winding mountain roads and dry terrain.

1 8

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 8h

Yikes!

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 8h

today.ucsd.edu/story/detect...

Detection of Phosphine in a Brown Dwarf Atmosphere Raises More Questions

Phosphine has been found in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, and has been recognized as a possible biosignature for anaerobic life. Now a team of researchers, led by UC San Diego, has reported t...

today.ucsd.edu

1 2 9

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 9h

Far too early, bright moonlight wakes me up this morning. I look at the time and realize I can shoot comet Lemmon, so I check the skies & they are clear. I set my telescope outside and notice that fog has started rolling in. 😢

1 8

Reposted by Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies

Moon-Watcher @bobsmyusername.bsky.social · 1d

Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart; men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.

Photo of a pensive Anne Frank. Exerpt is from her diary, January 13, 1943

8 24

Reposted by Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 1d

Just found this image of the 2021 Fagradalsfjall eruption in Iceland that I've never shared before. Being in the presence of this volcano and feeling the intense heat of the Earth on my skin was genuinely the best experience of my life and its not even close. #photography

An erupting volcano. A black spatter cone with a gap in the front has lava fountaining out, hundreds of feet into the air, smacking against the cone, and flowing along a snaking lava river toward the camera. A plume of gas rises into the air with mostly cloudy sky in the background.

13 77 370

Reposted by Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies

Daniel Pomarède @pomarede.bsky.social · 3d

CFHT Astronomy Image Of The Month

The Umbrella Galaxy (NGC 4651)

Credits: data obtained using the MegaCam camera on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope; image by Jean-Charles Cuillandre (CFHT) & Giovanni Anselmi (Coelum); copyright © 2025 CFHT
www.cfht.hawaii.edu/HawaiianStar... 🧪🔭

A photography of the spiral galaxy NGC 4651. This member of the Virgo Cluster is known as the Umbrella Galaxy due to the umbrella-shaped structure that extends from its disk and that is composed of stellar streams, being the remnants of a much smaller galaxy that has been torn apart by NGC 4651's tidal forces.

1 44 190

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 1d

A cloudy night and a full Moon.

A dark tree branches and a full Moon in a cloudy sky.

Reposted by Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies

Scott Baker @scottb80.bsky.social · 1d

I ordered a nice sturdy keyboard cover so I could type with Cosmos my Maine Coon kitten on the desk. It came with a thin piece of acrylic to cover the back partially. A lot of good it does.

1 3 26

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 2d

I am sure you will be great.

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 2d

That's wonderful!!

1 2

Reposted by Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies

RASC Calgary Centre @calgaryrasc.bsky.social · 2d

100 Ma old crater Tycho and its extensive bright ejecta ray pattern dominate the southern hemisphere of the nearly full #Moon. #astronomy

1 11 92

Reposted by Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies

AFT @aft.org · 3d

VIDEO: Listen to Ph.D. candidate Caitlin Brabble Rose explain why government programs like a grant she got from the National Science Foundation are essential for the next generation of scientists and innovators.

#HigherEdBenefitsEveryone @aaup.org @afthighered.bsky.social

14 34

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks!

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 3d

it was one hell of a comet! I was watching it from Wichita, Kansas.

Comet Hale-Bopp in the sky over an observatory dome. Light pollution illuminates some clouds on either side of the comet.

1 2

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 3d

Another look at Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) from this morning. Here's three 8-minutes exposures showing its motion against the background of the stars. 🔭

1 26 110

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 3d

Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) as seen this morning. I kind of feel the black and white version brings out more detail in its tail. #comet 🔭

A telescopic view of stars and a blue-green comet. The comet has a wispy dust tail that extends up and to the left.

A black and white version of the previous image of the comet showing its tail extending upward and to the left.

3 32 97

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 3d

Tonight's waxing gibbous Moon on #InternationalObserveTheMoonNight 🔭

A telescopic image of the Moon in the waxing gibbous phase. 94% of the Earth-facing side is illuminated. Many bright impact craters and smooth, dark lunar seas are visible.

1 8 57

Reposted by Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies

Prof. Josep M. Trigo-Rodríguez @joseptrigo.bsky.social · 4d

FOR ALL FRIENDS OBSERVING THE #MOON TONIGHT: Just sharing with you the main features visible on our satellite over this weekend (craters in bold, Lunar maria in cursive)
Join the closest outreach initiative to enjoy it through the telescope🌔🔭🤩
#InternationalObserveTheMoonNight #Moon #PlanetSci

1 29 63

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 4d

🖖

1 1

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 4d

Wow!! 📚👀

1 1

Reposted by Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 5d

As a theoretical cosmologist, I'm frequently asked "what is the benefit of the work you're doing for people's lives?" Nothing I work on makes money or cures disease.

There are a few different answers one can give, at various levels of "convincing" / "actually relevant to why the work is done."

1/🧵

53 250 1K

Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 5d

I used a Unistellar telescope with a solar filter. I describe it here: visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2023/09/here...

Here Comes the Sun

The most viewed post on my blog from last year was Observing the Sun with an eVscope . Everything about that post is now completely out of d...

visiblesuns.blogspot.com