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Brian

@brianpaulmarcum.bsky.social
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Reposted by Brian
Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 06/10/2026
There's a brand new image from JWST and it's beautiful. Stars are being born here.
From the source: "A young star cluster filled with many stars that display Webb’s unique eight-pronged diffraction pattern. At its center is a yellow star which sports the largest diffraction pattern. To the left of the star, there is a region filled with yellow dust and gas that extends from the star to the left border of the image. This yellow region extends from the bottom, covering about two-thirds of the image. The yellow region has several blue stars of different sizes embedded within. The top third, which lies outside of the yellow region, holds a few bright protostars, within dense gray gas. Those stars illuminate the gas, making it appear blue. A few red outflows from other protostars are visible above this grayish-blue region. To the right of the central star, there is a clumpy, flame-like plume of red dust and gas with protostars that emit a soft white light within. The plume is surrounded by more dense gray gas and dust. There are several background galaxies strewn throughout the image."
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Brian @brianpaulmarcum.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The rains have brought out a lot of Brown Garden Snails. 🐌 #art #nature
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Brian @brianpaulmarcum.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A beautiful bouquet of Laccaria Laccata. 🍄‍🟫 #art #nature #fungifriends
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 28/09/2026
This is a photo of our home planet taken only a few hours ago! So what? We have photos of Earth taken from space every day. Ah, but *this* photo was taken by a spacecraft ON ITS WAY TO JUPITER.
From the source: "Mostly black space, most of Earth visible at the top right of the image. Part of a spacecraft visible on the left."
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Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 25/09/2026
NASA has now confirmed all ground stations supporting the agency’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope are ready to receive the mission’s high volume of data once science operations begin by early 2027. #NASARoman 🔭
science.nasa.gov
NASA’s Roman Team Confirms Ground Stations Receiving Data - NASA Science
NASA has now confirmed all ground stations supporting the agency’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope are ready to receive the mission’s high volume of data
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Brian @brianpaulmarcum.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A beautiful cluster of Pholiota Spumosa for your #fungifriday. 🍄‍🟫 #art #nature #hiking #fungifriends
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Brian @brianpaulmarcum.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Went hiking for the first day of Fall and found some Lycoperdon Perlatum. ⚪️ #art #nature #hiking #fungifriends
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SETI Institute @setiinstitute.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
📡 Astronomers have detected radio signals coming directly from an exoplanet for the first time. No, it’s #notaliens. The signals from Beta Pictoris b appear to come from auroras generated by its magnetic field, offering a new way to study distant worlds. www.sciencealert.com/astronomers-... 🧪 🔭
sciencealert.com
Astronomers Detect Radio Signals Coming Directly From an Exoplanet For The First Time
There's no proof of other life beyond Earth yet, but scientists are constantly looking out and listening for signs that we're not actually alone in the Universe.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 21/09/2026
This isn't the diseased skin of some alien—this is Mars! Taken by ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, this colour scene shows a portion of the planet's high southern latitudes where frost, dust, and sunlight combine to produce these pink and purple tones.
From the source: "A purple–pink–coloured patch of Mars, which is lighter on the left and darker on the right. A dark line runs from the top centre towards the bottom right, dividing the light and dark areas. At the centre of the image is a sharp light-coloured crater. Less sharp craters are scattered over the rest of the image. At the bottom left is a bright white-blue triangular patch; it looks icy."
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 17/09/2026
HOLY SHIT NEW IMPACT CRATER ON THE MOON This crater is 222 m (728 ft) across, and formed in spring 2024. Statistical modelling tells us this is a 1-in-132 year event. So the last time a crater this big formed on the Moon was 1894.
A large crater with bright rays is situated in the centre of this image. The dark, pockmarked lunar surface makes up the background.
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SETI Institute @setiinstitute.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
#PPOD: NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has captured the first image of an astrosphere—the bubble created by a star’s wind—around a star similar to our Sun. HD 61005, nicknamed the “Moth,” lies about 120 light-years away and is roughly the same mass and temperature as the Sun... 🧪 🔭
Bright purple-white glowing astronomical object with a crescent-shaped disk and radiating light rays, surrounded by faint purple halos and set against a dark star field dotted with blue-white stars.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 09/09/2026
Astrophotographer Adam (AJ) Smadi caught this image a few hours ago from Washington state. A thin crescent Moon, sunlight illuminating the rugged lunar surface. And 2,400 times farther away—and on the other side of the Sun—mighty Jupiter, and its moons Io (left) and Ganymede (right).
A crescent Moon seen during the day, arcing from upper left to lower right of the frame. At lower centre is the full disk of Jupiter; the small dots to its upper left and lower right and Io and Ganymede, respectively.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 06/09/2026
🔭 Pluto in Enhanced Color Image Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ./APL, Southwest Research Inst. ap260906
The large sphere is pictured with different color regions
on its surface. Irregularly shaped parts of tan, white, and brown.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 04/09/2026
That small black circle is the planet Mercury, seen crossing the face of the Sun by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on 9 May 2016.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 02/09/2026
Apollo 11 photo As11-44-6642. Taken by Apollo 11 Command Module pilot Michael Collins, this image captures every living human alive at the time in a single frame—except for Collins himself.
The Apollo 11 Lunar Module ascent stage is in the foreground, rising towards the Command Module against a backdrop of the Moon. In the distance, Earth rises over the lunar horizon.
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Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 01/09/2026
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has successfully activated the mission’s Coronagraph Instrument, which will block starlight to view planets and dusty disks around nearby stars. #NASARoman 🔭
science.nasa.gov
NASA Roman's Planet Imager Has Powered On - NASA Science
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has successfully activated the mission's Coronagraph Instrument, which will block starlight to view planets and
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Brian @brianpaulmarcum.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
A beautiful cluster of Jack 'O Lanterns. #art #nature #fungifriends
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 30/08/2026
A remarkable shot by John Kraus of the launch this morning of NASA's new Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Liftoff was at 7:26 am Eastern; the spacecraft will take about three months to climb up to the second Sun–Earth Lagrange point. Roman will search for dark matter, dark energy, and exoplanets.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket transits the Sun. The hot gasses from the liquid-fuelled boosters create complex refraction patterns that distort sunlight at lower left. Shockwaves from the rocket's 27 engines emanate in arcs that break up the Sun's outline.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 30/08/2026
Watch what it's like to sample an asteroid. On 20 October 2020, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft positioned itself above asteroid Bennu and used its sampling system to grab material for return to Earth. Rather than being a solid chunk of rock, Bennu turned out to have the cohesion of a ball pit.
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Brian @brianpaulmarcum.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
A few shots of last night's Lunar eclipse. Taken on my Samsung S24 FE. #art #astronomy #photography
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SETI Institute @setiinstitute.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
#PPOD: This remarkably detailed view of Betelgeuse, captured by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), reveals the uneven, bubbling surface of the famous red supergiant about 600 light-years away. Nearly 800 times larger than the Sun... 🧪 🔭
Radio-telescope image of a red supergiant star shown as an orange, irregular disk with dark convection-like patches and a bright hotspot near the upper edge, revealing surface structure rather than a smooth sphere.
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ESO @eso.org · 26/08/2026
Bearing the scars of a turbulent past. Visit NGC 1316, a galaxy formed by the mergers of smaller galaxies, which have left their mark on its structure. The mergers also led to an influx of gas, which fuels a gigantic object in NGC 1316. Read more: www.eso.org/public/news/eso1734 🔭
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Brian @brianpaulmarcum.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Filmed this object on my way to Mexico. It was stationary in relation to the horizon, but it appears to change shape between frames, which I have attached below. It appeared elongated when first sighted, but eventually appeared round or spherical. I looked away for a moment, and it was gone. #ufosky
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 23/08/2026
Did you know you can see the planets during the day? This is Saturn, photographed 11 minutes after sunrise on 11 June 2021 from Monterrey, Mexico. At the time, Saturn was 1,346,765,000 km from Earth, or about 75 light-minutes away. Credit: Daniel Borja
Saturn. But in daylight!
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ESO @eso.org · 20/08/2026
Over the past days, unusually severe weather has affected northern Chile, where our observatories are located. This brought snow to Paranal and to the ELT construction site. It left stunning images, while causing severe flooding and damage to several cities within the Antofagasta Region. 🔭 1/2
Snow-covered view of ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope construction site at Cerro Armazones. The telescope dome and cranes rising through low clouds as the Sun shines brightly near the horizon.Aerial view of a vast snow-covered mountainous landscape in Chile’s Atacama Desert, with ESO facilities and access roads visible in the foreground beneath a clear blue sky.Wide view of ESO’s Paranal Observatory after snowfall, with the Very Large Telescope’s four Unit Telescopes visible atop the snow-covered Cerro Paranal under a blue-grey sky.Snow-covered landscape at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, with the Residencia building stretching along the right and the Very Large Telescope’s Unit Telescopes visible atop Cerro Paranal in the distance under a clear blue sky.
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Scifi Art @scifiart.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Steve R Dodd ‘Primordial Exo-Planet’ (acrylics on canvas board, 2026)
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ESO @eso.org · 19/08/2026
One for the record books 🏅 ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer has discovered the fastest known star in our galaxy. Named S301, it orbits Sagittarius A* — the supermassive #BlackHole at the centre of the #MilkyWay — reaching speeds of 25 000 kilometres per second. 🔭 🧪 1/3
Four observations from 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025 showing star S301 moving along its orbit around Sagittarius A*. A small circle below the images shows the size of Neptune’s orbit for scale. Image by ESO/GRAVITY collaboration.
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Brian @brianpaulmarcum.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I have completely redesigned and consolidated my discography, with my latest release, 'Archive' featuring an hour of music from recording sessions from over the years. Thank you for joining me on this journey. Exclusively @bandcamp.com #art #artists #music #bandcamp 1239.bandcamp.com/album/archive
1239.bandcamp.com
Archive, by 12:39
15 track album
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Reposted by Brian
Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 14/08/2026
This is Wednesday's solar eclipse. Photographed from lunar orbit.
Earth. In the top right foreground, the rugged lunar surface. Just above the lunar horizon is a dark splotch on Earth, situated around Greenland. That's the Moon's shadow—or a solar eclipse, when viewed from the centre of that shadow on Earth.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 13/08/2026
Remarkable photo from Reddit user u/karantza of the solar eclipse today in Mallorca. Ethereal.
A fleeting ring of fire, seen through cirrus clouds.
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SETI Institute @setiinstitute.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Computer models led by Dr. Orkan Umurhan, senior research scientist at the SETI Institute, show that nitrogen ice at the base of Pluto’s kilometers-deep Sputnik glacier can melt, forming liquid nitrogen. Learn more: www.swri.org/newsroom/pre...
swri.org
SwRI study finds evidence of liquid recently flowing on Pluto’s surface | Southwest Research Institute
Researchers use New Horizons imagery to identify evidence for liquid nitrogen flowing from underneath Pluto’s famous heart-shaped glacier
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Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 10/08/2026
#NASAWebb imaged the Lion Nebula in near- and mid-infrared light just in time for #WorldLionDay. The stellar core, looking like the lion’s “nose,” is responsible for sculpting the nebula’s complex gas and dust structures: news.stsci.edu/4x639kM
Planetary nebula NGC 2392, the Lion Nebula, against the black background of space. The nebula is at center, circular in shape, and looks like a male lion’s head. In the very center is a small, pinkish-white circle with eight-point diffraction spikes, a white dwarf star. Surrounding the star are light purple-pink cavernous bubbles and shell-like rings. The bubbles and shells collectively form an oval with two small, wide arcs near the top, reminiscent of a lion’s face and its ears. What appears to be extended outward from the lion’s face is a thick ring of purple-blue material. The width of the ring is consistent throughout and resembles a mane. The area closest to the lion’s face looks cloudy, while the edges of the mane look like there are clumps of dust with comet-like tails and strands. In the background are distant galaxies and stars. Some galaxies appear as yellow and orange points of light and others with visible spiral structures. A couple of the stars have diffraction spikes.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 07/08/2026
A new JWST image just dropped and it is gorgeous
A vast cloud of dust and gas, mainly orange, pops in this image in which hazier, fainter gas paints reds and greens in the background.
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Scifi Art @scifiart.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Art by Steve R Dodd ‘The Bridge: A Distant World 3’ (2026)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 06/08/2026
🔭 New Sharpest Image of the Sun Uncovers Instability Image Credit: NSF, NSO, AURA, MPS, Inouye Tel. ap260806
A image shows flowery dark and light structures
on a yellow background. 
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 02/08/2026
The 30 July 2026 Astronomy Picture of the Day featured a remarkable shot of the Sun photographed through a wildfire smoke-filled sky that turned the star a deep red. So I tweaked it to look like we're orbiting an M-class red dwarf star with a close-in system of rocky planets, like TRAPPIST-1.
A blood-red star seen through thick clouds. Added to the original image is a transiting planet at upper left of the Sun's disk, and the illuminated crescent of a closer planet that occludes the lower right of the Sun.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 30/07/2026
🔭 Red Sun through Wildfire Smoke Image Credit & Copyright: Debra Ceravolo Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II) ap260730
A deep red sun shows several sunspots.
	  Clouds and haze are visible.
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Brian @brianpaulmarcum.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Found some Golden-Gilled Gerronema yesterday. #art #nature #fungifriends
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Scifi Art @scifiart.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Art by Steve R Dodd ‘Mother Ship and Drones’ (2026)
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 18/07/2026
This is Comet Leonard during its approach to the Sun, imaged by Gerald Rhemann on Christmas Day 2021. The comet had been discovered earlier that year, and broke apart in 2022. This photo won the overall prize for Rhemann of the Royal Observatory Greenwich's Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2022.
A bright point of light at the top of the image is the comet's nucleus; the comet's gas and dust tails trail from the nucleus to the bottom of the image. Complex structures in the dust tail result from outbursts from the nucleus as it undergoes solar heating.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 09/07/2026
This is a real image. Taken by Voyager 1 in 1979, the icy moon Europa floats above Jupiter's swirling Red Spot maelstrom. The shadow is from Io, another of Jupiter's large inner moons, which is out of frame. Oh to see this view with my own eyes (safely shielded from the lethal radiation fields)
The swirling face of Jupiter, with the Great Red Spot at lower right. At lower left, difficult to discern from the cloudy backdrop, is Europa, lit from the right. At upper right is a dark circle—the shadow of Io.
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Scifi Art @scifiart.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Steve R Dodd ‘The Sands of Cydonia’ (2025, acrylic on canvas board)
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 03/07/2026
You're looking at spacetime itself being distorted. In this stunning new #JWST view, the two bright, glowing features are giant galaxies gravitationally bound in a still-forming cluster called MACS J0553.4-3342. And those thin, orange arcs? Yet farther galaxies, their light bent by the cluster.
A vast sea of galaxies in an array of shapes, sizes, and colours. The galaxy cluster comprises the two bright, glowing white features in the centre. The gravitationally lensed galaxies that are farther away form the arcing orange structures. Stars within the Milky Way for distinctive eight-pointed features.
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SETI Institute @setiinstitute.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
#PPOD: In a remote part of northern Mauritania, on the Adrar Plateau, lies a desert landscape that appears to be shaped primarily by natural forces. The region's most eye-catching feature when seen from above is the Richat Structure—a large geologic formation made of concentric ridges... 🧪
Composite photo taken from space using two Landsat satellites which reveals the strange formation made up of concentric circles known as the Richat Structure. The concentric rings alternate outward in shade of tan and blue-green, revealing different types of rock layers being eroded away in the middle of a desert.
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Scifi Art @scifiart.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Some of Steve R Dodd’s 1970s and 80s space art
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 13/06/2026
This is one of those JWST photos that's kinda hard to wrap your head around. The central bright thing is a galaxy cluster so unbelievably massive it's warping spacetime itself. And the weird streaks around it is light from much more distant galaxies being distorted, a bit like a fisheye lens.
A bright feature surrounding by arcuate, thinner features. The rest of the scene comprises galaxies of all shapes and sizes.
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Scifi Art @scifiart.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Art by Brazilian illustrator and comic book artist Sergio Macedo. He is best known for his work in Métal Hurlant and Heavy Metal.
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Scifi Art @scifiart.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Art by British artist David A Hardy
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Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 01/06/2026
#NASAWebb has directly observed methane gas on comet 3I/ATLAS, the first direct detection on an object from beyond our solar system. Webb also found it’s unusually rich in carbon dioxide, pointing to a very different birthplace around another star: go.nasa.gov/4dHOaXp
Three-panels showing telescope images of a comet’s coma in different molecules. All three panels are displayed in red tones against a black background. The left panel, labeled “H₂O,” shows water vapor concentrated in a bright central region surrounded by a roughly circular, extended glow. The middle panel, labeled “CO₂,” shows carbon dioxide with a similarly bright center and a less extended surrounding cloud. The right panel, labeled “CH4,” shows methane distributed in a clumpier, more irregular pattern, with several bright knots extending away from the center.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 28/05/2026
It mightn't look like much. But this little red dot is a supermassive black hole about 50 million times more massive than the Sun, its light dating to just 700 million years after the Big Bang—when the Universe was just 5% its current age. It is insane to me that we can see this far back.
A little red dot in the centre of the scene. Some (much) less distance galaxies, as small blotches of light, are also visible.
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