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Trestan

@flare.observer
438 followers 380 following 86 posts

He/him staring at the sun academically... flare.observer

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Trestan @flare.observer · 10/09/2026
The reaction-diffusion style patterns that form in the background are interesting. A similar pattern forms when you repeatedly blur and sharpen an image.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 07/09/2026
I recently switched to Arch Linux after 7 years of using Gentoo (all of high school and 3/4 of college!) because I still need Qt 5 for a little while longer. It's not so bad!
A screen capture of an Arch Linux desktop. There is a taskbar at the top of the screen and a terminal (kitty) at the center. The terminal displays some system information using fastfetch. The taskbar and terminal are both blue, and the wallpaper is a photo of the Earth taken from the ISS, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ISS-40_Blue_and_white_part_of_Earth.jpg
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Trestan @flare.observer · 11/08/2026
Inverted and grayscale versions
Same as original image but with inverted colorsSame as original image but in grayscale
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Trestan @flare.observer · 11/08/2026
Large solar prominence from 2024-03-24 ☀️🔭
Red false-color image of a large solar prominence captured with an amateur Hα telescope. The solar disk, which was overexposed, has been masked.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 29/07/2026
My first first-author paper, "SADCat: A Catalog of Supra-Arcade Downflow Events in Solar Flares", is now published in Solar Physics! Dr. Ryan French (@ryanjfrench.bsky.social) and I present a catalog of 178 solar flares with visible SADs as a resource for the broader solar flare community. ☀️ 1/4
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Trestan @flare.observer · 23/07/2026
Growth and evolution of NOAA solar active region 14493 in the corona (left; extreme ultraviolet, SDO/AIA 211 Å) and its associated sunspots in the photosphere (right; visible light, SDO/HMI continuum) between 2026 July 18 and 22. ☀️🔭
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Trestan @flare.observer · 22/07/2026
Sunspots, filaments, and plage flanking the eastern arc of the solar equator captured yesterday (2026-07-20) in Hα and oriented so that the equator splits the image vertically down the middle. ☀️🔭
A false-color red Hα image of the Sun's eastern equatorial region rotated 90° clockwise (i.e., south is left and north is right). Prominent bright plage are visible to the south of the equator with dark filaments weaving between individual bright patches. A single active region is visible north of the equator with two large sunspots. To the west of the active region is a large jagged-looking filament.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 18/07/2026
More from this morning
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Trestan @flare.observer · 18/07/2026
Wildfire smoke and clouds passing in front of the Sun this morning
A photo of the sky. The Sun appears at the center of the image as a bright featureless disk. Wildfire smoke and clouds are spread across the sky giving the solar disk an orange tinge. The image is framed by the silhouettes of leaves and branches.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 16/07/2026
Light wildfire smoke over New Jersey this afternoon
Clouds and the afternoon sun viewed through light wildfire smokePetting a black cat lying on its back. Its green eyes are looking up at the sky.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 09/06/2026
The Sun today in the seven SDO/AIA extreme ultraviolet bands from hottest (flaring plasma at ~10 billion K) to coolest (chromosphere plasma at ~10,000 K) plus SDO/HMI continuum. ☀️🔭
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Trestan @flare.observer · 23/04/2026
The decaying solar active region that formed within a coronal hole from last week sans JP2 compression artifacts ☀️
Pink false-color image of a solar active region as it appeared in the SDO/AIA 211 Å filter on 2026-04-14.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 18/04/2026
This region is likely the decaying remains of AR 14400 which we saw emerge within a coronal hole about one solar rotation ago (~27 days). ARs that form in this way typically have loops that fan out in all directions from the region's center like the tentacles of a sea anemone, hence the term.
False-color full-disk image of the Sun as it appeared on 2026-03-21. AR 14400 appears at the center of the solar disk as a small bright patch surrounded on one side by a dark coronal hole. The image was taken by SDO/AIA in 211 Å.False-color full-disk image of the Sun as it appeared on 2026-04-17, a full solar rotation after the previous image. AR 14400 again appears at the center of the solar disk but this time as a more diffuse bright patch surrounded on all sides by a dark coronal hole. The image was taken by SDO/AIA in 211 Å.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 18/04/2026
Fittingly, the patch of bright loops in the lobster coronal hole's clutch is a decaying anemone region. ☀️
False-color image of the anemone active region. The region appears as a patch of bright coronal loops almost completely surrounded by a dark coronal hole. The image was taken by SDO/AIA in 211 Å on 2026-04-14T20:01 UT.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 09/02/2026
Very clear solar physics bubble next to "Professional Astronomers & Astrophysicists" #heliophysics
Bluesky Map around the region labeled "Professional Astronomers & Astrophysicists". Solar physics-focused accounts seem to be clustered in the bottom right corner.Same as previous image but with three solar accounts highlighted.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 05/02/2026
The "I am going to drink ocean water" guy is still active and uploads both.
via MollyHaleIsMyFriend
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Trestan @flare.observer · 02/01/2026
Here is how I have been contributing to Wikipedia in 2025. Happy New Year! #wikipediaYIR
Here is how I have been contributing to Wikipedia in 2025! Edits: 585, Discussions: 74, Thanks: 7, Thanked: 3 #wikipediaYIR
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Trestan @flare.observer · 08/10/2025
They existed. This image is from 2012 at the latest
SOFTWARE TERMINOLOGY
Then: application, program, operating system, script, shell, batch file, compiler, daemon, service, game, patch, software.
Now: app, app, app, app, app, app, app, app, app, app, app, app.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 29/07/2025
Testing this with SDO/AIA imagery of a series of eruptions from 2023 ☀️
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Trestan @flare.observer · 18/07/2025
Sunflower head soon to openSunflower head and a bee
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Trestan @flare.observer · 18/07/2025
Not the usual Sun I study
Seven sunflower heads, three of which have bloomed, and one blurred bee
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Trestan @flare.observer · 21/05/2025
Small steam devils forming from the fog above a pool (water temp was 76°F and outside air temp was 56°F)
A grayscale image of a pool surface covered in fog and illuminated by a flashlight. A single steam devil is visible in the center of the image and appears as an elongated tube.... Three steam devils are visible in the center of the image.... Two steam devils are visible in the center.... One steam devil interacts with another, taller steam devil.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 05/04/2025
I just realized that the CU Boulder guest Wi-Fi default gateway is blocking all of my NTP packets... so I am right next to NIST physically but am not allowed to synchronize with their public time servers? 128.138.140.44 is utcnist.colorado.edu
Wireshark packet analysis showing NTP requests from me (10.218.195.150) to utcnist.colorado.edu (128.138.140.44) and responses from the default gateway (10.218.194.1) indicating that "Destination unreachable (Communication administratively filtered)".
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Trestan @flare.observer · 25/03/2025
Hα flare ribbons observed between the two peaks of a double-peak soft-X-ray flare of GOES class X1.0 and M7.3 on 2024 June 1. ☀️ #astrophotography
Image of active region 13679 in the south-west quadrant of the solar disk taken using a hobby telescope with a hydrogen-alpha filter. The image, which was originally in grayscale, has been colored red.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 02/03/2025
New Moon illuminated by earthshine visible in non-operational GOES-19/CCOR-1 data from 27 February 2025 via @noaa.gov ☀️🔭
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Trestan @flare.observer · 02/02/2025
Once again defeated by compression. Here is a nicer looking screenshot mid-eruption.
Still image of an eruption over the Sun's northwestern limb observed by SDO/AIA in 171 Å on 2022-11-18 at 09:19:33.343 UT.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 02/02/2025
Here is an eruption over the Sun's northwestern limb observed in SDO/AIA's 171 Å passband a couple of years ago. Found this when I was cleaning an SSD, so I thought I'd share. (Footage courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA science team.) ☀️🔭
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Trestan @flare.observer · 17/01/2025
This diagram I made and uploaded to Wikimedia Commons when I was 16 ended up being used in a peer-reviewed popular-science book. I dislike how the diagram turned out in hindsight, but I am flattered that someone decided it was usable for publication.
A diagram of the Sun's magnetic field illustrating the omega effect. The original SVG file, licensed under CC-BY-4.0, can be found here:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sun%27s_magnetic_field_after_omega_effect.svg
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Trestan @flare.observer · 26/12/2024
Here is how I have been contributing to Wikipedia in 2024. This year I also worked on two research projects at LASP, completed my 2nd and 3rd semesters of college, and started a UROP-funded assistantship. It was a productive year for me personally. #wikipediaYIR
Wikipedia year in review for user CoronalMassAffection. They made 514 edits, 75 talk page edits, gave 19 thanks, received 13 thanks, longest streak was 16 days, and made 26 template edits. Generated using https://wikipediayir.netlify.app/
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Trestan @flare.observer · 25/12/2024
Happy holidays ☀️ (Data were acquired by GONG instruments operated by NISP/NSO/AURA/NSF with contribution from NOAA; see alt text)
A silhouette of Santa's sleigh superimposed on a hydrogen-alpha image of the solar chromosphere as observed by NSO/GONG at Learmonth Solar Observatory on 2024-12-25 02:21:42 UT.

This work utilizes GONG data obtained by the NSO Integrated Synoptic Program, managed by the National Solar Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation and with contribution from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The GONG network of instruments is hosted by the Big Bear Solar Observatory, High Altitude Observatory, Learmonth Solar Observatory, Udaipur Solar Observatory, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, and Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory.

Silhouette image via https://freepngimg.com/png/49190-santa-sleigh-free-hd-image
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Trestan @flare.observer · 12/12/2024
My version of the three kitten brothers meme ☀️
Three kittens. The first says "I'm solar energetic particle", the second says "I'm flare", and the third says "I'm coronal mass ejection". A caption below them reads "the solar storm brothers".
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Trestan @flare.observer · 05/12/2024
Most recent edit summary on En Wikipedia's article for SOHO: "this is not dragonball". lol ☀️
Screenshot of an English Wikipedia article "diff" page for the "Solar and Heliospheric Observatory" article showing the changes between two recent edits. An editor replaces "over 5,000 comets" with "more than 5,000 comets" and leaves an edit summary reading "this is not dragonball".
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Trestan @flare.observer · 27/11/2024
I was downloading AIA data from JSOC at the exact moment it went down and had no idea this was the cause. I hope everyone is alright.
My Python interpreter when I lost connection to JSOC.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 27/11/2024
Here is the full text. It can also be found on page 88 of this 1972 NOAA technical memorandum: repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/18...
Full text too long to add to alt text. See the original document.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 27/11/2024
Sensationalist space weather article published during the August 1972 solar storms. It is not unlike the space weather clickbait of today...
Scan of a newspaper article reading: "St. Paul Dispatch. St. Pail, Minn. Aug 5 1972. Do Solar Flares Cause Flare Ups In Suicide Cases?"
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Trestan @flare.observer · 24/11/2024
Another video of a solar prominence eruption that I had posted about before video was supported on Bluesky ☀️🔭
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Trestan @flare.observer · 13/11/2024
I originally shared this filament eruption before video was supported on Bluesky, so here's the video. 🔭
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Trestan @flare.observer · 28/07/2024
There are seven different numbered NOAA solar active regions pictured here. H-alpha image taken on 27-07-2024 at 17:46 UTC.
Gray-scale image of the Sun captured in the hydrogen-alpha spectral line. There are seven different active regions present along with plage and filaments.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 10/02/2024
Solar filament eruption from February 6 originating in active region 13575. This region has since rotated behind the limb where it was responsible for yesterday's X3.3-class solar flare. (Footage courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA science team.) 🔭
Solar filament eruption observed by SDO/AIA in the 171 Å passband
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Trestan @flare.observer · 27/11/2023
Seconds before disaster #astrophotography
Cat about to jump onto the keyboard of a laptop running FireCapture and capturing the Sun in H-alpha
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Trestan @flare.observer · 23/11/2023
Solar filament dangling off of the Sun's southeastern limb captured 2023-11-20 in H-alpha. Active region 3489 is to the west, and the edge of active regions 3493 and 3494 are to the north. This prominence/filament has since erupted. 🔭
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Trestan @flare.observer · 16/11/2023
Coronal mass ejection (CME) from earlier today with a classic light bulb silhouette visible in both GOES/SUVI 304 Å and in SOHO/LASCO C1 and C2 🔭
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Trestan @flare.observer · 09/10/2023
Observing the Sun in H-alpha with my cat 🔭
A cat facing toward a laptop that is displaying a live view of the Sun from a solar telescope.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 03/10/2023
Solar prominence eruption today associated with an M1.9-class flare. (Footage courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA science team.) 🔭
The Sun's eastern limb observed by SDO/AIA in 171 Å on 2023-10-02 at 12:30 UT.The Sun's eastern limb observed by SDO/AIA in 171 Å on 2023-10-02 at 12:48 UT.The Sun's eastern limb observed by SDO/AIA in 171 Å on 2023-10-02 at 13:00 UT.The Sun's eastern limb observed by SDO/AIA in 171 Å on 2023-10-02 at 13:23 UT.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 18/08/2023
Solar filament eruption and weak, C5.2 flare from yesterday in AR 13397. This event also appears to be associated with a CME. (Footage courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA science team.) 🔭
Solar filament eruption and weak flare captured by SDO/AIA in 304 Å at 2023 August 17 12:27 UT.Solar filament eruption and weak flare captured by SDO/AIA in 171 Å at 2023 August 17 12:27 UT.
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Trestan @flare.observer · 10/08/2023
cf distrails atoptics.co.uk/fz1151.htm
Distrail over Hong Kong by Earth100 on Wikimedia Commons https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:10sec_old_Distrail_in_Hong_Kong.jpg
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Trestan @flare.observer · 28/07/2023
A stunning solar prominence eruption off of the Sun's northwest limb from earlier today. It appears to be associated with a CME. Here are four selected frames of the eruption from SDO/AIA, each about three minutes apart. (Footage courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA science team.)
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