iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

IC 4603 - The Turbulent Heart of the Scorpion - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - flic.kr/p/2psu2GR

Decided it was time to do an improved version of my APOD from 2014 (apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140723.html):

This image is a 2x1 mosaic of the core region of the Rho Ophiuchi Complex, centered around the prominent blue reflection nebula IC 4603. This is one of the nearest star forming regions and the intricacies of the dense interstellar dust clouds in the area provide a spectacular display of light and shade; the contrasting hues making this one of the most dramatic and colourful patches of the entire night sky. The area exhibits a range of colours due to different processes happening in its various regions. Reflection nebulae, for example, scatter the light of nearby stars, mostly producing a blue glow. Emission nebulae, on the other hand, emit their own light, often in shades of red.
Even the brightest parts of this dusty nebulousity is barely noticeable when viewed through large amateur telescopes. This deep exposure brings out the full splendour of the scene and shows the delicately swirling clouds like an expressionist painting on a giant interstellar canvas.
The bright star near the centre is 7.9 magnitude SAO184376 which is the main source of light for the blue reflection nebula. The contrasting red and yellow areas are primarily illuminated by the red supergiant star Antares, which lies just outside the field of view.
Antares has been referred to as the heart of the scorpion since antiquity, and we now know that it is one of the largest stars in existence.
The dense ne...

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Hazy/Dusk🌻🍉 @duskvortex.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

hey EU friends, there's a European Citizen's Initiative from stop killing the internet to demand no digital ID and age verification to use the internet. please sign this if you can and spread the word! this needs to go viral! citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/...

citizens-initiative.europa.eu

Initiative detail | European Citizens' Initiative

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The Onion @theonion.com · 04/09/2026

Historians Politely Remind Nation To Check What's Happened In Past Before Making Any Big Decisions theonion.com/historians-politely-re…

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Astro Pro-Am: Professional and Amateur Astronomers Join Forces - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - flic.kr/p/nhBUCh

Collaboration with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
This image is the result of a collaboration between NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory Center and amateur astrophotographer Rolf Wahl Olsen.
It is part of a series of professional-amateur collaboration images and was combined by Science Imager Joseph DePasquale from Chandra X-ray Observatory Center, using both X-ray, optical and infrared data.
The image is composed of the following data:

My deep 120 hour optical image Centaurus A Extreme Deep Field taken over 43 nights in 2013.
230 hours of Chandra X-ray data gathered over the past 15 years.
Infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

The combined exposure time is in excess of an astonishing 350 hours, or two weeks; more than the Hubble Ultra Deep Field.

Below are links to the official press releases including the other spectacular images in the series (M101, M81 and M51) with optical data by German astrophotographer Detlef Hartmann:

Chandra Press Release
Spitzer Press Release
Individual images for download

For full details on the Centaurus A Extreme Deep Field project please visit my Centaurus A gallery

If you are an amateur astrophotographer, or even just an 'armchair astronomer', and would like to get involved with astronomical research then the International Astronomical Union has an excellent page with information on how to get involved in citizen science projects or Pro-Am collaborations.
(Centaurus A Pro-Am image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Op...

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The Tarantula Nebula and Super Star Cluster R136 - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - flic.kr/p/dpE3zM

The Tarantula Nebula, named for its appearance that somewhat resembles a giant spider in the sky, is the largest known emission nebula in the Local Group of galaxies. It is about 1000 light years wide and would appear incredibly bright if it were located in the place of the Orion Nebula. It is however located 160,000 light years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the largest of the dwarf galaxies that accompany our Milky Way.

In the very centre of the nebula lies R136, a super star cluster which is a very large region of star formation thought to be the precursor of a globular cluster. It is a very young cluster at only 1-2 million years and consists of giant and supergiant stars of which the majority are spectral type O3. The cluster also contains several Wolf-Rayet stars.

Speculation long sorrounded the nature of the central component of the cluster, named separately as R136a, and it was once thought to be a single hypergiant star of an incredible 1500 solar masses. R136a's true nature was recently resolved by holographic speckle interferometry and found to be a dense star cluster containing very massive and luminous stars. Three extremely luminous stars (R136a1, R136a2 and R136a3) dominate this cluster and are separated by only 0.10 and 0.48 arc seconds. R136a1 is the most massive star found to date with 265 solar masses, as well as being the most luminous at 10 million times the brightness of the Sun.

The entire R136 super cluster produces most of the energy that m...

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Saturn "Storm Watch" - From Val Klavans (valklavans.bsky.social) - flic.kr/p/nvBf5d

This is an approximate true color view of Saturn. Saturn's north polar hexagon stands out prominently while the planet casts a shadow upon its rings.

This composite is made of images that were taken by Cassini's camera system, the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) on May 04, 2014 and received on Earth May 05, 2014. The camera was pointing toward SATURN at approximately 1,837,403 miles (2,957,013 kilometers) away, and the images were taken using the CB2, BL1, MT3, MT2, CL1 and CL2 filters.

Credit: NASA / JPL / SSI / Val Klavans
about.me/valerieklavans

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Yuumei Art @yuumeiart.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

The only thing better than picking wild blueberries in Sweden are the wild strawberries! 🍓 Fun fact, the word for "favorite place" in Swedish is smultronställe which translates to wild strawberry place! 1/3

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arnaerr 🦭⭑｡ @arnaerr.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Please share your feedback on how genAI destroys the livelihoods of artists on the official EU website. You can do so even if you're not an EU citizen. We have to be loud so the change will come, and practice shoes that voicing hatred towards genAI works ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Ultraviolet Saturn (NASA, Hubble, 2003) - From NASA Marshall Space Flight Center - flic.kr/p/8LuCdh

This is an archive image from 2003, part of our "Think Pink" gallery, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month: www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157625045060125/
__________________________________________________________

One of a series, this ultraviolet image of Saturn was taken when the planet's rings were at their maximum tilt of 27 degrees toward Earth. Saturn experiences seasonal tilts away from and toward the sun, much the same way Earth does. This happens over the course of its 29.5-year orbit. Every 30 years, Earth observers can catch their best glimpse of Saturn's South Pole and the southern side of the planet's rings.

Between March and April 2003, researchers took full advantage to study the gas giant at maximum tilt, using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to capture detailed images of Saturn's Southern Hemisphere and the southern face of its rings.

Image credit: NASA and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)

View original image:
www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1074.html

More about NASA's Hubble Space Telescope:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html

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The Onion @theonion.com · 17/08/2026

Crying Newborn Has No Idea How Much Worse It Gets theonion.com/crying-newborn-has-no-…

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Total Lunar Eclipse - 26 May 2021 - From Ángel López-Sánchez - flic.kr/p/2m1PLyZ

This image combines 50 x 1" exposures, ISO 800, obtained with my CANON 5D Mark III attached at primary focus of my Skywatcher Black Diamond 80mm f600mm (F/7.5) during the Total Lunar Eclipse on Wednesday 26 May 2021, between 9:00pm and 9:04pm, Sydney local time.

The frames were manually aligned with Photoshop, then extracted as new frames to Lynkeos, that did the fine alignment. Drizzling x2 was also used. Then the combined image was taken to Photoshop, where the colour, highlights/shadows, and contrast were tuned. This got only the image of the eclipsed moon.

Additionally, I combined the full 266 x 1" images I took during totality using Siril to get the stellar background.

They two combined frames (eclipsed moon + stars) were combined with Photoshop with a bit of extra tuning to get a nice background.

The image taken at 9:03pm was used as reference for the alignment.

All the data were taken during the 4 hours ONLINE event "Conversaciones astronómicas bajo la luna eclipsada" that I organised with the "Red Andaluza de Astronomía" (RAdA), "Agrupación Astronómica de Córdoba" (AAC), "Asociación de Lengua y Cultura Española" (ALCE) de Australia and the "Spanish Researchers in Australia-Pacific" (SRAP-IEAP), that was followed by many schools in Spain.

I also want to thank Alicia Lozano (RAdA), Héctor Socas-Navarro (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias), María Ribes (Universidad de Alicante) and Alberto Aparici (In...

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Saturn 2019 June 20 - From Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.bsky.social) - flic.kr/p/2ghYqmQ

This image represents Saturn as it appeared on 2019 June 20th at 17:19:51 UTC. Five of its moons are visible: Enceladus, Epimetheus, Mimas, Tethys, and Janus.

This image has been scaled by 200% of its original size.

These data were collected as part of the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) project, and are freely and instantly available to the public as soon as they are added to the archive. Maps produced for this project are added to its website:
archive.stsci.edu/prepds/opal/

Red: WFC3/UVIS F763M (with some WFC3/UVIS F631N as a filler for missing areas)
Green: WFC3/UVIS F502N
Blue: WFC3/UVIS F395N

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

A Peek Into Jupiter’s Inner Life - From NASA Marshall Space Flight Center - flic.kr/p/2nLdWAu

Auroras and hazes glow in this composite image of Jupiter taken by the James Webb Space Telescope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). NIRCam has three specialized infrared filters that showcase details of the planet.

Since infrared light is invisible to the human eye, the light has been mapped onto the visible spectrum: the auroras are mapped to redder colors, hazes to yellows and greens, and light reflected from a deeper main cloud to blues.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Judy Schmidt.

#NASA #STScI #jwst #jameswebbspacetelescope #NASAGoddard #NASAMarshall #planet #Jupiter

Read more

More about the James Webb Space Telescope

NASA Media Usage Guidelines

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The Onion @theonion.com · 21/07/2026

Report: That’s Enough Soccer For Now theonion.com/report-thats-enough-so…

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Cathedral - From Bill (ridingrobots.bsky.social) - flic.kr/p/2ovQzeX

Have you ever taken a long hike, long enough to question the sweat and the ache in your side? Then you get to the summit, or the cliff's edge, or the waterfall, and then you have to admit ok, yes, I see.

After so many alarms at 2:30 in the morning, so many narrowly missed deer, so many gas station breakfasts – sometimes I get to say, yes. Yes, I see.

Last Friday, an eruption on the surface of the Sun blasted a wave of particles into space. On Sunday they arrived at Earth, where the planet's looping magnetic field caught them and guided them toward the poles. When they hit the air, they made it up light up like a neon sign does, and for similar reasons.

This isn't unusual, and auroras are a common sight in Alaska or Iceland. But this particular storm was so powerful that actual bits of the Sun rained down all over the continent. As far south as Arizona, the sky appeared to ignite and shimmer.

Every once in a while, you can catch auroras in Utah from places with the darkest, clearest skies. To the eye, they generally look like a diffuse gray glow, their colors only evident to a camera sensor.

This was different. It wasn't as bright as it appears here, but you could clearly see the color and texture and movement. It freaked the camera out entirely. I actually have toned the colors DOWN here.

It looked like a cathedral of stained glass in the sky. It reached from the horizon to the stars of the Big Dipper near the top of the sky's ceiling. It pulsed and danced. It looked...

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

NGC 6188 and NGC 6193 in Ara - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - flic.kr/p/cgYXQu

NGC 6188 is a large emission nebula located some 4000 light years distant in the Southern constellation Ara. This giant molecular cloud is being illuminated by the young star cluster NGC 6193 which in this image appears in the centre almost as if suspended in front of a blanket of nebulousity littered with thousands of other dimmer stars in a multitude of colours.

At the centre of this cluster lies an intensely bright pair of stars; the O-type giants HD 150135 and HD 150136. The latter is in fact itself an extremely close binary with a confirmed third component in an outer eccentric orbit of between 2950 and 5500 days. This triple star system is one of the most massive in our galaxy with the three components containing 64, 40 and 35 solar masses respectively. The cluster is very young, not older than 3 million years, and the intense radiation from the massive stars is slowly eroding the surrounding gas and dust away, sculpting it into the striking forms seen in this image. Within these clouds new stars are currently being born and in places some have already begun to light up the nebula from within.

Image details:
Date: 12th, 13th and 14th June 2012
Exposure: LRGB: 250:105:105:105m, total 9hrs 25mins @ -30C
Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Widefield Animation: First Amateur Detection of Light Echoes from 19th-Century Great Eruption of Eta Carinae - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - flic.kr/p/2pqijB2

The images in this gallery are the first amateur images of light echoes from the 19th-century Great Eruption of Eta Carinae. These light echoes have been detected by the Hubble Space Telescope and from large observatories such as the CTIO 4m telescope, but this is the first time that amateur images reveal these transient features. My other first amateur detection of light echoes from supernova SN1987a inspired me to try looking for the fainter echoes near Eta Carinae.

What are Light Echoes?
Light echoes occur when the initial flash from a bright source, like a supernova, is reflected back to us from a slightly different direction. Dust clouds in interstellar space reflect a portion of the outward-traveling light from the supernova, redirecting it towards Earth. These faint light echoes can be observed decades or centuries after the original flash. Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky, known for his contributions to supernovae, neutron stars, dark matter, and gravitational lenses, predicted the existence of light echoes as early as 1940. Together with Walter Baade, he coined the term 'supernova' in 1934 and proposed that faint echoes of historical supernovae could be visible long after the initial explosion.
The Great Eruption was a significant brightening of the star Eta Carinae that occurred in phases during the mid-19th century.
The light echoes are produced when the initial flash from the eruption is subsequently reflected off interstellar dust as light travels outward from ...

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Sadr region in Cygnus - From Ryan Kinnett (rkinnett.bsky.social) - flic.kr/p/2oRcHXL

A vast, chaotic web of dust and hot gas near the star Sadr in Cygnus. Imaged with APM 140mm doublet in Ha, Sii, and Oiii, with asi2600mm camera, from La Crescenta, CA.

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Deep View of the Tarantula Region in LMC - Narrowband Bicolour - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - flic.kr/p/2mkXRi3

This image is a mosaic of two deep fields centered near the bright Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The field is filled with numerous bright colourful nebulae and star clusters (an annotated version is available here). At the LMCs distance of approximately 160,000 light years, the field of view seen here spans a massive 2850 x 1950 light years!
At this large scale the nebulosity seem to feature many bubble shaped voids of different sizes. These are formed by the radiation pressure from young star forming regions and shockwaves from ancient supernovae. The small but comparatively recent supernova remnant of SN1987a is also visible here, as a tiny pink dot in the upper part of the image - if you know where to look.

Image Acquisition details:
Date: Jan-Feb 2021
Exposure: Ha OIII: 335:335 mins, total 14 hours 30 mins @ -25C
Telescope: Homebuilt 12.5" f/4 Serrurier Truss Newtonian
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon 3nm Ha/OIII and LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

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James Cook @jamesecook.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

"Not ALL the single ladies" - Nuancé

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The Onion @theonion.com · 30/06/2026

Report: That’s Enough Soccer For Now theonion.com/report-thats-enough-so…

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Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Happy Pride! Folks on the asexual and aromantic spectrum are queer too. The A in LGBTQIA+ belongs to us, not allies. Being queer isn't only about who you fuck.

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Don Xavior Cash, Dupin of the Great Domain @donxaviorcash.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Hey look! A reminder that Discord still plans on doing this! Raise the alarm bells again!

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Nashies! YouTube Cooking Show 😺 @nashiez.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

"So, if I use ChatGPT you think less of me?" Yep. Hope this helps.

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WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 04/06/2026

This is Baby. She is celebrating her first ever International Corgi Day today. Personally thinks she should be celebrated every day, but this is a good start. 14/10 (IG: cooperandbaby_corgi)

a tiny corgi puppy sits atop a wood table and tilts her head dramatically at the camera. she resembles a fluffy toasted marshmallow. her ears are a little rounded at the points, and her markings make it look like she’s wearing two perfectly matched white ankle socks. she’s surrounded by lush greenery in the background.

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WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 01/06/2026

This is Bodie. His presence indicates the beginning of Pride Month. May his whimsy and steadfastness bring joy and confidence to all. 14/10 the parade starts right behind him 🌈🐾 (IG: hellobodie)

a golden retriever puppy on a bright pink rope leash prances through some tall grass. he’s wearing a brightly patterned bandana around his neck and is carrying a miniature six-stripe pride flag in his mouth. his front right paw is raised mid-stride, like he’s ready to hop into a pride parade at any second.

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The Onion @theonion.com · 19/05/2026

Respect For Friend Drops After Reading Book They Recommended

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Shouty 🌘 @shouty.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Lesbian knights ⚔️

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Lia @iliadele.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

you just lost my respect my guy #antiai

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bites u @snuffbait.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

not now, kitten. the walls are closing in on mommy

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 03/04/2026

More context on this #Artemis II image: * This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right * The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon: ☀️🌍🚀🌕

A full disc image of Earth, as seen from the Orion Crew Module. The planet is a pale blue, swirling with white clouds and glowing slightly lighter blue in place from reflected light. At lower left, a large brown landmass is Africa, with Spain and Portugal with twinkling lights where the planet curves. At top right, auroras glow in a thin green glow, just barely separated from the planet's surface. Earth is set against the black of space (pic: NASA/R.Wiseman)

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

2006 internet: RSS feeds, forums, communities of hobby blogs, where people post about interior design, fashion, and music for free 2026 internet: sponsored content, paid partnership, buy my merch, try my supplements, invest in my crypto, click link in bio to unlock the secrets of life for $30

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