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Our Island Universe

@ourislanduniverse.space
90 followers 92 following 3.4K posts

🌌 #𝑶𝒖𝒓𝑰𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆 explores all things space — how what happens 𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 shapes life 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. #Astronomy connects us across #cultures and #time; by sharing stories of our #cosmic past and present, I hope to inspire a brighter future. #SpaceWatch 🌟🔭🛰️🚀🪐

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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 28/09/2026
Are we alone? On Oct 7 at 7p PT, exoplanet scientist Dr. Jessie Christiansen explores the search for “Earth 2.0” — what we’ve learned from Kepler & TESS, & how future missions may finally find another habitable world. The Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series is hosted at Foothill College. FREE!
Are we alone?

On Oct. 7 at 7 PM PT, exoplanet scientist Dr. Jessie Christiansen explores the search for “Earth 2.0”—what we’ve learned from Kepler & TESS, and how future missions may finally find another habitable world.

Free at Foothill College, Los Altos.
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 08/08/2026
We are made of star stuff and our species has always been compelled to explore — over that hill, past that body of water, & up there. I was privileged to help tell that story as science consultant & on-camera expert for #CosmicVistas. I hope you’ll join us on the journey. Premieres on #BBC #Earth.🧪🔭
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 17/06/2026
Four worlds and one Moon in a single twilight sky. Venus, Jupiter, a delicate waxing crescent Moon, and elusive Mercury gathered above Pasadena this evening. Even during a week spent talking about the cosmos at #AAS248, the 248th Meeting of the @aas.org, it’s worth pausing to look up. 🌙🪐🔭🧪
Four worlds and one Moon in a single twilight sky. Venus, Jupiter, a delicate waxing crescent Moon, and elusive Mercury gathered above Pasadena this evening. Even during a week spent talking about the universe at #AAS248, it’s worth pausing to look up. 🌙🪐
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 08/04/2026
We have always looked up & found not just #stars but ourselves. Today the sky is no longer untouched: crowded above by satellites, constrained below by shifting priorities. #Astronomy is not a luxury. It’s how a species learns its place in the #cosmos. To protect it is to protect curiosity itself.🧪🔭
We have always looked up and found not just stars, but ourselves. Yet today, the sky is no longer untouched — crowded above by satellites, constrained below by shifting priorities. Astronomy is not a luxury; it is how a species learns its place in the universe. To protect our skies is to protect curiosity itself.
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 27/11/2025
#CarlSagan joked that to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the #universe. The truth is even more beautiful: the apples, the sugar, and the atoms in our own bodies were forged in ancient #stars. Read @shanilv.ca's #Thanksgiving reflection! 🔗 open.substack.com/pub/ourislan...
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 13/09/2025
From #Viking’s life experiments to #Perseverance’s biosignatures, Mars has whispered the same question for decades: are we alone? Why is this time different? Humanity may be on the brink of a cosmic revolution. Read more in my #Substack post. 🔭🧪 👉 bit.ly/Mars-OIU #Mars #LifeonMars #Astroniology
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 02/09/2025
This isn’t spell check. It isn’t Clippy. It isn’t Grammarly. It’s a revolution. Dario Amodei (CEO, @anthropic.com) warns #AI could erase half of all entry-level white-collar jobs in 5 yrs. Our students will face that world — prepared or not. Read my essay on #medium: medium.com/@shanil.vira...
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 20/07/2025
We don’t know when we left the savannah but we did. We don’t know when we first crossed the oceans blue but we did. To our successors, July 20 will represent a major milestone: we set foot on another world for the first time. 56 years later, is #science about to go dark? READ MORE: 🔗 tiny.cc/MoonDay
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 04/07/2025
🌎✨ Today is #AphelionDay! Did you know that today Earth is at its farthest point from the Sun in its yearly orbit? Even though it’s summer in the northern hemisphere?! 6 months later, we’ll be moving the fastest… when it’s winter! 🤯 #Seasons aren’t about distance, but #Earth’s #tilt. Learn more! 🔭🧪
Did you feel it?! Today, Earth is at its slowest speed of the entire year! Six months ago, we were zooming the fastest. Have you figured out why? 🤔

🗓️ July 3, 2025 is Aphelion Day!
Today, Earth reaches aphelion—the farthest point from the Sun in our orbit. At 3:54 PM EDT (19:54 UTC), Earth and Sun were 152,088,848 km (94,502,939 miles) apart.

In contrast, on January 3, 2026, Earth will reach perihelion—the closest point to the Sun—at 12:15 PM EST, just 147,098,070 km (91,403,637 miles) apart. That’s over 3 million miles closer than today!

🌞 Wait… it’s summer now in the northern hemisphere, but we’re farthest from the Sun?! And we’re closest in winter?!
Still think seasons are about distance? 🤯

The real reason for the seasons is Earth’s axial tilt, not our distance from the Sun.

🌀 Plus, Earth’s speed changes with distance:
	•	Slowest at aphelion
	•	Fastest at perihelion
This difference also makes the lengths of the seasons unequal!

🎉 Happy #AphelionDay!
What surprised you most about Earth’s journey around the Sun? 🌍✨
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 27/06/2025
Celebrate the end of #Pride month with @astrosociety.org as they host a free online screening of #SALLY, the new #NatGeo doc about Sally Ride — America’s first woman in space — & the love she kept hidden.🌈🚀🧪🔭 🗓️ Mon, June 30, 8:15pm ET 🎟️ Register now: tiny.cc/SallyRide #LGBTQ #Astronaut #Documentary
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 23/06/2025
Witness history! #Today at 11am ET, the #Rubin #Observatory reveals its first #science images. This #telescope will scan the sky every 3 nights, capturing the dynamic #universe in motion. Don’t miss it! 🚨 TODAY at 11 am EDT 🚨 RubinObservatory.org #TimeDomainAstronomy #RubinObservatory #ScienceNews
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 20/06/2025
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗧ODAY 𝗮𝘁 𝟭𝟬:𝟰𝟮𝗽𝗺 𝗘𝗧 — the Sun’s northernmost standstill and the longest day of the year. Ancient cultures built monuments to mark it & coined the word solstice to mean “Sun stopped.” We’re still watching. Still wondering.🧪🔭 #solstice #astronomy #OurIslandUniverse
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 19/06/2025
#Mars and #Regulus — the red god of war & the blue star of kings — brushed past each other during Tuesday night's twilight hush, less than a degree apart. A fleeting alignment, ancient as myth. I hope you looked up… before our lights drowned theirs.🔭 #Stargazing #Waynesboro #SunsetPark #Conjunction
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 17/06/2025
🔥TONIGHT: Mars and Regulus — warrior and king — meet less than 1° apart in the western sky after sunset. Their red and blue colors pop to the naked eye and dazzle in binoculars. Myth and science converge as the god of war meets the lion’s heart. Look west 40–90 min after sunset. #Skywatching #LEO 🔭🧪
Image of reddish mars and bluish-white regulus close to one another!A finders-map produced using Stellarium that shows how to find Mars and Regulus in the western sky about an hour after sunset on June 17, 2025!
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 20/04/2025
On Easter in 1582, you’d be 10 days off—literally. To fix calendar drift, Pope Gregory XIII skipped 10 days that October. We went from Oct 4 to Oct 15 in one day! Without it, Easter would slowly drift into summer! Time travel, Vatican-style. #EasterSunday LISTEN: on.soundcloud.com/76E3zUnuR8Cw...
On Easter in 1582, you’d be 10 days off—literally. To fix calendar drift, Pope Gregory XIII skipped 10 days that October. Oct 4 was followed by Oct 15. Without it, Easter would slowly drift into summer! Time travel, Vatican-style. #EasterSunday 

https://on.soundcloud.com/76E3zUnuR8Cw1kGM8
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 29/03/2025
Discover the fascinating world of planetary defense in this short clip: #PlanetaryDefense: Earth's Shield Against #Asteroids. Learn about innovative strategies, including kinetic impactors and nuclear deflection techniques, designed to alter the trajectory of these cosmic intruders. 🔭 #SpaceSafety
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 20/03/2025
#Spring arrives for the northern hemisphere tomorrow at 5:01a EDT (2:01a PDT) & with it the return of warmth, the return of longer days, and shorter nights! Our ancestors coined a new word for days like tomorrow: #equinox. What were they trying to tell us?! 🔭🧪 MORE: www.facebook.com/share/v/1691...
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 14/03/2025
#OTD Albert Einstein was born! He developed the theory of relativity, 1 of the 2 pillars of modern #physics along with quantum mechanics. 25 years into the 21st century, that is still where we are. The #holygrail of physics is a theory unifying the 2 that can be experimentally corroborated! 🧪#piday
#OTD Albert Einstein was born! He developed the theory of relativity, 1 of the 2 pillars of modern #physics along with quantum mechanics. 25 years into the 21st century that is still where we are. The #holygrail of physics is a theory unifying the two that can be experimentally corroborated! 🧪#piday
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 12/03/2025
🚨OBSERVING ALERT🚨 Who’s excited for the #PiDayLunarEclipse that’ll take place early Thursday morning? One of nature’s best celestial shows will begin starting at 2:26 EDT & maximum eclipse will occur about ~30min later; visible for all of North America! 🔭 Details: www.facebook.com/share/1B7giH...
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 27/12/2024
#OTD a giant of science was born. Happy Birthday #Kepler! “If I had believed that we could ignore these eight minutes [of arc], I would have patched up my hypothesis accordingly. But since it was not permissible to ignore, those 8 minutes pointed the road to a complete reformation in astronomy.”
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 16/04/2024
Upwards of 100 million people may have seen last week’s total solar eclipse that crossed over parts of Mexico/USA/Canada making it likely that last Monday’s eclipse was the most observed in human history. How did our ancestors interpret a solar...
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 20/03/2024
#NASA’s 2025FY budget plan was released & major reductions in funding for #Chandra were announced. @chandraxray is oversubscribed, highly efficient, & there is nothing planned to replace its imaging capabilities for at least the next decade. #SaveChandra bit.ly/49XfGvN
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 19/03/2024
Earth will cross the celestial equator today at 11:06pm EDT. What does that mean? It means that the path of the ecliptic will now rise higher north along the meridian until we approach the summer solstice. The seasons were tracked my virtually every ancient culture. Link in bio!
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 04/03/2024
We’re 5 weeks away from 1 of the greatest of cosmic phenomena: a Total Solar Eclipse! April 8th’s eclipse will be the most watched solar eclipse in Canadian history. Do you know where you need to be witness it?Do you know what to look for during...
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 01/10/2023
is today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day! ift.tt/jr9PuLO #apod #SpaceIsAwesome
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 30/09/2023
A Harvest Moon over Tuscany is today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day! ift.tt/hMbZQBe #apod #SpaceIsAwesome
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 29/09/2023
Back from Bennu is today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day! ift.tt/XlxZC7B #apod #SpaceIsAwesome
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 29/09/2023
OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule Lands in the Utah Desert via #NASA ift.tt/3c4KrVs #ImageOfTheDay
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 29/09/2023
OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule Lands in the Utah Desert via #NASA ift.tt/3c4KrVs #fb
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 28/09/2023
The Deep Lagoon is today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day! ift.tt/thRvf9y #apod #SpaceIsAwesome
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 27/09/2023
is today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day! ift.tt/K87hgoX #apod #SpaceIsAwesome
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 26/09/2023
A Leisurely Swim via #NASA ift.tt/0ZzHRNK #fb
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 26/09/2023
A Leisurely Swim via #NASA ift.tt/0ZzHRNK #ImageOfTheDay
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 26/09/2023
is today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day! ift.tt/eYO5Xwi #apod #SpaceIsAwesome
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 25/09/2023
OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule Lands in the Utah Desert via #NASA ift.tt/79VdA81 #fb
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 25/09/2023
OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule Lands in the Utah Desert via #NASA ift.tt/79VdA81 #ImageOfTheDay
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 25/09/2023
is today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day! ift.tt/uDr4O7g #apod #SpaceIsAwesome
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 24/09/2023
is today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day! ift.tt/1GrQIfu #apod #SpaceIsAwesome
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 23/09/2023
Afternoon Analemma is today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day! ift.tt/QC1sjkS #apod #SpaceIsAwesome
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 22/09/2023
Seeing New Zealand From a New Perspective via #NASA ift.tt/bGt2jyB #ImageOfTheDay
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 22/09/2023
Seeing New Zealand From a New Perspective via #NASA ift.tt/bGt2jyB #fb
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 21/09/2023
Artemis II Astronauts Complete Day of Launch Dry Run for Moon Mission via #NASA ift.tt/cDMr75F #fb
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 21/09/2023
Artemis II Astronauts Complete Day of Launch Dry Run for Moon Mission via #NASA ift.tt/cDMr75F #ImageOfTheDay
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 21/09/2023
Tagging Bennu is today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day! ift.tt/fJFwX7b #apod #SpaceIsAwesome
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 20/09/2023
Strategic Communications Manager Isidro Reyna via #NASA ift.tt/xviELTM #ImageOfTheDay
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 20/09/2023
Strategic Communications Manager Isidro Reyna via #NASA ift.tt/xviELTM #fb
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 20/09/2023
is today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day! ift.tt/HfSi2T0 #apod #SpaceIsAwesome
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 19/09/2023
NASA Moon Camera Mosaic Sheds Light on Lunar South Pole via #NASA ift.tt/CRf6lId #ImageOfTheDay
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 19/09/2023
NASA Moon Camera Mosaic Sheds Light on Lunar South Pole via #NASA ift.tt/CRf6lId #fb
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Our Island Universe @ourislanduniverse.space · 19/09/2023
is today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day! ift.tt/Yk5EzqN #apod #SpaceIsAwesome
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