iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 14/10/2026

Speaking of Saturn photobombing pics of moons (see my earlier post today)... This video sequence, taken in 2007 by astronomer Jan Koet, shows the Moon moving in the sky—revealing giant Saturn, almost 1.5 billion km away. The video is at twice actual speed.

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Melpomene 🔓 @melpomany.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

"It looks delicious," she said, "but one question, what actually is 'homemade ghee'?" its butter i clarified

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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 09/10/2026

At the VEXAG 2026 meeting in Boulder just now, we've learned that NASA's VERITAS mission has been scheduled for a November 2032 launch. Folks, this is CRAZY good news. Earlier this year we were concerned that NASA would *cancel* VERITAS!

An artist's impression of the VERITAS spacecraft above a stylised view of Venus.

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Jenny Chase @solarchase.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Time for 2026 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread, now with storage. If you like these, you might like edition 2 of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website til end of Nov 2026. www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...

worldscientific.com

Solar Power Finance Without the Jargon

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

For what it’s worth, the assumption that soldiers are young men like in the old days is mostly false on both sides of Russia’s invasion. Per Mediazona, the median age of identified Russian fatalities is 38. There are few “kids” on either side. en.zona.media/article/2026...

en.zona.media

Russian losses in the war with Ukraine. Mediazona count, updated

276,000 deaths confirmed by October 9

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

en.zona.media

Russian losses in the war with Ukraine. Mediazona count, updated

276,000 deaths confirmed by October 9

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Lisounours @lise-l.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Ils étaient mi-cerf mi-escargot, et re mi-cerf derrière

Image de deux cerfs allongés devant des rouleaux de foin

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depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

four years ago I posted this image of paleontologist Jan Smit looking at rocks and his son-in-law replied with something even better

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Elle Cordova @ellecordova.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I am the very model of a modern day typographer I know the type tonalities from elegant to jocular I am a master tracker and my kerning is harmonical I know the sacred swatches and can name the hues Pantonical (Full version of Modern Day Typographer now on my YouTube channel)

youtu.be

Modern Day Typographer - Elle Cordova

YouTube video by Elle Cordova

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beyondearthsky.bsky.social @beyondearthsky.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Lift-off of Sputnik 8K71PS rocket with Sputnik 1.

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Bill @bill-of-lefts.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The loss of living memory of the Second World War is absolutely catastrophic

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

It intrigues me that the Neptune discovery by gravitational perturbations worked so perfectly the first time and fails almost every other time it’s been applied. (In our solar system - it seems to work for exoplanets.) An important example to understand how deductive reasoning does/doesn’t work.

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David S. F. Portree @dsfpspacefl1ght.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I've long had a fascination with Bellcomm, the think-tank Bell System created at NASA's request in 1962. Often it's called NASA's "Apollo planning contractor," but it studied much more than that. There was, for example, this mad crewed Mars concept. spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2021/12/mssr...

spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com

MSSR as MEM (1967-1968)

The story of spaceflight told through missions and programs that did not happen - that is, the great majority of them.

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Kyle Clark @kylec.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Squirrels on suicide missions have knocked out power to Castle Rock, Colorado twice this week. Our investigation has revealed a century of squirrel attacks covered up by the pro-squirrel media.

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Nick Stevens @nick-stevens.com · 17/09/2026

"The little turtles are looking at the Moon and the Earth through the porthole of their spacecraft. An artistic interpretation of that very journey aboard the ‘Zond-5’ spacecraft." (The turtles were actually glued to posts, to stop them from moving around).

Illustration from Pavel Shubin’s book *The Moon: History, People, Technology*.

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Simeon Schmauß @stim3on.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Here is a fun little animation showing how the shadows on Phobos change over the course of its short (7h 39m) day. The other image was actually taken two weeks ago, but since Phobos is tidally locked to Mars, it doesn't really matter. 🔭🧪

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Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 12/09/2026

Honestly, "big-name studios can't agree on the premise of the Muppet Show" sounds like the premise of the Muppet Show

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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Let's learn some surprising things about hummingbird tongues. First, as you can see, their tongues are forked & feathery, highly specialized for lapping up their liquid diet of nectar. But it gets weirder up close!

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I agree, though I think this happens when the airframe and the engine are the responsibility of different organizations with clearly defined commitments. Company X built the plane they promised, while company Y delivered an underperforming engine. More so if the customer, not X, picks the engine.

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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

100%. The notion that the President can conjure up revenue streams that free him from constitutional congressional control over spending is far more alarming than just another questionable spending proposal.

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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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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I mean, Africa usually is labeled AFRICA on maps, but I take your point.

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The NYT version did indeed work more correctly for me than the other one.

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Every time I hear a fuss about "we should stop using Mercator projection maps!" I wonder who in the world was still getting fooled by Mercator projection maps. National Geographic started using Van Der Grinten in *1922* and Robertson in the 80s.

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

This is a very cool way to get a sense of the real breadth of history, the distribution of humanity in time and geography, and how many people lived mundane, very short lives. I am slightly skeptical of the probably false precision involved, but it seems first-order reasonable. anyhumanever.com

anyhumanever.com

Any Human Ever

One life, drawn at random from all who have ever lived.

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Alex de Campi @alexdecampi.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

This one’s my favourite

A reddit post from the Wile E Coyote AMA that says “Hi WEC, I've watched you since I was a child, just wanted to say thank you for running into paintings of tunnels for all those years.”

The replies is a film still of Wile E Coyote smiling and holding a sign that says “Keep art alive”

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

FinalFinal_reallyFinal_thistimeImeanit_Rev2.pdf

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Riding With Robots @ridingrobots.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Today's the 50th anniversary of the Viking 2 landing. An excuse to re-up this. science.nasa.gov/resource/vik...

Illustrated poster showing a Viking lander on the surface of Mars with the rising sun in an orange sky. Several other kinds of robotic rovers and helicopters that came later are also depicted. Text reads: Viking - The lander that broke ground on 50 years of Mars surface exploration.

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Jonathan Fortney @jjfplanet.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Insane lightning over Ohio, from 37,000 feet, @planetarygao.bsky.social !

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Indeed. I do like a good rocket pun.

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

People may legitimately ding Bluesky for being a politically homogenous echo chamber, but I’ll say one thing for it: I’m still getting likes on a pun I made several months ago, which would never happen on Twitter.

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The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 22/08/2026

Ward Maps in Cambridge is an excellent map store. It's BIG and has a ton of delightful MBTA merch that is creative and fun. I'm suspicious of most antique dealers who are just scavengers of history but Ward's owner is a real maker because he cowrote an excellent book about Boston map history.

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Kevin M. Gill @kevinmgill.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I've been trying for years to get a decent picture of a dragonfly in flight....

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depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

not to be confused with quesadilla

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Aurélien Genin @astroaure.eurosky.social · 18/06/2026

🌒 En fouillant les images de Yutu-2 🇨🇳, j'ai découvert que l'atterrisseur Chang'e 4 inclinait ses panneaux solaires pour les orienter vers le Soleil 🤯 Cette animation montre deux photos prises depuis le même endroit, à 7 jours d'écart (1/4 de rotation de la Lune, l'équivalent de 6h sur Terre)

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China Space Watch @chinaspace.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

📷🔭 An amazing achievement! Astrophotographer Charline Giroud has captured an incredible image of China’s Tiangong Space Station passing over Spain at 8:20 AM UTC Aug 9. A stunning view from here on Earth of a truly “Heavenly Palace” — Tiangong. 🛰️🌍🌌

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Rural Indexing Project @ruralindexing.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Welcome sign Tangent, OR

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Thomas [DARK MODE], DO 🫐 @tom.medsky.social · 09/08/2026

Going through my parents' stuff and found this weird little gal. She's a transistor radio. Her right eyeball is tuner and her left eyeball is power/volume.

A tan plastic with gold mechanical owl. Very cute.

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I recently discovered that the 1950 documentary about their adventure, mostly from film they shot on the voyage, is available on Amazon Prime. Worth checking out if you’re into adventure travel. They saw a lot more wildlife on a quiet floating raft than one would on a powered ship.

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

As a kid I was fascinated by a book about the voyage of the Kon-Tiki, when Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl and a few friends set out to prove his theory that Polynesia was populated from South America by building a traditional Peruvian balsa raft and floating across the Pacific in 1947.

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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 06/08/2026

I really recommend the 2022 documentary “It’s Quieter in the Twilight,” which profiles the scientists working in relative obscurity to keep the Voyager spacecraft operating—many of them past retirement age, but unwilling to quit until the Voyagers do. It was very sweet and thought-provoking.

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Don Davis @ddavisspaceart.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

51 years ago I painted a trio of Viking related works for NASA HQ including the widely reproduced one of the landing on Mars. I have reimagined the Landing portrayal in updated form using digital methods of visualization and painting. I chose the same angle but with reality replacing anticipation.

This oil painting portrays the Viking 1 landing on Mars, which appeared in countless publications. The story of this work is relayed in an earlier post and is shown here for comparison with the new portrayal of this very view, showing the event as it would have appeared.
This 1975 anticipatory painting was done with oils on a gesso smoothed 16 X 20 canvas panel, using traditional art methods including a tracing paper guide featured earlier.
This work shows in retrospect my ideal of the 'spirit of space art', showing something of a summary of what is known of the subject while conveying what it is about the subject's known or theorized attributes that I find visually compelling. The new digital painting updates that visual impression with one based on our current knowledge. The new digital work was also done at the same size as this one was for possible printing purposes, 16 by 20 inches at 300 DPI.
#Sciart

In 1976 the pair of Viking spacecraft orbiter/lander combos were sent to Mars. Before Viking, Mars was still largely a place of our imaginations, an unknown that we wrote stories about then studied from Earth and space. The dominance of cratered terrain on the portions of Mars photographed by Mariners 4, 6 and 7 gave an initially Lunar impression of that world, which changed during the development of the Viking lander after Mariner 9 revealed the planet.
The first landing was aimed for a flat flood plain, judged as a decent place to search for life. The landing date was July 4, however the intended site appeared too rough for comfort in the high quality orbiter photos, causing the landing to wisely be delayed. A smoother site further 'down stream' was found using photo and radar data.
The landing proceeded quite nominally, a magnificent achievement that apparently accounted for what it had to and made it the first time.

The first photo from the surface was a look at a footpad to see how solid the 'footing' appeared. Then a moderate resolution panorama of the surroundings was obtained, first showing the rocks, hills, dunes-and bright sky. The latter was my biggest surprise as a space artist.

The adjustments to the color balance of the later photos were gradually narrowed down. The ubiquitous dust is planet wide, suspended in the air and coloring the sky a luminous tan ochre.

This digital painting shows the view a meter above the surface seeing the lander briefly kicking up dust less than a second before touchdown with the footpads 1.4 meters high. The landing rockets were designed with many nozzles to disturb the surroundings as little as possible. The nearby disturbed dust resembles in color that of the sky. We are 6 meters away from the center of the lander. field of view is 60 degrees, we are looking Northwest with the Sun and Earth off the frame to the left.

This is a digital art update of the pre mission oil painting I did for NASA HQ 1n 1975.

#Sciart

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Whenever I read about discoveries in the Amazon, I recall a lecture I saw by an archeologist of South American cultures. He said the reason we know so much about the civilizations of Peru and so little about the ancient Amazon is not because the Amazon was empty, but because Peru is easier to study.

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Micro SF/F by O. Westin @microsff.com · 11/05/2026

A spaceship entered Earth's orbit and broadcast a message: "We are the Interstellar Library. Do you want to swap? We have thousands of stories." There were many replies. The library was silent for a whole day, then: "What do you mean, 'We have millions'?"

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Micro SF/F by O. Westin @microsff.com · 28/05/2026

"After years of painstaking research in ancient grimoires and microcontroller logic, I have perfected it!" the professor exclaimed. "What?" "All printers are possessed. I've made a PDF which performs an exorcism." "So you print it, and then the printer works?" "Yes!" "What if it won't print?"

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Micro SF/F by O. Westin @microsff.com · 28/06/2026

"You have tampered in the Gods' domain!" the god shouted. "Well, maybe, but you gods tamper in the human domain all the time!" "That's... That's different!" "How?" "We are Gods! It's what we do!" "And we are human. Likewise." "I..." The god sighed. "Fair. But keep it quiet, okay?"

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Skot Armstrong @skot.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Los Angeles Public Library unveils the world’s largest pop-up book www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/07/dani...

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Josh Hopkins @spacejosh.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I would not have guessed that southeast Colorado had a fishing economy, but now I know.

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Ted Stryk @tedstryk.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Today in 1976, 50 years ago, the Viking 1 lander touched down on Chryse Planitia, Mars, and became humanity's first long term outpost on another world (the Venera Venus landers lasted an hour or two, Viking 1 lasted over 6 years).

A view from Viking 1 in 1976, showing Martian dunes and the boulder "Big Joe."

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