Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 01/10/2026This image of the #Crew13 launch, taken by astronaut Anil Menon on the ISS, shows how dirty the #Falcon9 exhaust actually is. 📷: x.com/astro_anil/s... 010
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 19/08/2026#Comet C/220P McNaught is currently visible in the eastern sky after midnight and shines at ~11 mag in the constellation Cetus. #220P experienced an outburst in early August and shows a prominent tail in my @unistellar.bsky.social #eVscope images. 000
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Clear view of the #CZ7A rocket anomaly. Shared by @scottmanley.bsky.social from Chinese social media on X. 011
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Simulation of #Falcon9 second stage lunar impact coming up on Aug. 5 at 6:34 UTC. arxiv.org/abs/2607.23904 050
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 23/07/2026Today at 12:00 UTC a Long March CZ-3B/E rocket launched the Tianlian 2-06 data relay satellite into orbit. During ascent it was hit by a lightning bolt. 100
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 27/06/2026A large #asteroid will safely pass Earth today at 11:14 UTC. #1997NC1 is estimated at 750–1650m diameter based on a 5%–25% albedo range. At its closest point to our planet, it will be 6.66 times farther than the Moon. Last night I caught it with my @unistellar.bsky.social #eVscope. 142
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 14/06/2026Me and my colleague Bruno Guillet, from the @unistellar.bsky.social citizen science network, successfully observed the #occultation with our #eVscope from our locations in Italy & France. 020
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 14/06/2026Last week there was a chance to catch the #asteroid (954) Li passing in front of a distant star. The asteroid is ~52km in diameter and resides in the outer main belt. With an albedo of just 0,06 it is almost as dark as coal. 131
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 09/06/2026Someone did the math. This outcome is not impossible, but highly unusual. 030
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 07/06/2026#SpaceX posted a picture of the two #Starshield satellites on top of the #Starlink stack. Apparently accidentally, because it was deleted shortly after. However, it's hard to catch the genie, once it's out of the bottle... ^^ 001
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 30/05/2026The Near-Earth #Asteroid #2026KT2 was discovered on May 24 and has an estimated diameter of 50–110 meters. It passed Earth on May 28 at 10:15 UTC within 2.5 lunar distances, and was observed with my @unistellar.bsky.social #eVscope at 14.7 magnitude brightness. 101
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 30/05/2026Amazing photo of #Shenzhou22 landing! 📷 cc SpaceLens 042
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 18/05/2026Last night my @unistellar.bsky.social #eVscope recorded the transit of #WASP135b. This #exoplanet is a puffed #HotJupiter, almost 2x its mass, which has an estimated temperature of 1100–1200 Kelvin. It circles its 973 ly distant, Sun-like host star in just 1.4 days. science.nasa.gov/exoplanet-ca... 021
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 01/05/2026#SN2026ewd is again of the Type Ia. This exploded #WhiteDwarf shines at 14.9 mag in galaxy #UGC11508, which is located in the constellation of Cygnus. 010
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 01/05/2026Another Type II #supernova currently visible is #SN2026fov in #NGC7292, which is a barred irregular #galaxy. This explosion of a supermassive star also has a brightness of 14 mag. 110
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 01/05/2026#SN2026fvx in galaxy #NGC4205 is even a bit brighter at 14 mag. Being a Type Ia #supernova indicates the thermonuclear explosion of a #WhiteDwarf star. The distance of 70 million lightyears away from us means this star exploded when dinosaurs were still roaming the Earth. 110
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 01/05/2026Inspired by Tim Russ I set out on a quest for supernovae last night with my @unistellar.bsky.social #eVscope. The Type II #supernova #SN2026kid shines with a brightness of 15.6 mag in the beautiful edge-on galaxy #NGC5907. It's the explosion of a star at least 8 times the mass of our Sun. 110
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 17/02/2026Beeindruckend. Überhaupt im Vergleich zum Vorjahr. Unitree Robotics wird noch von sich reden machen. Quelle: x.com/i/status/202... 100
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 07/02/2026This is not the space plane you are looking for... The only image suspectedly showing it is below. 020
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 06/02/2026This is a good article about China's secret space plane by @china-in-space.com and at the end an image shot by a Vantor (ex Maxar) satellite which is believed to show it in orbit. The only photo I know of. www.china-in-space.com/p/what-do-we... 173
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 30/01/2026Well, in this case CAS Space's #Lihong2 will probably send the next tourists on suborbital flights. 021
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 20/01/2026Today's Sun with sunspot #AR4341, the culprit of last night's solar storm, right in the middle. Imaged with my @unistellar.bsky.social #eVscope. 000
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 24/12/2025Vulcan in a winter wonderland. 🖖 Happy holidays! 110
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 22/12/2025Last telemetry screen from #H3F8 shows a deviating trajectory unfortunately. I hope they can save the #Michibiki5 satellite! 101
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 21/12/2025During a rare clear night I had the chance to finally catch the interstellar #comet #3IATLAS, which is currently outbound from our solar system, with my @unistellar.bsky.social #eVscope. 110
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 20/12/2025On the other site they think it was an internal cause. 030
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 12/11/2025New image showing several fragments cc Robert S. x.com/southscanner... 111
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 10/11/2025#EECep is an unusual binary star, a so-called "disk-occulting system". Every 5.6 years the Be-class primary is eclipsed by a dark dusty disk of its invisible secondary star, resulting in quite long eclipses of 57 days. One is currently happening, observed with my @unistellar.bsky.social #eVscope. 010
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 09/11/2025The large sunspot region #AR4274 is currently facing Earth, imaged with my @unistellar.bsky.social #eVscope. watchers.news/2025/11/09/m... 010
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 08/11/2025I think this was the H-18 upper stage of the #CZ-3B/E launch with #BeiDou 52–53 (BD-3M19 & M20) on Dec. 16 2019. Location and time match if it came down a bit earlier in the reentry window predicted below. cc Joseph Remis x.com/jremis/statu... 010
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 08/11/2025The @spaceflightnow.com webcast team caught a rather spectacular #spacejunk reentry during the #Starlink Group 10-51 launch coverage. cc John Pisani 📷 x.com/SpaceflightN... 141
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 23/10/2025Recently I caught two Near Earth #Asteroids in one night and observed them for ~90 minutes each, collecting position and brightness data with my @unistellar.bsky.social #eVscope, to get their orbits and sizes refined. Both objects, #2000EZ148 & #2004FN18, are Apollo-type asteroids. 110
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 20/10/2025Bright #comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon, captured with my @unistellar.bsky.social #eVscope last night. 000
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 22/09/2025Sehr schönes Bild der Sommermilchstraße! Ich kann die Sternbilder Schwan, Adler und Leier erkennen. Deren Hauptsterne Deneb, Altair und Wega bilden das bekannte Sommerdreieck. Das kleine Sternbild Delphin ist auch zu erkennen. 120
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 21/09/2025Caught #comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon last morning with my #eVscope. 011
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 20/09/2025#Asteroid #2025RL2 showed quite some variability in its brightness curve over the course of a few minutes. It is probably an irregularly shaped fast rotator. #PlanetaryDefense 000
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 20/09/2025#2025RL2 is an Aten-type #asteroid with a ø of 17–37m, which passed by Earth on Sep. 19 at a distance of 216171km. 110
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 20/09/2025Initial observations indicated a small probability that #asteroid #2025FA22 could impact Earth in 2089. However, high-priority follow-up observations soon allowed astronomers to refine the asteroid’s trajectory and rule out any impact risk. 110
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 20/09/2025Last night I tracked two Near Earth Asteroids with my @unistellar.bsky.social #eVscope. #2025FA22 is a 130–290m ø asteroid, that came within 2.2 LD of Earth on Sep. 17. 220
Mario Billiani @starbase.bsky.social · 16/09/2025Visit of a #bluetit and a #greattit at my #BirdBuddy camera. 🐦 131