iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

ESA's JUICE has begun its 2026 North American Transit of Neptune Tour. #astro 🔭

Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Tomorrow night, ESA's JUICE spacecraft will make a close pass by Neptune as seen from the U.S.—and along a narrow path across North America, it will transit directly across Neptune. JUICE should be around mag 12–13. Here's what the encounter will look like from different cities. #astro 🔭

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

A view of Earth from JUICE. On Sept 27/28 ESA's JUICE mission will pass Earth for a gravity assist on its way to Jupiter. It may be bright enough for astrophotographers worldwide. Before close approach it will pass through Earth's shadow. JUICE will study Jupiter's icy moons. #astro 🔭

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Yesterday, newly-discovered asteroid 2026 SZ2 pass closer than our geostationary satellites. It is 1-5 meters across. 🔭 #astro

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

10,000 years of asteroid orbits precessing around the Sun. 🔭 White: Main Belt asteroids Magenta: Near-Earth asteroids Watch how the orbital planes slowly rotate and pulsate. #astro

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

To be a star, all you need to do is sustain fusion in your core. But the range of brightnesses is staggering. 🔭 #astro

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Asteroid CERNQ52 entered Earth's atmosphere today over the ocean south of Indonesia. It was discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey in Arizona only hours before its demise. At 80 cm wide, it would have caused no damage. I had to exaggerate the size here, so you could see it. 🔭 #astro

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The #SanFrancisco #49ers arrived in Melbourne today, a week prior to their game against the #LosAngeles #Rams. The Rams wont leave until the day before the game. Whose travel plan makes more sense?

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Is Sar2901 a mini-moon or space junk? Even the Minor Planet Center isn't sure. The astronomy community is divided. More observations in November should help settle the debate.🔭 #astro

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Launched today! 🚀 NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is now on its way to Sun-Earth L2, ~1 million miles away. It will survey billions of galaxies, probe dark energy & dark matter, and discover exoplanets. #RomanSpaceTelescope #NASA #Astro🔭 #Space

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Why don’t eclipses happen every month? The Moon’s 5° orbital tilt causes frequent misses, aligning only during brief "eclipse seasons." Tonight is the encore to the recent total solar eclipse. Here is a front-row view of Earth from the lunar surface! #astro 🔭

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Why do flight paths curve on flat maps? Watch the great circle route between San Francisco and London turn into a straight line as the projection shifts. Flat maps lie, geometry doesn't! ✈️🌍 #GreatCircleRoute #DataViz 🔭 #astro

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

It's getting close. The Falcon-9 stage is less than an hour away from impacting the Moon.🔭

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

On Tuesday evening, August 4, a Falcon 9 rocket stage will slam into the Moon. Will the impact and plume be bright enough to see from the Americas? 🔭#astro

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Asteroid Torifune was just imaged by Japan's Hayabusa 2. This asteroid is a rubble pile. If you could gently place it in the middle of a parking lot, it might look something like this. 🔭 #astro

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Why is tonight's Full Moon so low? For the Northern Hemisphere, around the June Solstice, the full Moon takes its lowest path of the year. We're also near a minor lunar standstill, making the Moon's nightly path even lower than usual. 🔭 #astro

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Venus-Jupiter conjunction simulated. Planets' diameters exaggerated 100x. 🔭 #astro

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

For a couple weeks around the 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞, there is a brief moment each day when 𝟏𝟎𝟎% of mainland North America is on Earth's day side while 𝟏𝟎𝟎% of mainland South America is on Earth's night side, defined by 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫. 🔭 #astro

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

A proposed mission to Kuiper Belt object 2002 XV₉₃ • Launch: 2034 • Jupiter gravity assist • Uranus plane-change maneuver • Flyby in 2043 Trajectory found by @adamsspaceresearch.bsky.social. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHV4... 2002 XV₉₃ is in the news because it may possess a thin atmosphere.

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Tomorrow, asteroid 2026 JH2 will pass less than 1/4 the distance of the Moon as it flies over South Africa. #astro 🔭

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

This asteroid, previously known as ST26E86 is now known as 2026 JN4 🔭 #astro

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Earlier today, an asteroid about the size of a person impacted Earth over Papua New Guinea. This is only the 12th object to be discovered before impact. #astro 🔭

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Inspired by the 12,000 Artemis II images just released, a simulation of Earthset as seen by the astronauts (3:16 real time). A bit slower than a sunset on Earth. 🔭 #astro Timelapse (15 seconds): orbitsimulator.com/BA/artemis_I... Real speed (3:16): orbitsimulator.com/BA/artemis_I...

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

A rocket booster will slam into the Moon on August 5. 2025-010D is the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket that brought the Blue Ghost Mission 1 to the Moon.

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Newly-discovered asteroid 2026 HZ4 approached closer than our geostationary satellites 2 days ago. It is 2-7 meters wide. 🔭

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Artemis II splashdown off San Diego, less than 45 minutes from now. Inertial frame.

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Artemis II doesn’t reverse direction like its ground track implies. Far out, its motion is mostly radial (toward Earth), so its small eastward speed is slower than Earth’s rotation, so it appears to drift west. Closer in, tangential speed grows and overtakes Earth’s rotation, so it moves east.

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

In a few hours, at ~9 PM PDT, Artemis II will be halfway between Earth and the Moon (by distance). The Moon will look unusually large to the crew. But they’re not halfway there in time. Earth’s gravity has been slowing them the entire way, and will continue to do so.

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Right now, the astronauts must be thinking: "The Earth is getting awfully big in the window." Artemis II is dropping toward perigee for the TLI burn that will send it to the Moon.🔭 #astro

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Here's a view of what the astronauts on Artemis II see right now. This is very similar to what their view will be in 24 hours when they will perform the TLI burn that will send them to the Moon.

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

A view of Earth from Artemis II. If you can see your region, then you might be able to spot Artemis II with a telescope or binoculars. #astro 🔭

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

I forgot to put the 🔭emoji in my post, so it didn't show up on the Astronomy feed!

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Artemis II is scheduled to launch on Wednesday evening.

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Asteroid 2024 YR₄ will NOT hit the Moon. JWST observations refined the orbit, dropping the lunar impact probability from 4% to zero. Independent researcher Sam Deen had already reached the same conclusion using 2016 precoveries. science.nasa.gov/blogs/planet...

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

The Lunar eclipse, which just began, would be a solar eclipse if you were on the Moon. Here's a view from the Moon.

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Asteroid 2025 MH348, discovered last year, is possibly a trojan of Neptune. #astro 🔭

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

For those commenting that Voyager 1 will be 1 light day away in November 2026, that's from Earth. My post said from the Sun. That happens on February 3, 2027.

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

In 1 year from today, Voyager 1 will be one light day from the Sun. 🔭 orbitsimulator.com/gravitySimul...

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

116 years of Barnard's Star: 1940 to 2056. Proper motion and parallax are visible. The field of view is ~ as wide as the full Moon. #astronomy #astro 🔭

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

What would happen if you took a full-sky picture every day at noon from San Francisco for a year? I have no idea! It’s too cloudy here. So I simulated it. #astronomy #analemma

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Space ambulance: Dragon returns a sick astronaut to Earth. Shot from San Francisco minutes before splashdown off San Diego. Skip to ~1:00 if the slow horizon motion bores you. Thank you @marwellaspaceart.bsky.social for reminding me to look up! pic.x.com/cuXLHH2N2h

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Comet 3I/ATLAS, our interstellar visitor, poses for my eVscope from San Francisco. @unistellar.bsky.social @unistellarusa.bsky.social

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

The first 4 asteroids discovered this year are 2026 AA 2026 AB 2026 AC 2026 AD

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Finally! Tens of thousands of asteroids are found each year. Yet 2026 had ZERO through Jan 6. The drought is over. Possibly as big as a jet liner. Possibly as large as a football field. Meet 2026 AA. Blame the Full Moon for the drought.🌕 Expect many more soon.

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Polaris is not always the North Star. Due to Earth's precession, over the course of 26,000 years, Polaris, Alderamin, Vega, and Thuban take turns as the closest prominent star to the celestial pole.

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Flying into Orion’s Belt at 0.001c 🌌 The hunter isn’t flat. It’s a real 3D region of space. (Upgraded animation!) #astronomy 🔭

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Tony Dunn @tony873004.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Taurus is prominent in January's evening sky. The Hyades star cluster forms its familiar V-shape, and Aldebaran appears to belong to the cluster. But over ~100,000 years of proper motion, the illusion breaks: Aldebaran is moving to its own beat.

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