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Kenneth Becker
@geophotographer.org
1.2K followers 2.2K following 880 posts
Geoscientist/canine caretaker. UAF alum. Based in Alaska

Seismology/Volcanology/Meteorology/Astronomy/Space Weather, & Science Communication

Sometimes successful at photography

See my starter packs for more science!
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geophotographer.org
NASA’s Webb telescope revealed multiple carbon-rich dust shells around Apep and confirmed a newly identified third star shaping them. Two rare Wolf Rayet stars sit at the center, shedding material quickly. Webb’s data clarify how the dust forms and how the stars move.
🔭🧪
#JWST
#StellarEvolution
Webb First to Show 4 Dust Shells 'Spiraling' Apep, Limits Long Orbit - NASA Science
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has delivered a first of its kind: a crisp mid-infrared image of a system of four serpentine spirals of dust, one expanding
science.nasa.gov
November 20, 2025 at 5:37 AM
geophotographer.org
Good news everyone!

Alaska Earthquake Center’s 15-month Gen 3 overhaul modernizes how AK quakes are detected/shared. The open-source system links 250 stations, improves real-time mapping and workflows, and sets up tools that can help communities understand shaking sooner
🧪⚒️
#Earthquake
#Seismology
A Complete Overhaul—Under the Hood | Alaska Earthquake Center
You might not notice as you browse through our interactive map and events list, but the Alaska Earthquake Center has completely rebuilt the engine that drives this information.
earthquake.alaska.edu
November 19, 2025 at 3:03 AM
geophotographer.org
PAHs in Early Triassic rocks from Svalbard show that wildfires continued after the Permian extinction. Sediment and climate modeling finds these fires shaped ecosystem recovery and questions the idea of a long fire free interval.
#Wildfire #Climate
🧪⚒️🔥
Paper:
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Early Triassic sediments reveal Earth's hidden wildfire past
An international team of scientists, including a senior researcher at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, has uncovered new evidence of ancient wildfires that reshapes our understanding of ...
phys.org
November 18, 2025 at 2:05 AM
geophotographer.org
Aurora Borealis photos from November 11th and November 12th 2025, Fairbanks, Alaska

More in comments

All photos credit Kenneth Becker
📷
#photography
#auroraborealis
#starscape
#nightsky
#alaska
#aurora
#winter
The image depicts a vivid display of the aurora borealis against a dark night sky. Dominating the scene is a large, green, fan-like aurora pattern spreading outward with a sense of motion. The luminous green hues contrast with the deep blackness of the sky, where numerous small, white stars are scattered across the entire image. The aurora appears to emanate from a central point near the bottom right, creating a dynamic and expansive visual effect. The image depicts a night sky filled with numerous small, bright stars scattered across a dark backdrop. In the lower right quadrant, there are faint green and reddish hues, resembling the aurora borealis, with soft, wispy trails spreading outward. The colors blend subtly into the dark sky, creating a calm and ethereal atmosphere. The image depicts a night sky illuminated by the aurora borealis, displaying vibrant shades of green and red. The lower section of the image shows the silhouette of trees, creating a jagged horizon line against the sky. Stars are scattered across the sky, enhancing the celestial atmosphere. The aurora forms soft, flowing patterns across the sky, creating a dynamic visual contrast between the colors and the dark tree line. The image captures a celestial scene, centered on Polaris. Streaks of white light are scattered across the image which are star trails due to long exposure photography. The background features swirling hues of green and red aurora, presenting an ethereal and dynamic atmosphere. The overall texture appears smooth, with soft gradients blending the colors seamlessly. The edges are dark, creating a vignette effect, which adds depth to the central composition.
November 15, 2025 at 9:33 AM
geophotographer.org
A new study using distant radio galaxies suggests our solar system moves over three times faster than current models predict. The finding raises questions about how our motion fits into the cosmic web and requires further study. #Cosmology #RadioGalaxies
🧪🔭🌌

Paper
journals.aps.org/prl/abstract...
Our solar system is moving 3 times faster than expected
earthsky.org
November 15, 2025 at 8:21 AM
geophotographer.org
Archaeologists in Kenya’s Turkana Basin found early stone tools showing that ancient humans used the same designs for about 300,000 years, from 2.75 to 2.44 Mya, even as the region’s climate grew drier and less stable. #Archaeology #HumanEvolution #History
🧪⚒️
Paper
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
2.7-million-year-old tools reveal humanity’s first great innovation
Researchers uncovered a 2.75–2.44 million-year-old site in Kenya showing that early humans maintained stone tool traditions for nearly 300,000 years despite extreme climate swings. The tools, remarkab...
www.sciencedaily.com
November 4, 2025 at 8:28 PM
geophotographer.org
Satellite data show ground near Iran’s Taftan volcano rose about 9 centimeters between 2023 and 2024. The uplift may indicate new underground movement after roughly 700,000 years of dormancy, highlighting the need for closer monitoring.
#Iran
🧪⚒️🌋
Paper
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
An Iranian volcano appears to have woken up — 700,000 years after its last eruption
Taftan volcano near the border of Pakistan has shown signs of unrest in recent years.
www.livescience.com
October 16, 2025 at 9:56 PM
geophotographer.org
Troposphyre, Fairbanks, Alaska, October 2025

Photo credit Kenneth Becker

📷
#photography
#SunsetPhotography
#Cloudscape
#SkyLovers
#NaturePerfection
#EveningGlow
The image depicts a dramatic sunset sky with vibrant colors. Dominating the upper portion is a large expanse of clouds, richly colored in shades of deep pink and purple, creating a striking contrast with the serene gradient of the sky that transitions from soft blue to a light orange near the horizon. The bottom of the image shows silhouettes of buildings on the right and sparse treetops, along with a streetlight glowing a pale green. There is a blend of silhouettes which adds depth to the scene without distracting from the vibrant sky.
October 14, 2025 at 5:37 AM
geophotographer.org
Scientists applied an AI model to seismic data from Italy’s Campi Flegrei between 2022 and 2025, detecting over 54k small earthquakes. Results map a shallow ring fault system beneath the caldera and show no indication of new magma movement.
🧪⚒️🌋
#AI
#Seismology

Paper
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
AI model reveals hidden earthquake swarms and faults in Italy’s Campi Flegrei
A new AI model detects thousands of previously unseen earthquakes in near real time, helping scientists understand changes in an Italian volcanic area where earthquakes have been intensifying since 20...
sustainability.stanford.edu
October 13, 2025 at 7:14 PM
geophotographer.org
The Moon’s largest impact crater, the South Pole Aitken Basin, formed about 4.3 billion years ago and spread radioactive elements across its far side. New data show elevated thorium and uranium in nearby terrain. #LunarScience #Moon #Geology #PlanetaryScience
🧪⚒️🔭
Paper
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The moon's biggest impact crater made a radioactive splash
New analyses of the largest impact crater on the moon reveal unexpected insights into its tumultuous past. They also suggest that once astronauts return to the moon, they will have access to a veritab...
news.arizona.edu
October 12, 2025 at 9:23 PM
geophotographer.org
Astronomers using NASA’s Swift telescope found signs of water coming from interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, even while it was far from the Sun. The faint vapor suggests icy grains on its surface were warming and releasing gas earlier than most comets do
#Comet
🧪☄️🔭
Paper
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
Physicists uncork a message in a bottle from another star
For millions of years, a fragment of ice and dust has drifted between the stars — a frozen message in a bottle from another world. This summer, that message reached our solar system as 3I/ATLAS,...
www.eurekalert.org
October 11, 2025 at 5:37 AM
geophotographer.org
Astronomers observed a rare, long gamma-ray burst, GRB 250702B, lasting for hours instead of seconds. Data suggests it came from a star being pulled apart from within by a mid-size black hole, a process unlike typical stellar collapses
🧪🔭

#Astrophysics
#GRB

Paper
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
Long-lived gamma ray burst could signal a new kind of cosmic catastrophe
Some theorists think unusual event could be a black hole devouring a star from within
www.science.org
October 9, 2025 at 2:28 AM
geophotographer.org
ESA’s ExoMars orbiter captured distant images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passed Mars in early October, about 30 million km away. The fuzzy glow shows gas and dust from the comet’s coma, though its small core can’t be seen. Mars Express detected no clear signal.

🧪☄️🔭🛰️
#ESA #Comet #Mars
ESA’s ExoMars and Mars Express observe comet 3I/ATLAS
Between 1 and 7 October, ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Mars Express spacecraft turned their eyes towards interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, as it passed close to Mars. 
www.esa.int
October 9, 2025 at 12:35 AM
geophotographer.org
Two small asteroids recently made close, harmless flybys of Earth. 2025 TF passed over Antarctica on Sept 30 about 401 km up, slightly closer than the International Space Station’s orbit. 2025 TQ2 passed over northern Canada on Oct 2 about 4,851 km up.
🧪☄️🔭
#Astronomy
#NEOs
#Space
#Science
2 asteroids safely buzzed by Earth this past week
earthsky.org
October 8, 2025 at 3:58 AM
geophotographer.org
Summer Sets, Fairbanks, Alaska, October 2025

Photo credit Kenneth Becker

#photography
#nature
#landscape
#goldenhour
#skyscape
#sunsetphotography
The image portrays a serene landscape at sunset, featuring two prominent evergreen trees silhouetted against a vibrant sky. The sky is filled with a mix of dark, heavy clouds and lighter, golden clouds illuminated by the setting sun. The sunlight creates a warm glow around the trees, casting gentle shadows. Sparse, leafless branches of smaller trees are visible in the foreground, adding texture and depth to the scene. The image captures a scenic view of the sky during sunset or sunrise. The sky is filled with a dense pattern of clouds, ranging in shades from dark gray to light orange and yellow, indicating the presence of the sun below the horizon. Beneath the sky, the silhouette of several tall trees, including a prominent pine tree in the center, stands against the colorful backdrop. These trees are mostly bare, suggesting a seasonal context of late autumn or early spring. The overall atmosphere is serene and expansive, with the cloud formations creating a textured and dynamic sky.
October 7, 2025 at 2:05 AM
geophotographer.org
Gaia data shows a massive wave rippling up and down through the Milky Way’s disk. It displaces stars hundreds of light years above and below the galactic plane and stretches across tens of thousands of light years.
#Astronomy #MilkyWay #Gaia #SpaceScience

🧪🔭✨🌌📡

www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
Gaia discovers our galaxy’s great wave
Our Milky Way galaxy never sits still: it rotates and wobbles. And now, data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope reveal that our galaxy also has a giant wave rippling outwards from i...
www.esa.int
October 5, 2025 at 7:54 PM
geophotographer.org
Astronomers have found the most powerful odd radio circle ever detected. Named RAD J131346.9+500320, it lies nearly 8 billion light years away and shows two overlapping rings of radio emission.
🧪🔭🌌✨📡
#Astronomy #Radio #Galaxies #Discovery

Paper:
academic.oup.com/mnras/articl...
Most powerful 'odd radio circle' to date is discovered
drupal-media[data-view-mode=half_page_width] { display: inline-block; width: 50%; } The most distant and most powerful 'odd radio circle' (ORC) known so far has been...
ras.ac.uk
October 4, 2025 at 8:16 AM
geophotographer.org
A new Jurassic fossil from Scotland, Breugnathair elgolensis, shows a combination of snake-like jaws and teeth with a lizard-like body and limbs, providing direct evidence of diverse squamate traits early in their history.
#Paleontology #Evolution #Fossils
🧪🐍🦴⚒️
Paper
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Scientists uncover a mysterious Jurassic lizard with snake-like jaws
A strange Jurassic lizard discovered on Scotland’s Isle of Skye is shaking up what we know about snake evolution. Named Breugnathair elgolensis, the “false snake of Elgol” combined hook-like, python-s...
www.sciencedaily.com
October 4, 2025 at 12:58 AM
geophotographer.org
Researchers have turned human skin cells into early egg-like cells by placing their DNA into donated egg material. When fertilized, some developed into early embryos. This is a proof of concept, not a treatment yet.
#IVF
#Bioethics
🧪🧬🧫
Paper:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
OHSU researchers create human eggs from skin cells, pointing to new frontier in fertility treatment
Scientists describe the technique as an early proof of concept and say it could take at least a decade of further research before clinical translation.
www.oregonlive.com
October 3, 2025 at 1:45 AM
geophotographer.org
NOAA’s ship Rainier spent five days in August 2025 mapping the seafloor of Lituya Bay, Alaska. The team found parts of the bay up to 130 meters shallower than older maps showed, shaped by landslides and glacier movement. #NOAA #Hydrography #Alaska
🧪🏔️🌊⚒️

nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/updates/rain...
The latest expedition in Lituya Bay: NOAA and National Park Service collaborate to update nautical charts – Office of Coast Survey
nauticalcharts.noaa.gov
October 2, 2025 at 4:12 PM
geophotographer.org
Reanalysis of 1978 Pioneer Venus probe data finds Venus' clouds contain water in hydrated minerals, plus iron sulfates and sulfuric acid. Estimates are about 60% water and 15-22% each for the sulfates.
#Venus
#PlanetaryScience
#Atmosphere
🧪
Paper
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
www.cpp.edu
October 2, 2025 at 12:46 AM
geophotographer.org
Fungi may have been shaping Earth’s ecosystems far earlier than we thought. New fossil-calibrated timelines show their ancestors branching off between 1.4 and 0.9 billion years ago, long before plants appeared.
#Fungi
#Evolution
#Paleobiology
#EarthHistory
🧪🍄🍄‍🟫

Paper
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The billion-year reign of fungi that predated plants and made Earth livable
Fungi may have shaped Earth’s landscapes long before plants appeared. By combining rare gene transfers with fossil evidence, researchers have traced fungal origins back nearly a billion years earlier ...
www.sciencedaily.com
October 1, 2025 at 11:28 PM
geophotographer.org
A short-lived gravity anomaly over the eastern Atlantic in 2007, detected by GRACE, points to sudden mass movement at the base of Earth’s mantle, likely from a deep mineral phase change reshaping that boundary
#Geophysics
#GRACE
🧪⚒️
Paper
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
Vast Anomaly in Earth's Gravity Field Signals Shifts Deep Beneath The Surface
In 2007, something strange happened over the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
www.sciencealert.com
September 30, 2025 at 9:48 AM
geophotographer.org
Researchers have found a way around a key limit of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. By exploiting entangled particles, they can improve precision of one property without violating quantum rules.
🧪⚛️
#QuantumPhysics #Entanglement #ScienceNews #Research

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Physicists find a loophole in Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle without breaking it
By using something called a quantum grid, scientists have found a clever way to simultaneously measure momentum and position without violating Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.
www.livescience.com
September 29, 2025 at 4:54 PM
geophotographer.org
Astronomers detected a cosmic explosion unlike any seen before: GRB 250702BDE showed repeated gamma-ray bursts over a full day, defying known behaviors of standard explosions.
🧪✨🌌🔭🛰️📡
Paper:
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

#CosmicMystery #GammaRays #Astrophysics #SpaceEvents
www.livescience.com
September 26, 2025 at 11:46 PM