Mandy Daniels
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mandydaniels.bsky.social
Mandy Daniels
@mandydaniels.bsky.social
Follow me for UK based astronomy and nature photography. Check out my photographs on EarthSky:

https://ecp.earthsky.org/community-photos/?filter_1_3=Mandy&filter_1_6=Daniels&mode=all

#photography #astronomy #astrophotography #moon
#Waxing #Gibbous #Daytime #Moon

Date: 2026 01 28
Time: 15:55:44 UTC
Altitude: 36° 20'
Distance: 362 914 km
Phase: 77%

Nikon D800
iOptron Rumak 150mm

Exposure: f/12, 1/160s, ISO-100
Focal Length: 1800 mm

#astronomy #astrophotography #craters
January 28, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Is life in #Europa's ocean still possible. New research suggests that it might be with chemical nutrients in the icy crust encasing the ocean making their way into the ocean itself which could possibly provide conditions suitable for life.

earthsky.org/space/life-i...

#astronomy #astrobiology
Life in Europa’s ocean still possible, new research suggests
earthsky.org
January 28, 2026 at 1:54 PM
#Waxing #Gibbous #Moon

Date: 2026 01 27
Time: 22:00:50 UTC
Altitude: 49° 18'
Distance: 363 067 km
Phase: 69%

Nikon D800
Skywatcher 200P

Exposure: f/5.9, 1/250s, ISO-200
Focal Length: 1200 mm

#astronomy #astrophotography #craters
January 27, 2026 at 11:29 PM
I got a new telescope. It's a Rumak Maksutov-Cassegrain, with 150 mm aperture and 1800 mm focal length and a flat field imaging circle of 44 mm, perfect for my full frame cameras.

Hopefully, the clouds will clear and I can start imaging.

#astronomy #astrophotography #telescope
January 27, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Tonight, 2026 01 27 at around 21:21 UTC, as seen from the UK, the night side of the #Moon skims through the #Pleiades occulting mag 5.8 star, Asterope. Visible in telescopes and photographically.

Please link observations and images in the comments, along with the time of #occultation.

#astronomy
January 27, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Tonight, 2026 01 26 at around 19:24 UTC, as seen from the UK, the night side of the #Moon will occult the faint mag 5.7 star, Mu Arietis. It will be visible in telescopes and photographically.

Please link observations and images in the comments, along with the time of #occultation.

1/2

#astronomy
January 26, 2026 at 3:30 PM
An article on Earthsky uses my latest #Moon image to show how the terminator lets you see more detail in lunar landscape and craters.

"A wonderful moon photographer – Mandy Daniels of Derbyshire, UK – caught this waxing crescent moon on January 24, 2026"

earthsky.org/astronomy-es...

#astronomy
The moon’s terminator line divides night and day
earthsky.org
January 25, 2026 at 9:24 PM
#Waxing #Crescent #Moon

Date: 2026 01 24
Time: 17:30:38 UTC
Altitude: 44° 13'
Distance: 371 706 km
Phase: 34%

Nikon D800
Skywatcher 200P

Exposure: f/5.9, 1/60s, ISO-200
Focal Length: 1200 mm

#astronomy #astrophotography #craters
January 24, 2026 at 6:32 PM
Forty years ago, today, on 24 January 1986, #Voyager 2 arrived at #Uranus and sent back the only close-ups of the planet, it's rings and it's moons, so far. It also discovered 11 new moons.

earthsky.org/space/voyage...

#astronomy #space #science
Voyager 2 met Uranus 40 years ago
earthsky.org
January 24, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Tonight (2026 01 23) at around 18:38 UTC, as seen from the UK, the night side of the #Moon will occult the faint mag 8.8 star, HD 5. It will be visible in telescopes and photographically.

Please link observations and images in the comments, along with the time of #occultation.

#astronomy
January 23, 2026 at 4:15 PM
The #crescent #Moon will be hanging out with #Saturn in the south-west tonight around 18:00 UTC and #Neptune will be in between the two. A 300mm lens on full frame cameras will fit the Moon and Neptune (or Neptune & Saturn) in the short side, or the long side for crop sensors.

#astronomy
January 23, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Artemis II rollout has begun. Live feed on NASA's YouTube channel at:

www.youtube.com/@NASA/streams

The video is called: NASA's Artemis II Live Views from Kennedy Space Centre

#astronomy #artemis #Moon #launch
NASA
NASA's mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research. To do that, we have worked around the world—and off it—for more than 60 years, searching ...
www.youtube.com
January 17, 2026 at 6:51 PM
#Waning #gibbous #Moon

Date: 2026 01 05
Time: 23:27:32 UTC
Altitude: 37° 32'
Distance: 369 509 km
Phase: 91%

Nikon D800
Skywatcher 200P

Exposure: f/5.9, 1/200s, ISO-100
Focal Length: 1200 mm

#astronomy #astrophotography #craters
January 6, 2026 at 12:31 PM
The Moon's orientation in the sky appears to rotate between rising and setting. It is also latitude dependent. In the southern hemisphere it can appear "upside-down". Here is a set of photos taken over 1 night that show it. An equatorial mount will counter this rotation.

#astronomy #Moon
January 5, 2026 at 2:38 PM
#Jupiter, it's 4 Galilean moons and Earth's own #Moon. Click on the image and zoom in to see Jupiter's moons.

Date: 2026 01 04
Time: 00:24:32 UTC
Moon Altitude: 61° 26'
Moon Distance: 358 526 km
Moon Phase: 99%

Nikon D800
Nikon 300mm lens f/4

#astronomy #astrophotography
January 4, 2026 at 11:33 AM
Today, 2025 01 03 marks Earth's closest approach to the #Sun, known as #Perihelion and by a remarkable coincidence we have a #Supermoon as the #Moon is close to #Perigee.

I imaged the Moon a couple hours before it set and the Sun shortly before noon.

#astronomy
January 3, 2026 at 2:01 PM
#Waxing #SuperMoon

The Very Nearly Full Moon

Date: 2026 01 02
Time: 21:36:08 UTC
Altitude: 55° 31'
Distance: 355 932 km
Phase: 99.5%

Nikon D800
Skywatcher 200P

Exposure: f/5.9, 1/320s, ISO-100
Focal Length: 1200 mm

#astronomy #astrophotography #craters #Moon
January 2, 2026 at 11:27 PM
Wargentin is an impact crater on the SW lunar limb that has been infilled by basaltic lava flows forming a raised plateau.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wargent... for info.

Thanks to Peter ‪@pfwaus.bsky.social‬ for pointing this out.

#astronomy #Moon #craters
January 2, 2026 at 10:47 AM
#Waxing #gibbous #Moon

The Moon on New Year's Day

Date: 2026 01 01
Time: 19:07:22 UTC
Altitude: 44° 47'
Distance: 355 860 km
Phase: 96%

Nikon D800
Skywatcher 200P

Exposure: f/5.9, 1/160s, ISO-100
Focal Length: 1200 mm

#astronomy #astrophotography #craters
January 1, 2026 at 8:28 PM
#Waxing #gibbous #Moon

Last Moon of 2025 and first Moon of 2026, imaged 4 seconds to midnight and 1 second after.
See image and alt-text for further details.

Nikon D800
Skywatcher 200P

Exposure: f/5.9, 1/160s, ISO-100
Focal Length: 1200 mm

#astronomy #astrophotography #craters
January 1, 2026 at 1:03 AM
#Waxing #gibbous #Moon

Date: 2025 12 31
Time: 16:23:38 UTC
Altitude: 28° 44'
Distance: 358 490 km
Phase: 38%

Nikon D800
Skywatcher 200P

Exposure: f/5.9, 1/160s, ISO-100
Focal Length: 1200 mm

#astronomy #astrophotography #craters
December 31, 2025 at 5:16 PM
The run up to New Year has begun in Sydney. Fireworks at 9 pm followed by Beyond Blue moment at 10 in support of mental health and #Bondi with the bridge, boats and opera house lit in blue. You can watch it live at webcamsydney.com. Rewind video to 9 pm for the fireworks.

#NewYear
December 31, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Close-up of southern region of the #waxing #crescent #Moon

Date: 2025 12 26
Time: 18:09:44 UTC
Altitude: 32° 39'
Distance: 377 711 km
Phase: 39%

Nikon D800
Skywatcher 200P
2x Focal Extender

Exposure: f/5.9, 1/50s, ISO-400
Focal Length: 2400 mm

#astronomy #astrophotography #craters
December 27, 2025 at 5:00 PM
#Waxing #crescent #BoxingDay #Moon

Date: 2025 12 26
Time: 18:58:04 UTC
Altitude: 33° 03'
Distance: 377 712 km
Phase: 38%

Nikon D800
Skywatcher 200P

Exposure: f/5.9, 1/100s, ISO-200
Focal Length: 1200 mm

#astronomy #astrophotography #craters
December 26, 2025 at 9:54 PM
#Waxing #crescent #ChristmasDay #Moon

Date: 2025 12 25
Time: 18:54:26 UTC
Altitude: 20° 51'
Distance: 383 211 km
Phase: 29%

Nikon D800
Skywatcher 200P

Exposure: f/5.9, 1/125s, ISO-400
Focal Length: 1200 mm

#astronomy #astrophotography #craters
December 25, 2025 at 7:35 PM