Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies
@palomarskies.bsky.social
Associate professor of astronomy at Palomar College, user of smart telescopes. 🔭 Blog: http://visiblesuns.blogspot.com/
Round one of this storm is done and it gave us more total rain than we had in all April through October.
November 16, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Round one of this storm is done and it gave us more total rain than we had in all April through October.
I just finished reading This Way Up - When Maps Go Wrong, a fun snarky book about maps and am now on to Chris Hadfield’s novel Final Orbit. #booksky
November 15, 2025 at 8:01 PM
I just finished reading This Way Up - When Maps Go Wrong, a fun snarky book about maps and am now on to Chris Hadfield’s novel Final Orbit. #booksky
🖖 One of my astronomy students got me a vintage Star Trek: The Next Generation com badge pin, which makes me very happy.
November 14, 2025 at 10:33 PM
🖖 One of my astronomy students got me a vintage Star Trek: The Next Generation com badge pin, which makes me very happy.
A visitor to the homestead this morning.
November 14, 2025 at 4:55 PM
A visitor to the homestead this morning.
Lots of clouds and rain in the forecast for the foreseeable future, so here's an image from last weekend of NGC 288, a globular star cluster located nearly 30,000 light years from Earth. 🔭
November 14, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Lots of clouds and rain in the forecast for the foreseeable future, so here's an image from last weekend of NGC 288, a globular star cluster located nearly 30,000 light years from Earth. 🔭
Valley Center, California. 8:08 pm PST.
November 12, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Valley Center, California. 8:08 pm PST.
More red glow from 33 degrees north.
November 12, 2025 at 4:15 AM
More red glow from 33 degrees north.
Northern lights? Maybe.
November 12, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Northern lights? Maybe.
That fuzzy dot at the center of the image is the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as captured from my backyard this morning. 🔭
November 11, 2025 at 5:15 PM
That fuzzy dot at the center of the image is the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as captured from my backyard this morning. 🔭
In between observing comets this morning I did manage to catch the Moon in its waning gibbous phase. 🔭
November 10, 2025 at 12:57 AM
In between observing comets this morning I did manage to catch the Moon in its waning gibbous phase. 🔭
I was up early this morning to catch two comets. The first was C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), a nice telescopic comet currently in Leo. The 2nd was the not-a-spaceship interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. It's the fuzzy dot at the center which I caught just over the trees as twilight was coming on. 🔭
November 9, 2025 at 8:10 PM
I was up early this morning to catch two comets. The first was C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), a nice telescopic comet currently in Leo. The 2nd was the not-a-spaceship interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. It's the fuzzy dot at the center which I caught just over the trees as twilight was coming on. 🔭
Last night at the planetarium one of our regulars gave me this old tie tack that had belonged to his dad. I recognized it immediately. It is of Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite. Telstar 1 was launched several months before I was born.
November 9, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Last night at the planetarium one of our regulars gave me this old tie tack that had belonged to his dad. I recognized it immediately. It is of Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite. Telstar 1 was launched several months before I was born.
Nice sunspots today - 7 November 2025. 🔭
November 7, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Nice sunspots today - 7 November 2025. 🔭
I voted by mail weeks ago but am proudly wearing my I Voted sticker today.
November 4, 2025 at 9:28 PM
I voted by mail weeks ago but am proudly wearing my I Voted sticker today.
🔭 Tonight's Moon is nearly full. It's 97.2% illuminated.
November 4, 2025 at 4:26 AM
🔭 Tonight's Moon is nearly full. It's 97.2% illuminated.
4/4 Ceres was discovered January first 1801 and was initially hailed as a new planet. It orbits between Mars and Jupiter. As more and more worlds were discovered orbiting in that region is was demoted to a 'minor planet' and in 2006 named with Pluto as a dwarf planet.
November 2, 2025 at 9:55 PM
4/4 Ceres was discovered January first 1801 and was initially hailed as a new planet. It orbits between Mars and Jupiter. As more and more worlds were discovered orbiting in that region is was demoted to a 'minor planet' and in 2006 named with Pluto as a dwarf planet.
3/4 Ceres has a volcanic mountain known as Ahuna Mons, a type of cryovolcanic dome. It is over 3 miles high and is thought to have erupted water that was thick with mud and salts.
November 2, 2025 at 9:50 PM
3/4 Ceres has a volcanic mountain known as Ahuna Mons, a type of cryovolcanic dome. It is over 3 miles high and is thought to have erupted water that was thick with mud and salts.
2/4 Here is Occator Crater on Ceres. Those bright spots on the surface are deposits of salts of magnesium and/or sodium that have been left behind from eruptions of salty water out onto the surface of this water-rich dwarf planet.
November 2, 2025 at 9:42 PM
2/4 Here is Occator Crater on Ceres. Those bright spots on the surface are deposits of salts of magnesium and/or sodium that have been left behind from eruptions of salty water out onto the surface of this water-rich dwarf planet.
😉 I have been overhearing a lot of people talking about "the world Ceres" but not seeing any images here, so here's Ceres, which has dual citizenship as a dwarf planet and the largest asteroid. 🔭 1/4
November 2, 2025 at 9:35 PM
😉 I have been overhearing a lot of people talking about "the world Ceres" but not seeing any images here, so here's Ceres, which has dual citizenship as a dwarf planet and the largest asteroid. 🔭 1/4
Halloween Moon. 🔭
November 1, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Halloween Moon. 🔭
A sure sign that we have a lots of kids at the planetarium today.
October 30, 2025 at 6:10 PM
A sure sign that we have a lots of kids at the planetarium today.
2/2 I ended up with a decent image of the Moon. 🔭
October 30, 2025 at 3:08 AM
2/2 I ended up with a decent image of the Moon. 🔭
1/2 Not the best seeing tonight. Still...
October 30, 2025 at 3:07 AM
1/2 Not the best seeing tonight. Still...
Last night after the students in my astronomy lab finished their activity we went out to catch Comet Lemmon and to observe the Moon.
October 29, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Last night after the students in my astronomy lab finished their activity we went out to catch Comet Lemmon and to observe the Moon.
