https://preview.redd.it/0b3752uu225e1.jpg?width=838&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6466119bbd49a10bf51c18dc80664e28d3f63a2

The image is PIA17171: The Day the Earth Smiled. I can not find a high-resolution without an arrow.

A few months back I went outside to try to see the aurora Australis. I didn't see it, but while I was out there I happened to see a point of light appear, get bigger, and disappear in roughly a second. Figured it could only be a meteor whose trajectory was headed straight towards me. I was just thinking about it now and wondering if this is a rare occurrence or not.

Spent $7.99/m for the masking tool in Lightroom, it was worth it tho. For like the 4th time here in Reddit I have photographed the same target in space and this will pretty sure be my last one. Or will it?

Recently I took my son to an observatory and now he wants to go look at the stars before we go to bed. I’ve never studied astronomy so my knowledge base is pretty much limited to “the big yellow one is the sun”. My question is about star gazing apps. I have “sky walker 2” app for the iPhone. Is that a good app? If not does anyone have any recommendations?

Edit: the app I currently use is Star walk 2 not sky walk 2.

So from what I’ve read, the sun should theoretically be visible to the naked eye for about 50-58 light years. It would look like a barely visible star in our night sky. This makes sense to a degree; however, in artists depictions of the sun from Pluto it already looks like a star in the sky (although a still bright one). It would be 1/39th the size it is from the earth since Pluto on average is 39 AU from the Sun. And it more or less brightens Pluto around the brightness of a full moon here on earth.

How could this be? 58 light years is almost 4,000,000 AU the sun would look about 1/4000000th the size it is on earth. I want to believe the sun is visible for almost 60 light years as it will open up possibilities of other lifeforms finding us but I find it hard to believe the sun could be visible from that distance. Am I missing something?

Some I'm struggling to understand these two. I know Gravastars haven't been proven to be real yet. So black holes, have a singerlarity. I don't fully understand what that is, does it go anywhere? Like is there a whole new infinite universe inside that experiences time differently than we do? I know that a black hole spaghettis any objects that fall into it, but where does the remains of those objects go? To an infinite universe? Or does something happen even more to the remains, like they get broken down even more inside and it's being spat out through the jets of the black hole? Gravastars, the shell that surrounds it, is it a shield that nothing can get passed? Or is the shield breaking down objects that come into contact with it, like disintegrating the object until literally nothing is left of the object is that possible? What is inside the gravastars? Nothing? What would nothing look like? If it didn't have the shell, then what? Would it be a black hole without the shell?

This might be a weird question but how big/small can a planet be before it becomes uninhabitable for life to occur naturally, also how many times less or greater would it’s size an gravity be compared to earth?

My high school astronomy club got a one on one interview with Neil DeGrasse Tyson and I wanted to know what the people of reddit want to ask him! I will look through the comments and pick out good questions and make a new post after the interview with his answers.

The meeting is on December 12th, so stay in tune soon after that date to see how he answers your questions!

I graduated university in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in radio/television/film production. Since my visit to the Air & Space Museum in 2023, I’ve wanted to switch career paths, so to speak. I’ve always been interested in astronomy but never took it as seriously as I do now.

So, how can I go about working in the field of astronomy with my media degree? What steps would I have to take to switch paths (certifications, experience in the field, etc.)

Specifically, my expertise is in exoplanets and I’ve been a volunteer with NASA’s Exoplanet Watch research group since January ‘24. I also have some journalism experience.

Quite new to AstroPhotography and was always amazed to see photos of Orion Nebula in this sub, so gave a try clicking it yesterday.

Though it isn't much detailed but still happy as it was my first try and first shot of a deep space object.

Location and Time: Uttarakhand, India • 3-Dec-2024 • 11:15 PM

Equipment Used: Nikon D3500 • Tamron 150-600mm G2

Camera Settings: f/5.6 • 1 sec • 200mm • 1600 ISO

Processing Info: Stacked 60 x 1 sec images using DeepSkyStacker. No calibration frames used. Edited using Adobe Photoshop, basic curves, levels and saturation adjustment. Denoise using Camera Raw Filter in Photoshop.

Feel free to give suggestions for improvement.

Orion Nebula from Bortle 9 Skies

Taken with: ASI294MC Pro Takahashi FCT-65D w/ Takahashi 1.5x Extender 260 Light frames (10,30,60,120,360,600 seconds) 217 Dark Frames 61 Flat Frames 31 Bias Frames Gain 120 ZWO AM5 with ASIAIR No filters Stacked in Siril and processed in PixInsight and Photoshop with DXO plugins

Is there any site or app, where I can explore the milky way, can nicely move around and learn interesting facts?

9:53pm HST, observing at sea level from Maui. Initially thought it was a plane, then a LEO satellite. Then I pulled out my SkewView app, and it said it’s Sirius. Twinkling red blue and white. Anyone else seeing this?