Fascinated by things very big, very small, and beyond the limits of the human senses. Founder of OpenMind: www.openmindmag.org Creator of the Invisible Universe column: https://invisibleuniverse.substack.com/
Corey S. Powell
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Just look at this gorgeous portrait of celestial creation.
JWST trained its infrared vision on one tiny patch in the Orion Nebula. There, it saw a wild collage of collapsing clouds, protostars, jets, shockwaves, and dark disks where new planets are forming. ðŸ”🧪
esawebb.org/images/potm2...
'Purple Rain'
Earth's atmosphere revealed by a Himawari satellite study of water vapor in the infrared, an extended look at the turmoil in the water-filled skies of planet Earth.
Each minute covers one day.
Each shot covers one month.
The 7h15m40s 4K video is not looped.
youtu.be/bjvmUL_A20A
Video
Another great time-lapse image of a planet-forming nebula, showing changes in real time.
This one is called Gomez's Hamburger. You can see a lot of motion (including moving stars!) over 21 years. 🧪
bsky.app/profile/geck...
This is, by far, the most detailed map of magnetic fields in the universe. Red shows fields pointed toward us; blue shows fields pointed away.
We can't see these fields directly, but we know they influence structures across the cosmos. 🧪ðŸ”
theconversation.com/see-a-new-ma...
This is important.
Corey S. Powell
We've got the Artemis III crew members!
Now we just need a working Moon lander for them to rendezvous with in Earth orbit during their test run next year. 🧪
www.nasa.gov/news-release...
Seán Doran
Corey S. Powell
Arrows indicate the places where planets could be forming *right now* around the baby star AB Aurigae. Welcome to the universe, little worlds.
Image from the SPHERE instrument on the Very Large Telescope. 🧪ðŸ”
www.eso.org/public/image...
Corey S. Powell
If you live near a city, this is about the best version of Orion you'll ever see. The Orion Nebula is the fuzzy middle patch in the "sword" hanging down from the 3 belt stars.
Compare the view from our biological eyes with the view from our technological eyes. ðŸ”🧪
www.popastro.com/blog/2026/02...
Exciting: Artemis III
Less exciting: The current budget proposal would cut NASA funding by 24% and NASA science by 46%. It would shut down a (free!) mission to an Earth-threatening asteroid, delay or cancel the search for alien life, and much more. 🧪
www.planetary.org/articles/82-...
Planets form in swirling disks of gas and dust around newborn stars. It's not just a theory--we can watch it happening!
These images show the rotating disk around young star AB Aurigae, 520 light years from Earth. They were taking over 4 years at Paranal Observatory. 🧪ðŸ”
www.eso.org/public/video...
Two telescopes, two epochs, the same nebula. You might have to stare for a little bit to fully appreciate all the movement going. Apologies to any faint stars who got deleted. I tried to remove the NICMOS PSFs from the Hubble view (which is lower resolution/blurrier)
