Dan Simmons, who wrote Hyperion and many other books, died this week, so that gave me the soundtrack.
I somehow never read Hyperion or any of his other books. I just ordered Hyperion on Kindle.
In the meantime, my theme for this week is "I thought these were pretty."
The cosmos gifted us a rose 🌹
— NASA (@NASA) February 27, 2026
This rose is made of a pair of interacting galaxies that have been distorted by each other’s gravitational pulls. Learn more about these cosmic companions: https://t.co/4CeWf4cbhY pic.twitter.com/DSO98UVunP
The pictures of the "jellyfish" that result from SpaceX launches are pretty spectacular.
JELLYFISH CLOUD! New pictures coming in across Florida from the SpaceX launch this morning! It has this unique look because the rocket and the plume are high enough above Earth that it’s illuminated by sunlight, but down near the ground for us it's still dark before sunrise. pic.twitter.com/7QHAOXP5XG
— Matt Devitt (@MattDevittWX) March 4, 2026
We also had a lunar eclipse this week. Now, I'm going to admit that I've seen a number of lunar eclipses, and didn't bother to try to see this one. But if I could see the aurora as well, it would be worth the trouble.
No words to describe the experience of seeing an overhead corona aurora at THE SAME TIME as a total lunar eclipse--this happened last night on our aurora workshop. Crazy experience. The aurora was so bright and the snow glowed green under the blood moon. pic.twitter.com/pNso9gjScL
— Vincent Ledvina (@Vincent_Ledvina) March 4, 2026
But I guess we've got to have at least one picture. This one makes a free phone background, too. There are lots more at McCarthy's X and website.
Due to popular request, I’ve added high quality wallpapers (mobile & 4k) to my shop for my latest eclipse release. The mobile wallpaper is free!
— Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) March 5, 2026
You can find the link in my bio. pic.twitter.com/tr4dim7bTd
More jellyfish.
The most insane Falcon 9 Jellyfish I’ve ever seen during this mornings Starlink. pic.twitter.com/G6s9zxKQ9z
— Cameron Schwartz (@nyoomtm) March 4, 2026
And a guide to jellyfishing.
This will help all of you upset about missing the launches I always catch in the southwestern US https://t.co/CUqOn0cFAd pic.twitter.com/xv5ins1glB
— Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) March 2, 2026
Einstein lenses have gone from being "wow, that happens" to useful in an awfully short time. But this one demonstrates that it's good to be good, but better to be lucky.
A one-in-a-million chance—and it happened.
— Black Hole (@konstructivizm) March 4, 2026
A team from the Technical University of Munich spent six years compiling a list of promising gravitational lenses and waiting for a supernova to explode behind one of them. In August 2025, it happened.
A superluminous supernova 10… pic.twitter.com/MyCgX5zmFP
The Sun. But you will have guessed that.
The Sun in H-alpha. 🌞
— ZWO (@zwoastro) March 4, 2026
Captured with a Heliostar 76 and ZWO ASI174MM, processed in AS4 & PixInsight.
Credit:Maciek Łukaszv#ZWO #SolarImaging #ASI174MM #Astrophotography #Sun pic.twitter.com/NNdaaWcq5T
Another bit of wildness is that we are now pretty sure that Betelgeuse is actually a binary star, and the big one is eating its smaller companion.
This tells us a lot about how stars work. Fexi is a new channel I've just discovered, and it seems to be pretty good technically.
This is what happens.
AstroBin's Image of the Day: "Puppis A and The Swirl | A Supernova and Evidence of it's Binary Partner" by Kevin Morefield - https://t.co/vF9JWIUcmj#astrophotography pic.twitter.com/65I4ryFSek
— AstroBin.com (@AstroBin_com) March 3, 2026
Pretty.
'The NGC 3576 Nebula'
— Swetilein (@Swetilein1) March 6, 2026
Credit & Copyright: Ken Crawford (Rancho Del Sol Observatory), Macedon Ranges Observatory https://t.co/O6qbapcany 03-26-2008#astronomy #space pic.twitter.com/Z4567p0038
Since I've been interested in astronomy, our picture of the universe has changed radically. I don't think anyone had any idea how crowded it is. From a sufficient distance.
M81 (Bode’s Galaxy) and M82 (the Cigar Galaxy)
— ZWO (@zwoastro) March 2, 2026
Carlo Cito captured this stunning galactic duo using a Celestron C8 (reduced to 0.63) with the ZWO ASI2600MC Pro.
This image combines 90×300s exposures with an Optolong L-Pro filter. 👏#ZWO #Astrophotography #Galaxies #M81 #M82 pic.twitter.com/vSIX1vJhrO
Is it lunchtime yet?
Sh2-157 — The Lobster Claw Nebula 🌌
— astrojuanan (@astrojuanan) March 5, 2026
A complex star-forming region in the constellation Cassiopeia, where ionized hydrogen, oxygen and sulfur gases sculpt turbulent structures illuminated by massive young stars.#Astrophotography #Astronomy #DeepSky #Nebula #SH2157 #Cassiopeia… pic.twitter.com/C020MkYUJF
Let's finish up with a little bit of space history. After Apollo 8 went around the Moon, Apollo 9 went into Earth orbit again and tested the Lunar Module. This may seem like a step down, but it not only made a big step toward the landing, but — something that people forget is that the LM couldn't re-enter on its own. If they hadn't been able to dock again, they would have been in real trouble.
🚀🌕 On this day in space: 3 March 1969
— OrbitalToday.com (@SpaceBiz1) March 3, 2026
Apollo 9 launches the first crewed test of NASA’s lunar module.
James McDivitt, David Scott and Rusty Schweickart spent 10 days in Earth orbit proving the spacecraft that would later carry humans to the Moon actually worked. Engines… pic.twitter.com/VWjzkvvtC3
So I had more doctoring taking up my time this week. Everything came out all right, but there was a 48-hour fast and some anesthesia involved. The big result is I'm down to 212 pounds, which is by a good bit the least I've weighed in this millennium. But I don't recommend it as a regular thing.
So come back next week, while I get used to eating again.
