Eric the Heliophysicist

Jon Lomberg is also a great illustrator. His Milky Way galaxy was beautiful and we used it (with his permission) as part of the background of a poster we did for the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) more than 25 years ago. It's still on my office wall right behind me.

Pre-dawn, pre-launch of the #IMAPMission.

#IMAPLaunch, ignition.

Clearing the tower.

Up, up, and away!

My Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (#IMAPMission) launched Wednesday morning (9/24)on a Falcon 9 from KSC (Pad 39A). It also had two secondary payloads, Carruthers and SWFO-L1. A fantastic launch. I'm Deputy PI and one of the instrument leads. ⚛️🧪

Family of four river otters on the Rocky Gorge Reservoir, Maryland.

The juvenile river otter is wearing a leaf cap, rakishly off on one side, while the adult is wondering what I am up to. Rocky Gorge Reservoir, Maryland.

Green Heron in the early morning light (the golden hour). Rocky Gorge Reservoir, Maryland.

Another early morning kayaking on the Rocky Gorge Reservoir. Daybreak is coming later (6 AM is still quite dark). But any trip where I see otters is a good trip.

NASA Moves Heliosphere Mapping Spacecraft for Fueling - NASA Science Technicians continue preparing NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) mission for its upcoming launch. The team moved the observatory to

Cool pictures of #IMAPmission (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) being fueled will follow, but here's the latest blog from NASA. #IMAPLaunch is a little more than a month. Go IMAP! ⚛️🧪https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/imap/2025/08/19/nasa-moves-heliosphere-mapping-spacecraft-for-fueling/

Eric Christian (wearing 'bunny suit') in a clean room in Florida, working on his High-energy Ion Telescope (HIT) instrument for the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission.

Currently working in a cleanroom near Kennedy Space Center on my instrument (HIT, the High-energy Ion Telescope) for the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (#IMAPMission). My instrument is right above my shoulder. #IMAPLaunch is less than fifty days away! 🧪⚛️ imap.princeton.edu

A new interstellar dust instrument (called IDEX) is launching this September on the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP). It is mostly observing dust that is roughly stationary with regard to the Very Local Interstellar Medium. I am DPI of IMAP. imap.princeton.edu/spacecraft/i...

Four raccoons (mother, tail down, and three young) on our deck rail.

Two young raccoon siblings competing over water dish.

The mother raccoon has been coming to our bird feeders for a couple of weeks. This evening, she brought her three kids.

Anybody who went to Caltech (or spent any time there) has to have Real Genius as #1 (δei).

⚛️🧪 The Exploratorium has put out a great new video talking about their 25 years of solar eclipse shows. I've been lucky to work with them on a number of eclipse shows and it's been a blast!
www.exploratorium.edu/video/explor...

I got within 4 or 5 feet of this gator. It's a good thing it was only about 2 foot long.

Wild Pigs

About a 5 foot gator

Reddish Egret concentrating

Another trip to NASA's Kennedy Space Center this week, so more wildlife photos (Black Point Wildlife Drive). It's the first time I've seen wild pigs. Descriptions with photos. Go IMAP - Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe!

Thanks. That is an interesting paper. I'm going to have to spend some more time with it.

Found the distant velocity (58 km/s), much larger than the proper motion (maybe 13.2 km/s, but there is considerable variation in different calculations). Still needs to be subtracted to get an accurate direction for the "source" of 3I/ATLAS.

Is there a plot of the 3I/ATLAS origin on the celestial sphere? Also, I see that the perihelion speed is ~68 km/s. What was it's original speed? I'm just curious about what's in that direction (after removing the Sun's proper motion).

I know about hyperbolic orbits, but it always struck me as odd. Would you say that 3I/ATLAS is orbiting the Sun? It is the continuation of the set of eccentricities, but by that definition, all nearby stars are, to some precision, in hyperbolic orbits around the Sun (as is everything).

Can you really call it an orbit? Isn't more accurately a trajectory?

A 6-7 foot gator.

An immature (still has brown) White Ibis.

A Reddish Egret (that's the name).

I was at Kennedy Space Center for my IMAP - Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe mission this week. I did get one morning to take the Black Point Wildlife Drive, which I always try to do when I'm down there.

NASA’s IMAP Spacecraft Readied for Launch Preparations - NASA Science Technicians removed NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) spacecraft from its shipping container on Thursday, May 29, after transferring

A new NASA blog post on our Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP #IMAPMission) as we arrive in Florida for final launch prep. I'll be down there next week and launch is scheduled for September. ⚛️🧪
science.nasa.gov/blogs/imap/2...

We very occasionally get a Flying Squirrel coming to our deck feeders (at night). This is one of the better clips.

Killdeer on the shore of the Rocky Gorge Reservoir

A beautiful morning to go kayaking (Rocky Gorge Reservoir, Maryland). Didn't take too many photos. The best was a Killdeer in the early morning light.

Yes, and obviously so for anyone who has looked at SN shells. It is incredibly dishonest of the original poster to not say so.

NASA’s IMAP Completes Thermal Vacuum Testing Campaign - NASA Science NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) has successfully completed thermal vacuum testing at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of its journey ...

A new NASA blog about our spacecraft that is launching this Fall: The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP).
🧪⚛️
I'm excited!
science.nasa.gov/blogs/imap/2...

Nothing but Imperial units for me 🙂

I love a lot of these books, but none of them is as good as Lord of Light - Zelazny.

You can also use Venus to slow yourself down (see #ParkerSolarProbe), but it also takes years (take it directly from one of the scientists on #ParkerSolarProbe).

YouTube video by the_miracle_aligner Everybody wants to rule the world cover in Classical Latin (SOFTBARDCORE)

Sometimes the net gives you something you didn't know you needed. Here is "Everybody want to rule the world" in Classic Latin.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtt7...

Eric R Christian - Sciences and Exploration Directorate Explore Eric R Christian's curriculum vitae, showcasing their work and contributions to the Sciences and Exploration Directorate at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Hi Physgal, please add me to the Science feed. Thanks. science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sci/bio/eric...

We received the signal that the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft went through closest approach to the Sun with no problems. The data will start getting transmitted in less than a week. blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarp...

Sun Avoidance

Xkcd has another take on the closest perihelion of Parker Solar Probe on December 24. But a miss is still a miss :-) xkcd.com/3029/

What kind of weirdo has leftover shrimp? 😄

Early this morning, #ParkerSolarProbe did its first closest approach (perihelion) to the Sun, 3.8 million miles from the surface. Perihelion will stay at this distance unless we change it. Friday, we will get the all-clear message, with the data in a couple of weeks. blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarp...