@nivnac.bsky.social
Former radio astronomer, current meteorologist and data scientist. Planetary image processing and rover hugger.
Amazing news! Congratulations!
11.07.2025 09:26 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The MER rovers brought us a great variety of views of Martian scenery. This mosaic of 6 frames show the shadows lengthening across the interior of 14 mile (22 km) wide Endeavour Crater. This is the initial 'Monument Valley red' version I made, later I reconsidered what the colors should be and both versions appear at the Arizona State University of Arizona PANCAM page. This image was picked up all over the place, and appeared on the cover of the Summer Solstice 2013 issue of the Planetary Report.
The MER rover Opportunity photographed the lengthening shadows on its 2847th Martian day, or 'Sol'. I combined 6 images making this view while fighting the wildly different contrast and exposures in the preliminary jpegs. Two versions are on the ASU PANCAM site:
pancam.sese.asu.edu/2847B_P2445....
Of course Earth is my favorite planet. It's home. But Mars is where my imagination lives. I've dedicated the last 8 years of my career to its exploration. I refuse to let billionaires ruin the home of my imagination and defile the frontier of the human experience.
22.01.2025 17:03 — 👍 80 🔁 16 💬 5 📌 0Everyone is dealing with the US Presidential inauguration in their own way. My version, for now, is to express my thoughts as a citizen of the USA.
Feel free to ignore this deeply political post, but as they say, “buckle up” if you choose to read through. 🧵
A grey sky framed by silhouettes of trees on either side and by lot clouds at the bottom. The comet is just above the clouds with a tail extending towards the upper right.
Managed to catch Comet ATLAS fortuitously through the only tiny gap in-between trees as seen from my balcony here in Melbourne. Pretty ancient Nikon D90, f/5 4”. 21:37 AEDT (58 mins past sunset) 6° above horizon, just about to enter cloud. #comet #cometc2024g3
20.01.2025 11:40 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Glen Nagle (left) and myself standing at a gate. Behind us is DSS36 one of the 34m antennas in the DSN network which is pointing to the upper right.
Today I finally got to meet Glen Nagle in person after nearly 20 years of knowing each other online! He gave us an amazing tour of Canberra DSN complex. The amount of space history artefacts that Glen has been able to save, both in the visitor centre and in his archive is staggering.
14.01.2025 06:22 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
