Geraint Jones

So sorry to hear this terrible news Michele. Thinking of you at this difficult time.

London's BT Tower silhouetted against the disk of the rising Sun, with the sunspot groups of active regions AR13720 & 13719 prominent. 2024 June 25.
Taken from the Hog's Back, Surrey, about 50km from the tower; 150 million km from the Sun
#london #bttower #sun #astrophotography #sunspots #astronomy

☀️🌑🛰️ 2026: The year we arrive at Mercury!

After almost 8 years since its launch in 2018, BepiColombo is entering its most critical phase yet. It is about to end its interplanetary phase and initiate its Mercury approach.

Ariane 6 paper model To celebrate Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket, you can now challenge yourself to build your own Ariane 6 paper model using ESA’s printable guide.

Prosiect Pritt Stick am y penwythnos? (yn wahanol i'r llun, mae yna 4 booster!)
ESA - Ariane 6 paper model share.google/vR0d9crBzObE...

The debris images used to be catalogued here, though the site isn't working for me at the moment. lasco-www.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=...

There are many occasional similar images, from what I recall probably fragments of multilayer insulation, probably after a dust grain impact. This is a particularly busy image though, @sungrazercomets.bsky.social is the expert.
Background stars are as expected nova.astrometry.net/user_images/...

The epic adventures of BepiColombo | Part 2: It’s a long way to Mercury YouTube video by European Space Agency, ESA

Space adventurers Bepi, Mio and MTM have just one year to go until they reach Mercury. What have they been up to since their journey began in 2018?
Watch episode 2 of 'The epic adventures of BepiColombo' here 👉 youtu.be/41EdqhlH3PQ 👀
🔭 #planetsci #BepiColombo

Congratulations Beatriz! Very well deserved.

Many congratulations! 👏

Banner that reads: ESA SPACE-SCIENCE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME. Join us in the exciting adventure that is space science!

Are you an early-career scientist or engineer?

Then the ESA Research #Fellowships in Space Science might be just the right opportunity for you.

Check out the programme details here 👉 www.cosmos.esa.int/web/space-sc... 🔭 🧪 ☄️

Hear from mission scientist Colin Snodgrass in his interview with @earthskyscience.bsky.social talking all things Comet Interceptor 🚀☄️

Looks like you caught Mercury in the frame too, at the bottom... 👍

The sounds of BepiColombo's sixth flight past Mercury

Listen to the vibrations recorded inside the BepiColombo spacecraft when passing Mercury!
www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
#planetaryscience #BepiColombo #Mercury

Hi Chris, yes, good thanks; hope same for you. Plenty to keep me very busy!

Yes, ejecta clumps can form rows of smaller craters. Each particle in ejecta follows a parabolic curve over the surface, but together they form an expanding cone of material moving out from the crater during formation. First understood in 1960s when modelled with high speed gas guns fired in vacuum.

Almost certainly a coincidence in this case.
But, you can get rows of smaller craters formed when material gets thrown out of larger ones (secondary craters).
Also, there are some cases in the outer solar system of broken comets forming craters in a line, e.g. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ch...

Greyscale, but a colour version wouldn't look very different. The three M-CAMs that took these images are black and white engineering monitoring cameras.
The scientific visible/near infrared light camera, SIMBIO-SYS, will provide colour data when we orbit Mercury. www.cosmos.esa.int/web/bepicolo...

Thanks for all your support and expert insights yesterday, Dave!

Top three images from BepiColombo's sixth Mercury flyby On 8 January 2025, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission flew past Mercury for the sixth time, successfully completing the final ‘gravity assist manoeuvre’ needed to steer it into orbit around the planet i...

We had an exciting time at ESA ESOC yesterday watching these beautiful images arrive. These already amazing views are from engineering monitoring cameras;the science cameras will give us far better images after arrival in orbit in late 2026. #BepiColombo #planetaryscience
www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

Heading to the European Space Operations Centre, ESOC, in Darmstadt for tomorrow's encounter with Mercury... 🛰️ #planetaryscience
www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

BepiColombo reveals Mercury in a new light On 1 December 2024, BepiColombo flew past Mercury for the fifth time. During this flyby, BepiColombo became the first spacecraft ever to observe Mercury in mid-infrared light. The new images reveal va...

www.esa.int/Science_Expl... #planetaryscience #BepiColombo

BepiColombo's fifth Mercury flyby BepiColombo's fifth Mercury flyby

Coming up this Sunday...
www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed... #bepicolombo #Planetary
#Science #Space