You all probably remember Mike Oldfield from Tubular Bells. Less well known is this album, inspired by the Arthur C Clarke novella "Songs of Distant Earth." Today's soundtrack.
Earth can be a spectacle.
Wow! What a perfect view of a blue jet or a giant jet! Bucket list shot, but so much more difficult to catch than red sprites. https://t.co/EOiPayiSYq
— Jure Atanackov (@JAtanackov) April 28, 2025
Launch.
Thrilled to share my first photo of a rocket taken from the pad! I got special permission from @ulalaunch to capture this Atlas V rocket carrying Amazon’s first Kuiper satellites to space.
— Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) April 30, 2025
It was so close it ruined my lens, but the outcome is priceless. pic.twitter.com/jKGn71Opei
A stunning launch out of Cape Canaveral tonight. Instead of shooting a series of photos up close, I just let one 8-minute exposure tell the story.
— Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) April 28, 2025
You can see the ballistic trajectory of the rocket as it takes new Starlink satellites into orbit. pic.twitter.com/6xYs1OioCa
Passing by.
Last night I used 4 cameras to capture the ultimate HDR view of the lunar eclipse
— Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) March 14, 2025
This 300GB image shows the lunar surface in extreme detail, while revealing all rich color that was projected onto the surface
See the full res crop or get a print in the reply to this post pic.twitter.com/5VYAobEpfI
Mars
A full rotation of the planet Mars pic.twitter.com/NO6aNtMqbt
— Curiosity (@MAstronomers) April 25, 2025
Looking up.
Mars at night.
— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) March 14, 2025
It will be worth the trip to just look up. pic.twitter.com/j3VkS5BSyE
A home away from home? Why not?
In-between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, lies the largest object in the asteroid belt; Ceres.
— FarLife (@FarLife1) March 15, 2025
This dazzling dwarf planet consists of over 25% water (H2O), and is thought to possess a subsurface ocean.
The bright spots of brine are a sign that Ceres is cryovolcanically active.… pic.twitter.com/RAwtNqmcp5
The suburbs.
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune as seen by the James Webb Telescope. pic.twitter.com/9yiYLJsgJ4
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) April 25, 2025
Around Jupiter
NASA image of Jupiter’s Moon Io. pic.twitter.com/bEoeXfARAJ
— All day Astronomy (@forallcurious) April 25, 2025
And while we're in the neighborhood.
One of the best images of Jupiter photographed by NASA's Juno probe pic.twitter.com/Q5Jo3APsMU
— Curiosity (@MAstronomers) January 25, 2025
Saturn wearing his crown.
This is the closest photo of Saturn ever taken
— Black Hole (@konstructivizm) May 1, 2025
NASA pic.twitter.com/N53UFRijI5
Another sight to see.
Not Saturn, but Uranus and her moons as seen in infrared.
— All day Astronomy (@forallcurious) May 1, 2025
(📷 ESO) pic.twitter.com/R3RZLxxMSb
Neptune rules the starry seas.
When I used to teach classroom and laboratory astronomy, my favorite planet to discuss (really hard to see without amazing telescopes, and even then it is faint) was always Neptune.
— Timothy Imholt (@TimothyImholt) April 26, 2025
I'm not sure why, but I always found it fascinating.
planets pic.twitter.com/IHn4jm6euf
And Pluto rules the outer darkness.
Here's a little love from Pluto today. 💛🧡🤎
— Sarah Salviander (@sarahsalviander) April 25, 2025
The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. – Psalm 145:8-9 pic.twitter.com/XgaRmV9KS7
But Pluto is not alone.
Charon
Clearest image ever taken of Charon, Pluto's largest moon. pic.twitter.com/HLAT1IuTp5
— Curiosity (@MAstronomers) April 30, 2025
So much out there.
Ultima Thule is part of a population of extremely primitive objects (orange zone) in the outer solar system. New Horizons is about to meet a very different kind of object than Pluto (white orbit). Animation by @Alex_Parker pic.twitter.com/jJNMe9U42s
— Corey S. Powell (@coreyspowell) December 28, 2018
A full light-day from Earth
Signals from Earth now take 23 hours and 9 minutes to reach Voyager 1, with an equal delay for a response.
— Erika (@ExploreCosmos_) February 6, 2025
Looking ahead, @NASAVoyager 1 is expected to reach a distance of one light-day (~ 25.9 billion kilometers) from the Sun in January 2027, coinciding with the 50th… pic.twitter.com/bjUqQu5RqF
And the stars.
The Hubble captured a detailed view of NGC 5335, a flocculent spiral galaxy 225 Mly away.🌌✨
— Cosmopilot (@SpAcE_LoVeR1) April 25, 2025
Lacking well-defined spiral arms, it features a central bar structure that channels gas inward, fueling star formation—a dynamic trait seen in ~30% of galaxies, including our own. pic.twitter.com/czxy0YiHis
I don't know, maybe I'm feeling a little poetic today.
As always, thanks for coming to Sky Candy this week, and don't forget there's a daily dose of the sky, space art, and space science at The Stars Our Destination. Let me know how this unusual Sky Candy works for you, and remember that there will be more Sky Candy next Friday.
