Christoph Seidler @chs42@qoto.org

#Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) over #California's central coast

Wurzelbehandlung, Darmspiegelung, Elternabend - alles schön und gut. Aber war schon mal jemand von Ihnen auf dem Zollamt, um simulierten Mond- und Marsstaub abzuholen?

Schatzsucher aus Polen wollen Meteoritentrümmer des #Asteroiden #2024BX1 bei Berlin aufgespürt haben. Sind sie echt? »Entweder ist das etwas Irdisches, oder etwas sehr Besonderes«, sagt Experte vom @mfnberlin: https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/weltall/2024-bx1-polen-wollen-meteoritentruemmer-bei-berlin-gefunden-haben-a-23547f0e-bc25-4eb2-9e5a-0957b9ccf365?sara_ref=re-so-app-sh

When you order your #F16 on #Whish...

#aviation #aviationphotography #fighterplanes #fighterjet

#Sunspots. Seen from my balcony. No #telescope, just a regular #camera and a #filter. Wow.

Just a General Atomics MQ-1L #Predator A #drone hanging from the ceiling. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space #Museum is such an incredible place. This drone, from what I read, was built in 2000, flew 196 combat missions over Afghanistan and was the first Predator to use the #Hellfire missile.

This is the #Boeing E-4 Airborne Command Post (aka Nightwatch or #Doomsday aircraft) of US SecDef Lloyd Austin during his recent trip to #Berlin (and a Bombardier Challenger of the German Government as a bonus). The E-4 is based on a Boeing 747-200B and in total four of these planes were built in the seventies. A replacement project has recently begun. The #plane is designed to remain airborne for a full week in case of emergency, if aerial refuelling is available. #planespotting #planespotters #avgeek #avgeeks #plane #planes

This is an engineering model of NASA's #Mars lander #InSight. I took the picture in November 2018 while visiting JPL a few days before the landing (which went well). The folks at #JPL used a sandbox to simulate the conditions that the lander would encounter. This included not only the properties of the soil but also the lighting conditions. Note the yellow Martian light. Scientifically, InSight had a mixed success. While a "Mars Mole" provided by @DLR failed to dig into the soil as planned, a French built seismometer gathered loads of data on Mars quakes, including events that were triggered by the impact of #meteorites. Over time dust accumulated on the solar panels, though. Due to constraints rated to complexity and cost no cleaning mechanism was implemented. Now, according to #Nasa, the power lever is so low that InSight stopped responding to commands from the earth. So, rest in peace you little dusty machine that helped us learn so much about Mars's interior. #RIP

This is one of the iconic #Antonov #An-124 #Ruslan freighters originally designed for the Soviet military. Roughly 50 of those have been built. After the collapse of the Soviet Union quite a few of the planes have been used in the commercial charter business. This one, operated by Antonov Airlines flew cargo for the German military prior to the withdrawal from #Afghanistan. I saw it at #LEJ airport in spring 2021. A totally different time, it seems. In the meantime Russia has attacked Ukraine, including an eventually unsuccessful attempt to seize the Airport of #Kiev Hostomel where Antonov was based. The huge #An-225, the bigger sister of the #Ruslan was destroyed. The Ukrainian #An-125, though, seem to be still in business. They occasionally pop up on the flight tracker app of your choice hauling cargo all over the planet.

About to do some research on #maunaloaeruption...

#maunaloa #hawaii #volcano

This is the #Apollo 14 command module 'Kitty Hawk'. It flew #astronauts Roosa, Sheppard and Mitchell to the moon and back in January and February 1971. Fun fact: The astronauts were in Germany for their #geology training in August 1970. In the Nördlinger Ries impact crater in southern Germany, they encountered geological conditions somewhat similar to those at the landing site in the Fra Mauro region. The command module in on display at the Kennedy Space Center in #Florida.

This is a #lockheed 1049G Super Constellation in front of the Museum of Flight in #seattle. From 1954 on, it flew passengers for Trans-Canada Airlines. Later the #superconnie hauled cargo for World Wide Airways until it was retired in 1965. It is on display in Seattle since 2009. #avgeek #avgeeks

On my way. #artemis1

#otd in 1988, the Soviet Space Shuttle #Buran launched for the first and only time on the giant #Energia rocket. This is the giant rail transporter-erector that was built for the project at the #BaikonurCosmodrome. The 'grasshopper' was pulled by by four railcars and was used to bring the stack to the launch site. I took this picture in 2014 during a visit to Baikonur. But I am pretty sure that those 2700+ tons of steel still sit exactly in the same place today.

That ist exactly what it looks like. The "Disposable Absorption Containment Trunk" was originally developed for female astronauts like Sally Ride to be used on the US #spaceshuttle for bathroom breaks at inconvenient times. Men were supposed to use a urine collection hose and bag assembly. #spacehistory

#astronaut Pete Conrad flew to space four times. On his last flight in summer 1973 he took a mixtape to the #skylab station to entertain his colleagues. And, by the way, without the bravery of Conrad and his two fellow astronauts there would have been no Skylab at all as the station was badly damaged during the start earlier. The three decided that it would still be possible to stay and managed to repair the station. What's on the tape you ask? Among others it's country by Loretta Lynn.

Today's image is one of a Transall C-160 transport #plane , forever parked in Hohn in northern Germany. The German #Luftwaffe has finally stopped using the plane by the end of 2021. In the years before it was gradually replaced by the #a400m. The French-German project for the #Transall was started in the late 50s and 60s. The name C-160 refers to the fact that it was used for C-argo and had a wing area of 160 square meters.

Today's image is a Nike #missile at the former launch site NY-56 in Sandy Hook, NJ. These surface to air missiles were supposed to protect #newyorkcity during the early phase of the cold war. #airdefense