Ted Stryk
@tedstryk
Interplanetary Dumpster Diver. Asteroid (230728) Tedstryk Images I post are Copyright Ted Stryk (processed or taken by me) unless otherwise noted. Professor at Roane State CC in Oak Ridge, TN
Today in 1976, 50 years ago, the Viking 1 lander touched down on Chryse Planitia, Mars, and became humanity's first long term outpost on another world (the Venera Venus landers lasted an hour or two, Viking 1 lasted over 6 years).
Today in 2020, I photographed Comet Neowise from downtown Knoxville. With the pandemic raging, it was fascinating to see people all take pictures of it from around where they live instead of traveling to exotic locations.
This keeps happening. I'm actually in Alaska right now. It's also happening back home. Other than a flight layover in 2025, I haven't been to Texas in many years. I want to know what is wrong with Bluesky's location system, and why it is that the Texas legislature feels like it can bother people.
The Psyche Mars flyby images remind me of Triton. I think it's because Mars and Triton are the only two worlds we've visited with thin, normal altitude atmospheres that are still able to produce clearly visible features such as clouds blowing downwind (even if Triton's may all come from geysers).
Strange seeing the eclipse photos from a few years ago (2024) pop up in my memories just after seeing the Artemis II eclipse. We watched from Paducah, Kentucky.
This Artemis II eclipse is giving me Clementine 1994 vibes with Venus in the background.
Okay, going to my pictures of the moon during the Artemis flyby, this one, just before I lost it, is my favorite because of the foreground trees on the lower right. It gives perspective.
Strange looking up from my front yard at the moon through wispy clouds and knowing that there are people out there, right now, looking at it from nearby. Artemis II goes around the moon today!
While we will see the Orientale basin from Artemis II, it's not the first time that humans have seen it from the vicinity of the Moon. It was viewed in earthshine from Apollo 17 in 1972. That said, the sunlit views from high above that we are about to receive promise to be spectacular.
Keenan Golder presents at our research colloquium on his work on smooth plains on Mercury.
Pluto and Charon from the approaching New Horizons spacecraft on July 14, 2015.
The Davy crater chain (Catena Davy) from Luna 22, which orbited the moon in 1974.
No eclipse this morning, but the moon in the clouds with a nice little jet contrail over was nice.
The only decent shot I got of the lunar eclipse before clouds rolled in. Taken from my front yard in Powell, Tennessee. This is from my phone . I started setting up the camera, and when I looked back up the moon was in the clouds.
Today in 1972, Pioneer 10 was launched, becoming humanity's first spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt, encounter Jupiter, and leave the planetary system.
Enceladus, moon of Saturn, from the Cassini spacecraft on November 4, 2016. It is still odd not having views like this anymore. The run between 2004-2017 made it feel normal. I hope JUICE and Clipper, both in the Jovian system, have a similar effect.
These little worlds are fascinating. Given the little swarms around Uranus and Neptune, plus the whole host of KBO objects, it is enough to wet one's appetite, but our datasets are so limited.
In February of 1972, Luna 20 was on the moon in the Apollonius highlands, with its sampling arm hard at work finding a place to drill and then burrowing into the surface. This would be the only one of the three successful Soviet sample return missions to photograph the surface...maybe...
The deposits around the volcano Pele on Io looked like a heart as Voyager 1 approached in March of 1979. For today, I rotated it around to emphasize that. By the time Galileo saw it in 1996, the indentation at the top of this image was mostly gone. Happy Valentine's Day!
Mariner 10 receding from humanity's first encounter with Mercury in March of 1973. New features slowly rotate into view, including the large crater "Mozart" just below the center of the terminator.
I hope you enjoyed the 40th anniversary tour of the Uranian system. I hope we see this it again as soon as possible.
Io, moon of Jupiter, from the Galileo spacecraft on April 4, 1997. The dark spot surrounded by the red circle is Pele, a large volcano. The caldera Loki can be seen as a black spot with an island in the middle near the terminator.