BTW, please note that any movie/data/science I tweet is 100% public domain, without exception. I never post data that can't be found online.
Pinned Tweet
Follow
Click to Follow SungrazerComets
Karl Battams
@SungrazerComets
Computational science Dr. @ USNRL. PI of SOHO/LASCO & Sungrazer Project. Comets, asteroids, Sun & more. Personal (legacy verified) account; all opinions mine.
Karl Battams’s Tweets
A triad of filament eruptions on the Sun last night, with the last one showing impressive structure in coronagraph data! #spaceweather (data: SUVI&LASCO)
4
59
143
Pretty little coronal mass ejection in SOHO/LASCO C2 just about an hour ago ☀️💡
[📷: soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-]
3
18
72
Another spectacular halo CME hurling towards Earth. According to models it is expected to reach Earth on 11 May at around 18:00 UT and possibly spark moderate to strong geomagnetic storms (SOHO/LASCO).
2
191
467
Common misconception: "all of the white streaks are cosmic rays".
They're not! They're actually tiny dust ejecta particles caused by dust grains slamming into (primarily) the spacecraft heat shield and releasing little puffs of material. Space is surprisingly dusty!
4
18
Show this thread
Note also that the "Sun" image uses actual NASA/SDO images of the magnetic features of the solar disk as seen from PSP's viewpoint. The size, location, and rotation of that Sun graphic are their actual values as seen by PSP.
1
2
13
Show this thread
Note the spacecraft's maximum velocity of 163km/s (364,000mph / 585,000 kph) at a distance of just 5.3 million miles (8.6 million km) from the solar surface! 🔥🔥
2
3
18
Show this thread
Our Parker Solar Probe / WISPR science data from Encounter 14 (Dec 2022) is now online at wispr.nrl.navy.mil/encounter14-su! 🌬️🛰️☀️
(Twitter compression is going to brutalize this beautiful image sequence, so I strongly recommend visiting that link 👆and downloading your own copy)
3
44
155
Show this thread
New research reveals 'rock comet' 3200 Phaethon's tail isn't what we thought it was, raising more questions about the origin of the Geminid Meteor Shower
#3200Phaethon #RockComet #Asteroid #GeminidMeteorShower #space
1
7
13
Updated link to this story: go.nasa.gov/3oEScbT
Quote Tweet
Asteroid Phaethon is weird. It forms a comet-like tail near the Sun and sheds debris for a meteor shower seen each December.
Scientists thought dust from Phaethon was to blame. But NASA solar observatories show that its tail isn’t dusty.
What's going on? go.nasa.gov/3LebMng
read image description
ALT
5
38
289
“LASCO was never intended to study comets, yet with these recent observations, LASCO has upended years of belief about this asteroid and again demonstrated its unique worth,” said Karl Battams, #USNRL scientist and LASCO principal investigator.
1
4
12
Show this thread
Asteroid Phaethon is weird. It forms a comet-like tail near the Sun and sheds debris for a meteor shower seen each December.
Scientists thought dust from Phaethon was to blame. But NASA solar observatories show that its tail isn’t dusty.
What's going on? go.nasa.gov/3LebMng
read image description
ALT
18
96
604
Lots of implications here for many other objects that sees that get bright near the Sun but don't appear to grow tails like comets do. This is also a really important result for the Destiny+ mission that will encounter Phaethon in a few years!
1
3
9
Show this thread
Quote Tweet
@MissionSoho observatory has overturned 14 years of thinking about the strange Sun-skirting ‘rock comet’ known as Phaethon that could reopen the mystery of how the Geminid meteor shower was born 
Full story
esa.int/Science_ExplorShow this thread
GIF
read image description
ALT
2
5
26
Show this thread
☄️ observatory has overturned 14 years of thinking about the strange Sun-skirting ‘rock comet’ known as Phaethon that could reopen the mystery of how the Geminid meteor shower was born 💫
Full story👉esa.int/Science_Explor
GIF
read image description
ALT
4
51
211
Show this thread
Asteroid (3200) Phaethon brightens and grows a tail like a comet near the Sun. Thanks to , we now know that activity is not from comet-like dust as previously assumed, but from sodium atoms escaping the asteroid under intense solar heating: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.384
read image description
ALT
2
28
59
Show this thread
Today has been a special day for solar physicists. 🫡
Quote Tweet
According to the US Space Force, NASA's retired RHESSI satellite reentered over 26E 21N (Sudan/Egypt border) heading NE over southern Egypt, at 0021 UTC Apr 20.
1
3
21
When SOHO was launched, I didn't even know what I wanted to be when I grew up! 😳
6
Show this thread
Ten thousand. TEN THOUSAND!! That's how many mission days the remarkable, irreplaceable, extraordinary / SOHO spacecraft has been operating! 😱🥳🛰️☀️ Such an amazing milestone! Here's to 10,000 more, ! 🍻
Quote Tweet
Today is day 10,000 of ESA and NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory mission! SOHO studies the Sun inside and out, from its internal structure, to the extensive outer atmosphere, to the solar wind that it blows across the solar system.
Let's review SOHO's last 10,000 days 
Show this thread
GIF
read image description
ALT
1
11
43
Show this thread
3
32
83
Spectacular prominence eruption recorded by SOHO/LASCO on 31 March 2023
5
67
208
Replying to
This one was quite amazing. It erupted on the far side, approximately towards Parker Solar Probe, but still produced a quickly increasing solar energetic particle event at SOHO (and Earth) — probably due to a circumsolar shock wave produced by the eruption.
10
24
(Of course by actual mass, CMEs are a minuscule fraction of the solar mass. But in terms of physical dimensions, they fill up the inner solar system pretty damn quick!)
2
18
Show this thread
Note that the Sun -- that vast plasma ball that encapsulates ~99% of the mass of our entire solar system -- is the size of that little white circle in the middle, and is dwarfed in size in by the expanding CME front in mere minutes. 😳
CMEs are seriously impressive! ☀️
1
1
34
Show this thread
Today's minor S1 solar radiation storm was caused by this major far side coronal mass ejection. The plasma cloud is not aimed at Earth but solar protons did manage to reach our planet thanks to the Parker Spiral.
14
130
322
GIF
3
40
127
Show this thread
On 9 March 2023, there was a big CME. Especially the linear structure on the east side (left) was amazing to me, perhaps a shock wave. I did not find disk signatures that would have accounted for this CME. So yes, I conclude this was a far side event, perhaps glancing PSP.
11
69
209
Sooo, the giant filament visible off the southwestern limb of the Earth-facing Sun has not erupted (at least not yet!), but it's quite mesmerising to simply look at its material moving along magnetic field lines ☀️
8
72
223
Show this thread
Interesting new comet candidate A10SVYR on the PCCP to keep an eye on. Looks like it will pass almost directly between the Earth and Sun in 2024 October, where forward scattering could make the comet fairly bright in twilight if it survives to that point: catalina.lpl.arizona.edu/css-orbit-view
5
71
158
Giving lecture about the stellar winds (in 15 mins!) Can't resists showing this spectacular NASA STEREO video of Comet Encke's tail flapping in the solar wind. More at nasa.gov/feature/goddar
GIF
1
19
84
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) last night.
It's fading fast as it heads away from the Sun and Earth.
A single exposure of 600 seconds.
2022-02-16 1 x 600" ASI294 MC/ED120.
Ma Ma Creek, Australia.
read image description
ALT
14
39
Notice how comet tails don't actually flow 'behind' the comet, instead, they trail away from the Sun.
It was this observation that lead to the discovery of the #SolarWind!☀️🌬️☄️
(More info in our article on #CometZDF 👉esa.int/Space_Safety/P)
Quote Tweet
On this day twenty (!!) years ago, comet "C/2002 V1 (NEAT)" entered the field of view of the @ESA/@NASASun/@USNRL SOHO/LASCO C3 camera. A couple of days later (Feb 18) its tail took a glancing blow from a coronal mass ejection! 
Show this thread
0:05
6K views
1
9
82
Also amazing when you realize that was already in its 8th year of operations when these data were recorded, and it's STILL going strong today!! LASCO's CCD sensitivity has declined by only a few % since then, and it continues to return incredible data! #ProudPI 😊
4
14
Show this thread
5
56
150
Show this thread
Absolutely gorgeous polar crown filament eruption off the northern pole of the Sun, just observed by the GOES/SUVI camera ☀️ Needless to say that this ejection is going more or less "straight up" and is not Earth-directed 😉
46
569
1,513
Show this thread
C/2022 E3 and C/2022 U2 2022 feb. 6 17.40 UT RGB 150/150/150sec 12"/4 QHY600 Michael Jäger
6
103
486
☄️ takes another look at Comet 96P Machholz — a near-Sun comet that is surrounded by intrigue 👇
📽️ ESA/NASA/USNRL/K.Battams
Quote Tweet
Check out SOHO latest Hotshot on Comet 96P Machholz: soho.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2023_
15
241
1,518
Wow! This perhaps isn't the "prettiest" comet image you'll ever see but trust me when I say that imaging 96P just a few days after perihelion, at such small elongation, is truly impressive!
Quote Tweet
96P/Machholz at 14,7° elongation with long tail > 1° 2023-02-05 5.09 UT 4x20sec filter red 11 RASA QHY600 AZM/Michael Jäger, Austria
4
27
Much Kudos to for his work on first detecting the trail, and coming up with a great observing plan for LASCO. Also big thanks should always go the SOHO/LASCO Ops folks - Kevin Schenk and James Tabourne - who have to schedule these convoluted observing plans for us 👏👏
1
18
Show this thread
So, per the article, we have this data, plus other data 🕵️ that will now form the basis of a really cool study of the dust (debris) trail of 96P!
1
1
13
Show this thread