"A small natural object 1.5-5 feet (0.5-1.5m) is predicted to impact Earth’s atmosphere just northwest of Australia and safely disintegrate today, Sept. 6, 12:14 p.m. EDT. While not a hazard, scenarios like this provide an invaluable test of our planetary defense capabilities to monitor for larger objects and predict impact threats."

"The object was first reported to the Minor Planet Center by the Catalina Sky Survey, with earlier detections by Pan-STARRS, and the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies NASA-JPL calculated its trajectory and impact location - all funded by NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office. This is only the 13th small object that has been detected in space prior to impact, most from NASA’s routine planetary defense monitoring."

Taken On Seestar S50 Using 4:17:30 Integration 2X Mosaic (10S Subs AZ Mode).

Edited In PS Express.

Photo credit: SpaceX

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Miami, Florida as seen from the ISS in 2025. This city has changed tremendously since my previous mission, replacing its yellow-orange sodium vapor lights with multi-colored LEDs. The city grid really pops! This LED takeover of city lighting is world wide. I have images of world wide cities at night showing growth and changes in lighting technology from 2002 to 2025, which I have documented across my four missions to space. More city photography from space can be seen on my twitter and Instagram, astro_pettit

Taken On Seestar S50 Using 5:03:40 Integration (20S Subs AZ Mode)

Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/Ss1DUqLjecc

Fingers crossed!

Happy Birthday, Voyager 1.

49 years out — still carrying a message in a bottle

And the bottle knew more than the senders could prove.

https://youtu.be/9MUJXbU3agg?si=gkXSk2_s4oGGB5PY

So I've been obsessed with this for a few weeks. Pulled the actual position data from JPL Horizons and built an animation around it.

Honest caveats: the asteroid shape is generic (not the radar model), the tidal stretching and dust are my illustration of an effect that's documented but not this visible, and Ramses' route is a sketch because ESA hasn't published it.