Ad Astra per Aspera

Melo, Cosmo, or Astra | Minor | Fil-Am 🇵🇭🇺🇸 | They/She, Omniromantic Asexual | Astronomical Garbage | Icon by @iocasteo

[melocosmos]

I go by Melo, Cosmo, or Astra (They/She)

✩‧₊˚─────⋆⋅☆⋅⋆─────˚₊‧✩

I'm an anomaly from the galactic center that wants to become either an astrophysicist or software engineer.

Interests:

Outer space and astronomy

Science fiction media (recently Project Hail Mary and The Martian)

Aerospace (specifically astronautics)

Computer programming (HTML, Python, C++)

Mythology and folklore

Vocal synthesizers

17776

SolarBalls

Gachiakuta

Innovation Inc. (Roblox)

Regretevator (Roblox)

Phighting! (Roblox)

Umamusume: Pretty Derby

Art Blog: @nelomelo-o

✩‧₊˚─────⋆⋅☆⋅⋆─────˚₊‧✩

BYI / BYF:

This blog is *not* spoiler-free, so proceed with caution.

A good portion of my reblogs and posts may contain profanities.

I'm a self-shipper, but rarely ramble about them aside from reblogging any posts featuring my F/Os + I'm also a multishipper.

DNI:

Basic DNI criteria <- (click for elaboration)

Anti-recovery / pro self-harm and eating disorders

NSFW, radqueer, and kink accounts

Pro generative AI (especially AI art)

[todays-xkcd]

'Spurious signals from the kitchen' is harder for an optical telescope than a radio one, but with enough determination and creativity, I believe it's possible.

Vera Rubin Observatory [Explained]

Transcript Under the Cut

Title: Vera Rubin Observatory Discoveries Bingo Card

[A Bingo card is shown, with 25 squares. They are as follows:] Black hole tidally disrupting a star. Planet nine. Remnants of a former Milky Way companion. 10,000 new trans-Newtonian objects. Object on interstellar trajectory. Star being eclipsed by weird object. Secret military satellite. Kuiper Belt object that's a surprising color. Mars-sized TNO. Local group supernova. Spurious signal from observatory kitchen. Glitch in alert system spams all astronomers. Space (free). Earth-sized TNO. Defunct spacecraft. Surprising number of small galaxies. Neutron star merger. New supernova constraints on dark energy. New dwarf planet bigger than Pluto/Eris. Lost historical comet. 5 million asteroids and comets. 50,000 near-Earth asteroids. Object likely to impact Earth. Vera Rubin herself (faked death, stole spaceship). Many very small dots.

[suspiriously]

new reaction image just dropped

[yeuc-c]

gulp

hi scag

[yeuc-c]

lampert plush

[nnickykunn]

Azuri ✨✨ Isn't she beautiful?

[pnglove]

RAT CAKE ♡🐀

[mollybeenoel]

© plutoxoxi via x/twitter

[brycryfry]

"bear, i love you so, so, so, so, so much. i don't think i could live without you."

[captain-angler]

Goodnight, freaky Nikki!

[apod]

2026 May 21

A Collision of Galaxy Clusters Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/C. Watson et al.; Optical: PanSTARRS; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk and P. Edmonds Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)

Explanation: This big beautiful spiral shines in X-ray light. It is about 20 times larger than our Galaxy. It belongs to Abell 2029, a galaxy cluster one billion light-years away. (To see only the galaxies, hover your cursor over the image, or follow this link.) Galaxy clusters are the largest structures in the universe that are supported by gravity. Abell 2029 is formed by thousands of galaxies, surrounded by a huge cloud of hot gas and the equivalent of hundreds of trillions times the mass of the Sun in dark matter. The spiral is made of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium, heated to tens of millions of degrees. It was found in a recent study that used data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to show that Abell 2029 had a collision with a smaller cluster four billion years ago. The collision affected the gravitational field and caused the intracluster gas to slosh, like wine moving in a wine glass, shaping the spiral.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260521.html

[wigmund]

Galaxy-only Image

[nasaimages]

NASA Image of the Day (July 29, 2026)

Understanding How Martian Auroras Are Made

This illustration depicts charged particles from a solar storm stripping away charged particles of Mars' atmosphere, one of the processes of Martian atmosphere loss studied by NASA's MAVEN mission.

Image Credit: NASA

[quiltofstars]

The constellation of Pyxis, the Compass Box // E. Slawik/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Zamani

Click below for some info about this small constellation as well as an annotated image!

We're not done with Argo Navis yet! Pyxis, which is abbreviated from Pyxis Nautica, is a Latin word for a mariner's compass. This is to distinguish it from Circinus, the Draftsman's Compass (one used to draw circles).

It was the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille who added Pyxis to the skies in 1752. This was a part of his goal to add instruments that symbolized the Age of Enlightenment. The Ancient Greeks saw Pyxis as part of the mast of Argo Navis. Various astronomers attempted to renew this description of Pyxis, but Lacaille's drawing stuck.

Unfortunately, none of the stars within Pyxis have been given names yet.

[gemini-enthusiast]

A fresh crater on the lunar surface, Apollo 16.

[jeyneofpoole]

nolan’s odyssey is such a textbook study on the idiocy and dangers of presentism. yes of course penelope is a modern day feminist who wants to rule ithaca by herself. they make telemachus say that GREECE IS THE GREATEST CIVILIZATION IN THE WORLD as if the entire point of the massing of achaeans at troy for one unified cause isn’t spectacular precisely because THERE IS NO CONCEPT OF A UNIFIED GREECE NATIONS DO NOT EXISTTTTTT YETTTTT. literally 101 on historical writing is making sure that you’re avoiding strict periodization because the people living in a “period” will not identify themselves that way. ever. five million cheeky nods to “the sea peoples” but we’re being cute and coy and calling them “the people from the sea.” the obsession with xenia but refusal to call it xenia yes let’s say “zeus’s law” a hundred times and reduce it to the literal expectation that any stranger could be a god in disguise. how was penelope just hanging out in the main hall of the palace with her husband’s dinner guests while they were playing with weapons with her HAIR COMPLETELY DOWN no veil no nothing just chilling casually. comical. stoppppp making movies that engage in historical viewpoints if you’re going to slather a modernized coat of paint over the top. “the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.” or fucking whatever.

[mechaniaa]

Madoka Kaname by Peach Momoko

[deslizada]

man sometimes friendship really is just "I saw this and knew it would give you psychic damage. please respond with agony" and then they do. and it's great