Awanish @acmishra

Trained long ago as a theoretical chemist. An amateur astronomer. Passionate about teaching Astronomy / Astrophysics, Quantum Mechanics & Relativity. Silicon Valley Joined May 2009

Tweets

178
Followers

389
Following

4K
Likes

29K

Awanish @acmishra

2 years ago

On 28-Jan-86, 8:39am PST, Space Shuttle Challenger launched, then catastrophically exploded 73s later. I watched this devastating event from a DOE lab. Eons from now, may the 7 astronauts' atoms fuel new stars, their bravery eternally lighting the cosmos. #ChallengerRemembered

0 0 4 140 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

2 years ago

The sky started off cloudy, gradually becoming even more overcast. Just when it seemed like the clouds would obscure the eclipse at its peak, they suddenly cleared. This may be the billionth photo shared of the event, but the awe of such an incredible eclipse never diminishes.

0 0 4 120 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

3 years ago

It’s been hot the last few days & poor Tristan has had to listen to every variation of a talk I’m preparing on special relativity. But now it’s cooler, breezy & no more science talk. Just relax a bit in the cool breeze.

0 0 4 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

3 years ago

My two favorite astro loving beagles were observing planets with me earlier this morning and are now on squirrel patrol – their day job between treats, meals, naps and various mischief they get into. Life is great with beagles! #Beagles

0 0 4 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

4 years ago

After 30 days, the James Webb Space Telescope has arrived at L2, its new home in space, ~932,000 miles from home. Amazing!! In 4-6 months we’ll begin to see some very cool science being conducted by this magnificent space telescope. Congrats NASA + Partners. #JamesWebb #NASA

0 0 0 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

4 years ago

Happy perihelion Day! Earth is closest to the Sun today, 01/04/2022. We’re about 3 million mi. closer to the Sun than at aphelion, when it is farthest from the sun. Earth's average distance from the Sun is 92,955,807 mi. This is Kepler’s 2nd Law of motion in action! #perihelion

0 0 0 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

4 years ago

Today is the end of summer & the start of Fall (at 12:21 PDT)! I’m doing my happy dance to ABBA’s Dancing Queen! At last, the days are getting shorter than the nights. Today, they are almost equal. Happy Autumn to everyone! #AutumnalEquinox #Fall #equinox

0 0 7 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

4 years ago

Incredible sight of the Super Flower Blood Moon this morning. The partial eclipse was max at my location, at 4:18am, just hours after the Moon’s orbit reached closest to Earth. The photo is so so, but good times! #Moon #BloodMoon #SuperMoon #FlowerMoon #LunarEclipse #FullMoon

1 0 4 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

4 years ago

Crude iPhone photo, but very cool to see the StarLink satellites zoom by tonight. Recently deployed StarLink satellites take a few days to spread out into their orbits. When the alien invasion occurs, it’ll look like E Musk is just flying his satellites. 😎 #StarLink #Satellites

0 1 5 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

5 years ago

Tonight, I'll go to sleep in Winter & will wake up in Spring, bummer! Spring will arrive on Sat., 20-Mar-2021 at 02:37am PDT. I prefer the colder winter days of Minnesota or Antarctica. Happy Spring in the N. Hemisphere. Happy Fall in the S. Hemisphere. #VernalEquinox #Spring

0 1 4 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

5 years ago

Wow! After millions and millions of miles + 7 min. of high-anxiety, the *Robot Planet of Mars* has a new citizen … The Mars Perseverance Rover. (Image credit: NASA) #NASA #MarsPerseveranceRover #Perseverance #JPL

0 0 1 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

5 years ago

Autumnal Equinox is today, Tue, 22-Sept-2020 @ 6:30 am PDT! For us in the N. Hemisphere, Summer is over, Fall is here (my favorite time of the year). The nights are finally getting longer than days. Happy Spring to my friends in the S. Hemisphere. #Autumn #AtumnalEquinox #Seasons

0 0 2 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

5 years ago

Phosphine gas, present on Earth from microbes, has been detected in the atmosphere of Venus. *Maybe* we've detected life? Chem/Geo processes don’t explain its presence. Carl Sagan suggested the possibility of life in the clouds of Venus in 1967. Wow! #venus #nasa #RoyalAstroSoc

0 0 0 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

5 years ago

Weird morning. Strange to have thunder, lightning and downpours in Silicon Valley in mid August. Except for the power outage now, it was exciting. #lightening #thunder #thunderstorm

0 0 1 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

5 years ago

75 years ago (07/16/45), the first atomic bomb was tested near Socorro, NM - The Manhattan Project. It used plutonium & had an explosive yield of 22 kilotons of TNT. After using two similar bombs on Japan, it effectively ended World War II. (Photos: Wikipedia) #TrinityTest

0 0 0 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

5 years ago

Happy birthday Harmon Killebrew (b.06/29/1936, d.05/17/2011). 1969 AL MVP (49 HR’s in ‘69). Back in my day, he was quite an inspiration to a lot of us young little league baseball players growing up in the great state of Minnesota (credit: Wikipedia) #baseball #MinnesotaTwins

0 0 1 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

5 years ago

Happy Summer Solstice (today @ 2:43pm PDT)! The Earth is *farthest* from the Sun at this time of the year. It’s all about the ~23.5° tilt of Earth on its axis (the N. Hemisphere is facing the Sun more directly). The beagles are thrilled. #summer #solstice #beagles #summerSolstice

0 0 2 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

5 years ago

A quick iPhone photo I took of a halo around the Sun this afternoon. The halo had distinct rainbow like colors, though not easy to see in the photo, as light from the Sun interacted with ice crystals high in the atmosphere. Very cool to see. #Sun #SolarHalo

0 0 3 0 0

Download Image

Awanish @acmishra

5 years ago

Big NASA-SpaceX launch today!! Finally, the US is launching astronauts on a US built rocket from the US. Who-hoo! The weather looks a little dicey, but let’s keep our fingers crossed. Watch it live virtually anywhere and everywhere. I’m counting down the minutes and seconds!

0 0 1 0 0

Awanish @acmishra

5 years ago

Just finished teaching 5 wks of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity for Everyone to 50+ folks via Osher Lifelong Learning Inst. - @SantaClaraUniv. Great students + lots of Q&A. I love this subject! This class was just as fun as Quantum Mechanics last year. #teaching #adulteducation