Author | Lightnews

Christos Doudoulakis, PhD

@csath.bsky.social

200 followers 190 following 210 posts

PhD in High Energy Physics - Freelance Writer (Physics, Maths, Pop. Sci.) - Stormchaser - Founding Member of the Greek team of TLE chasers - Photographer - Teacher / https://doudoulakis.blogspot.com/

doudoulakis.blogspot.com

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · Nov 19

Our #paper about the first-ever observations of upper #atmospheric #lightning (#TLEs or Transient Luminous Events, e.g. “red #sprites”) from Greece: Doudoulakis, C.; Papathanasiou, T.; Sagiakos, D.; Tsouras, P. www.mdpi.com/2673-4931/26... Our findings were presented in #COMECAP2023

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 10h

Kitty knows 😂

Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 2d

It's one of those nights, when you forget everything bad and you remember why it's worth living for. For me it's the escape to nature, for others it's something else.

Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you! You have amazing storms there though, so let's trade some storms for some more TLEs 😁

Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 3d

How can you not love these phenomena? #TLEs #Red #Sprites youtu.be/RzGKWZ5CR9g?...

Dozens of Red Sprites and other TLEs - E Aegean / W Turkey - 27 Oct 2025

YouTube video by Christos Doudoulakis

youtu.be

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 3d

War criminal acting as a war criminal. Who would have thought of that?

Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 4d

I love it! Thank you for sharing!

Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 4d

😯😢

Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 4d

Tonight (27-28 Oct.), #TLE party with red #sprites over #thunderstorms at the Aegean Sea and W Turkey. This is just a taste from an 8 hour session. #StormHour @stormhour.com

Nightscape with big red sprites ("Jellyfish" sprites) and the mountains of Evia isl. below.

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 4d

Yes, I can fully relate. The same applies here. 70 km just to have a relatively decent night sky... and that only towards the south 😢

Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 5d

This is great! 🤩

The outskirts of Munich have Bortle level 4-5 skies (based on this lightpollutionmap.app), which is nice (considering the fact that I tried from downtown Athens with level 9 😅)

Simeon Schmauß @stim3on.bsky.social · 6d

#Comet C/2025 A6 #Lemmon in the constellation Boötes, on the evening of October 24th. Captured from the light polluted outskirts of Munich.

16 minutes integration time with my Fujifilm X-S10 and 135mm f4.5 lens (untracked).

#astrophotography 🔭

A starfield with many small and colorful stars is dominated by comet Lemmon which is oriented diagonally in the frame.
The comet has a greenish coma and a diffuse yellowish dust tail is pointing up from the nucleus. Layered with the dust tail is the blueish ion-tail which is much narrower and longer, stretching beyond the top of the image. The ion tail shows some slight undulations from changes in the comets activity over time.

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 5d

Sunday's #sunset, #Athens. @stormhour.com #StormHour

Altostratus clouds with a sharp boundary, minutes after sunset, painted red, over mt. Egaleo, west Athens.

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 6d

Dusk-to-dawn 24-25.10.2025. Cape #Sounion. Lots of clouds still for the comet though. It's the 3rd consecutive week (yes, the thing that carries 7 days with it) that it's not possible to shoot it. Tell me about "sunny Greece" blah blah blah... 🤪 I just want 1 (one) clear night.

A 4mm circular fisheye Sigma lens capture of the sky over Sounion, Attica, Greece, Bortle level 3, with some of the main features denoted.

Dawn of 25.10.2025, with Venus to the left of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion. Beautiful colors just before sunrise.

After sunset of 24.10.2025, with rough sea and some clouds at Sounion. Some crepuscular rays visible on the sky.

Zodiacal light prevails 1.5 hour before sunrise, over the (very bad lighting of the) Temple of Poseidon. Easily visible with naked eye. Jupiter is the bright dot on the upper part of the photo.

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 11d

The thin rainshaft in between, was creating slightly different hues as the light from the lightning was passing through. I wish it was a bit closer. Maybe next time 😊

Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 11d

#Thunderstorm and some #lightning captures just south of cape Sounion, S. Attica, Greece, last night (Oct. 20). #StormHour @stormhour.com

Lightning over the sea, during a thunderstorm, last night

Lightning over the sea, during a thunderstorm, last night. Some wind turbines are visible on a small island.

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 11d

Taurid fireball (from the above timelapse), on the top of the image, over Subaru Telescope having its sodium laser on.

Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 11d

Beautiful Taurid fireball at 0:29'' with a persistent smoke train (screenshot at the comments below). Taurids will be a nice show to watch for the next 2 weeks, esp. this "swarm" year, as it was in 2022 and 2015, since they will have an increased number of fireballs relative to their "average" years

Mauna Kea Meteor Watcher @nagarehoshiko.bsky.social · 11d

24H 4K All Sky Timelapse, Maunakea, Hawaii
As of 2025/10/20
Credit: NAOJ

Nagarehoshiko channel

YouTube

www.youtube.com

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 15d

Well scientists can think and turn against dictatorships. Robots don't do that (well, not yet).

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 16d

I know how it feels (esp. due to the misuse of AI by several companies and even govs), but concerning reviewing, we will need that in the near future for several reasons (too many papers, too few reviewers).

Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 17d

Beautiful shot of a 22 deg. solar halo with a circumhorizontal arc below it 🤩

🌦ᙏคƴ Ɲคøɱï🌊📸 @maynaomiphoto.bsky.social · 20d

🌈Tejina/Tenerife/Canary Islands/Spain. Under the sundog.🌈
I took this amazing pic some years ago.
©️May Naomi Photography
@cazatormentas.bsky.social
@photohour.bsky.social
#stormhour
#landscapes
#meteophoto
#photography
#nature
#Tenerife
#CanaryIslands
#Spain

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 19d

I desperately want whatever they are smoking

Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 19d

Most people are fairly optimistic that their lives will improve

A bar chart displays the percentage of respondents from various countries who believe their lives will improve in the next five years, measured on the "Cantril Ladder", which asks people to rate their life satisfaction on a ladder from 0 to 10.

The highest percentage comes from Brazil at 92%, followed by Nigeria and Indonesia at 88%. The United States reports 87%, while Argentina, Mexico, and the Philippines each have 85%. Australia is at 84%, Sweden at 83%, and South Africa at 82%. Spain and the UK both show 82% and 80%, respectively. Japan registers 79%, India at 77%, Germany at 75%, and Egypt at the lowest with 73%.

The data source is the Global Flourishing Study (2024), with information collected in 2023. The chart is licensed under CC BY to Our World in Data.

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 21d

Impressive capture of (anti)crepuscular rays from plane 🤩 Shadow bands created when sunlight encounters obstacles (e.g. clouds). These bands converge to the anti-solar point.

Uncle Rickie @richardgatley.bsky.social · 21d

From Harwich to Dover in one frame with crepuscular rays
#PhotoHour #EastCoastKin #Stunday #Scape

The UK east coast under converging blue shadow rays in a salmon and orange sky in this cockpit view

Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 25d

Haha, indeed. This was lucky. The nice thing was that there were at least 3 (the other 2 were out of frame and they were Taurids). Normally I can't see any from downtown, even on moonless nights (ok, unless it's Chicxulub level...). This is a good omen for this year's Taurids 🤩

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 26d

Red Sprites over the thunderstorms at Kefalonia isl. this early morning.Also a (Draconid) green meteor photobomb 😅 I had (almost) full moon in front of me (out of the frame, to the upper left). Red color is due to light pollution filter system I use. Our paper on TLEs: www.mdpi.com/2673-4931/26...

Red Sprites over thunderstorms at Kefalonia isl.

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Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 28d

Our interstellar visitor, comet 3I/Atlas, as seen from Mars! 🤩

Simeon Schmauß @stim3on.bsky.social · 29d

I think Perseverance may have spotted interstellar comet 3I/Atlas last night from Mars!

After stacking 20 images from Mastcam-Z, I found a faint smudge of light in the constellation Corona Borealis close to the location where the comet was expected. 🔭

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Simeon Schmauß

image of the night sky showing a starfield with several dark and bright stars that are quite elongated due to the long exposure time.

the stars of the constellation corona borealis are annotated in green. a faint smudge, perhaps comet 3I/Atlas is marked with a red circle.

Christos Doudoulakis, PhD @csath.bsky.social · 29d

Well, here too. The last 3 years were extremely dry. Let's hope for this autumn/winter for both 😊☔❄️