Prof. Sam Lawler
LightNews LightNews
banner
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
550 followers 38 following 1.8K posts
Professor of astronomy, farmer of goats. Asteroid (42910). She/her.

Living and learning on the land and under the skies of Treaty 4 (Saskatchewan, Canada)

🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
Posts Replies Media Videos
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
More portal pictures for good measure. Though I suppose I should be careful not to give the techbros any more ideas about awful things to put in orbit...

(Everyone knows I'm kidding, right? I'm not pulling an Avi Loeb here. Auroras are AWESOME.)
Looking up at the center of the aurora columns where they all line up with our line of sight and looks like a crazy spiral rose pattern of some kind, with red and green mixed in everywhere Same as the previous picture, but a slightly different configuration of red and green Same as the previous picture, but a slightly different configuration, and with the barn silhouetted underneath Same as the previous picture, but with the overhead auroras thinning out and starting to disappear.
November 13, 2025 at 2:53 AM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Well, this is embarrassing. Looks like I finally cursed at Starlink enough that I finally opened up some kind of portal in VLEO right over my barn. Sorry everybody! I promise I'll help clean up.
Bright green and red auroras mixed together, but instead of viewing the vertical columns close to the horizon, the vertical columns are directly overhead, so they appear to converge on a point directly above a silhouetted barn. It looks like something out of a horror film.
November 13, 2025 at 2:44 AM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
This is looking SOUTH. Holy crap.
A bunch of spruce trees silhouetted in front of bright green sky.
November 13, 2025 at 1:52 AM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
More more more!
A silhouetted bare tree, with red columns behind it, and green covering the whole rest of the sky. A bunch of aurora columns on the left, starting green at the bottom and transitioning to red at the top, with green covering the rest of the sky. There are two silhouetted spruce trees in front of the green. An arc made of vertical columns starting green at the bottom, transitioning to orange and then red then purple at the top, with green in the background of the sky. A bunch of columns in an arc, but a few of the columns start lower down in the sky, and are bright green at the bottom. All of the columns transition to orange and then red and the purple. The rest of the sky is green.
November 13, 2025 at 1:50 AM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
yes yes Yes YEs YES YES YES!!!

PURPLE! RED! ORANGE!! GREEN!!! WOWWWW

(It was not this bright naked-eye, but these colours are all totally visible! Incredible!)
A patch of bright auroras, made up of columns that all start bright green at the bottom, transition to orange further up, then bright pink, then purple. There are silhouetted trees in front, and some satellite streaks behind. Similar to the previous picture, but with some more bright green at the very bottom of the sky A patch of bright red and purple on one side of the sky, with bright green on the other, looking a bit swirly. There's silhouetted trees in front of the red, and a silhouetted barn in front of the green. An arc made up of vertical columns of purple, red, and green, with bright green background. There are silhouetted bare trees in one corner of the photo.
November 13, 2025 at 1:39 AM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
I can't stop thinking about the auroras. That was amazing. And there very likely will be more tonight!! https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g3-strong-geomagnetic-storming-continues-g4-severe-still-expected

...I wonder how it's going up there for Starlink (and the […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
Bright red aurora with pillars mixed in, and some green around the edges. There's the silhouette of an old barn in the bottom of the photo, including an old weather vane.
November 12, 2025 at 3:49 PM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
So much red!!
A patch of red auroras on each side of the photo, with green all around. There are also some small dots of cloud dispersed around the sky, covering up the auroras. A couple of patches of red auroras with bright green auroras everywhere else in the sky. There are a few silhouetted spruce trees on one side of the picture, and some clouds moving in on the other side of the picture.
November 12, 2025 at 3:33 AM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
HOLY @$^@#($!~@#)!!
A bright red patch of auroras surrounded by bright green, above a metal-sided farm building A swirly patch of red auroras surrounded by green, above a silhouetted spruce tree Looking straight up at a bright stripe of red auroras, with pillars of green mixed in Half of the photo is red auroras, half is splotchy green auroras, with 2 silhouetted spruce trees on one side of the picture
November 12, 2025 at 2:55 AM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
I haven't yelled that many (overwhelmingly excited) swear words at the sky for a long time. WWOOOOOWWWWW. Reddest auroras I've ever seen!! Usually it takes a long time exposure/CCD camera to see red at all. This is BRIGHT!! You can actually see easily outside […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A bright red arc over a bright green arc, with some small trees silhouetted below Looking straight up at red and green pillars Looking straight up at red and green pillars, some are almost white. Bright red auroras peeking through bright green auroras, with some silhouetted trees below
November 12, 2025 at 1:28 AM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Here it cooooomes!!!
An aurora map, showing red, high probability over most of eastern Canada
November 12, 2025 at 12:23 AM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Relatedly, this email I got a few days ago is probably the hilarious/shocking/unhinged email I've ever gotten (and I've gotten a lot):
Dear Professor Lawler, The comet 3I/Atlas passed perihelion at 11:47 UT today. I realized that it was only 50 million km away from Earth's orbit today. However, president Trump realized this and cleverly arranged for Earth to be on the other side of the Sun so that we never get to under 200 million km from it. I think India and Pakistan should jointly nominate president Trump for the Nobel peace prize for double the usual amount for his saving the Earth. I request you to make efforts to involve Canada in this effort.
November 11, 2025 at 4:10 PM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
I did go drive out to Bortle 2 skies with my family and it was INCREDIBLE (thanks for encouragement, fediverse).

The only light coming from stars, totally silent except for coyotes, owls, and I think maybe whooping cranes (!!) flying over. Barely any auroras […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A view of the Milky Way, straight overhead. There is clear structure visible in the dust bands through the cloudy-looking stars. There are a whole lot of satellite streaks at many different angles, all over the field. Looking toward the northern horizon, with faint aurora glow visible, also reflected in a small pond on the ground. The Milky Way is vertical, with the Pleiades easily visible on one side of the picture. Looking toward the city of Regina, more than 100km away, you can see clouds lit up by city light pollution, and a tiny bit of sunset light visible. Above it, there's the Milky Way stretching vertically up from the city, and a chain of satellite streaks going diagonally across the whole scene. Thanks, Starlink. Looking up at the band of the Milky Way, with a line of satellite streaks diagonally across the Milky Way (thanks, Starlink). There's also lots of other satellite streaks in many random directions.
November 11, 2025 at 3:10 PM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Good morning. I'm hoping for clear skies and auroras tonight, and success in juggling a ridiculous number of family and work commitments during the day today.
A bright pink sunrise over a very flat horizon.
November 10, 2025 at 1:57 PM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Still pretty. Still really freaking cold.
A clump of bare trees with white trunks, completely covered with fluffy white frost on every single branch and twig. The sky behind is blue. The same clump of trees, but now backlit by the sun, so all the frost is gloriously bright on every branch and twig. The sky above is light blue. Looking up at frosty bare branches, in front of a bright blue sky. Looking across a field where every single blade of grass is covered by fluffy white frost, backlit by the sun. You can see 2 dogs out in the field, and they look weirdly dark because everything around them is so bright white. The sun is in the sky and the sky is blue.
November 9, 2025 at 6:12 PM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
You may still have real flowers where you are, but I have frost flowers, so there.
A view of a small frozen dugout pond, with a person in a red jacket kneeling on the edge and 2 dogs wandering around. The trees in the background and all the grass is completely covered by frost. The sky above is blue. A closer view of the frozen pond with little tufts of frost growing all over it. The fluffy white dog is rolling around and happily destroying a bunch of the frost. A closer view of the little frost tufts next to a boot for scale, They're maybe quarter-sized? Much closer view of a frost tuft. You can see a really neat feather-like structure in the frost. In the background, out of focus, is the fluffy white dog.
November 9, 2025 at 6:07 PM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
It's so pretty!! (I keep affirming to myself over and over.... it was -19C this morning when I went out to do chores)
Looking down a snowy road toward an orange sunrise. Every single twig, branch, and blade of grass is coated with a thick layer of frost and backlit by the sunrise. A bunch of white, frost-covered bare trees, lit up by the rising sun, with a blue sky above Frost on a metal panel gate, and a woven wire fence. Frost growing all over a chicken wire fence: it's hexagons all the way down
November 9, 2025 at 3:37 PM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Ok time to get off Zoom and mastodon and go embrace the cold, I guess.
Several goats milling around a snowy farmyard with a metal farm building in the background. A couple of the goats are nibbling on frozen pumpkins. There's a yellowish dog sitting up majestically in the background. A snow-covered barn and farmyard with sunrise-pink clouds above. Everything is black and white tones except the pink clouds. A black mama hen with a bunch of yellow and black fluffy chicks peeking out from underneath her. She's sitting on straw.
November 8, 2025 at 5:34 PM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
At least it's pretty (and a neighbour gave us a lot of leftover pumpkins to feed the goats. Yum.)
A bunch of large round hay bales sitting in a field with a little bit of snow, and totally frosty bare trees in the background. The sky above is grey. A close up showing weird spikey rime ice growing on a woven wire fence attached to a metal gate. Several black, white, and brown goats happily eating smashed pumpkins in the snow.
November 7, 2025 at 4:37 PM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
@jerry Did someone say guard llama?
A large fuzzy brown llama with really big sticking-out lower teeth, happily eating some bolted lettuce, with some goats in the background.
November 6, 2025 at 3:25 PM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
I even met a mastodon person IRL which I did NOT expect in Ituna! Nice to meet you, @ddmgmgh!

And the one journalist for the Ituna News was there. She was the first one to believe that yes, Barry Sawchuk really did find a real piece of space junk in his […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
Thousands of snow geese sitting in a harvested grain field, with a bright blue sky over a very flat horizon
November 5, 2025 at 11:07 PM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
The solar scope was such a hit! I showed sunspots to I think 6 different classes at 2 schools on Pasqua First Nation. It is always fun to watch kids look through a telescope at something for the first time. Reactions ranging from "oh." to "WHAT?!"

Highlight […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A dobsonian telescope sitting in the middle of a field of frost-killed grass with a red school building in the background. The sky above is blue. A bad blurry phone-picture of the sun through the telescope plus solar filter. There is one very large clump of sunspots visible on the right side of the sun.
November 5, 2025 at 11:01 PM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
[cats are weird]

Good morning to everyone, especially this cat who woke me up in the middle of the night churruping incredibly loudly for a ridiculously long time. When I went downstairs, she had dragged three stuffies and a hat into a pile in the middle of […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A grey stripey cat with a pink collar, being held by a person in a black hoodie. She's staring off into space, no doubt contemplating something very important.
November 5, 2025 at 1:56 PM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
November 4, 2025 at 2:39 AM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Hot chicks in your barn right now. At least, pleasantly warm, incredibly fluffy chicks.
Looking down on a black mama hen with 9 small fluffy black and yellow chicks all eating from a small round container. They're standing on straw with a red heat lamp shining on them.
November 4, 2025 at 2:37 AM
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
The moon is very bright, but there are very faint auroras, too! (The pillars are just barely naked-eye visible, they look amazing in a few second exposure! The red colour on top is completely invisible naked-eye.)
Looking toward some scrubby woods, with green and red auroras low in the nighttime sky, and faint stars sprinkled above. The moon is behind me in the sky and very bright, so that limits how long an exposure I can take, which is why so few stars are visible. Looking across an open field, lit by the moon, with a couple of silhouetted spruce trees on the right side. There is a pillar of auroras low on the horizon, green at the bottom and red at the top. There are a few stars visible in the sky.
November 3, 2025 at 3:49 AM