Astro Hawk (Ian Kluft) ✅🚀🛰️

About me: Software Engineer network/cybersecurity, pilot/CFI, Libertarian, electronics, Ham, rocket/balloon tracker

Hi! I'm Ian Kluft. @AstroHawk is my #space account.
#NewSpace #aerospace #astronomy #rocketry #commsat #GPS #fedi22

AstroHawk originally stood for "Adventurous Space Tweep Reinforcing Operations Hatching Advancement Worth Kudos" at one time on other social media, promoting NewSpace.

Also me: @ikluft (aviation/science) & @KO6YQ (tech/local)

Public Key

npub18puz7cs0n4kqs2r49y79jhlxww7w0u4lfqqzs03p9hdwd7r8tk6qudt96d

NIP-05 Address

AstroHawk@spacey-space.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsrs7p0vg8e6mqg9p6jj0zetln8808872l5sqpg8csjmkhxlpn4mdqpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43qzrthwden5te0dehhxtnvdakqfctnks

Publishing to

relay.ditto.pub

nos.lol

nostr.wine

Author Public Key

npub18puz7cs0n4kqs2r49y79jhlxww7w0u4lfqqzs03p9hdwd7r8tk6qudt96d

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Last Notes

2026-05-27 19:57:09 UTC

"Noctilucent Clouds, strange icy clouds on the edge of space, can be seen from your back garden" by BBC @nprofile…yg3c - #NoctilucentClouds at 80km altitude are not well understood, such as how water vapor, presumed basis of all clouds, gets up that high. But they can be seen at polar latitudes (45-80°) in early Summer ~90-120 minutes after sunset or before sunrise as the near-space clouds are lit by sunlight and viewer is at night. https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/noctilucent-clouds-what-they-are-and-how-to-see-them #NLC #astronomy #SpaceWeather #weather

2026-03-14 23:59:30 UTC

"How Many Decimals of Pi Do We Really Need?" by #NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL - Short answer: for spacecraft navigation around the solar system (as far as humanity has launched anything so far) NASA determined 15 digits after the decimal point is sufficient. So for NASA, 𝝿 = 3.141592653589793 . That yields an error of about 1.5cm/0.5in at the extremities of the solar system. Good enough. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/how-many-decimals-of-pi-do-we-really-need/ #astronomy #space #math #PiDay
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/116/230/284/191/037/749/original/394e19c5b310ad95.png

2025-11-12 07:29:30 UTC

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@nprofile…twrj Then it seems we've impressed each other. I can really appreciate your getting a picture of auroras over Soda Lake. Because I know exactly where you took that picture. Last year I stopped by there again. https://avgeek.social/@ikluft/112967231334004588

2025-11-12 07:10:00 UTC

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@nprofile…twrj Hmmm... that place looks familiar, though no aurora when I was there. WIkipedia's article has some of my pictures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_Lakes

2025-08-26 00:26:22 UTC

"With a new Soyuz rocket, Russia seeks to break its Ukrainian dependency" by @nprofile…vvfe / @nprofile…85dd - File this under "it's your own damned fault!" #Russia needs a new version of the Soyuz rocket without parts made by #Ukraine🇺🇦. They started the #UkraineWar and bombed the Zenit rocket factory in Dnipro which supplied parts for it. The supply of old Soyuz parts is getting low. It remains to be seen if they succeed in getting it to fly. https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/08/with-a-new-soyuz-rocket-russia-seeks-to-break-its-ukrainian-dependency/ #space

2025-08-01 02:22:19 UTC

"First Australian-made rocket crashes after 14 seconds of flight in a failed attempt to reach orbit" by @nprofile…jaq5 - First Australian-built orbital rocket failed on its first launch attempt. Launch site near Bowen QLD🇦🇺. Gilmour Space company pleased with engineering progress made on 14-second flight. Most space rockets fail on the first attempt. So now we watch for what they learn and how they proceed. https://apnews.com/article/rocket-crash-launch-australia-gilmour-space-5df36f956621db85c360157400b88c09 #NewSpace #Australia #rocketry #business #spacegeek

2025-07-21 22:25:13 UTC

"Asteroid 2025 OS safely buzzed by Earth this weekend" by EarthSky Science (Fediverse presence not found #FPNF: if you know them, invite them) - On Friday, newly-discovered #Asteroid #2025OS passed by at a distance of 2534mi/4078km from Earth's surface. Very close. But at 3-6m diameter, it isn't a danger. We need more experience catching these before the last moment. https://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-safely-buzzed-earth-this-weekend/ #space #astronomy #LowFlyingRocks
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/114/893/565/143/792/063/original/9decaf3f96352bf2.png

2025-06-12 21:17:12 UTC

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@nprofile…60mt I've only once seen them, in the 2019 outbreak. I saw them from San Jose, California (37°N). Now that I live in Portland, Oregon (45.5°N), I have higher hopes to be able to see them again soon.

2025-06-04 18:28:17 UTC

"A GPS Blackout Would Shut Down the World" by @nprofile…d3nt - Article examines dangers of dependency on #GPS for #PNT ( #positioning #navigation #timing ) without adequate backup systems in case of failure. https://www.wired.com/story/youre-not-ready-for-a-gps-blackout/ #GNSS #space #tech

2025-06-03 17:28:24 UTC

"Fred Espenak, astronomy's 'Mr. Eclipse', dies at 71" by @nprofile…pzac - He was the one behind the NASA Eclipse Page and later in retirement kept #eclipse data up-to-date with his Mr Eclipse atlas that computed #SolarEclipse and #LunarEclipse data through the upcoming century. I used his data for every lunar and solar eclipse I've watched. I would have liked to meet him. #astronomy

2025-06-03 03:42:16 UTC

Apparently the northern hemisphere's #NoctilucentCloud season is opening, which was expected around this time of year. If you're near enough to polar latitudes (definitely 50°N+, maybe lower if there's an outbreak), look for them during morning or evening astronomical twilight, reflecting sunlight from 80km/50mi altitude in the direction of the sunset or sunrise. https://social.tchncs.de/@Fettlaus/114616634713194665 #NLC #NLCalert #SpaceWeather

2025-05-27 22:43:40 UTC

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@nprofile…vvm4 Even the news media shows increasing lack of experience with maps as people who quickly draw map diagrams for their story make amateurish south-up views. 🤦

2025-05-27 22:33:08 UTC

"GNSS under attack: Recognizing and mitigating jamming and spoofing threats" by GPS World - As costs come down on GPS signal jamming and spoofing techniques, it no longer requires nation-state resources for doing it any more. As attacks become more common, defenses such as signal filters for countermeasures increase too. Self-driving cars and farm machinery may adopt RAIM already in use in aircraft. https://www.gpsworld.com/gnss-under-attack-recognizing-and-mitigating-jamming-and-spoofing-threats/ #GNSS #GPS #Galileo #jamming #spoofing #tech #aviation

2025-05-10 07:56:21 UTC

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@nprofile…48vs #Kosmos482 is down somewhere by now. The re-entry windows from different tracking organizations are closing or have already closed. Until reliable reports come in, which may be slow if we have to wait for military satellite data to be cleared for publication, then we wait to find out where it went down.

2025-04-30 17:41:57 UTC

"Jupiter Core" by XKCD comic (mirror bots @nprofile…6g4t @nprofile…sglf ) - He starts with actual theories and then, as usual, gets distracted and his attention wanders off... Some shiny stuff.🪙🏴‍☠️ So far no squirrels.🐿️🐕 https://xkcd.com/3083/ #astronomy #planetary #space #WTF #humor
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/114/428/096/179/831/980/original/761b33344dc76902.png

2025-04-24 02:01:53 UTC

"Dazzling Pictures Celebrate Hubble Space Telescope's 35 Years in Orbit" by @nprofile…j9km / @nprofile…n5ap - Happy 35th birthday🎂 to Hubble Space Telescope🔭! Hubble wasn't the first telescope in orbit. But it was the first good enough to show how much of the universe we had been missing due to our atmosphere. With that knowledge, ground telescopes improved dramatically over the years as new improvements were invented. https://www.universetoday.com/articles/dazzling-pictures-celebrate-hubbles-35-years-in-orbit #astronomy #history
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/114/390/500/523/363/576/original/c42a78f93a1ee1a6.png

2025-04-19 03:08:49 UTC

"Universe may revolve once every 500 billion years — and that could solve a problem that threatened to break cosmology" by @nprofile…7erv - A renewed but not entirely new hypothesis suggests the difference in observed rates of expansion of the universe may be explained by slow but nonzero rotational velocity of the universe. Recent improvements in telescopes offer vastly more data for researchers to explore viability of the concept. https://www.livescience.com/space/cosmology/universe-may-revolve-once-every-500-billion-years-and-that-could-solve-a-problem-that-threatened-to-break-cosmology #physics #astronomy #science

2025-03-22 18:43:59 UTC

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@nprofile…07t5 The NOAA 3-day forecast currently has Kp=7 from 8-11pm PDT. But it uses a resolution of 3-hour blocks. So more attention to solar wind sensor data will be needed near that time frame. I'll watch the weather radar here before that to look for a chance of a break in the clouds. I got lucky with a short break during the lunar eclipse. The break led up to totality and 1/4 of the way into totality before a trough line made instant overcast. https://www.spaceweather.gov/communities/aurora-dashboard-experimental
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/114/207/520/980/126/494/original/34d48377a2a8a875.png

2025-03-22 05:54:23 UTC

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@nprofile…07t5 Good luck. Unless it's stronger than forecast, it isn't expected to get down to Northern Nevada. But in the Pacific Northwest it'll be raining tomorrow. Because it always rains here.

2025-03-22 05:29:04 UTC

"G3 (Strong) Geomagnetic Storm Watch for 23 Mar" by NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center - The Sun erupted a coronal mass ejection (CME) expected to reach Earth on March 23 UTC at G3 storm level. That means forecasted Kp=7 for aurora down to Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts. https://www.spaceweather.gov/news/g3-strong-geomagnetic-storm-watch-23-mar #astronomy #aurora #AuroraBorealis #AuroraAustralis #CME #SpaceWeather
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/114/204/403/399/110/894/original/552b9e3f29b91d3b.png

2025-03-19 03:25:56 UTC

"China Practicing ‘Dogfighting in Space,’ US Space Force Says" by Air & Space Forces Magazine (#FPNF Fediverse presence not found - if you know them, invite them) - USSF presentation pointed out commercial public data which showed China experimenting with close maneuvering between military satellites. https://www.airandspaceforces.com/china-practicing-dogfighting-space-force/ #military #space #spacegeek

2025-03-14 21:20:34 UTC

"Planet Definitions" by XKCD comic (mirror bots @nprofile…6g4t @nprofile…sglf ) - All the definitions of a planet, whether they've earned representation or not. https://xkcd.com/3063/ #astronomy #planetary #asteroid #geology #oops #WTF #humor
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/114/162/831/647/915/361/original/7ed60693432fd815.png

2025-03-09 15:52:24 UTC

"Cyclones at Jupiter's North Pole" is #NASA #astronomy picture of the day #APOD - A Juno probe infrared image from 2018 of Jupiter's north pole showed 8 cyclones around a central polar cyclone. Jupiter's pattern of satellite cyclones around central polar cyclones differs from Saturn, which only has a single cyclone at each pole. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250309.html #planetary #weather #space
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/114/133/264/823/651/226/original/05e6c891d445ddc3.png

2025-02-24 07:06:22 UTC

"Light Pillar over Erupting Etna" is #NASA #astronomy picture of the day #APOD (mirror bots @nprofile…y7jj @nprofile…dgya and others), photo by Davide Caliò - Bright light of a lava flow on Mt Etna in Italy casts a light pillar up into the night sky. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250224.html #volcano #geology #weather
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/114/057/583/407/903/493/original/2e1981f4b51ceabf.png

2025-02-17 17:38:27 UTC

"SpaceX Rocket Launch Plume over California" is #NASA #astronomy picture of the day (APOD), photo by Martin LaMontagne - Picture taken Feb 10 from Phoenix, Arizona looking west at a #SpaceX #Falcon9🚀 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. This is a great example of why rocket enthusiasts really like launches soon after sunset or before dawn when the rocket climbs into sunlight that illuminates the plume at altitude. 🤩 https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250217.html #NewSpace #photography
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/114/020/446/448/156/659/original/f907659be6e4879a.png