For anyone who follows "Astronomy Picture of the Day": The NASA website and feeds sourced from it are not being updated due to the US government shutdown. Daily posts are still being made at mastodon.online/@apod@reentr....

Just posting this. Everyone knows why.

Correct. And yet again, USA: Require that Congress end all of this, #ImpeachNoem, #ImpeachHegseth, and #ImpeachTrump.

Today I have encountered posts from several people sharing an article that pretends authoritarianism is an innate & heritable personality trait. That is a lie that acts to excuse authoritarians. If authoritarianism were not learned, authoritarians would not spend so much time on indoctrination.

Two years ago, asteroid 2023 CX1 was spotted seven hours before it struck Earth's atmosphere over northern France. Now, researchers have published an analysis of the event and the recovered meteorite that challenges our asteroid hazard models: www.esa.int/Space_Safety... Image: M. Uzzal

Yet again, USA: Require that your members of Congress do their jobs and act to end all of this, #ImpeachNoem, #ImpeachHegseth, & #ImpeachTrump. "Pritzker says President Donald Trump is calling 300 members of the Illinois National Guard over the governor’s objections." wgntv.com/news/operati...

Dartmouth’s response to the Trump admin’s corrupt contract, short and sweet: “You have often heard me say that higher education is not perfect and that we can do better. At the same time, we will never compromise our academic freedom and our ability to govern ourselves.”

We're definitely not finding 100 times more Solar System objects with @vrubinobs.bsky.social. More like 2-7 times more objects than known today depending on the type of Solar System small body reservoir you're interested in. Which still is amazing. See sorcha.space for our predictions.

FOR ALL FRIENDS OBSERVING THE #MOON TONIGHT: Just sharing with you the main features visible on our satellite over this weekend (craters in bold, Lunar maria in cursive) Join the closest outreach initiative to enjoy it through the telescope🌔🔭🤩 #InternationalObserveTheMoonNight #Moon #PlanetSci

🔭 Comet Lemmon Brightens Image Credit & Copyright: Victor Sabet & Julien De Winter apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25093...

At 7:28pm GMT tonight in 1957 at the Tyuratam Test Range in Kazakhstan, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite—Prosteyshiy Sputnik 1 (Elementary Satellite 1)—into low-Earth orbit, shocking the United States, igniting a Cold War space & ICBM race, and spurring the creation of NASA.

Dr. Matt Tiscareno studies how things move in the solar system. He led the discovery of small moons embedded in Saturn’s rings, seen indirectly by the propeller-shaped disturbances they create in the surrounding ring material. 🧪 🔭 #NotJustAliens

A whole generation of kids will be shaped by this experience of authorities harassing children and their parents at school and at home That will be school for them laist.com/news/student...

@obs-paris-psl.bsky.social is calling all amateur astronomers to help out! You will need both a good telescope 🔭 and a CCD camera to be able to observe this occultation. If we've caught your attention, head over to this website for more details: https://f.mtr.cool/rbtnogwoum 3/3

On the night of 13 to 14 October, Jupiter's moon #Ganymede will pass in front of star HIP37442. We know this star's position very well thanks to #ESAGaia 🙏 🔭 Observations of this event will pinpoint Ganymede's position even more precisely.  More observations, better ephemerides. 2/3

Yet again, USA: Require that your members of Congress do their jobs, and act to end all of this, #ImpeachNoem, #ImpeachHegseth, & #ImpeachTrump. Do not give them any choice otherwise.

🚨 Are you an alum from one of the 9 universities Trump is attempting to extort right now? ✍️ Sign this petition to defend your university, free speech, and democracy. I signed. This is a time for courage, not capitulation. #JustSayNo #Compact 🧪🧠🧬 (context in thread)

As always, everyone: Take your shots and ensure that any children you care for do likewise. Yet again, USA: #ImpeachRFKJr . "Minnesota measles cases nearly double as U.S. outbreaks continue" www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

🔤 EHT A–Z We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time. 📡 C is for Calibration Calibration corrects errors from the atmosphere, instruments & measurements- revealing the true cosmic signals. #BlackHoles #EHTAZ #Astronomy

My district has been without representation in the House since March.

I am wondering if it was legal for Sean Duffy to have this meeting given the United States government shutdown. But it is not DLR's job to litigate that.

A functional Congress would block this, #ImpeachNoem, and #UnpackTheCourt.

"Mike Johnson announces his intention to continue to enable Donald Trump's crimes and to keep the government shut down for at least two weeks". Yet again, USA: Require that Congress do their jobs and end all of this. And remind the GOP Reps that they can remove Johnson as speaker at any time.

Emmy award-winning journalist Mario Guevara was deported today to El Salvador – a country he fled over 20 years ago — in retaliation for filming law enforcement activities. Officers arrested him while he was reporting at a “No Kings” protest against Trump, even though he was wearing a “PRESS” vest.

The Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) low-light video survey has detected a meteor outburst of a previously unknown shower in the southern hemisphere this past week, possibly ongoing, with a radiant near the star gamma Horologii. 🧪 🔭 Technical details: www.seti.org/news/new-lon...

3I/ATLAS flyby of Mars today! ☄️🔴 Learn more about how scientists are studying it: eos.org/features/how... After the first two interstellar objects were discovered, "astronomers took no chances in preparing for the likely arrival of another interstellar visitor."

Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth again ordered mass murder. Yet again, USA: Require that Congress do its job, end all of this, #ImpeachHegseth, and #ImpeachTrump. "U.S. kills 4 alleged drug smugglers near Venezuela, Hegseth says" www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

I want to point out that the massive Hatch Act violations are a continuation from Trump I and it galls me that news stories still describe such behavior as “potentially illegal”.

I appreciate the clarity of this statement on Trump's attempt to further strongarm 9 universities, including my employer, from Penn faculty: "When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation." aaup-penn.org/statement-by...

‘Almost 60 US scientific societies have signed a letter calling on the US government to “safeguard the integrity” of the peer-review process when distributing grants.’ ⚛️🧪🔭 physicsworld.com/a/us-scienti...

👀 Alle Augen auf #3I/ATLAS. ☄️ Unsere Mars Express & ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter werden den Kometen bei seiner größten Annäherung an den Mars am 01.10.25 beobachten, wenn 3I/ATLAS etwa 30 Millionen km vom roten Planeten entfernt sein wird. Bleibt dran 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... @science.esa.int

I understand that raw images of 3I obtained by NASA Mars spacecraft should be released automatically. Processed images and associated commentary by the mission teams are currently restricted. Because of Donald Trump and the Republicans in US Congress.

Interstellar comet 3I/Atlas is flying past Mars today. Might get some cool views! skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador. Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.

It is a very small thing in the midst of all of the ongoing crises; but now I am wondering: What happens to the over-winter team at the South Pole given the current United States government shutdown? Does anyone know? Since they are waiting to get shipped back off the ice.

#AbolishICE and #UnpackTheCourts

Time for me to remind my state electeds that #Minnesota needs to make more efforts to address avian influenza. Since birds do not care where the state line with Wisconsin is. "Bird flu outbreak spreads in Jefferson County chicken farms" www.wisn.com/article/bird...

This week (!) is the 30th anniversary of the announcement of 51 Pegasi b, the first exoplanet found orbiting a star like our Sun - since then, we've found over 6,000! To celebrate, @alexwitze.bsky.social and @nature.com collected some astronomers' favourite planets: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

It remains way past time to shut down all cryptocurrency and "AI" scams.

Next #SETILive: Hidden Habitability on Ceres TODAY, 2 October 2025, 2:30 pm PDT Join @planetarypan.bsky.social and Dr. Sam Courville as they discuss the possibility that Ceres had the energy needed to support habitability for much longer than once believed. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬 WATCH LIVE: buff.ly/hKs09PR

Since I read some public confusion on this point: For all of the telescopes in Mars orbit and the cameras on Mars' surface observing it this week, #3I/ATLAS will appear as a dot. But 3I will be a very interesting dot.

READ ⬇️ Stand Up For Science Statement on Compact Corrupting Higher Education.

Cool science. Not aliens.

I just had occasion to check how much Caltech charges students. Grad students' tuition continues to be waived, but the full rate for undergrads is now near $95k / year. I recall a discussion 15+ years ago about how Caltech could fundraise and reallocate endowment to erase tuition. Instead of this.

This photo from the Perseverance rover captured in early March, may be my favorite Mars image from this year. It shows Mars' smaller moon Deimos over the hills of the Nili Planum region in the dark skies before dawn. 🔭 Full res: flic.kr/p/2rwUwV7 Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Simeon Schmauß

@moonpalacebooks.bsky.social is a pretty good bookstore.