Saddened to hear of the damage to the 36" dome at Lick Observatory. It's unknown how this will impact our public programs in the spring, but I'm just glad no one was hurt and that the historic telescope itself doesn't seem to have been damaged. news.ucsc.edu/2025/12/hist...

Penultimate image from my 2024 dark sky observing trip: the California Nebula. And by golly, it really does look like California! 😆 1h 6' integration time, stacked using Siril and lightly processed with Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom. #astronomy #astrophotography #astro #siril #photoshop #lightroom

Look up! It's the Andromeda Galaxy coming directly for us! ETA 4.5 billion years 👀 From the 2nd night of my 2024 observing trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains. Only 51' integration time because brr it was cold 🥶 #astronomy #astrophotography #andromeda

Well this is kind of wild. I hadn’t checked my stats on @unsplash.com in months. And suddenly I’m in the top 25% of contributors?? Top 10% in the last 30 days! 🤯 #astrophotography #astronomy #unsplash

More from my 2024 dark sky trip... Here's the Eagle Nebula (M16) & Omega Nebula (M17). 1h 51′ total integration time. Taken with my Redcat 51 & Canon DLSR on a VERY cold night high in the Sierra Nevadas 🏔️ If you squint - or zoom - you'll see the Pillars of Creation. #astrophotography #astronomy

More from my 2024 dark sky trip... North America Nebula (NGC 7000) & Pelican Nebula (IC 5070). Prior to this, I had never captured the Pelican in its entirety in a single photo. But thanks to the huge FOV on the Redcat 51, I see it really does look like a giant bird! #astronomy #astrophotography

What do you mean I saw PLATO with my own eyes today?? 🫢🫨 #ESAopenday #exoplanet

Resharing images from my September 2024 dark sky observing trip to the Sierra Nevadas. First up: the Lagoon (M8) & Trifid (M20) Nebulas. 2h 9' total integration time with my Redcat 51 & Canon DSLR camera mounted on ZWO AM5. #astrophotography #astronomy

Excited to be making the space nerd pilgrimage: catching the midnight showing of Interstellar being re-released in IMAX 🍿🥤🚀🪐 Half the theater look like they weren’t born yet when the movie first came out but nevertheless so excited for this!

And to give you a scale of the signal power .... the signal from your home wi-fi is billions of times stronger (I think ~10 billion IIRC) than the signal Earth receives from Voyager spacecrafts. It's incredibly feeble, so detecting it is a big feat! Well done to this team!

Why this is neat? Well, the Voyagers are so far away (human's furthest objects) that we need the biggest telescopes in the world (the Deep Space Network) to normally communicate with them. Those are big 70m dishes, so much larger gain. A 25m dish, and the work of amateurs is a really nice story!

The 25m Dwingeloo radio telescope (owned by ASTRON) has been operating since '50s. Recently, it has been used more by amateurs and pro-am radio astronomers. Excitingly, they picked up the Voyager 1 signal. Voyager 1 is ~25 billion km away! (~4 x Pluto distance) www.camras.nl/en/blog/2024... 🔭📡🧪

My favorite nebula! 😍 Sadly it’s unlikely I’ll be able to ever see it with my own eyes 😭

This is HUGE! The Safe Choice Network of physicians provide safe, effective and affordable medication abortion services NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE IN THE US! Visit: www.asafechoicenetwork.com Please share: #ASafeChoice 🦋

Join Our SOCIAL MEDIA STORM! MAKE SURE WOMEN KNOW! No matter where you live in the US, you can receive safe, effective & affordable medication abortion services via telehealth. #ASafeChoice Use this social media toolkit to help spread word!

EVERYONE NEEDS TO HEAR THIS! Women NATIONWIDE can still receive safe, effective and affordable medication abortion services via the #ASafeChoice Network of physicians. Visit: www.asafechoicenetwork.com Let's help this go viral!

A few years ago I made some International Space Station HDEV-style renders from Mars Color Imager (MARCI) data, a camera which images most of the Martian surface daily. This video captures the 2018 global dust storm just as it was rolling into Oppy's field site in Meridiani Planum (at ~21 minutes)

Please follow my list of Indigenous scientists! I accidentally deleted my first starter park -- but recreated it with even more names. Who else needs to be added? go.bsky.app/9LhnuCY

Hi Blueskyers. I run the organization @protectdemocracy.org which aims to do just that. Over the past decade we’ve won countless cases to protect voters and truth, helped pass legislation, and unfortunately predicted much of what’s happened. Follow and repost so we can keep doing that here.

Sarah McBride: "It is an attempt to distract ... Every single time we hear them say the word 'trans,' look what they're doing with their right hand. Look at what they're doing to pick the pocket of American workers, to fleece seniors by privatizing Social Security and Medicare."

Governor Gavin Newsom is one of the few Democrats who has spoken up after the elections, in this continued fight for Democracy. For those who want to volunteer: act.gavinnewsom.com/signup/volun...

For the first time in my life, I’m on strike! ✊ #solidarity

Last weekend, Earth’s most famous technosignature — known as the Arecibo message — celebrated its 50th birthday. In a story for SciAm, I had the chance to explore the transmission's significance, both then and now. I couldn't have done it on my own, so here's a bit of how it came to be...🧵

Don’t ever think your vote doesn’t count in a blue state! 👇🏻

If you ever see this video, this is the person who made it. @kevinmgill.bsky.social (It's often mis- or un-attributed.)

What I love about this Officially Verified Bluesky Press Lists is it includes a real mix of people at major legacy media outlets, independent organizations, and freelancers. We can promote a diverse media when billionaires don't control what you see. Let's keep it growing! go.bsky.app/U9juDW4

BIG NEWS: A Wyoming judge just struck down WY's abortion bans. And get this: The judge invoked a constitutional amendment codifying a right to make health care decisions... that was passed in 2012 by conservatives who thought it'd screw Obamacare! Just backfired. We explained this lawsuit here:

We are constantly adding vetted activists to our @demcastusa.bsky.social starter packs. We had to start a second one because we filled up the first! Please be sure you’re following these folks! Pass it on.

Slowly & sorely (🤣), I have created a #nature oasis for #birds, #pollinators, & more in middle of city 1/2 mile from closest green corridor. We have added #NativePlants & non-invasive friends to bloom #FebruaryToFrost, truly productive #KitchenGarden, & solved all of our water issues. #gardening 🌱

Here’s a great Starter Pack from @aaronblack.bsky.social! Pass it on.

All restaurants need to do this.

New starter pack: I created this one for people interested in research on #science #communication and public #engagement with science. Feel free to follow them, share the list, and suggest additions! #scicomm go.bsky.app/3qW3UL2

I learned some stuff about Bluesky I did not know by reading this. Maybe worth passing it on to others so we can all start getting the full benefit of the 🦋.

FOLLOW FRIDAY! Let’s build up the Resistance here — if you’re here, I want to follow ALL of you 🦋 Until midnight - Follow me, I’ll follow you back - Already follow me? Repost and I’ll follow you

👋For those who don’t know me, let me introduce myself. My name is Sam Schwartz and I’m 20 years old. I became involved in politics after my cousin Alex was killed in the Parkland shooting. (That’s us below). Now, I fight to end gun violence. Give me a follow if you’re with me!

Jasmine Crockett is challenging Debbie Dingell for chairmanship of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. I’m sorry but this is a no-brainer. If we are going to defeat Trumpism we need to turn the page on our defunct comms strategies. Let’s go, Jasmine!

Astrobites was one of the best things I did during grad school, and I can't recommend it enough for any astro grads who are interested in science communication!!

🙏

Hey all. Even if you can’t help yourself, can you amplify this call to action? **CALIFORNIA STILL NEEDS BALLOTS CURED** The more we can tighten the margin in the House, the better. Nancy Pelosi has links to help here. Please pass it on!

Since 60k of you have followed, I figured I would reintroduce myself. Aaron Parnas. I’m 25 years old, a lawyer, and a Gen Z Democratic activist. Now’s the time to band together, build community here, and fight back. Repost this, give me a follow, and let’s build community here.

My name is Aaron Parnas. I’m 25 years old. I spent the past two years fighting to get Kamala Harris and other Democrats elected. I’m not stopping now—we are going to continue this critical fight.

Join our MeidasTouch family! Here’s our ‘starter pack’ so you can follow everyone and stay up to date and informed about everything going on! Welcome to Resistance headquarters💪🏼🔥🇺🇸

I'm on a call with @dworkin.bsky.social @other98.bsky.social @occupydemocrats.bsky.social @thedemcoalition.bsky.social @demcastusa.bsky.social And we're all ALL-IN on BlueSky. Occupy Democrats JUST created their account. Please follow! Pass it on.

I’m keeping this updated 👍🏾 #BlackSky go.bsky.app/F5kYEyc

I propose this to be the battle song of our #Resistance. Give it a watch whenever you a lift to keep on fighting! ✊ It definitely lit a 🔥 in me today. Wrongs will be righted If we're united Let us seize the day Nothing can break us No one can make us Give our rights away

Anyone struggling with invalid handle read this: Go to “Settings” Choose “change handle” Click on “I have my own domain” In the box, type your handle (same one works) with “.bsky.social” after it. (Note, my autocorrect changes bsky to Baku” Then click the button to complete

And they’re going to turn it into an “everytown for gun safety” website. This might be the most brilliant troll job in history.