we've added docs / examples of pynucastro's directed relation graph with error propagation (DRGEP) network reduction algorithm: pynucastro.github.io/pynucastro/r... this is part of a clean-up / expansion of pynucastro's methods for reducing network sizes while retaining accuracy #astrocode #astro

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA 10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

ASTRO FRIENDS! Apply to work with some really cool people (and me)! VAST organizing has been a rewarding, LOW time commitment (~2hr/month), experience!

The Virtual Astronomy Software Talk series welcomes new organizers. You can learn more about VAST on our website: vast-seminars.github.io. Please apply by Oct 15 : tinyurl.com/VASTorgs #astronomy #software

protip: for maximum performance, erase / clean your whiteboard every 5 years.

had a dream that the registrar changed my teaching assignment from a python class to Spanish 2, because they are both languages...

it's only Monday and I'm already saying to myself "I'll deal with that over the weekend..." :(

There’s rumors that the trailer for THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU will be released tomorrow 👀

for VAST seminars (vast-seminars.github.io), one future topic of interest is how people are using AI tools (like claude) to help with coding workflows (debugging, prototyping, code reviews, ...). If you are doing this, drop an issue here: github.com/vast-seminar... #astro #astrocode

today the new season of the Virtual Astronomy Software Talks kicks off: vast-seminars.github.io Some of the organizers will talk about their own projects this time. Join us at 11am (NY time). #astro #astrocode

Gargantuan Gaia review by Michael Perryman "271 pages, 126 figures, accepted for publication in Physics Reports" arxiv.org/abs/2509.10883

We're hiring Flatiron Research Fellows & Software Fellows at the @flatironinstitute.org CCA. These independent postdoc positions offer outstanding opportunities for collaboration, computation, and scientific growth in NYC: apply.interfolio.com/173402 apply.interfolio.com/173403

According to NASA/ADS, our papers have now garnered over 5,000 citations (at an average of about 14.0 per paper). ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/p_=0&...

BREAKING, from NY Playbook PM: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will sign an executive order allowing pharmacists to prescribe and administer Covid vaccines to New Yorkers who request them.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul just sent a letter directing insurers to cover the COVID vaccine and other vaccines.

AAS Social Media Task Force The AAS is seeking members for a social media task force to strategically increase the Society's social media presence, including communicating the value of astronomy & science funding to the broader public and promoting advocacy actions. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... 🔭

iphone 18 leak

We're incredibly grateful for Emily having hosted the Astronomy feed herself for two years — a feed which we use every day! There is now an option to support the hosting of the feed so that we can all continue to share astronomy on Bluesky. 🔭☄️

in the song Dancing in the Dark, the lyrics say: You can't start a fire You can't start a fire without a spark does that bother anyone else? should I write Bruce? magnifying glass diesel engine ...

The GRFP lives!! (due end of October) www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Any NYC-based grad students interested in corporate AI/ML work, and open to part-time work this academic year? Please message me or check out the ATDS (Astronomers Turned Data Scientists) Slack group.

For the last two years, I've been paying for the Astronomy feeds hosting myself. It has been a privilege to grow our community here, but I also shouldn't keep doing it for free 😅 That's why I'm delighted to announce that we now have a donations page on Open Collective! 🔭☄️ #astrophotography

Variety labels Adria Arjona in ANDOR as their choice for “Should Have Been Nominated” for the Emmy Best Supporting Actress in a Drama 🏆

Now more than ever.

why does Zoom get worse and worse with every release?

Stony Brook is a host institution for the NASA Hubble Fellowship Program. Our astro group has 13 faculty -- check us out and consider applying with us. www.stsci.edu/stsci-resear...

This one is only for Blueskyers of a certain age.

One of the main benefits of doing a US PhD is the extra time you get, that's one of the big reasons I advised my students to apply for US programmes. We offer a four year degree here, there'd be no advantage over us. The US is euthanising its massive advantage in research for no good reason.

forestry job advertised on the AAS job register :/

My phone consistently autocorrects "code" to"coffee". It's not wrong...

fixed the astro group espresso machine I think that's enough for today

A very hungry planet! 🪐 What appears to be a ripple in space is actually a newborn planet, eating its way through its dusty cradle around a younger version of our Sun 🌞 Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2534a/ 🔭 🧪 #exoplanets 📷 ESO/R. van Capelleveen et al.

Some extreme shifts in NSF GRFP support: www.science.org/content/arti...

Kinda wishing that I'd come up with a better title than "Diverse Trends in Transwar Politics that Woke Japan's Victim-Framed Nationalism" for my NSF application

once again reminded how much the grad school experience is shaped by your phd supervisor, and thanking the universe for my mentors. If I can do for my students what my advisor did for me, I’ll call myself a success 🙏🏽

Is it spring break yet?

working on class notes for stars and making / updating examples. Here's the binding energy / nucleon, computed via our pynucastro library: pynucastro.github.io/pynucastro/e...

Opening slide for our first faculty meeting of the semester…

first day of the semester NumMeetingsToday++;

apparently #zenodo github sync times out if you have too many repos (and gives a 504 error), which makes it hard to add zenodo integration for new projects.

Somehow I'm now getting Google Calendar spam.... :(

as a Chicago alumn (Astonomy & Astrophysics PhD 2000), this saddens me greatly. Chicago was such a great institution because of the strength of _all_ of the departments.

been using #sympy to generate Gauss-Legendre quadrature points / weights with many decimal places for an application, but I think I've pushed it too hard -- it's been running for 48 hours now figuring out the weights. Might need to explore other options...

The AAS policy team is requesting input from astronomers, observatories, and night sky users worldwide regarding the potential impacts of Reflect Orbital’s proposed reflector satellites on astronomical research and night sky visibility. aas.org/posts/news/2... #Astrophotography 🌌🔭🦛

Astro folks, how are we feeling about serving on NSF review panels these days, given *gestures vaguely at everything*? I'm torn between "they can use all the help they can get" and "don't particularly want to be a part of whatever BS process is going on at the moment".

does anyone know of a lightweight web-based platform where students can share small snippets of code live in class, and I can project it and flip through the submissions for in-class discussion?

the semester is starting! here are some of my teaching resources online: intro astronomy animations: zingale.github.io/astro_animat... my computational astrophysics class: zingale.github.io/computationa... my computational hydro text: open-astrophysics-bookshelf.github.io/numerical_ex... #astro