Technologically advance a band: Huey Lewis and the Aggregator Website.

🧵 WD 1647+375, a white dwarf just 260 ly away, is "snacking" on the remnants of a Pluto-like body from an alien Kuiper Belt. Using Hubble's ultraviolet spectroscopy, an international team has revealed the chemical composition of this cosmic object, ➡️ warwick.ac.uk/news/pressre... 🔭 🧪 #science

We’re all coping in our own ways.

Great question! I’m on the paper and we debate in it whether it’s an exopluto from the same system or an interloper. But it certainly is encouraging to see hints of nitrogen ices in other systems, makes out case for ‘Oumuamua more likely.

Does Ross Douthat Fully Understand Where the Left is Heading? The New York Times columnist has his finger on the pulse of the left, but doesn't understand the consequences.

If you see this, quote with the energy you bring to Bluesky

A study arguing against polar geoengineering like microspheres & seabed curtains got a lot of press. But a commentary in the same issue says geoengineering could help avoid tipping pts. Geoengineering is coming—& it's sparking a "civil war" in polar science www.scientificamerican.com/article/pola...

Rest in Peace, Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman. She was targeted and assassinated on June 14, 2025 between 2 am and 3:35 am CDT in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Vance Boelter was targeting 70+ Democrats at the time of the incident.

I know nothing about astrophysics but I do know that Avi Loeb has been getting all the tv interviews on Atlas and implying it's aliens, which frankly makes him no better than Graham Hancock. Scholars need to get him deplatformed before he harms the discipline

Sorry it took me so long to grade your August 20 assignment, Avi Loeb. Are you sure you're ready for a class on comets? You might need to learn about things like bow shocks and chemistry.

The article is a masterpiece of irony and scientific rigor. It humorously debunks the claims of the Harvard astronomer and his collaborators regarding alien research, defending the scientific method and NASA's prioritization processes. A must-read for those who love true #science. 🔭 🧪

I haven’t seen it suggested, but could 3I/ATLAS’s carbon chain depletion and CO2 enrichment both be due to >7 Gyr of cosmic rays irradiating the ice, C + 2 H2O -> CO2 + 2 H2, a la Mennella et al. 2004?

Yes, I love that two non-US sports psychologists conclude that US science funding is rigged so that the guy quoted unfailingly by every outlet—not because of scientific merit but because of the Harvard label—can’t get a hearing. That and more is why I wrote this: medium.com/@steve.desch...

🧵 This image refers to a STEVE, or Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement. It is an atmospheric optical phenomenon, different from auroras, appearing generally as a purple and green light ribbon in the sky. ➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap21050... Image Credit: MaryBeth Kiczenski 🔭 🧪 ⚛️ #science

It’s underappreciated that 3I/ATLAS was discovered far from the Sun before a lot of comety things would start, yet immediately was heavily scrutinized. Also its orbit so far has kept its tail pointed away from Earth but now that’s changing. Anyway, quoting Chandler, could it BE more a comet?

📌

Lost script found. medium.com/@steve.desch...

The SPHEREx/JWST discoveries of CO2 gas are the nail in the coffin: this is a comet. It’s like right in face and he’s closing his eyes and loudly singing lalala! The Ni vapor without Fe vapor is interesting. We only discovered 5 years ago that comets emit Fe and Ni at low temps (new UV spectrometer)

I can feel no sense of measure.

Inside the Bold Geoengineering Work to Refreeze the Arctic’s Disappearing Ice Researchers are trying to rebuild sea ice above the Arctic Circle so it can reflect the sun’s warming rays, slowing climate change www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-...

weyWHAT An unexpected occultation discovery of a potential 2nd moon or 3rd ring arc around dwarf planet Quaoar! The new moon/ring is 30±2 km wide and seems to be 5757 km from Quaoar—suspiciously close to 7:2 orbital resonance with Quaoar's big moon Weywot! iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3... ☄️

Thanks, but I’m just a fan of the music. Did you know if you read Loeb’s 3I/ATLAS articles backwards, you can hear him predict the emission from Nickel?

🤘🎸

<chef's kiss> and yet ...

This is what angers me about Loeb. We live in a post-truth attention economy. The internet will give you “facts” to support whatever belief you want to have. Loeb is not the first or worst narcissist to capitalize on this and gather followers, saying “trust me, I’m the smartest one.” But

In a world of deGrasse Tysons, be a Desch. 🔥

“Just asking questions” might be defensible if he ever listened to the answers, but he refuses to ever be wrong. His “questions“ distort what scientists do and say. Scientists have a responsibility to convey reality to the public. He’d rather sell books. Surely you know a marketer when you see one?

Jason, as usual, has the receipts.

Steve Desch’s last couple of pieces on Avi Loeb and his ongoing ludicrous levels of hype-mongering are terrific. #ufosky medium.com/@steve.desch...

Today on interstellar comet ☄️ 3I/ATLAS, this time from our team with ESO's VLT: the coma shows rich atomic nickel! This entirely natural metal emission from grains was only recently (last 4 yrs) identified in Solar System comets, was in 2I/Borisov, & now in 3I. 🔭🧪 Rahatgaonkar et al, ApJL submitted

wow, Steve. instant classic. two of my favorite things — Zeppelin and astronomy — all in one double helix of an epic beatdown. especially love how you just assume readers will understand the Zep references, as some are “fans only” stuff. Avi:genuine science::Kingdom Come:Led Zeppelin

The final line! I sincerely hope not, but I can't say I'd be surprised.

Yep.

Guys, I was wrong. Avi Loeb is an artistic genius. medium.com/@steve.desch...

Today our team released findings on the nature of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, based on our first round of JWST observations. The data are incredible: Not only did we detect and map gas and dust in the coma, but we found that 3I is one of the most CO2 rich comets ever seen! Check it out:

View from my office. I might need to wash my car after this. #monsoon #haboob

My heart breaks into 10,000 pieces once again.

Does Not Rhyme -through -cough -though -rough -bough Does Rhyme -pony -bologna

Not as exciting as aliens, but if you want to see how actual planetary scientists study interstellar objects like 3I/ATLAS, this new paper just dropped on arxiv arxiv.org/pdf/2508.15469. The SPHEREx and IRTF 🔭 data are consistent with known physics and expected chemistry. Just sayin'.

I loved the movie OPPENHEIMER about the race to build that world-changing negotiation.

Bears repeating.

I agree. Anybody who remembers Heavens Gate knows this is dangerous territory. What is the cost for feeding Loeb’s narcissism?

Yep, 3I/Atlas is really a comet.

Not even worth the effort of an eye-roll Your time is better spent on @deschscoveries.bsky.social 's latest: medium.com/@steve.desch...

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

It’s a comet. It’s not exactly like the comets in our solar system, and it’s just beginning to sublimate now, and we’re trying to figure out all the details. But every day it does more and more things that comets do. It has a normal amount of solids around it, reflecting sunlight. That’s what we

It’s Schrodinger’s spaceship: nuclear-powered but must use solar sails; “perfect” trajectory, but can’t avoid debris; won’t use radar, but is lit up like Vegas; ejects tons of matter dust, but maybe is antimatter. If a spaceship, its nature depends on the observer. Or, hear me out: it’s a comet.

Venus lightning digression 👍🏼

Fascinating! I didn’t know about this hypothesis! I’m not surprised Loeb didn’t cite it. Yet somehow I’m always shocked he doesn’t even read the papers he does cite.