Very cool! It should also break one Harvard astronomer’s heart to learn this is not a 20 km- diameter object. Since we’d expect to see thousands of smaller comets for each comet that big, this wouldn’t be an interstellar comet. But, turns out, it’s a smol, D=1 km, statistically likely what? COMET.

INTERSTELLAR COMET #3IATLAS IMAGED TODAY IN ITS CLOSEST APPROACH TO #EARTH. It keeps its inner coma activity with waving jets, and the intense antitail. We explained its transitional nature from spectra and photometry. Outreach: t.co/K0xqGPy1fX Research preprint: t.co/MAVDRxLowC #PlanetarySciences

Picture a stellar newborn that, between one hiccup and the next, launches jets of gas at insane speeds, leaving behind a trail of rings like footprints in the cosmos. 🔭 That's the story told by the recent discovery on SVS 13, a protostar... ➡️ www.almaobservatory.org/en/press-rel... 🧪 #Science 1/9

The name "Popular Science" doesn't mean we shift our coverage depending on public opinion. It means we cover relevant subjects that are rigorously researched, reliable, and grounded in reality. And trans lives are grounded in reality. We see y'all. No matter what. www.popsci.com/science/tran...

All you ever wanted to know about what meteorite tell us about Solar System Formation! Check out the newest @issibern.ch book ⬇️ #planetSci

I get these emails often. I'm not that kind of doctor. We are honored to invite you to be a Speaker with the speech topic "The breakup of a long-period comet is not a likely match to the Chicxulub impactor" at the 13th International Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (ICGO-2026 Asia).

Happy Hanukkah to our friends who celebrate. Rachel Posner, a rabbi’s wife in Kiel, Germany, took this photograph in 1931 -- a potent reminder that fascism must be fought in every generation, even if it's wrapped in an American flag and a red hat.

Great article (in Spanish) about scientists who pass to the Dark Side, destroying science from within, the psychology of it, and the irresponsibility of our media in promoting it.

It's funny to have to make this case but tbqh we don't make it enough: human efforts to counter fossil fuel use have had *at least some* effect on total greenhouse gas emissions since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015, and there's some evidence to back up this position A lil thread 🧵

Interesting but I think off the mark. It presumes 26Al isn’t inherited from molecular cloud because rare inclusions have low 26Al/27Al and “predate” 26Al. But as cited PP7 chapter & Desch+2023 explain, it’s a chemical heterogeneity. 26Al was always there, no need to make it: arxiv.org/pdf/2307.07750

Hubble reobserved interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on November 30. At the time, the comet was about 178 million miles (286 million kilometers) from Earth. Hubble tracked the comet as it moved across the sky. As a result, background stars appear as streaks of light: https://go.nasa.gov/4iCU2lH 🔭 🧪

Thanks to Chris Young at Interesting Engineering for the chance to contextualize 3I/ATLAS. I would have preferred two thumbnails of the comet itself, but... enjoy. interestingengineering.com/space/3i-atl...

¿No crees en la colonización? Este es nuestro cielo. Corrección: este era nuestro. Todos hemos perdido un poco. ¿Quién gana?

You can’t spell FAIL without AI.

Every now and then you find a science piece that is both razor-sharp and genuinely funny. “Avi and the Content Factory” by @deschscoveries.bsky.social is one of those rare gems—a brilliant piece of scientific satire. Highly recommended—for...⤵️ ➡️ medium.com/@steve.desch... 🔭 🧪 #science 1/5

Brandy you're a fine girl What a good wife you would be But my life my love and my lady Is the See

this is what honor actually means

I helped Professor Dave lay out exactly how Avi Loeb has manufactured doubt and pushed a false narrative about 3I/ATLAS, which is still an interstellar comet. Please enjoy the video and please repost this to share the word. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf9o...

I’ve defended USRA/LPSC against boycotts just because it’s in Texas. It’s important to maintain community and continue science. But I cannot abide this *eagerness* to comply. What good is science funding if scientists aren’t free to even talk about how to do science and how to get the best talent?

I really hate it when scientists keep saying that “we need to rebuild trust in science,” because it implies that scientists are to blame for the mistrust rather than the millions of dollars of dark money that have funded political attacks on science in order to advance a far right agenda.

Thank you! I’m trying to keep it classy.

Thanks to Chris Young at Interesting Engineering for the chance to contextualize 3I/ATLAS. I would have preferred two thumbnails of the comet itself, but... enjoy. interestingengineering.com/space/3i-atl...

No, or maybe they get a token quote of objection. Modern media aren’t there to inform. Truth hardly matters. They are there to collect your clicks and eyeballs. For that Loeb is catnip. I blame the media the most, as in this satirical rant. medium.com/@steve.desch...

quote o the week “He’s the Terminator, if the Terminator’s job was misconstruing ice and rocks in space to be aliens.” — Steve Desch @deschscoveries.bsky.social

A reminder that the Face on Mars isn't

I calculate the odds of that anagram occurring to be < 0.005%! Coincidence? We do not know.

Congratulations! Your students know more about comets than Avi Loeb!

Un petit thread qui explique posément, rationnellement, pourquoi les allégations de l' "astrophysicien" Avi Loeb sur la nature "artificielle et extraterrestre" de la comète interstellaire 3I/ATLAS sont rien moins que fausses. à dérouler ci-dessous 👇

A thread worth reading slowly. It explains, clearly and straight to the point, why Loeb’s claims about #3I/ATLAS don’t hold up—not a matter of opinion, but of comet physics anyone can check. The tail isn’t escaping gas, it’s dust pushed by solar radiation. 🔭 🧪 #science #comet ⚛️ 1/2

This is what real interstellar comet science missions look like.

"The fallacies behind the cult of Loeb" New entry in my blog. Other articles have covered the scientific aspects; this one reflects on the social phenomenon. I argue it’s driven by a series of fallacies tinieblasyestrellas.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...

Avi Loeb's calculations about 3I/ATLAS are 100% wrong because he has never understood that dust in the tail(s) responds to solar radiation pressure. Solar wind shapes the ion tail. But the radiation pressure is about 1000 times larger than the solar wind ram pressure, for particles that feel it.

This is supposed to be a mix of real news and satire, but I can’t figure out which is which. I do know 3I/ATLAS continued doing only comety things for a 114th consecutive day. oddnews.com/article/this...

Repost with an iconic fictional band.

🧵 Here is the Nebra sky disk, considered by some the oldest known illustration of the night sky. The artifact was discovered near Nebra alongside several Bronze Age weapons and is linked to the Unetice culture, which thrived in parts of Europe... ➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap18031... 🔭 🧪 #histsci 1/4

3I/ATLAS Update: would you believe it? It’s *still* a comet. 🔭 (www.virtualtelescope.eu/2025/11/11/i...)

For the folks that are still struggling with this. Here is a Venn Diagram. #3I/Atlas #3I 🔭

Oops. Ooooooooooooops. I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years. arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675 h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was born with different and more ancient chemistry, has been more irradiated, and is speeding toward the Sun faster compared to Solar System comets. It's got a unique personality. But since literally Day 1 it was recognized as a comet and has only ever done comety things.

I've summarized the truth about Loeb's 10 "anomalies" about 3I/ATLAS in one post. Thanks to @deschscoveries.bsky.social @michael-w-busch.bsky.social @cometary.org and @marshall-eubanks.bsky.social for contributing their expertise!

Mamdani is going to implement Oh Sherry law. All song titles must rhyme with the singer’s name, and our loves will hold on, hold on.

"Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives." ― Carl Sagan, born 9 November 1934 Video Credit: @planetarysociety.bsky.social #PaleBlueDot 🔭 🧪 #CarlSagan

It’s time for Speaker Johnson to cut the ridiculous excuses and do his job. Adelita Grijalva won an election more than 6 weeks ago, and she still hasn’t been sworn in to represent more than 800,000 Arizonans. Read her op-ed:

I didn’t know Lego made an Avi Loeb minifigure!

Yes!! Jason Wright, Sean Raymond and I also pointed out 'Oumuamua was stupidly thick, inefficiently reflected mostly red light, and was tumbling and non-functioning. Are aliens terrible engineers? Excellent engineers who make spaceships that LOOK like comets/chunks of ice? I can't disprove that.🤷

Is it jets from ices on a comet or are this an interstellar ice cream truck losing is cargo? We do not know.

New image of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS by M. Jäger, G. Rhemann & E. Prosperi. Avi Loeb's: "Is the network of jets associated with pockets of ice on the surface of a natural cometary nucleus or are they coming from a set of jet thrusters used for navigation of a spacecraft? We do not know."

*sip* ☕️

Speaker Johnson kicked me out of his office. Here's why.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari has set up a table and this sign outside Speaker Johnson’s office.