After a hard day of work, I am going to chill on the sofa with a drink ... and do 4 hours of mandatory compliance training before I am allowed to submit proposals.

The bipartisan bill funding NASA & NSF -- rejecting proposed catastrophic cuts -- has been signed into law. This summer, I saw that the most left-leaning Democrats to hard-right Republicans in Congress agree on little yet both see the value of astro & planetary science. I hope support continues.

reactormag.com/definitively... You're welcome.

The whole story is worth reading, but I want to highlight this plot of science agency staffing that we pulled together from historic and current data. It shows that cuts to science staffing are almost uniformly steep across the board and unlike anything seen in the first Trump administration.

Happy Martin Luther King Day my friends: "I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war." Speech given on December 11, 1964 after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Lucy's Taqueria in Hilo, Hawaii. Simple, cheap but excellent. Great quesadillas and margaritas. For a while, I probably ate there at least once a week. Closed because hardworking owner decided to retire.

Just a reminder =)

NASA Discovers Distant Planet With Conditions That Could Sustain Rocks https://theonion.com/nasa-discovers-distant-planet-with-conditions-that-could-sustain-rocks/

Packed splinter session at #AAS247 for the announcement of The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System—a modular, rapid-response network of four novel observatories designed to democratize access to the cosmos. Read more about the initiatives here: www.schmidtsciences.org/focus-area-a...

Thank you US Senator Mark Kelly for welcoming #AAS247 attendees to Arizona and for your continued support of the astronomical sciences. We’re grateful for your ongoing advocacy for science and discovery. #ExploreAstronomy Photo by © CorporateEventImages/Todd Buchanan 2026 🔭

The Conference version of the bills that fund NASA and NSF: www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/do... (Report) www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/do... - 24.4 billion for NASA; 8.75 billion for NSF. -NSF shall advance both GMT and TMT to final design phase.

It looks like our luck this winter ran out.

The world seems like a dumpster fire but it is not *all* a dumpster fire. The drop in homicides in Baltimore looks quite encouraging.

Webpage updated! subarutelescope.org/staff/currie...

A nice article on our OASIS survey discoveries (HIP 54515 b, HIP 71618 B) from the Maunakea Observatories webpage: www.maunakeaobservatories.org/stories/suba... And local coverage in Hawaii: www.staradvertiser.com/2025/12/18/h... kauainownews.com/2025/12/17/d... bigislandnow.com/2025/12/18/m...

In a historical milestone, Hubble has witnessed the catastrophic collision of asteroids in the nearby Fomalhaut planetary system 🪨💥  Observations also revealed that an object previously suspected to be a candidate planet was, in fact, a dust cloud.  🔭 🧪

The Southwest Research Institute announces results on Europa/Clipper observations of the 3I/ATLAS (not-alien-ship) interstellar comet. Congratulations to everyone at SWRI + team! www.swri.org/newsroom/pre...

"comments very welcome!" - I don't think they would like my comments.

12 nights on SCExAO next semester from five programs (!!): - the OASIS survey allocation + follow up characterization - my own independent vetting of Roman Coronagraph ref/target star targets (b/c current plans=inadequate) - two WISPIT-2 programs Will be drowning in data.

New orbit movie just dropped. This one is for the newly discovered circumbinary planet HD 143811 AB b. This 9-year timelapse was made through an international collaboration with me, Nathalie Jones (Northwestern graduate student), and Vito Squicciarini (Exeter postdoc)

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Cycle 1 Call for Proposals is Open! roman-docs.ipac.caltech.edu/roman-propos... Proposal Deadline: March 17, 2026 www.nasa.gov/missions/rom... "Roman is slated to launch by May 2027, but the team is on track for launch as early as fall 2026." #NASA #astronomy #AAS

NASA revealed they found some of the building blocks of life in a sample brought back from an asteroid (on a University of Arizona-led mission, by the way). It raises some big questions about whether there’s other life somewhere out there in the universe. According to my math, probably.

... and HIP 71618 B the first and (currently) only companion demonstrably suitable for the Roman Coronagraph Technology Demonstration arxiv.org/abs/2512.02126 [El Morsy et al. 2025, ApJ Letters in press]

(announcement 1 of 2) everyone, say hello to ... HIP 54515 b: the 3rd planet jointly discovered from direct imaging and astrometry arxiv.org/abs/2512.02159 [Currie & Li et al. 2025, AJ in press] Press releases to follow tomorrow

Subaru/SCExAO observing to look for more planets. 0.25" seeing right now giving us a nice looking PSF

Many moons ago, I wrote a philosophy paper highly critical of Nietzsche. My prof called it "not very intelligent" b/c it didn't engage. I regrouped and wrote much better stuff to earn an A. It was a lot of work. I guess today one can just shout "Dr __ is biased b/c he's an ____!" instead.

"Why is there grade inflation? Why do our courses lack rigor?' "Also we will immediately throw any graduate student TA or instructor who upsets an influential constituency under the bus, no matter how obviously manufactured their outrage is." 🤷‍♂️

And if more people listened to Bach and Mozart instead of basically everything that is a massive revenue generator right now.

I think life would be better if more people read books and spent time looking up at the stars

subarutelescope.org/en/news/topi... "weird protoplanety thing" I found a few years ago now part of a traveling Pokemon exhibit in Japan.

I got this wonderful spam journal request and cannot help but read it in Samuel L Jackson's voice

The case turned out to be a real nothingburger

This definitely is one of this alt universes from the TNG episode "Parallels".

www.civilbeat.org/2025/11/thir... The big question is whether they could do the permitting rapidly. OTOH, I absolutely know some Hawaiian activists currently opposed to TMT who would accept it on a recycled site (e.g. CSO?). Glad to see Gov. Green supportive of TMT. Worth exploring.

One day the universe will contain only dark energy and JWST proposals.

Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.

Arvo Part -- still alive, and still composing as of 5 years ago -- belongs in any list of the greatest composers in recorded history. Worth mentioning alongside Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven.

Missed this at the time (busy w/shutdown stuff), but on Sept. 30 NSF dropped its appeal for the 15% indirect cost case. The AAU is now suing NSF to recoup ~330,000 in legal fees. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Knickers

ECR astro pro tip: a well maintained bibliography file *ordered alphabetically* will save you from many headaches in the future ;)

"Avi Loeb and the Mystics" ... didn't they open for Nickelback once?

much more elegant than Hubble's devouring of corn on the cob yesterday.

Encourage a student to register for the astropy workshop! 🔭 #astrocode

University of Arizona now also rejects, albeit in a very conciliatory manner. No comments about academic freedom, just concern that preferential treatment by the government would be anti-merit. 7 out of the 9 initially contacted universities have now said no. president.arizona.edu/sites/defaul...

Seeing the discourse right now in the high-contrast imaging community about the JWST oversubscription rate confirms to me that the decision to skip JWST entirely as a PI yet again was the right one. :)

Happy JWST deadline day to those who celebrate. For me, it will be the 4th cycle in a row I've blown past as a PI because of "xyzabc" yet again. I have a bunch of workable ideas: some of which I think are really interesting. Maybe Cycle 6 ... or maybe I can donate a few of these to an eager ECR

This cannot be good.

more of this is coming, I'm afraid.

Astronomers have caught a bouncing baby exoplanet feeding and growing pretty big! badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/a-baby-pla... Note: This is for paying subbies to my newsletter, to and for whom I am very grateful. 🔭🧪