Prelude to a surprising late May storm, about to drench California.

Tiny ducklings waddling together in a great sea of stars -- also known as M11 or the "Wild Duck Cluster". Image credit: my tiny telescope (about 2.5 hours) #astronomy #science 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

Watching the moon set on a hot, muggy evening. Image credit: my tiny telescope.

I have a black hole joke but I’m not sure you’d get anything out of it

Google photos auto-created an album of "photos of me" over the years.... and included this particular one 😂 Fortunately, my Lego doppelganger is incapable of implicating me in any real-world mischief!

Moonrise (about 1 hour before sunrise).

Happy π Day! To prep, feast on this article on a brand new discovery for the ancient constant. My latest slice for SciAm! It's irrationally enjoyable... 🥧 www.scientificamerican.com/article/math... #math #science #PiDay 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

Happy π Day! To prep, feast on this article on a brand new discovery for the ancient constant. My latest slice for SciAm! It's irrationally enjoyable... 🥧 www.scientificamerican.com/article/math... #math #science #PiDay 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

Woot!

The ancient remains of Abell 31, a planetary nebula that is dissolving back into the Milky Way as its central star nears the white dwarf stage. Image credit: 15 hrs on my tiny telescope #science #astronomy 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

For #WomensHistoryMonth: Let us celebrate the life and accomplishments of French mathematician and physicist Émilie du Châtelet (1706-1749). She spread the then-new ideas of Isaac Newton on the Continent, and played a key role in developing the idea of energy conservation. 🎢⚛️🧪 #WomenInSTEM 🧵1/7

The Flaming Star Nebula, IC 405: the lucky accident of a wandering star lighting up a gas cloud as it passes through. Image credit: my tiny telescope #science #astronomy 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

Just wanted to share this again because BlueSky had a big outage when I shared it the first time. My latest for Scientific American: www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-... #science #physics #math 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

My grandfather fixed radios on the Black side of town. White-owned repair shops also brought him radios they couldn't fix. He made enough money to open a few grocery stores as a "retirement business".

My latest for Scientific American! The prime numbers -- math's "fundamental particles" -- may help to unravel some of the universe's most elusive secrets. www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-... #math #physics #science 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

My latest for Scientific American! The prime numbers -- math's "fundamental particles" -- may help to unravel some of the universe's most elusive secrets. www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-... #math #physics #science 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

The continents may have separated 200 million years ago, but plumes of their soils still cross the ocean like postcards between ancient friends. H/t @rami.spaceaustralia.com

After weeks of rain -- the Owl Nebula soars high above the Surfboard Galaxy, which surfs enormous interstellar tides. Image credit: my tiny telescope #astronomy #science 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

I just realized that today is Chinese New Year, the 1st day of Ramadan, AND Fat Tuesday. That means the Chinese new moon lined up with the Ramadan crescent and also fell exactly the right amount of time before the Easter full moon. An extremely rare lineup of 3 major moon-based traditions!

International Women in Science Day fell on Feb 10th. I had the honor of being featured in a blog post by the smart telescope company Vaonis (the brand of telescope I use)! vaonis.com/blogs/travel... 👩🏾‍🔬🔭

Just like the snake-haired Medusa of Greek mythology, this nebula's head writhes with tangled thick filaments, leading to its name, the Medusa Nebula. The result of a star cooling into a white dwarf. Image credit: my tiny telescope #science #astronomy 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

"...Aristarchus has brought out a book consisting of certain hypotheses... His hypotheses are that the fixed stars and the sun remain unmoved, that the earth revolves about the sun on the circumference of a circle, the sun lying in the middle of the orbit..." -- Archimedes, _The Sand Reckoner_

Gorgeous image! Can you believe, that in the next weeks to a few months, there are going to be four humans which are going to go in a spaceship and sail around the other side of this other world that just hangs in our sky. Go look at the Moon. Four people will be on the other side of it soon.

See the solitary bright crater on the lower left? It's named after Aristarchus of Samos, who proposed that the Earth orbits the sun 1,800 years before Copernicus. An unbelievably insightful idea for its day (sadly ignored). Image taken tonight by my tiny telescope. #science #history 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

The beautiful Markarian chain, a drooping string of distant galaxies. And the loner who refuses to join the party, M87 on the lower left, hiding a supermassive black hole inside its heart. Image credit: my tiny telescope #science #astronomy 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

Not many connect math and Dr. Martin Luther King. But in 7th grade, I saw my geometry teacher silently weep through the school's MLK Day assembly, hiding his eyes behind a napkin. An unintended gesture that placed a symbolic welcome mat in front of his math-covered chalkboards.

Good morning from the moon...

The Perseus Galaxy Cluster. A thousand galaxies trapped inside a cosmic web of filaments containing hundreds of thousands more. Image credit: my tiny telescope #science #astronomy 👩🏾‍🔬🔭

History forms when order breaks. In this case, NGC 660 is wearing its history at an angle. Long ago, a collision yanked its outer arms away from the core, leaving a warped galaxy, which still manages to hold itself together. Image credit: my tiny telescope (about 15 hrs) #science #astronomy 👩🏾‍🔬🔭

How to enjoy an iced latte in Detroit!

What wisdom will the Soul Nebula whisper for 2026? Astronomers know how to listen. [1/2] Image credit: my tiny telescope #science #astronomy 👩🏾‍🔬🔭

Four giant stories in one frame! Each of these nebulae exists in different evolutionary stages and at different distances from us. Details in alt text. Image credit: my tiny 2" telescope (and lots of patience) #astronomy #science 👩🏾‍🔬🔭

Hello BlueSky! This is the Christmas Tree Cluster. I color-mapped the heart of the nebula to tree-green to bring out the effect. Would you like this as a wallpaper? I'm happy to share for free: photos.app.goo.gl/e9LNThCC97NZ... Image credit: my tiny telescope. #science #astronomy 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

I happened to be up in San Francisco during the massive power outage tonight. The dark skyscrapers imparted a weird, Dickensian feel.

This looks fake, but I took this photo in the middle of one of many aimless walks that my kids have led me on.

The Iris Nebula. The unusual thing about this nebula is the vast filament structures that persist all the way down to tiny scales. Right now, astronomers want to know why. Turbulence, magnetic fields, radiation pressure, or...? Image credit: my tiny telescope #science #astronomy 👩🏾‍🔬🔭

The Iris Nebula. The unusual thing about this nebula is the vast filament structures that persist all the way down to tiny scales. Right now, astronomers want to know why. Turbulence, magnetic fields, radiation pressure, or...? Image credit: my tiny telescope #science #astronomy 👩🏾‍🔬🔭

A story about snowflakes and chaos. Read my latest about how noise enables subtle, intricate patterns at every level (for Scientific American). www.scientificamerican.com/article/math... #science #math #physics 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

A story about snowflakes and chaos. Read my latest about how noise enables subtle, intricate patterns at every level (for Scientific American). www.scientificamerican.com/article/math... #science #math #physics 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

I love the progress from a 48” telescope in 1966 to a 2” telescope today and the vast improvements made in between. Makes you wonder what’ll possible in the next 60 years!

The Helix Nebula! I know, that name confused me too. So I found the first known photo of this nebula... 1/2 (thread) Image credit: my tiny 2" telescope #science #astronomy 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

The amazing mushroom I encountered on a hike today! It was cataloged in 1984 as a "bear's head".

24 Hour Fitness desk guy: Are you an astrophysicist? I saw your NY Times articles and your astro photos Me: Nope, a physicist. But I love writing about the universe! Guy: I have major questions about black holes We spent the next 20 mins discussing the mind bending consequences of extreme objects

Rover's snaps as it strolls around Mars will never get old!

Huh. I was only aiming at this while waiting for other targets to rise, but then... wow!! All those Milky Way stars (and dust) make it hard to see this galaxy, hence its mysterious name "The Hidden Galaxy". Image credit: my tiny telescope #science #astronomy 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

The Sun and absolutely enormous spots in white light. 3 December 2025. 🔭 🧪 🎨 #astrophotography #SciArt #photography #StormHour #ThePhotoHour

Here's what I've been looking at the past week: * NGC 2403, a weird galaxy that produces too many supernovae * Thor's Helmet, looks cool * NGC 660, another weird galaxy whose core is on a different axis than its arms * The Snow Angel - you can only see the wings #science #astronomy 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

Here's what I've been looking at the past week: * NGC 2403, a weird galaxy that produces too many supernovae * Thor's Helmet, looks cool * NGC 660, another weird galaxy whose core is on a different axis than its arms * The Snow Angel - you can only see the wings #science #astronomy 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

So exciting!! Last night's moonless, cloudless, freshly rain-scrubbed sky allowed me to pull out Leo, a tiny ghostly satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. Its's the faint blob next to the much brighter star, Regulus. Image credit: my tiny telescope (about 4 hrs) -- 1/2 #science #astronomy 👩🏾‍🔬🔭

Hello BlueSky! This is the Christmas Tree Cluster. I color-mapped the heart of the nebula to tree-green to bring out the effect. Would you like this as a wallpaper? I'm happy to share for free: photos.app.goo.gl/e9LNThCC97NZ... Image credit: my tiny telescope. #science #astronomy 🔭👩🏾‍🔬