#PPOD: NASA’s Psyche spacecraft completed its close approach of #Mars on May 15, coming within 4,609 km of the surface. This representative color image features the double-ring crater Huygens and the surrounding heavily cratered southern highlands. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU 🧪 🔭

🌌 On the next SETI Live: Join Moiya McTier and Jeremy Webb (York University) as they explore how planets travel through the Milky Way—and what these galactic rivers of stars can teach us about planetary evolution. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬 📅 June 1, 11:00 am PDT youtube.com/live/FrhgI7T...

The Pentagon has been releasing and declassifying files on UFOs. Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, recently joined CBS News with analysis. "Unfortunately, it's probably not aliens; it's probably the humans." #notaliens Watch: www.cbsnews.com/video/senior...

#ICYMI: This week on #SETILive, Lauren chatted with Adam Schneider about the Backyard Worlds citizen science project and its recent paper on the discovery of 3,000 brown dwarfs. Watch the full interview: youtube.com/live/_kROzAn... 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬

Dr. Madelyne Willis is a microbial ecologist with extensive field experience, including multiple deployments to the Arctic and Antarctic. Her research has focused on identifying metabolic activity in bacterial cells in glacial ice and other cold environments. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬 #Astrobiology #NotJustAliens

SETI Institute President and CEO Bill Diamond recently responded to questions about the governmental release of files on UAP/UFO information collected over decades: "Much ado about nothing." #notaliens youtu.be/TMfRPgRHdPY

What happens on Disclosure Day? Find out with the SETI Institute at our opening night private screening of Spielberg's latest blockbuster sci-fi adventure on Friday, June 12. Popcorn and a drink are included with every ticket. Seats are limited. Buy your tickets at disclosureday.eventbrite.com

#PPOD: This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals an enigmatic galaxy with a bright center and a face that hints at spiral structure, yet it holds no obvious spiral arms. Reddish-brown clumps and filaments of dust partially obscure the galaxy’s full face... 🧪 🔭

Today we celebrate what would've been the 96th birthday of pioneering astronomer and SETI visionary Frank Drake, whose groundbreaking work helped shape humanity’s search for life beyond Earth. 🧪 Image: Dr. Frank Drake in front of the Drake Equation painted on a bus. Credit: Seth Shostak

Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, CEO of @astrosociety.org, gave a great lecture at Foothill College last week, and it is now up on YouTube for you to watch and share. The topic: Why Are We Here? The 9 Realms of the Universe that Make You Possible. 🧪 Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bThS...

Join us on TODAY, May 28, at 2:30 PM PT for the next episode of #SETILive, hosted by Lauren Sgro, featuring special guest Adam C. Schneider (United States Naval Observatory), where they will discuss how citizen scientists helped discover more than 3,000 brown dwarfs. 🧪 Watch live: buff.ly/PuBMrfq

#PPOD: This mosaic of images taken on Oct. 6, 2008, by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft shows an impact crater on Mercury named Hokusai. The crater has an impressive system of rays that extends more than about 1,000 kilometers across the planet. 🧪 🔭

NASA volunteers have helped discover 3,000+ new brown dwarfs—doubling the known population. Join us May 28 at 2:30 PM PT as host Lauren Sgro talks with Adam C. Schneider about citizen science, brown dwarfs, and what these discoveries reveal about our cosmic neighborhood. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬 buff.ly/zsrIIwN

#PPOD: While this Hubble image may look ghostly, it’s actually full of new life! Lupus 3 is a star-forming cloud about 500 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. Bright T Tauri stars shine at the left, bottom right, and upper center, while other young stellar objects dot the image. 🧪 🔭

Every day, remarkable things happen overhead: meteors, satellites, drones, atmospheric events, and sometimes phenomena we cannot yet explain. Too often, they are captured as blurry videos with missing context — or not captured at all. 🧪 🔭 #astronomy

#PPOD: This is the highest-resolution view of the water ice-rich south polar cap of #Mars captured by NASA’s Psyche mission after it made its close approach with the planet for a gravity assist. 🧪 🔭

Congratulations to Dr. Matthew Tiscareno author of 'Planetary Ring Systems' on the Carl Sagan Center Director’s Award in recognition of scientific leadership and dedication to advancing planetary science at the @setiinstitute.bsky.social. Find out more about his research: https://cup.org/4tO5pLA

Experience #DisclosureDay with the SETI Institute on June 12 at Cinemark Century 16 in Mountain View, California. Enjoy an in-person private screening, popcorn/drink combo, and a post-film Q&A conversation with a SETI Institute scientist after the credits roll. Tickets available at buff.ly/Yl1EXbg 🧪

#PPOD: NGC 1514, nicknamed the Crystal Ball Nebula, is showcased in this enchanting image captured by Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the Gemini North telescope, located on Maunakea in Hawai‘i. Gemini North is one half of the International Gemini Observatory. 🧪 🔭

If you missed the 2026 #DrakeAwards — or just want to relive it — the recording is now available. Dr. Lori Marino on cetacean cognition, the next generation of SETI scientists, the Great Recognition, and an evening that reminded us why this work matters. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬 Watch here: youtu.be/Hc-cy8fjWvA

#PPOD: ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot set up a camera to automatically capture thousands of images in hopes of catching a shooting star from the Lyrid meteor shower, an elusive event that often lasts only a fraction of a second. Credit: NASA/ESA – S. Adenot 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬

This month’s newsletter explores evolving ideas of life across art, astrobiology, and speculative futures. We are excited to announce the six nominees for the inaugural Speculative Life BioArt residency, a new initiative examining questions surrounding genetics, identity, bioengineering... 🧪 👩‍🔬 🐡

SkyMapper CEO & @setiinstitute.bsky.social Director of Citizen Science @allplanets.bsky.social was on @francetv.bsky.social to discuss one of humanity’s biggest questions: Are we alone in the Universe? Astronomy is entering a new era of continuous global observation. www.france.tv/documentaire...

TONIGHT, Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at 7 pm (PDT), Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, the CEO of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, will give a free, illustrated, non-technical lecture entitled: "Why Do We Exist? The Nine Realms of the Universe that Make You Possible." in the Smithwick Theater...

#PPOD: After NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drilled a sample from this rock on April 25, 2026, it withdrew its robotic arm and pulled the entire rock off the surface with it. Engineers spent several days repositioning the arm and vibrating the drill to try to loosen the rock. 🧪 🔭

Researchers led by Fred Sharpe, a biologist affiliated with the SETI Institute, will report at #AbSciCon this week that humpback whales produce a sound never before described in scientific literature: a deep thrum that can travel at least five miles through the air. 🧪 Learn more:

For decades, scientists have searched the cosmos for signs of extraterrestrial life — and despite the silence so far, many researchers say we’ve barely begun to explore the possibilities. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬

What makes an asteroid "hazardous"? 🤔 Come find out Jun 2 | 7–9 PM ET. Register wkf.ms/4kDSrgr and join reps from @vrubinobs.bsky.social, @noirlabastro.bsky.social, and @setiinstitute.bsky.social. Access real asteroid orbit data, Earth-impact probability & gravitational modeling fun! #AMTATeachers

#PPOD: This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image showcases the remarkable galaxy UGC 12591. UGC 12591 sits somewhere between a lenticular and a spiral. It lies just under 400 million light-years away from us in the westernmost region of the Pisces–Perseus Supercluster... 🧪 🔭

Dr. @kaylaiacovino.com studies how life-essential elements like carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur drive magmatic processes that help form atmospheres, maintain climate, and create chemical disequilibria that life can exploit. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬 #Volcanology #Space #Science #SETI #NotJustAliens

Discovery & Futures Lab Directors in attendance @setiinstitute.bsky.social's Drake Awards honoring the venerable Lori Marino! @notnotrocketscience.com provided a wonderful introduction to Marino and her valuable contributions to SETI science, cetacean research, and interspecies ethics

We monitor roads, networks, and buildings constantly. But the sky above us is getting more crowded every year and most people still have zero awareness of what crosses it daily. That’s the problem SkySphere is trying to solve. kickstarter.skymapper.io

How ready are we for the next pandemic? Journalist Jon Cohen has interviewed top epidemiologists around the world and followed virus hunters into damp and daunting bat caves to assess our pandemic readiness. This week on @bipisci.bsky.social: bit.ly/3RuAgiA 🧪 #podcast

What would change if we knew we weren't alone? On June 12th, join us for an opening-night screening of Disclosure Day, a film that imagines the moment when humanity must face undeniable proof of extraterrestrial life. Tickets available next week. 🧪

#PPOD: This image features two distinct families: a collection of ALMA antennas and a trio of vicuñas, a camelid related to llamas and alpacas. Unlike in almost every other way, the subjects of this image are linked by their extremely hostile home environment, high in the Chilean Andes. 🧪

The scientists at @setiinstitute.bsky.social are fantastic: aside from being super smart, they are genuinely the nicest people!

@setiinstitute.bsky.social Drake Awards!

And so our biggest evening begins… #DrakeAwards

On Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at 7 pm (PDT), Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, the CEO of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, will give a free, illustrated, non-technical lecture entitled: "Why Do We Exist? The Nine Realms of the Universe that Make You Possible." in the Smithwick Theater...

#PPOD: This image of Mars was captured by NASA’s Psyche mission on May 3, 2026, about 3 million miles from the planet as the spacecraft approaches for a gravity assist on May 15. Sunlight is reflected and scattered by dust in the Martian atmosphere, creating an extended crescent around the planet. 🧪

The SETI Institute's premier celebration takes place tomorrow! We're looking forward to welcoming guests at the #DrakeAwards for an evening of celebration and recognition. A full recording of the ceremony will be shared after the event. 🎉 🧪 👩‍🔬

Join Bill Diamond and 2026 Drake Award recipient Lori Marino for a fascinating #SETILive conversation about whale and dolphin communication, animal cognition, and what non-human intelligence on Earth can teach us about intelligence in the cosmos. 🧪 👩‍🔬 🎥 LIVE today at 2:30 pm PDT: buff.ly/5RPDQdr

PRESS RELEASE Dr. Matthew Tiscareno will receive the 2026 Carl Sagan Center Director’s Award for scientific leadership, planetary rings research, and mentorship at the SETI Institute. The award recognizes excellence in astrobiology, technology, exploration, public engagement... 🧪 🔭

#PPOD: A thin sliver of Earth’s edge is brightly illuminated against the vast darkness of space in this April 3, 2026, image taken during the #ArtemisII mission. This thin blue ribbon is what separates us from the abyss of space vacuum: the Earth's atmosphere. Credit: NASA 🧪 🔭

“What actually happens when you get a SETI detection is that the media immediately start calling you up. There is no secrecy in this work. Usually, within a few hours, everyone would know,” Dr. Seth Shostak told IFLScience. 🧪 #seti

Last week, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) traveled to Washington, DC, to share their concerns and to fight back against proposed budget cuts to federal science research funding. 🧪 Learn more: aas.org/posts/news/2...

#PPOD: A pair of spiral galaxies whirl across this excerpt from a First Look image captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Although NGC 4411b (left) and NGC 4411a (right) appear right next to each other, they don’t show signs of interaction, such as distorted arms. 🧪 🔭

We may not want to think about another pandemic, but it’s a “when,” not “if,” scenario. Molly interviewed @science.org reporter Jon Cohen about our state of pandemic readiness and the likely source this week on @bipisci.bsky.social. 🧪 #podcast Listen here: bigpicturescience.org/episodes/pre...

#PPOD: The Moeraki Boulders look almost too perfect to be natural — but these giant stone spheres along New Zealand’s Koekohe Beach were formed over millions of years. Scientists believe the boulders began as sediment on the ancient seafloor around 60 million years ago... 🧪

ICYMI, this week's SETI Live focused on a rocky, tidally locked world with possible lava oceans. Designated K2-141 b, researchers used models to determine how heat moves through the planet’s interior. Watch the full interview: youtube.com/live/nYX2sNg... 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬