Today’s the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmond Fitzgerald, which went down in the Great Lakes with no survivors “Wait wasn’t that a few days ago?” Nah you’re thinking of the other Edmund Fitzgerald, which sunk in the Great Lakes with no survivors greatlakespeopleandplaces.com/2017/09/22/h...

Had to just look my dog in the eyes and admit that I was delaying taking her out to the yard to pee because I was too busy posting about how she’s the best and I’d do anything for her

I did my PhD at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, which has more Chinese students than any other US university. I had the privilege of teaching and collaborating with Chinese students there. This makes me indescribably angry for them and for all of us who benefit from our work together

when there's a flock of pigeons and there's one single brown one. love that.

I picked up some heart issues with a nasty covid bout 3 years ago. My dog alerts me when my heart is acting up, but I wear a cheap fitbit for when she’s not around And I occasionally bump it and set a timer without realizing, so my “is my heart ok?” bracelet frantically buzzes and says “TIME’S UP”

Just aching for colleagues and peers and students in Texas right now. Also they’re setting up a hotline to report faculty, I sure hope that number becomes available

People, especially Americans, have forgotten that politics are not a team sport, but rather a tool to serve the common good in our communities. Everything is connected and compartmentalizing is why there is so much cognitive dissonance re: government and its purpose.

I’ve seen mid-latitude aurora 6 nights before this week, but always by myself or with only my dog. Tuesday night (11 November 2025) was the first time friends joined me, and therefore the first time I have a picture of me and the aurora together. From the 9:30 PM EST substorm ❤️💚

Lots of folks captioning aurora photos like "for a few minutes we didn't think about politics" guess I'm built different, every time I'm out trying to see night sky stuff I frequently think about how much light pollution is entirely preventable with just a tiny bit of regulation

If you’re wondering how I’m deciding if this is aurora vs. just typical light pollution: -I track substorm data to know when the lights are brighter/visible -I take photos north of me on non-aurora days to compare -I take photos of the north (left) and other directions (west, right) and compare

Not being smart and going to sleep because I’m distracted by aurora substorms + not giving in and trying to drive to a better aurora spot because I’m extremely tired = standing in the middle of town in my pjs to see a hint of pink in the city sky 11:15 substorm tonight from Columbus Ohio

Saw someone post that they didn’t want to take any aurora photos because it was cliché, everyone’s doing it The sky’s full of mystical dancing lights, from particles miles above us, excited by a burp from our local star. You’re allowed to be excited about cool shit, and this is especially cool shit

But also, I was getting serious FOMO seeing everyone post backyard aurora photos from yesterday, assuming I could only catch the brightest of aurora from my brightly lit urban neighborhood. So I’m actually truly delighted I got to see a bit of aurora from my yard, a first for me here in town!

Local aurora chaser starting to have serious regrets as they scramble for hint-of-purple aurora photos from their rental in the densest most light-polluted town in the state.

As each substorm tonight gets brighter I’m getting so much itchier as I sit on my couch. But I’m so tired from being out all night last night haha

weird, what could today's youth possibly have to be anxious about

Space weather is the worst lol Came to terms with cancelling my evening plans because I’d need a sustained low Bz to even have a shot in central Ohio. And oh look who is headed south huh (Image shows the Bz values heading south now and, at the moment, staying negative)

On the north shore of Lake Erie there's a gigantic greenhouse lit with a warm red glow. It shines bright enough you can detect it from the Ohio side of the lake as a red beam that lights low clouds. I know this because daily someone posts it to Ohio aurora watching groups, thinking it's the lights

Really delighted by this disclaimer on spaceweather.com

I'm already pretty tired so I'm not firing on all cylinders, but the number of posts online saying "there will be northern lights across the entire US tonight" is driving me up a wall. Space weather doesn't work in guarantees, and right now the data sure look like we won't have any at mid-latitude

the palpable relief in my aurora-chasing friend chat when I said I'm not optimistic at all about the current data (seems unlikely we'll have any aurora visible from here in central Ohio) has me cracking up last night was so amazing but we're so tired

The angel on one shoulder begging the Bz to fall negative so we have a chance at mid-latitude aurora for a second night in a row. The devil on the other shoulder reminding me I only got 3.5 hours of sleep last night and could use more sleep.

There's a bunch of helpful tips for setting up your camera or phone for photographing aurora (they're always more brilliant through a camera, and often only visible that way, although not last night). But also, I want to add that all my photos are from auto camera settings and just handheld.

Fun SK fact: when I took this job, recently post-divorce and distrustful, I told myself I wouldn’t try to make friends for a bit But my labmates immediately adopted me, join me on wild adventures (the first time I’ve shared aurora with other people irl!), and we all wore the same pair of boots.

If all the aurora photos are giving you unbearable FOMO, it may please you to know that there’s a possibility for more lights tonight (Wed. 12 Nov), possibly right after sunset in North America. We’ll see how this next CME (coronal mass ejection) impact plays out!

I’m typically fairly responsible. Until the data suggest high aurora potential. Then I drop everything and go, forgetting mittens and to lock my house and eat dinner. I drive recklessly on dark unfamiliar roads for a closed park to stand 5 hours in the dark by myself. But… look at those lights!

Sorry I'm dumping a ton of aurora photos on the timeline tonight, but you'll understand my elation at seeing such vibrant colors when you realize that before tonight *this* is the best look I've gotten at any aurora since I moved to Columbus Ohio. Tonight's were, um, a bit more vibrant!

This is my last and longest of three aurora threads, for the final substorm I saw from Columbus Ohio USA. It was by far the most brilliant and the strongest (at one point visible *south* of us)! It started ~11:30PM local time and lasted a full half-hour. Just unbelievably stunning! 1/10

Second of three aurora threads. This is the second substorm I viewed from Columbus Ohio USA. By the time this one started, the clouds had started to blow away, so we got better looks. Saying "we" because for the first time every I wasn't watching them alone! 9:30-10:30PM local time, 11 Nov 25 1/8

Okay I'm going to limit myself to three aurora photo threads tonight, one for each of the major substorm events I photographed. This is the first one (they get more dramatic as the night went on). Substorm viewed around ~8:15 PM local time, Columbus Ohio USA, 11 November 2025 1/4

I took over 800 aurora photos tonight. I'm not going to share every one of them, but I'm definitely gonna share a bunch. So you might wanna mute me if you don't wanna see sky colors! I'll try to get it out of my system tonight, we'll see how long I can stay up sorting photos.

Just unreal, it will never get old. I feel like I just feel more awe every time. #aurora

Just… gorgeous. Columbus Ohio right now (11 Nov 25, 9:30 PM) Go out go out

Found a hole in the clouds in Columbus Ohio just now! Please do not ask how fast I drove and sprinted to get here

The literal tears in my eyes when Vincent’s this hyped about space weather and I’ve still got hours of clouds to contend with here

Seeing the data looking good enough for aurora I’m grabbing my coat and camera just to remember that even if the aurora’s dancing I’ve got a cloud bank over my head until at least 11PM lol

I love aurora chasing nights, because I’m suddenly trying to explain space weather to more casual aurora hunters. And it just hits a “none of these words are in the bible” point when you’re going on about magnetic fields and solar winds and interpreting satellite data

The data: investing in communities can prevent crimes, helping people get (socioeconomically) stable can prevent them from committing crimes again This guy: spend the money on police robots Still better than US prison, but there’s not much else I’d want less than a fucking robot tailing me.

4:50 PM EST, 11/11: An X5.1-class #solarflare has resulted in the @nws.noaa.gov issuing a G4 geomagnetic storm watch for Nov 12. A strong CME is Earth-directed, bringing possible tech impacts, and #auroras visible much farther south than usual tonight and/or tomorrow night. #Aurora #SpaceWeather

Prepping my aurora photography supplies and constantly checking the weather to see when the cloud cover should break tonight while ignoring the temperatures (still unseasonably cold due to this polar snap, windchills below freezing)

Thinking a lot about how poorly our brains recognize long term subtle changes, like climate change or biodiversity loss. We've lost something like 1 out of every 4 individual birds in the US since 1970, more for some species. There should be at least 25% more birds around you right now.

For some reason the search function on here isn't working for me, so I can't reshare experts' posts about it but from what I can see, there's a good enough likelihood of nice aurora tonight (11 November) that I'm charging up camera batteries and preparing to freeze www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/...

Have I sailed as close as you are legally allowed to do to have a nose at the SS Montgomery? Of course. Moment I knew she existed, I was out there faster than Jay Hulme when he spots a rickety ladder in a church. Here she is:

Hats off to the Wikipedia editor(s)/author(s) who went all out on this article about the extinct Stellar’s Sea Cow, did not expect nearly this much detail. Never thought to ask which extant animal had the most similar poop (horses) or how long the sea cows’ penis was (very long).

“are you worried AI is going to replace you?” the AI trying to do my job: *thinks there are Eurasian bird species and a notoriously sensitive northern owl on the Ohio State campus*

Good news everyone, the property managers who still haven't even bothered to come out to my rental in the three weeks since I've reported multiple ceiling collapses are now declaring (based on photos) that the brown fluffy growing colonies on my ceiling are in fact *not* mold.

Blessed Edmund Fitzgerald Day for all those who commemorate its sinking 50 years ago today www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST...

Pretty autumn yesterday, snowy autumn today. Really hoping that translates into winter finches around here, but already my yard bird community looks a bit different— suddenly Song Sparrows under the feeder and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers beefing nearby.

Genuinely did not see that coming. Guess I'll take it

A legal marriage between two consenting adults is no one's business but their own. Love live Obergefell! 🏳️‍🌈