Ha. The “Urban Experience Fee” unexpectedly cost us an extra $25 extra per night during our recent stay in Chicago. But look at what amenities were included:

Amazing work solving a tricky calibration problem with JWST aperture masking data! Any hope to improve ground-based systematics with this general approach? @benjaminpope.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2510.09806

Its much harder to help my kids with homework post-covid with no textbooks. Can’t help but wonder if the move to online resources is hurting learning across the board, but especially middle and high school.

Thanks @planet4589.bsky.social One ride to terminator every few years.... Check it out, @jwcutler.bsky.social !

🚀 Rideshare reality check: @planet4589.bsky.social — is there a good source for CubeSat drop-off orbits from the past 5 years? I’m modeling #STARI (a LEO formation-flying mission) and need to know the most common insertion orbits. Dream case is SSO terminator—but I’m told those are unicorns 🦄.

Bravo to the organizers of the 2025 #smallsat Conference! Lively talks, great interactions, and flawless organization — plus free coffee, ice cream, lunches, and industry socials that set a high bar. Hope #AAS and #SPIE are taking notes! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Excited to attend my first SmallSat conference in Salt Lake City this week. Many cool CubeSat missions and innovative companies exhibiting. I’ll talk about our formation flying mission STARI later in week. #smallsat #stari

Really hate to see Stanford going back on its pledge to halt legacy admissions. stanforddaily.com/2025/08/06/s...

Bravo.. “ — making “Harvard astronomer” the scientific equivalent of “Florida man” didn’t just happen; it took long-term dedication.”

It is cool to see a movie about local Ann Arbor History funded by kickstarter! Congratulations to the filmakers! www.kickstarter.com/projects/196...

For those also waiting, I just got a late NSF-ATI rejection today. The letter says only 10% success rate, notably lower than historical practice. With MRI shutdown for next year, I suspect ATI (the only other NSF instrumentation programs) will be overwhelmed!

Ok. So NSF has officially cut funding for one of its largest instrumentation programs for next year. Hope this is temporary. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Spent time to visit Copernicus in old Krakow. He worked at The Jagiellonian University in Krakow, the 4th oldest University in Europe, where they started out only teaching 3 disciplines: Law, Medicine, and Astronomy.

I’d like to advertise the Michigan Society of Fellows, a unique opportunity for recent PhDs to carry out cutting edge research while also developing their teaching skills. Any Interferometrists or ELT-METISians interested? Note early deadline Sep 15. societyoffellows.umich.edu/the-fellowsh...

Fellow Astronomers: With ApJ page charges running $3K these days, what are some alternate journals to submit to?

Ive also been disappointed by the silence of our National Academy of Sciences. Perhaps if the membership of the NAS itself was being cut by 50% we would hear more complaint. arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Reasonable NSF budget cut: * Choose to support only one Extremely Large Telescope Project Unreasonable NSF budget cut: * Choose to support only one of the two essential LIGO Gravitational Wave Interferometer detector sites.

Space science is probably the only area in technology that the USA is the undisputed world leader. Squandered.

Maybe this has been written before, but one of explanations for the increased and more widespread administrative mayhem of the new govt compared to last must be chatgpt.

I could not disagree more with revoking student visas based on nationality. As the PhD advisor of multiple international students over past 20years, there is no doubt our Country is stronger and more prosperous with their contributions.

Potentially legit reasons to withdraw tax-exempt status for Universities: * increasing student tuition faster than inflation * paying U Presidents >$1M/yr Not legitimate reasons: * defending student and faculty academic freedom * pursuing DEI activities legally allowed by state and federal laws

Will US news outlets please verify and shine a spotlight on these abuses? Does not MAGA. www.news.com.au/travel/trave...

Great seeing these dust shells. Im finishing an update paper on WR112. Now do mysterious WR98a !

The politicization of basic government functions must not stand. Thanks for the reporting and spreading this news.

Nice article summarizing some unexpected radial velocity results!

🔔BREAKING🔔 The NSF has frozen all research grant awards—cutting off life-saving science midstream and demanding ideological screenings for future funding. This is censorship disguised as oversight. Here’s how you can help us spread the word ➡️🧵(1/3): www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Words are Wind… www.michigandaily.com/opinion/op-e...

University of Michigan faculty overwhelmingly vote to establish mutual defense compact with other BIg 10 schools (93% in favor). But will the Administration listen?

An amazing result out of Ben Setterholm’s PhD thesis hit the arxiv. Using sub-au imaging of the inner disk of HD163296 using CHARA, Ben found a hot spot at the dust destruction wall orbiting 2x slower than expected, possibly shepherded by an unseen giant planet. More at: arxiv.org/abs/2504.12046

Channelling my favorite bluesky Starfleet Officer @georgetakei.bsky.social : “Oh Myyy!”

Steve Kerr wore a Harvard basketball shirt after the Warriors’ win tonight: “Yes, this is me supporting Harvard. Way to go. Way to stand up to the bully.”

Yes. This.

Let’s even hope that a University that made an earlier politically-expedient decision will find new Courage to join the forces defending free inquiry and academic freedom.

Amazing courage. Thank you!

Evidence shows that science and scientists remain highly trusted. But genuine scientific voices are not shouting loud enough over the noise to hold sway https://go.nature.com/4jNRukb

AOC: We must acknowledge the terrifying moment we are in right now. What we are hearing and seeing with our own eyes is, in fact, happening. We are watching our neighbors, students, and friends being fired, targeted, and disappeared. It is real.

Local news coverage of Indiana University-Bloomington's Faculty Council endorsing a Mutual Academic Defense Compact (MADC). Faculties of three state flagships so far have called for a united front: Rutgers (whole system), IU-Bloomington, UMass-Amherst. Michigan starts voting this week Who's next?

We now seem to be on a course for record-high deficits coupled with record-low investments in basic science research. Neither bode well for the future.

Breaking News: The Trump administration has frozen more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell University and $790 million for Northwestern, two officials said.

Well.. glad we aren’t in a nuclear missile crisis….

Standup for Science (and so much more) #Detroit #Handsoff @standupforscience.bsky.social

This message needs repeated over and over. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/b...

Now go LSA…

If Trump really wanted to take on unfair admissions, he’d target federal funding for universities that give preference to legacies. Now that’s a policy I could get behind.

I stand with NASA employees, who are being villainized across the board by this Administration and facing threats of unjustified layoffs. I'm proud to introduce the Saving NASA's Workforce Act with Ranking Member Lofgren to prevent these workforce reductions. foushee.house.gov/media/press-...

Happy Equinox! It’s been a dark few months and I’m looking forward to more light

This is insanity if true. We will soon have no allies left.

By attacking science: We are less safe because science informs national security and medical care. We are less prosperous because science drives innovation and economic benefit. We are less free because science and democracy depend on the liberty to ask questions, and seek and share knowledge.

Thank you @slotkin.senate.gov for voting for principled government.

Never gets old.