My first NASA position, as a contractor in the Kepler Science Office, was on a H-1b visa. NASA ended up giving me a medal and now I’m the Chief Scientist of NASA Exoplanet Science Institute and an American citizen to boot. Seems like a net win for the US, no? But now this:

Yesterday, I reposted this with a bit of sarcasm, but the gross ignorance of Duffy with regards to the very basics of how we do space exploration keeps gnawing at me. JFK in starting Apollo said, "...landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in a single sentence. (continued)

Using Steward Observatory's MagAO-X, astronomers have captured—for the first time—a baby planet growing inside a disk of dust and gas. The sharp U of A-developed adaptive optics revealed how young worlds plow dark paths through their star’s protoplanetary disks as they form: bit.ly/3Vn0CSo

The press release from @stewardobservatory.bsky.social is online now: news.arizona.edu/news/growing... #exoplanets ☄️🧪🔭

New protoplanet(s?) alert! I'm happy to share this LBTI image of WISPIT 2 from our team's paper led by Laird Close. Planet b was discovered at Hα with MagAO-X following the SPHERE disk discovery (R. van Capelleveen +), and CC1 might be a candidate 2nd (enshrouded?) protoplanet #exoplanets ☄️🔭🧪

Enjoyed talking w Bruce Dorminey in Iceland about our universal framework to assess which exoplanets & moons may be habitable. Key for search for life beyond Earth! His story: @forbes.com www.forbes.com/sites/bruced... @stewardobservatory.bsky.social @uarizonalpl.bsky.social @uarizona.bsky.social

The Smithsonian is an independent institution. It is not a branch, department or division of the federal government. There's no reason why the executive should have any control over anything the Smithsonian does.

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, ALPHA CEN A b!!! First hinted at in Wagner+21, now Chas Beichman, Aniket Sanghi and team have published new JWST images of alpha Cen A showing another hint of this Saturn-sized planet candidate! exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/overview/alp...

mRNA tech is some of the coolest, most powerful, most promising scifi shit humans are currently doing. They are being investigated to help with cancers, autoimmune diseases, M.S., stroke recovery, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and high cholesterol.

🧪 BREAKING (good news): Senate subcommittee says NO! to Trump's proposed slashes to NASA & NSF funding. Today, the subcommittee said to keep NASA + NSF funding at $33.9 billion, the same as in FY24. See 7:15 below. Full Senate appropriations committee meets tomorrow about it. 🧵 1/3

Every living NASA science chief unites in opposition to unprecedented budget cuts www.planetary.org/press-releas...

Like many NASA projects and missions, the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute was asked to submit a closeout budget this week. Hopefully just a drill! But very difficult just the same. 💔 Regardless of what happens, I’m *so proud* of the service we have performed for the community over the years. ✨🪐💾🔭👩🏻‍🔬

NASA Goddard is pushing through a 48% staff reduction!!! This could impact the upcoming Roman Space Telescope and many other future Astro missions. News coverage seems not sensational enough. Are we really going to let NASA (as we know it) die quietly? www.space.com/space-explor...

#Astronomy grad students, come work with me or one of my fantastic colleagues for 6 months! I'm happy to answer questions about the program and/or my #exoplanets projects! 🔭🧪🪐

US students. Looking to apply to graduate school? Had an offer rescinded recently? The University of British Columbia in Canada will re-open the application portal in some departments for US students from April 14-18. Details: www.grad.ubc.ca/us-applicant... #ubc #AcademicSky #PhDSky #ScienceSky

Vandalize a library? Take over a campus? Do all kinds of crazy things?

“We see real danger in this moment. We hold diverse political beliefs, but we are united as researchers in wanting to protect independent scientific inquiry. We are sending this SOS to sound a clear warning: the nation’s scientific enterprise is being decimated.” www.statnews.com/2025/03/31/t...

NEW: No fewer than 10 principle scientists at NIH investigating emerging infectious diseases and neural disorders were among those fired by RFK Jr. today. One is an esteemed scientist awarded for breakthrough research into the causes of Parkinson's disease. By me and @emilymullin.bsky.social:

This has to be my favourite JWST image yet. I'm just in awe. Look at this thing. The pale blob in the centre is a foreground elliptical galaxy. The light swirling around it is a more distant spiral galaxy, gravitationally lensed into a ring. 🔭🧪 esawebb.org/images/potm2...

Le Monde reporting that a French scientist traveling to Houston to attend a conference was denied entry to US after a search of his phone & computer revealed messages critical of Trump's science cuts, "which [says CPB] conveyed hatred of Trump & could be qualified as terrorism". Computer confiscated

This is what it's come to?

Here's a selection of illustrations I've created for science press releases over the years. Please repost for me! And if you need to commission this kind of work, check my background. I'm your man. #SciArt #spaceart

The U.S. Department of Defense is ending all of its funding for social science research, stopping 91 ongoing studies related to threats such as climate change, extremism, and disinformation. scim.ag/4hqu6HA

Depriving NASA of the interdisciplinary expertise required to work together to advance science and exploration is not a sustainable way forward.

AAS Alarmed by Rumored Deep Cuts to NASA and National Science Foundation Recent reports have indicated that the White House may soon be proposing drastic cuts to future budgets for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD). aas.org/posts/news/2...

There are reports The White House is considering a 50% cut to NASA’s science programs, and 25% of its overall budget, which would be catastrophic for both current and planned missions. But, there is still time for the administration to reconsider. Read our full statement ⬇️

White House may seek to slash NASA’s science budget by 50 percent arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...

Time for the promised thread on ε Eridani b! I should emphasize this manuscript is a submitted draft—comments from the community are very welcome. Bottom line: ε Eri b is likely a 1.0 Jupiter-mass planet, only 3.2pc away, on a 3.55 AU near-circular orbit, ~aligned with its debris disk. 🔭🪐🧪 [1/7]

US President Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to science and to international institutions. The global research community must take a stand against these attacks. https://go.nature.com/4kd1vIu

PUBLISHED!!! Go check out IF we will be able to look for a key biosignature (oxygen!) with the Giant Magellan Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope! 🔭🪐🧪 iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

Undergraduate research opportunities are incredibly valuable, both for the students and for the progress of the work. And having undergraduate research experience is a massive help for grad school admission. REU cancellations harm students’ preparedness & career prospects, and slow research progress

From Ansh Gupta: There are monstrous black holes in the centers of most galaxies. Today’s bite dissects one of them and questions how it could have grown so quickly. 🔭✨ astrobites.org/2025/02/22/b...

The Art of Planetary Science is in full swing at @uarizonalpl.bsky.social Come visit this weekend!

The Planetary Society strongly opposes the sudden, indiscriminate dismissal of more than 1,000 scientists, engineers, and explorers at NASA — the largest involuntary workforce reduction since the end of the Apollo program. Read more on our stance. ⬇️

From Neev Shah: Curious about how Gaia BH3 formed? We have the next best thing! Today’s bite explores how it may not have formed. 🔭✨ astrobites.org/2025/02/17/g...

Their aim is nothing short of a new Dark Ages. Anti-science, anti-education, anti-democracy, in favor of needless human suffering. NIH cuts billions of dollars in biomedical funding, effective immediately www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

The NIH overhead cut doesn't just hurt universities. It's deadly to the US economy. The US is a world leader in tech due to the ecosystem that NIH and NSF propel. It drives innovation for tech transfer, creates a highly-skilled sci/tech workforce, and fosters academic/industry crossfertilization.

Elon Musk is moving fast and breaking things that can’t afford to be broken.

Glenn was an exceptional scholar and kind colleague whose office door was always open. His debris disk images will continue to inspire. As a dedicated solar eclipse chaser, he captured the rare ethereal beauty of science around the globe. Ad Astra, Glenn! nicmosis.as.arizona.edu:8000/UMBRAPHILLIA...

Sabotage. Criminal sabotage. "[The NSF] is planning to lay off between a quarter and a half of its staff in the next two months, a top National Science Foundation official said Tuesday." www.eenews.net/articles/sci...

I am one of the impacted NSF postdoc research fellows. My funds remain frozen. I rely on these funds as my salary and payment to aid in my research efforts. I am currently without the funds I use to pay my bills, health insurance, etc. and to move my research forward. #NSF #postdoc

NEWS: Wyden Demands Answers Following Report of Musk Personnel Seeking Access to Highly Sensitive U.S. Treasury Payments System

It took a while, but our paper has finally been accepted to the Astronomical Journal! Check out the updated version, which is ~5 pages longer (now with more figures and tables)! Our O₂ survey yields are slightly higher after two minor code corrections. arxiv.org/abs/2405.11423 🔭🪐🧪

🧪🔭🪐 Check out my first paper - up on the arXiv today! arxiv.org/abs/2501.16429

I'm very excited to share that my first (and first-author) publication is up on the arXiv today! arxiv.org/abs/2501.16429 We studied a circumbinary brown dwarf companion in the Pleiades with direct imaging taken using both apertures of the Large Bincocular Telescope.

Orbital Modeling of HII 1348B: An Eccentric Young Substellar Companion in the Pleiades https://arxiv.org/pdf/2501.16429 Gabriel Weible, Kevin Wagner, Jordan Stone, Steve Ertel, Dániel Apai, Kaitlin Kratter, Jarron Leisenring

I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service. “Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.

I'm very proud of presenting today the first article of my PhD student Nicola Nari, the confirmation of the existence of a Super-Earth in the habitable zone of the nearby Sun-like star 82 Eridani (HD 20794), originally proposed by Michael Cretignier a few years ago 🔭🪐