Disappointing. Very disappointing. Not even the sourest I've had today, let alone "on the planet".

Graduating with a bachelors or masters in astronomy (or related field)? Want to keep your eyes on the skies without a PhD? Opening for YOU at @stsci.edu: Science Support Analyst on Hubble 🔭 recruiting2.ultipro.com/SPA1004AURA/...

Finally registered for SPIE. One of the questions is a feedback form to click all of the boxes corresponding to things I buy. Well, I'm in trouble. I think the only ones I left unchecked was lithography and OLED displays.

We're finally getting some heat here in Tucson, so I expect hollyhock is not long for this world. Normally, winter freezes kill fall plants. Not this year though, and so the stalks are 10 ft tall and the flowers are human head sized.

Updates in experiments with evap coating: Today was 80nm of Al followed by 50nm of SiO2. The coating is cleanable - squeaky glass when scrubbed with isopropanol, and no apparent damage to the Al! Lots of pinholes in the Al under the microscope, but that's my dirty lab and a problem for next week.

Picard exploration tip: Our galaxy has over eight billion habitable planets. Get to work.

Students and I manufactured quartz today. Very neat.

Our REU renewal was funded! We found out today so we are accepting applications now! Like right now! Application review is going to happen swiftly as we know we’re are late in the typical cycle. pa.msu.edu/undergraduat... #reu #physics #astronomy #research

Having a great visit to the Cornell Dept of Astro and @carlsaganinstitute.bsky.social talking about #LFAST telescope and how it will probe exoplanet atmospheres, nearby starrs, and extragalactic transients!

Folks, we've crossed the Rubicon. I just saw a pharmaceutical commercial ... for dogs. The end is near.

Guess it's time for baseball.

This is not going well.

youtu.be/pUf9K4yj-H0?... Let's hope Arizona shows up for the kill. Go Cats. #Arizona

The White House just unveiled a budget with a 50% cut to NASA science (astrophysics, climate change, etc) and overall 23% cut to NASA The goal: make NASA only for things like Artemis, which is explicitly a militarization and commercialization mission 🔭🧪 www.instagram.com/p/DWrEWbyFto...

Today on the #arXiv: Nolan et al. 2026, "Planetary Radar at the Arecibo Observatory" - arxiv.org/abs/2604.00332 @mikeynolan.bsky.social, @lynncarter.bsky.social, and @planettreky.bsky.social review everything that was done by #TeamRadar at Arecibo.

Go Cats!!!

Wow, Arkansas playing dirty. There should be a penalty that carries over to the team next year for this nonsense.

Schmidt Science Impact Report 2025 is now live. This is a good way to explore the different philanthropic projects they are funding, including many in Astronomy. #LFAST , being built here at @stewardobservatory.bsky.social @uarizona.bsky.social is described in there.

sorry i never responded to your email, i didn't want to and then i forgot

Big shoes to fill...

This is a troubling development.

I support this 1000x. I would say *especially* for spectroscopy. If you don't look at the data, you just trust that other people make the same decisions you would, and you assume they are looking at the data (reader, we are not, unless you highlight a specific problem).

Do you already have a Masters? Do you want to do a PhD in exoplanet radial velocity surveys with me at Macquarie University in Sydney? Then have I got an ad for you!

Virgil is contemplating the meaning of the door...

Tonight is the night I learned why cloves are not in the standard apple pie recipe. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but it was not. My tongue is tingling.

Spent the afternoon resawing some truly spectacular figured cherry for drawer fronts.

Finally found a use for AI: it's very good at debugging my one off bash scripts.

Hey y'all. I'm hiring. Are you interested in building instruments for astrophysics? wd5.myworkdaysite.com/recruiting/u...

I've been looking for this system for 25 years.

Finally finished Ken Burn's American Revolution. If you haven't made it through it, the last 15 minutes of Episode 6 are worth skipping ahead to, particularly in these trying times that we live in today: a true encapsulation of what it means to be the United States of America and an American.

Tonight is the night that the dumb cat discovered what happens when he jumps on top of the fish tank while the lid is open for feeding. Turns out the fish are protected by more than glass.

And this is why I'll order from almost anyone except for Uline.

Ah Tucson in January, where the local public radio host gives the hourly weather update and describes it as "a chilly 55".

As a recovering oboist myself, this is a great article (and the comments section is pretty wild...) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/a...

Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG... www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...

Finally managed to get some time in my wood shop this weekend, and made good progress test fitting a dresser I've been working on for a while. This is modeled after the Harvey Ellis designed #913 in the Gustav Stickley catalog. I've used paneled sides and back, and full web-frames inside. 1/4

Picard management tip: Suppress your inner alarm. Be the calmest person in the room.

why you need big telescopes for spectroscopy -- “You have to collect enough photons because you’re spreading them out,” said @chadfbender.bsky.social, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, which is in charge of LFAST. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/s...

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/s... #LFAST in the NY Times.

Packed splinter session at #AAS247 for the announcement of The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System—a modular, rapid-response network of four novel observatories designed to democratize access to the cosmos. Read more about the initiatives here: www.schmidtsciences.org/focus-area-a...

Just spent the day doing a thing: www.science.org/content/arti... Roger Angel and I are Co-PIing the LFAST telescope, which is being built at @stewardobservatory.bsky.social and provides the ground based spectroscopic component of this venture. @schmidtsciences.bsky.social #AAS247 #Arizona #LFAST

Happening now!

Standing room only for the Schmidt Sciences presentation at AAS.

The above average temps we had in November and lack of freeze so far, means my fall tomatoes have lost their minds. Things we can get away with in Tucson...

More billionaires buying newspapers. Previous experience across the country suggests it would be unusual if this proceeds without meddling in the papers' content.

Truer words have never been spoken.

And astronomers everywhere give a small gasp of despair.

Wyatt thinks he's been caught in the act doing something he shouldn't. I'm like, dude, it's your cat tree...

This thread is the most fun I've had all week.

Two juvenile bobcats paid me a visit this morning. Of course our house cats missed the whole thing, since they were buried in blankets and passed out for the day