Happy 3I/ATLAS perigee day! Now if only it would get a tiny bit closer to JWST for a proper mug shot... Any way, fingers crossed for some crazy new gas abundance measurements next week! Will its IR spectrum look as weird as it did back in August (or even weirder)? I can't wait to find out.

It's a sad day when you have to go to a popular space news site to find out what the hell is going on with the drastic changes at your own workplace (NASA Goddard). Thank heavens for high quality independent journalism during these dark times www.space.com/space-explor...

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center will host a press release today at 3PM EST (UT2025-11-19 20:00) to disseminate their latest images of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. A lot of misinformation is flying around about this object, so this should be a timely dose of reality www.nasa.gov/news-release...

Celebrating 40 years since the discovery of buckyballs - yay for carbon! www.livescience.com/chemistry/sc...

They say the best art is timeless, so here's one for the ages, lest we forget the madness of voting such scum of the Earth into office.

This ought to be engraved somewhere.

Today our team released findings on the nature of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, based on our first round of JWST observations. The data are incredible: Not only did we detect and map gas and dust in the coma, but we found that 3I is one of the most CO2 rich comets ever seen! Check it out:

Me and the team have been busy over the last year, mapping heavy water in a comet called 12P/Pons-Brooks - our brightest comet yet observed using the ALMA telescope. Getting the first ever map for cometary HDO was a thrill!

From an open-minded and unprejudiced perspective, I look forward, in the very near future, to supplying JWST spectroscopic evidence of whether 3I/ATLAS is a small, natural body of ice and rock, or an alien spaceship. Place bets now please!

The 6 year wait for a new interstellar comet is over... now it's time to bring out the big glass to crack wide-open a new field of planetary science. WATCH THIS SPACE FOR NEW ASTROCHEMICAL DISCOVERIES as our team chases down the alien visitor from another star: 3I/ATLAS. 🔭 📡 🛰️

Sign here (and donate if you can) to help SAVE NASA SCIENCE! actionnetwork.org/forms/suppor...

Entertaining our visitor! 🧪🔭 youtu.be/VRHZUH0RcQ4

One of the things that *actually*, *truly* makes America great is NASA. And Trump has slit its throat.

Congrats America, you are officially stupid

NASA science is on the chopping block. Don't let it happen. We came too far on our journey into the Universe, to retreat back into our caves and shut out the awe and mystery of the night sky

Also, if you are writing about exoplanet observations for some reason right now you can feel free to mention the termination of the NIST atomic spectroscopy group, which enables spectroscopic observations of all kinds www.change.org/p/oppose-the...

Acknowledging the equinox is a great way to stay connected to what's happening in the rest of our Solar System. This time, however, we also have the pleasure of simultaneously witnessing the beauty of Saturn's equinox (in unprecedented detail thanks to modern optics) - a once in 15 years event!

One of the employees fired from NASA told me how much their career meant to them: "Prior to everything happening today, NASA has been an incredible place to work — to dream big, to innovate, to do things that I never thought I could have done.” Words by me. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Just as I'd started to think things couldn't get any worse for this country

With congressmen like Jamie @raskin.house.gov in our camp, there remains some hope that the USA can avoid the imminent descent into oligarchy and kleptocracy youtu.be/Xo3PfHMwDY4?...

Good turnout today at the anti-Trump protest in DC. The beginning of a long road towards expunging the repugnant influence of poisonous billionaires from our democracy

Raskin: "Elon Musk, you may have illegally seized power over the financial payments systems of the Treasury, but you don't control the money of the American people. The US Congress does that under Article 1 of the Constitution ... we don't have a fourth branch of government called 'Elon Musk'"

Couldn't stand the stench of Musk any longer. So here I am, clean slate, and ready to help build something new. But it all seems oddly familiar. What's up Bluesky peeps?!