guyyyyssssssss 😭

"Scientists don't want you to know-" Buddy there are so many things I, as a scientist, want you to know and the only thing stopping me from writing more papers and posts about it and then starting a podcast to tell you even MORE things is that I am limited by hours in the day

Begging news outlets to stop illustrating deadly heat waves with happy beach fun 🏖️😎 and life-saving vaccines with terrifying needle assaults 💉😭. Especially on social media (where many/most people get their news) the photo is the most prominent part of the story; these choices undermine it completely

There was one time, showing someone Saturn through the telescope, that I was asked "so is that between us and the moon or is it further away?" It's a logical question, with occultations like this 👇unequivocally proving that the planets are further away! 🔭🧪 📽️ Watch as Venus hides behind the moon 🤩

Visible from across much of Canada (and much more) today - in a few hours actually - the moon will cover up Venus in the sky for a short bit. However... viewing this in the sky requires LOTS OF PRECAUTION because it happens IN THE DAYTIME when the sun is up -- and the SUN IS DANGEROUS TO LOOK AT!!

Spotted: Venus, tiny Jupiter, and very thin crescent Moon. Mercury is likely in there somewhere but not bad from peering over the fence while my dogs were in the yard!

I’m back from a week at the astronomy conference and I had the delight of being on an airplane put into a holding pattern for the first time because we didn’t pass visibility minimums at YHZ at 3am - but we eventually landed in fog so deep I could barely see the wing after landing!

Don't forget to watch for Jupiter and Venus together after sunset! On June 9 they'll be very close but even now it's good. Look west after sunset. If it's clear you can't miss them lowish to the horizon. Venus is very bright.

a student brought me a sundae from the Dairy Bar (flavour of the week is banana + chocolate) and truly she needs to just be given her degree right now because she had it filled into a TRAVEL MUG so it wouldn't melt on her way to the office and this travel-mug-sundae idea is GENIUS 😭🙏🍦

This is cool! Sign up to count bikes & pedestrians & more at a specific location and time to assist in collecting a snapshot of micromobility users across Canada. My physical health is 👎 right now so I can't commit to a shift, but I've seen others around Halifax share their counts! Check it out!

I’ve been out of the Midwest for more than a decade now but it is still SO NICE to listen to a thunderstorm and not worry about if I have to take shelter. (It’s thundery over Halifax rn)

Moon through a small scope plus a view of the big Observatory dome from the rooftop. I popped in to the this weekend’s public tour of the BGO - and because I popped in, it all decided to quit working. So. I fixed it and let the (super!) PhD student lead the rest of the tour. Great clear night!

Moon’s up! Admittedly, it has been a long time since I’ve looked for it. 🌓

Jorge and I had a lot of fun chatting about space stuff for @smuhalifax.bsky.social 's "Majorly Speaking" podcast. ✨

complaint: i could google "sunset july 4" to quickly get a simple, correct, sunset time for my location. NOWWW the Google AI overview gives a "summary" which much of the time includes an entirely incorrect sunset.

I watched two YouTube videos and remembered enough about knitting to finish that hat that I last touched in Feb 2026. If you want to learn to knit hats, this video is so good: youtu.be/szX6slq2Q8Y

IT’S BACK

Do we think there’s enough time before the next astronomy conference in ~3.5 weeks for me to relearn how to knit? I started my last braided cable beanie in 2020, maybe I can finish it in Montreal.

I may be late to notice, but good news!! NASA's Spot The Station website is now more useful than just pointing to a mobile app! I used to use this page constantly to share ISS spotting timings with many folks, then stopped once it was changed to "download our app." But! I noticed today it is back!!!

Special #halisky local business shout-out: the woman behind Dartmouth Cookie Company is so friggin kind and she makes SUCH GOOD cookies. She sells at Trident bookstore, Alderney market, and newly at Park Lane. She dropped off a bag of cookies for me earlier today 🥹❤️

Foggy out there

delighted to announce I got to submit a LONG FORM census and was able to include how I get to work and how long my commute is each way! (bus; 50 mins)

This elevator near my office has been out since the beginning of April. I at least appreciate that there’s an updated fixed-by date now (May 13) but this elevator being down has been the death of me

Exactly. I just had a brief conversation with *my mom* this morning about ChatGPT, after she sent me her chatgpt messages to "confirm" an event she saw on a Facebook post (which wasn't actually real / didn't happen).

my girly’s 9th (!!!!) birthday is tomorrow, everyone say Happy Birthday Ripley! 🥲❤️

When Einstein developed general relativity the closest thing to a practical application that could even be imagined at the time was a slightly more precise description of where to look for the planet Mercury in the sky, and yet now we’d all be literally lost without it. Anyway: fund basic research.

I’m gonna complain on the internet for a sec - TW for medical/blood: I fainted for the first time this morning! During an unsuccessful blood draw! It absolutely wrecked my day/me/my brain. I feel like a failure and an embarrassment??? I feel so fragile and like anything could trigger it again??

i just had a student at this university ask me if i believed that humans had been to space because according to this student there is no way it could have happened........... i..... i had to walk away from them

tax season

astronauts are the most incredible humans, listening to them on this press conference has me tearing up: www.youtube.com/live/DYY4nnf... (go back and start watching from when Reid Wiseman starts)

there are so many incredible real photos images.nasa.gov

What a great photo just added on the NASA Johnson Flickr page www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2...

there’s a public tour happening at the Burke-Gaffney Observatory tonight and I can see from the webcam that everyone gathered in our small office around the computer to watch splashdown 🥹 @smuscience.bsky.social

splashdown!!!!!

🛰️ Our European Service Module has successfully separated from Orion's crew module! 🚀 After propelling the spacecraft over 1 million km in deep space, it will now burn up in Earth's atmosphere, as the astronauts continue their journey home 🌍

Y’all if you are not tuned in to NASA’s live YouTube stream, now is the time to stop what your are doing and get over there. www.youtube.com/live/m3kR2KK...

The Artemis II crew will splashdown on Earth tonight - scheduled at 9:07pm ADT. I suggest watching the livestream ~60+ minutes ahead of splashdown. They'll be travelling >38,000km/h as they encounter the upper atmosphere and will slow down to ~30km/h as they land in the water off California!

Solar eclipse viewing - IN SPACE!!!! 🤩 #Artemis 📷: NASA ℹ️: images.nasa.gov/details/art0...

Oh this is great: there’s now an #Artemis II Lunar Flyby Gallery on the NASA images site: www.nasa.gov/gallery/luna... (thx @dpmanchee.bsky.social for pointing it out)

they really said "they should have sent a poet"

And tiny dot VENUS! 🤯

dude we all just watched a solar eclipse start

As the astronauts go behind the moon, we all got to see the crescent Earth blip out of view - we literally can’t see them (or them us) anymore until they see Earth rise in ~40 minutes. 🥹

"Orion, the Moon, and the Earth. EVERYONE, in that picture" - #Artemis II Mission Control.

I just yelled “THAT’S EARTH!!” to no one else in my house but I’m tearing up, guys, LOOK 😭

THAT’S THE EARTH BEHIND THE MOON. That’s US! Wave!!!!!! www.youtube.com/live/z-j1uxB...

It has been remarkable to watch and listen to the Artemis II crew during today’s lunar flyby. They’re getting closer and closer, watch here: www.youtube.com/live/z-j1uxB...

NASA #Artemis II flyby coverage schedule; all times in Eastern. You can follow along live on NASA+ (plus.nasa.gov) or on the NASA YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/@NASA). It should be amazing to watch!

In terms of me trying to do any science communication, it’s been a terrible weekend to be so sick 🫠

Tomorrow afternoon and evening will be big for the Artemis II crew! They’ll FLY AROUND THE MOON and I’d recommend tuning into the NASA livestream through the day and into the night tomorrow (Monday, April 6). Two screenshots attached of timings, all given in Eastern Time!