Selfies with some warm and friendly stars, at @shoreleavecon 2025. With Melissa Navia , Adrianne Palicki, J Lee, James Frain, and Dina Meyer!

"Far from a bold vision for American leadership, the administration has presented Congress with a blueprint for falling catastrophically behind on space exploration just as China and other nations are surging ahead." - Bill Nelson www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/o... (gifted article, no paywall).

If you burn down a forest, you don't miss out on lumber for just that season. You have to replant all the trees, nurture them, and wait for them to grow. The science and research budget cuts happening now are wanton, senseless arson. Recovery, if it ever happens, will take generations.

Here’s what will happen to our National Parks if Trump’s budget passes. Did you know America’s national parks actually generate more income than they cost to operate? Yet under Trump’s proposed 2026 budget, the National Park Service (NPS) would face devastating cuts:

All 4 #NASA #science divisions are decimated in the President's Proposed #FY26 Budget, with #Astrophysics, for example, down an astounding ~67%. This would destroy our scientific capabilities in these arenas for years to come. We are facing a new Dark Age if this war on science is not stopped.

#Luminous: The Symphony of Us - #Epcot, 13 May 2025. In Luminous, we finally have a worthy successor to #Iluminations - Reflections of Earth - beautifully done, with a story as inspiring as that of its predecessor.

"Walt the Dreamer" - statue at Epcot, WDW - 13 May 2025. "...always be in a state of becoming." "Dedicated to all who dream of a better tomorrow." #wdw #epcot #waltthedreamer #waltdisney

Never have I been able to get actual reservations for either the lounge or the main "Space 220" restaurant at Epcot - but on a lark, I tried for walk-in seating at the bar - and after a bit of a wait, bingo, finally got in! The food was superb, though expensive as promised. :)

"The Way of Water" - Epcot, World of Nature. 13 May 2025.

Happy Trek Tuesday! Especially to our wise friends in Canada!🖖🏿🇨🇦 #StarTrek #TrekTuesday

The American Astronomical Society is gravely concerned by the deep cuts to NASA science funding reported to be in the draft President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2026. Read more here: aas.org/press/aas-st... and take action now: aas.org/urge-nasa-su...

The NASA GSFC SSDIF clean room in which the Roman Space Telescope (RST) is being put together. This is one of the few times you can see all of the different parts of the telescope together in the same room prior to full assembly. The Spacecraft, Telescope, & Instruments are all in the rear stack.

On behalf of the AeSI Team (second photo), I just submitted the Final Report of our year-long NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I Study. In this study, we explored the feasibility and high-level design of a lunar surface-based, sparse aperture telescope (a.k.a., an Interferometer).

But here are two reasons it is hard to remain optimistic.

Hard to stay optimistic nowadays, but here are some wise words from LOTR.

@ericamelisandre.bsky.social welcome to the Blue Skies!!

Here is one way to begin helping our friends and colleagues at NASA/JPL who have been impacted severely by the ongoing wildfires in LA. gofund.me/1dede3e8

I got a chance to return to some old stomping grounds in Tucson last week to talk about my "Artemis-enabled Stellar Imager (AeSI)" NIAC Study to a Steward Observatory and NOIRLab Joint Colloquium. Lots of good side conversations on space interferometry and astrophysics from the Moon as well.

Hearty congratulations, @thespacegal.bsky.social - warp speed ahead!!!!

Interesting morning clouds over Carolina Beach, NC, Nov. 28, 2024.

What do I do, you ask!? I make 👽 history!! 🚀 Well, I preserve it, share it, and curate the #NASA #Viking mission. 1st to Mars. 1st to #SearchforLife 1st to land on Mars in 1976! So many firsts! See what we do! drive.google.com/file/d/1C-k5... and Donate to VMMEPP square.link/u/37onYJ1n

And there was this "skier" coming off a ski jump in the sky last night as well. :)

Some dramatic blue skies last night over Maryland!!!

@michelespecht.bsky.social - Welcome to the blue skies of this warm and inviting app!

Astronomers - our @jwstobserver.bsky.social account needs your follows! Please hit the button to stay informed of observatory, instrument & software updates. 🔭

Hello new Bluesky friends! Very happy to be here. For my first post, here's my favorite (still!) #jwst image - the Cosmic Cliffs of Carina 🤩 This image made me cry the first time I saw it. It's just so beautiful, and this is a good time to appreciate the beauty around and above us ✨

An absolutely beautiful short film that brings back some old friends in a way that will send tingles up and down your spine. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgOZ... #startrek #tos #unification #kirk #spock #colt #saavik #mitchell #otoy

The #BlueAngels in their classic #deltaformation at the #Pensacola #navalairshow Oct 31, 2024.

#Thunderbirds at the #Pensacola #NavalAirShow. Nov 2, 2024.

@topsyturvyshow doing one of their amazing acrobalance routines at the @mdrenfest on Oct. 5, 2024. With @labellian.lily and Amanda Renaud.

In early September, I gave a talk and did a Q&A session at the 2024 NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) Symposium in Pasadena, CA on our in-progress Phase 1 study of the "Artemis-enabled Stellar Imager (AeSI) lunar-based interferometer concept.

A view to north-northwest from the road approaching the mountain top #CerroNoroeste, near #PineMountainClub, CA.

With Robin Curtis at #ShoreLeave 2024.

One of the longest #contrails I've ever seen (July 8, 2024)! #contrail #contrailspotting

Something more serious than usual: a search for a Living (partial #liver #transplant) Donor for my son David. Here's a a link to the #UPENN site on #LivingDonations: www.pennmedicine.org/for-patients... In advance, thanks for anything you can do to spread the word - much appreciated!

A beautiful new #stainedglass #Jackalope from #RockcrestGlassStudio, hanging in the dining room windows in late afternoon sunlight.

The highly anticipated shipment of #Kickstarter rewards have arrived to celebrate the release of #sämäs's first album, #AnAncientCalling"!!! Thanks so much to Sam Carroll and Asia Lupo for a wonderful album and some very nice Kickstarter rewards.

A visit to the #VLA last Sunday, after viewing the annular solar eclipse on Saturday in NM. The array is almost finished changing into its most compact, "D", configuration.

Both the MD Renaissance Festival & the NY RenFest ended up closing for both days of this weekend, due to the impacts from tropical storm Ophelia. For MD, I believe this is the 1st time they've ever had to close for an entire weekend due to the weather & only 4th day ever. It is the right decision.

One day, the Coleus plant is fine and the next it has been totally decimated by the vicious, marauding herd of ever so cute and regal deer that wander through the nature preserve of our suburban neighborhood... It was untouched all summer and then last night, They turned on it.

The Unisphere in #flushingmeadowscoronapark, the symbol of the 1964-65 New York #WorldsFair which promoted "Peace Through Understanding" - a goal for which we still strive more than 5 decades later...

Welcome, Antonella!

And this #Coleus Plant is looking very good under these bright blue skies as well!

Absolutely gorgeous blue skies overhead today, 75 deg, and a nice refreshing wind. Weather does not get much better than this! And hard to find a more appropriate photo to post on this particular platform!

With cast members from #startrek #strangenewworlds at #dragoncon2023: Celia Rose Gooding (Uhura), Anson Mount (Pike), Ethan Peck (Spock) and Christina Chong (La'an). All delightful!

At DragonCon 2023, I was able to get the signatures of cast members on a print of the wonderful Easter Egg re: Hubble & myself from the #startrek #strangenewworlds Season 2 finale. #Autographs are from Anson Mount (Pike), Ethan Peck (Spock), Christina Chong (La'an), and Celia Rose Gooding (Uhura)!

#Sunset #sky 28 August 2023.

Here's a very nice article by Rob Garner in NASA GSFC's Office of Communication on the visit and talk by Star Trek's Science Advisor, @drerinmac.bsky.social, on August 1, 2023. www.nasa.gov/feature/godd...

Friday I had the privilege of providing tours of NASA-GSFC to students from the College of the Canyons . This brilliant group of engineering students and their mentors saw HST's Operations Control Center & the Integration & Test Complex where the Roman Space Telescope is being assembled & tested.

Wonderful new metal print from @bayphotolab of one of my favorite photos from a Feb. trip to #WaltDisneyWorld. Taken in #Pandora - World of #Avatar. "Floating" on my office wall. #animalkingdomdisney #bayphotolab