Tomorrow was supposed to be my first test as professor. Tomorrow is also my first student strike as professor. Do I automatically become ultra conservative? Is it mandatory that I start throwing chairs at students or jumping off windows to avoid picket lines? (Last two are, unfortunately, real…)
I am so sorry for your loss, Michele 💔
The guidelines of the hipster coffee shop union say you gotta shave your head and/or mustache now (or start wearing a toupee if bald). Sorry, I don't make the rules
Bye, Seattle!
For those who didn’t know: as of today I’m moving out of the US to start a faculty job at the University of São Paulo, in Brazil. I’m excited to be back home, but it’s sad to leave this amazing region of the US
Oh gods…
Oh god……
Hello! I'm the grad program coordinator and past admissions chair summoned to answer your questions.
It is a multi-part decision (one many departments are currently navigating.) For us, we got an awesome class last year that was larger than our larger than our target by ~x2.
Sad to see the University of Washington Astronomy Department has suspended graduate admissions for the 2026-2027 Academic Year. astro.washington.edu/graduate-adm...
On the 🔭🧪 postdoc job market? Excited about science with Rubin and big surveys? Come join us at DiRAC. I’m so excited that we’re able to offer a few of these Fellowship positions this year!
Please share, LMK if you have Q’s!
aas.org/jobregister/...
Are you looking graduating and looking for fellowship opportunities? The UW is a host institution for 51 Peg b!
Applications are open now, and due October 3rd.
We have faculty available in multiple departments available to host, across subfields in Planetary Science. Reach out for more info!
Cool thread with one of my favorite plots of all time!
It's paper day! The first science paper with data from @vrubinobs.bsky.social's survey camera, the mighty LSSTCam, is a VERY quick turnaround of Rubin's observations thus far of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. ☄️
Chandler et al., submitted 🔭
A 🧵
Lots of science aside, I love this (unintentionally!) out of focus image of 3I taken on June 24
New paper on arXiv, analyzing Rubin Observatory data of interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. This is the first science paper with data from LSSTCam!!!!!
arxiv.org/abs/2507.13409
Cool! Very happy to see this out. Looking forward to reading it when I don’t have hundreds of Slack messages to go through ;)
That was quick!
Half of our timeline: “Oh sh…. How did you hack my overleaf?!?!?!?”
Oh look, a point source!
Rubin Observatory beneath the vibrant blue sky of twilight. The observatory is a boot-shaped structure at center, with long white service building and vertical silver dome. The thin, faint streak of a comet appears to the left of the observatory. Text reads "New citizen science project using NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory data. Introducing: Comet Catchers. Join the hunt for comets in Rubin data!"
Think you can spot a comet? ☄️
Try your eye with the *very first* citizen science project on @zooniverse.bsky.social that uses data from NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory, Comet Catchers! 🔭🧪
We can't think of a more fitting project for #AsteroidDay 🤩
☄️ cometcatchers.net ☄️
A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. The image focuses on a collection of interacting galaxies connected by delicate streams of stars. At top center lies a large elliptical galaxy that is dense and smooth, like a polished stone glowing with golden light. Like delicate spider silk or stretched taffy, these stellar bridges link the large elliptical to the few larger galaxies beneath, evidence of past collisions. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.
A cosmic tapestry of glowing tan and pink gas clouds with dark dust lanes. In the upper right, the Trifid Nebula resembles a small flower in space. Its soft, pinkish gas petals are surrounded by blue gas, and streaked with dark, finger-like veins of dust that divide it into three parts. It radiates a gentle, misty glow, diffuse and soft like the warmth of breath on a cold hand. To the lower left, the much larger Lagoon Nebula stretches wide like a churning sea of magenta gas, with bright blue, knotted clumps sprinkled throughout where new stars are born. Both nebulae are embedded in a soft tan backdrop of gas that is brighter on the left than on the right, etched with dark tendrils of dust and sprinkled with the pinpricks of millions of stars.
A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. To the lower left is a region filled with the hundreds of golden glittering gems of a distant galaxy cluster. In the foreground, below and right of center, two blue spiral galaxies look like eyes beneath the entangled mass of a triple galaxy merger in the upper right. A few bright blue points of foreground stars pierce the glittering tapestry. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.
Introducing...your sneak peek at the cosmos captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory!
Can you guess these regions of sky?
This is just a small peek...join us at 11am US EDT for your full First Look at how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos! 🔭🧪
#RubinFirstLook
ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream
[space coven]
Mary Robinette Kowal: listen up, boys!
Kowal: I've got a story for you... the story of the lady astronaut!
Kowal: that's right
Kowal: a lady wants to be an astronaut
Kowal: how about that?!
Always great to see wide coverage of our papers!
The glowing, dense band of stars of our home Milky Way galaxy appears to spill across the image from the open dome slit of Rubin Observatory at bottom right.
The sky doesn’t wait—and neither will we!💨
NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory has an automated scheduler that takes into account current weather conditions, moon phases, and observatory capabilities to determine the best next place to point the telescope. 🌙 #CaptureTheCosmos
🔭🧪
📷: P. Assunção Lago (Rubin)
The best part of the main sorcha paper is the Acknowledgements section ( @megschwamb.bsky.social , I had forgotten we had this paragraph!)
And also, four papers on arXiv! arxiv.org/abs/2506.02487 for our simulations of near Earth objects, main belt asteroids, Jupiter Trojans and trans-Neptunian objects
How many objects of your favorite (main) Solar System population will @vrubinobs.bsky.social discover? See thread for the answer and sorcha.space for more details
Save-the-date graphic for the worldwide "First Look" at Rubin Observatory first revealed images. Text reads, "Save the date! June 23, 2025. NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory First Look"
🚨 SAVE THE DATE: The world's First Look at images from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory is coming June 23, 2025! 🔭🧪
Get ready for a preview of how Rubin will soon #CaptureTheCosmos in its decade-long survey 🌌
More details soon—stay up to date at rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-first-look