A spiral galaxy, seen tilted diagonally from upper left to lower right. It has a blue-white, glowing spot at its core. Its oval-shaped disk glows faintly blue throughout with light from its many stars. The disk is filled with waves and strands of bright red dust that swirl around the core. At places there are holes torn in the dust, while elsewhere it forms dense clumps that glow orange. Several tiny, distant galaxies appear across the background, which is black.

Infrared light highlights warm dust and bright star clusters in this image of galaxy NGC 5134 captured by #NASAWebb. Billions of small stars create the galaxy’s faint blue glow. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, A. Leroy.

A bright flash of lightning shines in electric blue on the top, contrasting the yellow street lights illuminating a walking path on the bottom right. Between some soggy tennis courts shimmer purple blue at UC Merced.

Crazy lightning storm over UC Merced tonight. Breathtaking is an understatement.

Big black fluffy German shepherd with pointy ears and a floppy tongue stretched out and relaxed in a field of small yellow daisies, with a few small white flowers and long grass behind and to the left of him, framing him and providing a little shade. Moments later he had a huge bowl of water (not pictured) for an hour hike well done. Excellent doggo.

Enjoyed a beautiful Saturday morning hike with Captain Fluff (who was a most excellent doggo). Saw a beautiful murmuration and lots of wildflowers too. I hope you all have a chance to experience some beautiful nature today too. #MorningWalk

Gorgeous image and I love your alt text so much. I see the yeti now!

Full moon taken from a Seestar S50 telescope. Impact basins filled with dark mare trace the "rabbit in the Moon."

Enjoyed Moon gazing with intro astrophysics students and members of the Astronomy Club at UC Merced tonight. Grateful for a quiet moment together to look up.

The Star Formation Newsletter Returns - The Star Formation Newsletter The Star Formation Newsletter is back after a hiatus. This post explains its future direction.

The Star Formation Newsletter is back! 🔭☄️ 🥳

From February onwards, we're returning with monthly round-ups of star and planet formation papers, interviews, and more!

Oh Misty, I am so incredibly sorry to hear this. My thoughts are with you both.

Anyone at #AAS247 who is interested in the outskirts of galaxies! My group is presenting lots of great work:
Binod Bhattarai’s poster Monday 5:30pm 182.02
@astroannelia.bsky.social’s talk Tuesday 2:30pm 261.03
My poster Wednesday 5:30pm 382.05

I am so sorry to hear this, Misty. You guys were the best home for him.

If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."

There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.

Atkinson Hyperlegible Font - Braille Institute Read easier with Atkinson Hyperlegible Font, crafted for low-vision readers. Download for free and enjoy clear letters and numbers on your computer!

periodic reminder of the existence of Atkinson Hyperlegible, a free font available from the Braille Institute designed to improve readability for people with low vision

I use it in talks because it's pretty and also because, as an audience member, I am perpetually squinting at people's slides

Educational Program Coordinator II - East Lansing, Michigan, United States Position Summary The program coordinator will maintain the planetarium, present live shows, and create new planetarium visualizations. In addition, this position will assist customers, assist in educa...

If any of you fine folks are planetarians in (or want to be in) mid-Michigan, the Abrams Planetarium is hiring a full-time-staff position for the first time in 11 years!! Come work with the astro, scicomm, and informal ed folks at MSU!! 🔭 🧪 (reskeets welcome) careers.msu.edu/jobs/educati...

A big, black German Shepherd runs down a long straight dirt road, which fades into the distance. Sun bleached long grass grows in fields on either side, lined and is separated from the dirt road by a thin barbed wire fence. Very blue sky and white clouds fill the rest of the field of view. A calm, quiet and largely empty place for dog and owner to have a morning walk.

Merced, CA this morning. #MorningWalk

This scientific visualization takes viewers on a journey to a glittering young star cluster called Pismis 24. #NASAWebb captured this fantastical scene in the heart of the Lobster Nebula, approximately 5,500 light-years from Earth. 🔭 🧪

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI.

You Have Just 3 Weeks to Object to the Roadless Rule Rollback, Which Will Affect 45 Million Wild Acres Across the U.S. The Trump administration just opened a three-week comment period for revoking the Roadless Rule, which keeps wilderness intact.

You have just 3 weeks to object to the Roadless rule rollback.

Link to USDA public comments here:

I feel this hard.

Big, black German Shepherd patiently sits while four tiny eight week old kittens (teo black and white, one tiger tabby and one gray tabby) poke at him.

Fluff and kittens send warm vibes your way.

I am so glad to hear that Captain Floofy Pants made you happy. He is the happiest creature in the world, and he lives to make others happy. We have been caring for 4 rescue kittens, and he is the biggest, warmest caregiver that wags his tail so they can chase it.

Big, black German Shepherd wearing sunglasses and looking very silly.

Our wonderful dog, Captain Fluff, through a series of unfortunate events got a sunburn 1.5 months ago. To aid in his skin recovering, our vet has been giving him periodic laser treatment, and Fluff has to wear goggles for the treatment. He *loves* the experience so much. Our vet happily shared this!

A map of the US with the states the republican senators are from marked in red and states the democratic senators are from marked in blue: Senator Susan Collins (Republican - Maine) Senator Mitch McConnell(Republican - Kentucky) Senator Lisa Murkowski(Republican - Alaska) Senator Lindsey Graham(Republican - South Carolina) Senator Jerry Moran(Republican - Kansas) Senator John Hoeven(Republican - North Dakota) Senator John Boozman(Republican - Arkansas) Senator Shelley Moore Capito(Republican - West Virginia) Senator John Kennedy(Republican - Louisiana) Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith(Republican - Mississippi) Senator Bill Hagerty(Republican - Tennessee) Senator Katie Britt(Republican - Alabama) Senator Markwayne Mullin(Republican - Oklahoma) Senator Deb Fischer(Republican - Nebraska) Senator Mike Rounds(Republican - South Dakota) Patty Murray(Democrat - Washington) Richard Durbin(Democrat - Illinois) Jack Reed(Democrat - Rhode Island) Jeanne Shaheen(Democrat - New Hampshire) Jeff Merkley(Democrat - Oregon) Christopher Coons(Democrat - Delaware) Brian Schatz(Democrat - Hawaii) Tammy Baldwin(Democrat - Wisconsin) Chris Murphy(Democrat - Connecticut) Chris Van Hollen(Democrat - Maryland) Martin Heinrich(Democrat - New Mexico) Gary Peters(Democrat - Michigan) Kirsten Gillibrand(Democrat - New York) Jon Ossoff(Democrat - Georgia)

Are you from one of these states? Then we need your help to save American science!

The Senate Appropriations Committee will be marking up the President's Budget Request for science on Wednesday. People have been saying the proposed cuts "decimated" US science, but that's wrong: they are apocalyptic

“Why Are We Funding This?” Long-standing myths about “silly science” have contributed to the reckless slashing of government-supported research.

My latest for American Scientist Magazine helps give scientists the tools to fight back against politicized charges that our research is silly or pointless- tools that will work whether you’re asked “why are we funding this” from your asshole uncle at Thanksgiving or an asshole US Senator.
🧪🌎

Getting an account on the RSP Before getting started: Understand whether you have Rubin data rights.- Rubin data rights are required in order to hold an account in the Rubin Science Platform., All scientists and students affili...

🔭 Friendly advice for astronomers in the US and Chile--if you are excited to access @vrubinobs.bsky.social Data Preview 1 on Monday, request your account *now*--it has to get approved by a human. For best results use your university single-sign on, if available.

rsp.lsst.io/guides/getti...

Experience NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory’s Cosmic Treasure Chest with sound!🎶

Just as an image conveys data visually, sonification conveys data with sound. No two people will explore Rubin’s images the same, & no two listening experiences will be the same. 🔭🧪

skyviewer.app/skysynth

Let’s Ce(rium) What’s Up With Mass Transfer! Stars in binaries can have very unusual evolutionary paths, which can also affect their chemistry! Today's paper takes a look at one such peculiarity: Mass transfer, and it's resultant heavy element e...

From Amaya Sinha @astroamaya.bsky.social : Stars in binaries can have very unusual evolutionary paths, which can also affect their chemistry! Today’s paper takes a look at one such peculiarity: Mass transfer, and it’s resultant heavy element enhancement. 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/06/23/l...

A completed LEGO Milky Way galaxy display set. The intricate build features thousands of small colored pieces to represent spiral arms, star-forming regions, and the central bulge. A tiny LEGO Gaia telescope is included on the model, along with an arrow labeled “You are here” pointing to the solar system’s approximate location. The whole display is colorful and detailed, capturing the structure of our galaxy in LEGO form.

Feeling so moved 💫

This 3,000-piece LEGO Milky Way—complete with our solar system’s location + a LEGO Gaia telescope—was assembled + gifted to me by Steven Umbarger, an amazing UC Merced graduating senior heading to UMich for his PhD with fellow LEGO lover Eric Bell. I’m so grateful. 💙

This is a terrible budget proposal for NASA. While some cuts are justifiable, the largest part of the $5B cut comes out of space science including eliminating funding for "low-priority" climate monitoring satellites. Eliminating climate change research funding doesn't make the problem go away.

Bar chart titled “NASA Cut Proposals” set against a starry background. Four bars show proposed budget cut percentages for different NASA programs: 68% for Astrophysics, 43% for Heliophysics, 30% for Planetary Science, and 53% for Earth Science. The chart highlights significant funding reductions across scientific fields.

NASA’s science programs are facing what experts are calling an “extinction-level event” under Trump’s proposed budget.
From climate monitoring to planetary research, entire fields of discovery are on the chopping block.

eos.org/research-and...

Looking up at the Capitol rotunda against a blue sky. An American flag in front of the rotunda is blowing in the wind.

The president's budget proposal cuts billions in funding from the DOE Office of Science, NIST, NASA, and the NSF — but there’s still time to change it. Tell your lawmakers why they should stand up for science using our letter-writing toolkit, targeted to your state: go.aps.org/3RP9EWF

A large banner with the inclusive Pride flag and a sign that says “trans people exist”

Danny flexing cosplaying as senshi from delicious in dungeon

No matter what comes of the next few years and beyond, I will fight fight fight for those who need me 💪🏼 🏳️‍⚧️ 🌈 ❤️ 💪🏼

Estimated Single Year Loss of NIH Funding if 15% Indirect Cost Rate is Imposed Based on analysis of 2024 NIH funding data. Sums are totals of losses in funding to programs if indirect costs had been capped at 15%

Helpful table to determine how much your University or health system is set to lose if the NIH indirect cap is suddenly lowered to 15%. For SJSU it is $374k which is on the smaller end but devastating considering our other budget issues. datawrapper.dwcdn.net/l0ZqA/8/