And stars suck at converting hydrogen to heavier elements. It is their whole job and they are very bad at it.

Cover slide for the Friday, April 10 lecture of Ast 2142 (Black Holes) at The Ohio State University. The slide includes two images: on the right, the "Earthset" photo from the Artemis II mission; on the left, the "Earthrise" image from the Apollo 8 mission, cropped to match "Earthset."

Although my Friday lecture was on quasars, I decided to spread some Moon joy in the cover slide for the lecture. (The students seemed to tolerate the digression.)

"I'd like to get away from Earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over."

For some reason, Robert Frost keeps running through my head today....

I'd apply for this but I'm always going off on tangents

Any relation to the Giant Rat of Sumatra?

Now 285.

Thank you! Until I saw the baby giraffe, I was unaware how badly I needed to see a baby giraffe.

A gray and white cat (named Trim) and an orange tabby cat (named Finn) are sleeping back-to-back on a fleece blanket.

Happy #Caturday! Trim and Finn have each others' back, in a fine example of feline solidarity.

Have you decided on a beverage?

Petting alpacas *and* super-Eddington flows? Best conference ever! (Is it too late to sign up?)

Awww... You're so adorable when you pretend to be old. I just want to to pat you on the head and give you some cookies and milk.

You guys should read this article.

It was not an Ignobel event. (Let's just say that the social events at astrophysics conferences can become slightly random.)

I have heard a physics Nobel laureate sing "Because I could not stop for Death" to the tune of The Yellow Rose of Texas.

Is the bear cross-eyed? Is it named "Gladly"?

I've got a cosmology textbook from 2017 that struggles with the nature of dark energy. Oh wait, I wrote that one.

I am glad that you didn't continue driving once you ran out of road.

Orange tabby cat. Underneath the cat is a lap.

Same, Misty. Same.

Finally... some "introverted astronomer" representation in the media!

Not me. But you've done such a great job with Flaubert, I think you should continue with Bierce!

Are you going to switch to Ambrose?

A gray and white cat and an orange tabby cat are snuggled together atop a fleece blanket.

Happy #Caturday. If you are in the path of a winter storm, Trim and Finn recommend that you keep warm.

I ❤️ Love

Thank you! The book's success is due to Marc's amazing knowledge of stellar interiors... plus a few strategically placed footnote jokes.

Stellar Structure and Evolution: a very fine textbook.

My blind cat is tidy, my sighted cat is messy.

Barbara Ryden (wearing a nametag saying "Barbara Ryden") stands in front of a large sign saying "AAS".

It is not strictly required, when attending a meeting of the American Astronomical Society, to pose in front of the big AAS sign. However, I couldn't resist the opportunity. #aas247

Sounds fishy to me; but then, one man's meat is another man's poisson.

Epigraph for chapter 8 of Astrophysical Gas Dynamics: When Newton saw an apple fall, he found In that slight startle from his contemplation - 'Tis said (for I'll not answer above ground For any sage's creed or calculation) - A mode of proving that the earth turn'd round In a most natural whirl, called "gravitation"; And this is the sole mortal who could grapple, Since Adam, with a fall or with an apple. Lord Byron, "Don Juan," Canto X [1823]

I haven't quite decided if this is the ideal epigraph for chapter 8. Too Byronic, do you think, or just Byronic enough?

Snug