Graph showing the orbit of asteroid 858334 Gioacchinopecci, along with the text: "Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci (Pope Leo XIII, 1810–1903) had a great interest in the sciences and was responsible for the re-establishment and reform of the Vatican Observatory in 1891 within the walls of the Vatican. He also encouraged the Observatory to get involved in the Carte du Ciel project."

In the latest batch of asteroid names, Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903) was honored with the asteroid 858334 Gioacchinopecci.

Br Bob Macke holding a gold plated award with the name Jocelyn Bell Burnell on it

The Capo Circeo award sitting on a table and in the background is a panel of 4 Italian dignitaries

Today I was honored to serve as proxy for Jocelyn Bell Burnell to receive the European Capo Circeo prize.

Only comes in packs of two

From our guestbook during the first IAU general assembly (1922)

I kind of like Fukang, for childish reasons. And then there’s Waconda, which is surprisingly devoid of vibranium.

“It’s just a local fisherman out for a pleasure cruise at night through eel-infested waters.”

I hope they stopped at a nice restaurant on the way for some antipasta.

My giants?

They might be.

Asteroid Bennu's Rugged Surface Baffled NASA, We Finally Know Why - NASA Science In one of the biggest surprises of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, its target asteroid, Bennu, turned out to be a jagged, rugged world covered in large boulders, with few of the smooth patches of sandy or ...

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Grab a pint of your favorite Irish beverage and celebrate a new paper by the members of my working group in OSIRIS-REx.
science.nasa.gov/missions/osi...

When people include all their accolades, it’s a red flag that it’s either an impersonator or the person is really full of themselves and probably not worth dealing with.

Based on past "launch dates", April 1 will come around and NASA will be like "jk. It's really October."

Vatican Flag with Vatican Observatory logo and image of Pope Leo XIII, with text, "Happy 135th Birthday Vatican Observatory! / Motu Proprio Ut Mysticam 14 March 1891: 'That everyone might see clearly that the Church and her Pastors are not opposed to true and sound science, whether human or divine, but that they embrace it, encourage it, and promote it with the fullest possible dedication.' Pope Leo XIII"

Happy 135th Birthday Vatican Observatory!

Pitch an unnecessary sequel

Oppenheimest

Pitch an unnecessary sequel

The Princess Divorcee

Kilofollowers

Is it okay if I want invisibility so I can blend into the crowd and nobody asks me for anything? (I kind of have that superpower already)

Probably something about a rental car. 😁

Can somebody please fix Wiley pubs? EVERY SINGLE TIME I am an author or coauthor on a paper, they add "Italy" to my affiliation address. Vatican City-State is not Italy. On the latest paper, the address was correct through the proofs, but they changed the pub version to "Albano Laziale, Italy"

Pikachu I choose you!
On rye
With lettuce and pickles

And it isn't particularly surprising that all of the latest batch are associated with the Vatican Observatory

Yet another update for the graphic. Up to 58 asteroids now. Congrats to recent nominees David Brown SJ, Bayu Risanto SJ. Alois Gatterer SJ, Ernst Salpeter SJ, Daniel O'Connell SJ, Joseph Junkes SJ, and José Funes SJ. (Okay, so 4 of them are deceased.)

Theoretical
Experimental
Observational
Exploratory

I think I am missing some reference here. Why is 1729 not an interesting number?

Me too. Good for economy seats, but it’s not easy to find pants that fit properly especially in Europe

I’m waiting till I hit a great-gross (1728)

I'm not very far away on the map. Big surprise there. :)

Shall we discuss outgassing from Uranus? 😁

Surreal thing of the day: a VERY notable astronomer (like wow level) will be receiving an award in a few months but can’t actually be present for it, and I have been asked to stand in as proxy for her.

I often read “golden age” sf for my own amusement, to see how myopic their vision of the future was. Also, as literature much of it was laughably bad. Standards of modern sff are much higher.

Tell me five classes you took in college:

(Im sticking to undergraduate only. The 3 masters and PhD don’t count)

Writing science fiction (w/ Joe Haldeman)
Intro to music theory
Philosophy of language
General Relativity
Organic chemistry