Oh my.

Earthset, from the Artemis II Crew.

Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

Congratulations!!

Your author, in front of the Capitol Building.

Here in DC again today with The Planetary Society (@planetarysociety.bsky.social) to do what I can to advocate for a healthy NASA budget.

I won't stop pushing for this. If you're interested in doing this next year, DM me!

Swirling clouds of dust, a reddish colour, are prominent on the right-hand side of the scene. To the left, the bluer colours are areas of less dust, blown away by newborn stars.

Here's a little bit of cosmic beauty for your Monday—a portion of the Trifid Nebula, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.

This is a star-forming region about 5,000 lightyears from Earth. This field of view is four lightyears across, or about the distance from the Sun to the Alpha Centauri system.

The Artemis II Orion capsule heat shield, seen from below as photographed by US Navy divers immediately after splashdown in the Eastern Pacific on 10 April 2026.

Scary-ass photo of the Artemis II Orion capsule from below, immediately after its water landing.

The heat shield shows signs of thermal ablation, but very little of the char and material loss that characterised the Artemis I heat shield.

Credit: US Navy

Your author, in front of the Capitol Building.

Here in DC again today with The Planetary Society (@planetarysociety.bsky.social) to do what I can to advocate for a healthy NASA budget.

I won't stop pushing for this. If you're interested in doing this next year, DM me!

I'll put you on that starship once I get back from Capitol Hill, where I'm advocating for more money for NASA today!

Read more:

esahubble.org/images/heic2...

Credit: NASA/ESA/STScI/J. DePasquale

Swirling clouds of dust, a reddish colour, are prominent on the right-hand side of the scene. To the left, the bluer colours are areas of less dust, blown away by newborn stars.

Here's a little bit of cosmic beauty for your Monday—a portion of the Trifid Nebula, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.

This is a star-forming region about 5,000 lightyears from Earth. This field of view is four lightyears across, or about the distance from the Sun to the Alpha Centauri system.

Oh my.

Earthset, from the Artemis II Crew.

Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

And I'm not sorry

Yellowish rocks comprise most of this outcrop scene. Darker, brown rocks cap the outcrop. Trees and vegetation are widespread. There is a person for scale at centre left.

See those yellowish rocks?

They're about 1.4 billion years old.

The rocks on top are around 500 million years old.

This is part of the Great Unconformity, where almost a billion years of Earth's history is just... missing.

See you tomorrow!

This location is near the town of Fredericktown, Missouri.

I hope you got a good price for them!

Yellowish rocks comprise most of this outcrop scene. Darker, brown rocks cap the outcrop. Trees and vegetation are widespread. There is a person for scale at centre left.

See those yellowish rocks?

They're about 1.4 billion years old.

The rocks on top are around 500 million years old.

This is part of the Great Unconformity, where almost a billion years of Earth's history is just... missing.

BIOSIGNATURE

A sliver of a crescent, faintly blue. The rest of the scene is black like a doll's eyes.

Uranus.

This is crescent Uranus, as seen by Voyager 2 after its flyby on 24 January 1986.

The Sun is to the left of this scene. This view is not possible from Earth, and no spacecraft has been back to visit the planet since 1986.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS

A sliver of a crescent, faintly blue. The rest of the scene is black like a doll's eyes.

Uranus.

FIELD TRIIIIPPPP!

Weirdy arches within the Cambrian LaMotte Sandstone formation. People for scale.

We're standing on top of rocks that are 1.4 billion years old. That's pretty old.

Geology rocks.

One of the best parts of my job is bringing students into the field and helping them understand why our planet works the way it does

This is my Introduction to Structural Geology course, so it's totally geology!

(even better if it's the same students)

(another best part is when I get back with the same number of students I left with)

FIELD TRIIIIPPPP!

Weirdy arches within the Cambrian LaMotte Sandstone formation. People for scale.

We're standing on top of rocks that are 1.4 billion years old. That's pretty old.

Geology rocks.

One of the best parts of my job is bringing students into the field and helping them understand why our planet works the way it does

House SS&T Dems just issued a report re NASA and the FY2026 budget: "Mission Aborted: How NASA Illegally Implemented the President's Budget Request Without Congressional Approval." Calls on Isaacman to "defend" NASA and not do the same w/FY2027 request.
democrats-science.house.gov/imo/media/do...

This is good news!

But it's disappointing that this contribution was ever in doubt. The White House continues to needlessly and stupidly get in the way of NASA doing what it does best.

Nothing like trying to explain a concept to someone else to see whether one understands it oneself.

Russell Vought must be impeached and charged. He is a danger to America.