As a boy growing up in East Tennessee in the late 70’s and early 80s, Dolly was part of the warp and weave of my childhood. Seeing her always made me proud of where I was from. RIP, Dolly.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2d ago

Breaking News: Dolly Parton, the country singer, songwriter, entertainer and entrepreneur known for her outsize persona and prodigious vision and talent that placed her in a class by herself, has died at 80. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/a...

My thoughts on the 20th anniversary of the correction of Pluto’s classification (edited by the fabulous @leebillings.bsky.social )

Mike Brown is very sorry, but Pluto still isn’t a planet

On the 20th anniversary of Pluto’s infamous demotion, Mike “Pluto Killer” Brown explains why any reversal of that decision would be driven more by nostalgia than science

scientificamerican.com

In the coming days, teams will transport the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope—encapsulated in Falcon Heavy’s fairing—to SpaceX’s hangar at pad 39A, where technicians will attach it to the rocket before sending it out to the launch pad. #NASARoman 🔭 🧪

Teams Complete Flight Readiness Review for NASA's Roman Telescope

Mission managers from NASA, the agency's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and SpaceX conducted a Flight Readiness Review Friday, at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

science.nasa.gov

A high-risk mission to save NASA’s Swift Observatory has ended in failure after its rescue spacecraft spun out of control in Earth orbit. Swift will likely burn up in the atmosphere later this year, leaving a glaring gap in astronomers’ cosmic studies.

NASA’s rescue mission for the falling Swift space telescope has failed

The space agency’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which studied cataclysmic cosmic explosions, is expected to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere later this year

scientificamerican.com

Later this year I hope to launch a Kickstarter to fund the Atlas of the Milky Way. I've created a signup page here: kevinjardine.dev/signup but so far only about 40 people have signed up. I'd like that to be closer to a thousand. I've now added a profile: kevinjardine.dev/profile Please promote.

New HLSP: Terry Hubble Observations of Roman (THOR) early-release catalog of point sources in the Roman Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey footprint. Multi-passband photometry and astrometry (ACS+WFC3, F606W+F814W) cross-matched to HST-WFC3IR and Gaia DR3 where available. archive.stsci.edu/hlsp/thor

Ruh roh

Jonathan Serrie@jonathanserrie.bsky.social · 4w ago

LINK spacecraft, on mission to raise decaying orbit of Swift space observatory, experiencing attitude control problems

A few months ago I gave a public talk about satellites at a local brewery & afterwards one of the attendees asked me if I'd like to collaborate on an OpEd to spread the word about the growing problem of space junk. Long story short, today it's on the front page of the digital WaPo: wapo.st/4yqgbLn

Opinion | Look at Earth’s orbit. This mess is dangerous.

Space debris is a safety risk, both on the Earth’s surface and in orbit.

wapo.st

Low-Earth orbit has gotten so crowded that new NASA mission proposals need to include (and pay for, out of a limited cost cap!) three collision avoidance maneuvers, and are told to expect 1-5 potential collisions that need to be avoided.

The moment we've all been waiting for is finally here… On June 29, 2026, NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory officially began the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)! 🔭🧪☄️🌌 🔗: rubinobservatory.org/news/action-...

Beer Delivery Driver Points Trembling Shotgun As Crowd Of Scottish Soccer Fans Close In https://theonion.com/beer-delivery-driver-points-trembling-shotgun-as-crowd-of-scottish-soccer-fans-close-in/

The Rubin Galaxies Meeting moved to zoom this afternoon and tomorrow. It was the responsible thing to do. Lesson learned: have Europe meetings in spring or fall. Avoid summer.

The Arrakihs mission has been adopted as ESA's next F-class mission, with an expected launch in 2030! It will look at the low surface brightness outskirts of 80 Milky Way-like galaxies. www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

ESA adopts galactic archaeology mission Arrakihs

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Science Programme Committee has adopted the Arrakihs mission. Planned for launch by the end of 2030, Arrakihs will capture the faint light from nearby galaxy haloes. ...

esa.int

New first-author paper from Adam Distler, now accepted to ApJ, evaluates whether the inner edges of peas-in-a-pod (PIAP) multiplanet systems are affected by secular resonance crossings driven by the rotational evolution of the host star....

This breakthrough result is the culmination of many years of work; I'm honored to have played a small role in it. Congratulations and thank you to Alec Thomson on his leadership!

Scientists map universe’s invisible force to show sky as you’ve never seen it

Australian researchers have created the biggest and most detailed image of a colossal cosmic mystery.

smh.com.au

I strongly encourage US-based astronomers to attend the virtual Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee meeting tomorrow (Mon June 1st), where the heads of NASA, NSF, and DOE astronomy/astrophysics divisions will be presenting updates & taking questions 🔭 www.nsf.gov/events/astro...

Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee meeting (June 2026)

nsf.gov

Took an overnight train from Chicago to Boston last week, and from NYC to Chicago this week, but wasn’t called upon to solve a murder either time. I suppose that’s good?

As stockholders in the Green Bay Packers, my husband and I wholeheartedly agree!

Senator Tammy Baldwin@baldwin.senate.gov · 3mo ago

Wisconsinites have every right to be mad that they’re being forced to buy an expensive streaming subscription just to watch our Packers play. If you live in Wisconsin, you should be able to watch these games for FREE. www.wjfw.com/news/local-p...

It all makes sense now

Sh2-176 is a very faint and relatively little-imaged evolved planetary nebula in Cassiopeia. Unlike compact, high-excitation planetary nebulae, Sh2-176 is highly evolved: the expelled shell has expanded and diluted over time bit.ly/4lB3t68 🔭#Astrophotographie🔭📷

Turning NSF into a venture capital fund was the inevitable consequence of removing scientists from the leadership at NSF & OSTP. This move reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of both how science progresses and the post-war model for US prosperity. www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-ann...

NSF announces $1.5B NSF X-Labs initiative to pursue generational breakthrough science efforts

Today, the U.S. National Science Foundation announced $1.5 billion over the next decade toward the NSF X-Labs initiative to tackle pressing scientific challenges through novel and innovative...

nsf.gov

Gas Station Price Sign Using Scientific Notation

🔭 A cautionary tale for undergrads (and above!) using AI for #astro plots: our BSc student wanted to make a "quick" HR diagram showcasing M-dwarfs & thought some chatbot could make one and... well... ...extra credits are now offered to students who can correctly find all errors on cursedHR.png 🫠 🧪

🤩

Alexis Quintana@alexis-space.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The paper has been accepted for publication in MNRAS! 🔭 The revised list contains 56 OB associations within 1 kpc, double the historical census! Besides tracing star formation and structure of the local Milky Way, this catalogue will be useful for target/follow-up studies! #stellarastro #galactic

This ESO infrared view reveals the stellar nursery known as NGC 6357, or the Lobster Nebula.

This report came out today by minority staff of the House science committee on how three NASA missions were aborted due to NASA illegally following the FY26 president's budget request instead of congressionally approved budget. Very important reading. 🔭🧪 democrats-science.house.gov/staff-report...

My team and others at @stsci.edu are working to make this work for you. 🔭 #astrocode

Roman Space Telescope Science Platform Will Open New Frontiers in Space Science

stsci.edu

🧵1/5 For 170 years we thought there was a large inclined ring of young stars around the Sun.🔭 A new study using Gaia data shows instead that it doesn’t exist: Gould’s Belt is just a temporary alignment of a few star clusters.🧪⚛️ No ring, just a 3D asterism. arxiv.org/abs/2604.13225 #galactic

A fantastic Webb image of the Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334), a massive, local star-forming region. The nebula is about 3,000 light-years away.

Great googly moogly, 12:1 oversubscription! roman.ipac.caltech.edu/page/cycle-1