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Aster Cowart

@terrasabaea.bsky.social

(she/her) Backseat driver for MSL Curiosity, Mars bit witch, amateur astronomer.

201 Posts2067 Follower207 Folgt
Kayla "Iacovino with an i"@kaylaiacovino.com · last yr.

Today’s moment awe: this actual photograph of Mars. This one particularly moves me. Somehow, the atmosphere and play of light and shadow on the surface make it look *real*. Like a place I could go to. And stand on. Not an abstract concept seen only through the eyes of robots. An actual *place*.

Argyre Basin and Thaumasia - Viking 1 11 frame color mosaic of the large impact basin Argyre and its surroundings, taken by Viking 1 during its 40th orbit of Mars, July 30, 1976. This image captures the area just after sunrise. Water condensate clouds are seen streaming over Thaumasia, while carbon dioxide hoarfrost fills the bottom of Argyre. Caption: Aster Cowart Image Credit: NASA / JPL / Viking Project / Aster Cowart
Frances Larina@franceslarina.bsky.social · last yr.

HHS intends to remove trans health care from the Essential Health Benefits of the ACA/Obamacare; insurers will no longer be required to provide coverage. The public comment period ends April 11th; please help by leaving a comment against this change? www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Marketplace Integrity and Affordability

This proposed rule would revise standards relating to past-due premium payments; exclude Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients from the definition of "lawfully present"; the evidentiary st...

federalregister.gov

ESA Operations@operations.esa.int · last yr.

The team at ESA mission control has initiated Gaia's final manoeuvre. The spacecraft is now moving away from the second Lagrange point to prevent it interfering with any current or future missions near this scientifically valuable point in space.

Dr. Gwénaël Caravaca 🔴 ⛏@gccmars.eurosky.social · last yr.

I can never get tired of 3D outcrop models with the amazing MAHLI images onboard Curiosity! 😍 Here a small eroded surface revealing probable climbing ripples. 📸raw @NASAJPL archive skfb.ly/puXww @terrasabaea.bsky.social

Duna_Vista target (Mars) - 3D model by LPG-3D

This is a high-resolution Digital Outcrop Model of the Duna Vista MAHLI “dog’s eye” target in the sulfate unit of Gale crater, Mars. This model is made using only 15 photos taken by...

skfb.ly

mady castigan✨ 🏳️‍⚧️@mady.cat · last yr.

The HHS rule banning trans care from many ACA plans is open for public comment now. Only 3 comments so far. Embarrassing how the media is completely ignoring this. There's likely over 200,000 trans people on ACA plans (1% of 24 million) www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Marketplace Integrity and Affordability

This proposed rule would revise standards relating to past-due premium payments; exclude Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients from the definition of "lawfully present"; the evidentiary st...

federalregister.gov

mady castigan✨ 🏳️‍⚧️@mady.cat · last yr.

it's also timed the day after HHS offically published their proposed rule banning trans care from ACA EHBS www.madycast.com/p/proposed-h... Nancy Mace was also recently calling RFKjr to... do something... about estrogen

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart.bsky.social · last yr.

Sunset on the Moon, from a photo released today in the NASA/Firefly Aerospace press conference. I have color balanced the original to get rid of the green hue near the center, which is a camera artifact. We see the overexposed inner Zodiacal Light looming above the bright horizon 'rim lighting'.

This image shows the inner Zodiacal Light, a stable amorphous band of light brightest near the Sun. It is looming above the bright outlined Lunar horizon. This 'horizon glow' is still not settled in its origin. I think it is 'rim glow' from the barely hidden Sun shining through the 'fluffy' dust covering the surface. Some think it is actually levitated dust but I doubt that happens enough to look like this. The lighting I describe seems to me to be sufficient to explain what is seen.
Billie Jean Sweeney@billiejsweeney.bsky.social · last yr.

You won’t see this in the nyt… At least 12 peer-reviewed studies that support gender care as safe and beneficial, and support trans inclusion in sports have been ignored by the nyt over the past year

Assigned Media@assignedmedia.org · last yr.

ABC [Mar 17] -- New study in JAMA of 3,592 trans adults over 4 years found that those on gender-affirming hormones had significantly lower rates depression. CDC has found that trans people in general are 2-3 times more likely to have depression. [@rikiwilchins.bsky.social‬]

John Lees@johnlees.bsky.social · last yr.

The Cass Review only exists because transphobic politicians were angry that all the actual scientific studies kept on contradicting their ideology and commissioned a report specifically to get the outcome they wanted. Needless to say, that renders it, among other things, invalid as a study.

Natacha@natacha.bsky.social · last yr.

Further isolating Cass as a pseudoscience outlier European medical organisations confirm support for gender-affirming care for trans kids.

Aster Cowart@terrasabaea.bsky.social · last yr.

I couldn't write an #LPSCHaiku I was happy with within the 5/7/5 structure. So I borrowed the related tanka form (5/7/5/7/7) for a little more room to work. In ancient rock slide: // Sulfur, in element form // encases rubble // and spreading atoms yonder, // clothes rocks in myriad forms.

Aster Cowart@terrasabaea.bsky.social · last yr.

Interested in elemental sulfur on Mars? Check out my #LPSC2025 poster this evening, where I look at the deposit from scales small to big! I am not actually in person, but with the help of my friend Carlos Gary-Bicas, I'm hoping to have a virtual presence! Stop by and say hi if you get a chance!

A poster in the LPSC hall. The poster is titled "Textural Relationships Associated with a Martian Native Sulfur Deposit in Gale Crater". A context map shows the location of the deposit in Gediz Vallis. A large photo shows a zoned block with a tan interior and a gray, crusty rim. It is surrounded by MAHLI photos from the deposit, showing rock textures at micron to millimeter scales. The interior of the block has granular textures resembling typical Gale Crater bedrock. The outer zone has grayish and whitish coatings. Elemental sulfur stones scattered around the block have a smooth, light appearance. A wider view of a crushed elemental sulfur rock shows internal voids and possible crystal growths. Photos from various locations on the outcrop show a vertical drop-off in sulfur stone abundance and sulfur-rich alteration textures. Some observations also suggest that the elemental sulfur was emplaced within porosity existing within the upper Gediz Vallis ridge deposit. These suggest sulfur was emplaced primarily near the base of the channel, likely through a "bottom-up" mechanism.
ESA Technology@technology.esa.int · last yr.

What would Deimos look like to an astronaut in space around Mars? None of Hera's instruments are equivalent to the naked human eye, but here is the science team's first attempt. The 'saddle' between two peaks of Deimos shows up as a shadow

False colour Asteroid Framing Camera image of Deimos ahead of Mars
Aster Cowart@terrasabaea.bsky.social · last yr.

Interested in elemental sulfur on Mars? Check out my #LPSC2025 poster this evening, where I look at the deposit from scales small to big! I am not actually in person, but with the help of my friend Carlos Gary-Bicas, I'm hoping to have a virtual presence! Stop by and say hi if you get a chance!

A poster in the LPSC hall. The poster is titled "Textural Relationships Associated with a Martian Native Sulfur Deposit in Gale Crater". A context map shows the location of the deposit in Gediz Vallis. A large photo shows a zoned block with a tan interior and a gray, crusty rim. It is surrounded by MAHLI photos from the deposit, showing rock textures at micron to millimeter scales. The interior of the block has granular textures resembling typical Gale Crater bedrock. The outer zone has grayish and whitish coatings. Elemental sulfur stones scattered around the block have a smooth, light appearance. A wider view of a crushed elemental sulfur rock shows internal voids and possible crystal growths. Photos from various locations on the outcrop show a vertical drop-off in sulfur stone abundance and sulfur-rich alteration textures. Some observations also suggest that the elemental sulfur was emplaced within porosity existing within the upper Gediz Vallis ridge deposit. These suggest sulfur was emplaced primarily near the base of the channel, likely through a "bottom-up" mechanism.
Corinne Green@ket.bsky.social · last yr.

remember how i said self-styled sanctuary states need to be affirmatively passing laws committing step-in funding to trans and immigrant healthcare? surprised we got this before medicaid/medicare but here we go. put up or shut up. www.federalregister.gov/public-inspe...

Public Inspection: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Marketplace Integrity and Affordability

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Marketplace Integrity and Affordability

federalregister.gov

Aster Cowart@terrasabaea.bsky.social · last yr.

Woah, Noam Izenberg showing a really neat flyby video of Venus with Parker Solar Probe's WISPR camera. Camera's bandpass is *just* sensitive to a surface emission window, but overlaps with oxygen airglow - needs processing to see the surface. #LPSC2025