I agreed to do a film shoot tomorrow for a university promotion thing, where they wanted me to set up a telescope and look "professorial". I figured as long as I was setting up a telescope anyway, I might as well do some sidewalk astronomy with a solar filter for whoever walks by. And then they […]

RE: https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/117077733289449711 After a week of back-and-forth emails, they are now reviewing our paper. Yay?

Prof. Sam Lawler@sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 6d ago

COOL apparently the American Astronomical Society journals (the Astrophysical Journal/Astronomical Journal/Planetary Science Journal) have refused to even review our article on satellite brightnesses (already posted on arxiv https://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.02757) because it's outside the scope of […]

This is IT! “The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy” drops tomorrow (8/18) 1st week sales are crucial to success. So: Give the tech fascists hell, make “The Nerd Reich” sell! Big things coming! Be a part of this moment—please buy it wherever you get your books.

Trying to decide if a fancy dinner talk I'm supposed to give for university donors in a couple months should be something fun about orbital dynamics in the outer solar system, or a depressing-but-real talk about Earth becoming a ringed planet as SpaceX and other companies launch huge "orbital AI […]

#Torontohenge is back! there are four #TorontoHenge events each year -- Feb 15 (+) sunset 5:48pm Apr 19 (+) sunrise 6:28am Aug 23 (–) sunrise 6:31am 👈 Oct 25 (–) sunset 6:18pm (+) good pics for a week after (–) good pics for a week before 👈

I had a fantastic time camping! Don't get me wrong, I slept HORRIBLY. Especially the second night. But because it was Bortle 1 skies and gorgeously clear, it was something like this: "ohhhh my neck ohhh my hips owwww..." *opens eyes, looks up at perfect dome […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Time to print a couple of maps, pack the car, and start driving towards Grasslands! It's cloudy and a bit rainy here and there (not here at the farm where we really need it ☹️ ). Supposed to get gradually more clear through tomorrow night. Big Fancy Camera is coming along on this trip, though I […]

I got a media interview request for tomorrow but I will hopefully have NO CELL SERVICE and I'm way too excited about that. (What, you mean I can say "no" to requests without having an excuse like not physically able to connect?? That's silly.)

I don't WANNA write another fucking FCC comment about YET ANOTHER fucking stupid awful destructive "orbital data center" megaconstellation that uses the EXACT SAME fucking orbits as the other 4 fucking stupid awful "orbital data center" megaconstellations. The "best" part: this one is called […]

"I designed an amazing self-driving mini-robot and to test it out I asked it to fetch me a soda. It had no way to open the fridge but I programed it to never give up... so, after two weeks of ramming into the wall (which I did not notice) it broke into my neighbor's apartment as they also have […]

@chris in Eyou Istchee (Cree territory in eastern James Bay where the by Hydro Québec dams are), Bell Canada has a very slow microwave network good for phones, but coudln't even give 5mbps to residents. The Cree deployed their own fibre links. But they […] [Original post on cosocial.ca]

Yay new grass for the goats! The rotational grazing gets harder and harder at the end of the summer - the grass isn't growing as fast and I have to move them more frequently.

@sundogplanets Remote Indigenous led internet "Five Nations Energy Inc. (FNEI), strung fiber-optic cable on the utility poles that were delivering electricity from the dusty railway town of Moosonee, 135 km away across the peat bogs." https://spectrum.ieee.org/indigenous-fiber-network When I […]

Watch: Two loose goats visit Oregon transit station, board bus https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2026/08/13/goats-board-bus-Portland-Oregon-TriMet/7881786637047/

Watch: Two loose goats visit Oregon transit station, board bus - UPI.com

A pair of loose goats wandered into a transit station in Portland, Ore., and even briefly boarded a bus before fleeing the area.

upi.com

Ok, decision made: going camping with my kids tomorrow (even if there's a little bit of rain tomorrow, Saturday and Saturday night are clear!) My brain needs this. Wow I'm doing a *terrible* job focusing on any of the zillions of things I'm supposed to be working on today. (Major downside of […]

Just overheard in airport security: "Oi Paul - look! It's another bloody colander!" My work is done.

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans@astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 6d ago

Going on holiday with your colander? Perfectly normal behaviour! #eclipse #UnimpressedCat

Good morning from my cute animals. The mama goats wanted to immediately head down to the eating pen after morning milking, but were caught by their giant-and-still-nursing babies, so they patiently chewed their cud and let their giant babies nurse. Looks […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

RE: https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/117067760073867737 I was really hoping to go to Grasslands tonight and get some amazing stars (and Perseids! And maybe auroras! And a fuck-ton of satellites!), but the next 2 nights are rainy. Good, because we need rain. Bad, because I wanted to take […]

Prof. Sam Lawler@sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · last wk.

"At night this reassuring curtain of blue is pulled away and you realize where you really are: at infinity’s doorstep. A plain is what a mountain aims to be: the closest you can come to being in outer space while yet having your feet on this planet." I really hope to get out to Grasslands this […]

I'm back! With an article! A mission to boost NASA's Swift telescope looked to be doomed, but is now back on track. Now the race is on to save Swift, currently in "superman mode" to lessen atmospheric drag. Story by me in New Scientist www.newscientist.com/article/2584...

Mission to save NASA telescope back on track after loss of control | New Scientist

Katalyst’s LINK spacecraft might still be able to save NASA’s ailing Swift telescope from doom, despite a significant mishap

newscientist.com

I got some good photos of the partial eclipse in Zürich today, but to be fair all of them were... eclipsed (😎) by this once in a lifetime unplanned shot from a friend of mine. Luck + preparation always wins. Also on reddit […] [Original post on mastodon.delroth.net]

I forgot to buy eclipse glasses, but saw the eclipse anyway via shadows on the wall. So lucky! #eclipse #solareclipse #eclipse2026

@sundogplanets

MY DISCO BALL IN THE BEDROOM IS SHOWING ME THE ECLIPSE, HOW COOL IS THAT?!

Now that the eclipse is over and lots of people saw it: did anyone notice any satellites moving across the sky during the eclipse? (Our paper from a couple years ago predicted that maybe possibly you could see some) https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ad3920/ampdf

Even een rondje gewandeld en toen zagen we dit. Daarna mochten we nog even door een eclipsbril van een buurman kijken. #zonsverduistering

Groovy, baby! #eclipse

I got a few profs from the meeting I was in to end early and look up at the teeny tiny bit of solar eclipse through eclipse glasses. Outreach done!

Starting off the morning with a live radio interview about the eclipse and the Perseids, and an opportunity to respond to completely fucking useless official statements from Reflect Orbital (which I managed to do without swearing in my response, please clap). Now I need to go to campus for […]

[a begrudgingly complimentary rant about costco] I have reluctantly accepted that Costco is the least terrible grocery option here. They treat their employees well and the whole point is to not screw over customers (unlike every other grocery chain in Canada) I hate the highly encouraged […]

3 more interview requests. What the fuck.