Prof. Erika Hamden
@erikahamden.bsky.social
Astronomy Professor at University of Arizona. Making UV detectors better, building telescopes. Intense about a lot of things! 2019 @TEDFellow Contact: booking@ehamden.org Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erika.hamden/ Tiktok: tiktok.com/@erikahamden
How many stars is too many stars in a star system? ⭐️🪐🧪 Astrophysicist @erikahamden.bsky.social tells us about TYC 7037-89-1, a system with six stars locked into three orbiting pairs, all circling a shared center of mass. #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #Universe
Take a relaxing flight with NASA's Juno Spacecraft as it passes over Jupiter and the Great Red Spot. Compiled from images taken during the mission's Perijove 27 on June 2nd, 2020. Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/SwRI/Kevin M. Gill Music: Chris Zabriskie
What's the most distant galaxy ever observed? 🌌🧪 Astrophysicist @erikahamden.bsky.social explains it's called MoM-z14, and its light took 13.53 billion years to reach us. #Space #Astronomy #Science #Universe #Galaxy This project is part of IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.
The Farthest Galaxy Ever Discovered
YouTube video by Museum of Science
youtube.com
Reposting because I know there’s not an apostrophe in Publishers Weekly 🤦🏽♀️ This is why astronomers shouldn’t be up before 8am
Dr. Moiya McTier@goastromo.bsky.social · 2w agoMerry Muses Day! MOTHERS OF INVENTION is out now 🏺🏺🏺 moiyamctier.com/muses
Apollo 16 - Science at Station 1 - From Aster Cowart (terrasabaea.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/yBAQtT
Space? No one else is even in the conversation. I don't see any fucking lizards on the moon, bitch.
One more pair from the meadow, before and after moonrise. Almost a panorama from south to north. You can see how crunchy dry it is, but life is stubborn. (Earlier, something looming from within the treeline darkness had huffed at me. I left before I found out what it was.) Uinta Mountains, Utah.
Astrophysicist @erikahamden.bsky.social tells us about this star cluster that lives around Sagittarius A* and what it teaches us about the black hole. Scientists have been tracking these stars for decades, watching them complete full orbits.
Did you know there are stars orbiting a black hole at the center of the Milky Way? 🌌🧪 #Space #Astronomy #Science #STEM #BlackHole This project is part of IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.
Stars Are Orbiting Sagittarius A*!
YouTube video by Museum of Science
youtube.com
What is a rogue planet and how do they occur? 🧪 Astrophysicist @erikahamden.bsky.social explains how rogue planets are worlds that no longer orbit a star after being ejected from their planetary systems. #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet
What Is a Rogue Planet?
YouTube video by Museum of Science
youtube.com
This is where the fun begins. ✨ From tech talks to the welcome reception, here are a few highlights from Sunday at #SPIEastro. See our Instagram or LinkedIn pages for more photos! 📸
The sun isn’t always the exact center of our solar system. ☀️🧪 In this Space Oddity, @erikahamden.bsky.social explains what the barycenter of the solar system is, and how it may not always be inside of the Sun itself.
The Sun Is NOT Always the Center of Our Solar System?! ☀️
YouTube video by Museum of Science
youtube.com
The solstice doesn’t just happen on Earth 🌎☀️🪐 Astrophysicist @erikahamden.bsky.social explains that solstices happen across our solar system, but every planet experiences them at a different time depending on its axial tilt. #SummerSolstice #Earth #Uranus #SolarSystem
Solstices Happen Across the Solar System
YouTube video by Museum of Science
youtube.com
Interested in helping the University of Arizona College of Science navigate the current national research environment and grow the enterprise, helping units find new ways to work together? If so you should apply to the Associate Dean for Research position now open. arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Associate Dean, Research (Professor, Tenured) (College of Science)
Associate Dean, Research:Support faculty, staff, and students across the College of Science (COS) in research-related endeavors, including m...
arizona.csod.com
You are made of atoms older than Earth 🌌✨🧪 Astrophysicist @erikahamden.bsky.social explains how the atoms in your body span the age of the universe. #HumanBody #Stars #Universe #Science #Space
Your Body Contains Atoms From the Big Bang
YouTube video by Museum of Science
youtube.com
🪼 Your tax dollars paid a scientist to squeeze jellyfish through cheesecloth. Osamu Shimomura processed tens of thousands on an NSF grant to understand why they glow. He found a protein that glowed green under UV light. Called it "green protein." Nobody cared. For decades.
A nice paper by @asborlaff.bsky.social showing that launching telescopes to space doesn't necessarily solve the light pollution issue from satellites. These are satellite trails seen by NASA's SPHEREx space telescope, which appear in 73% of all its images. Eek. arxiv.org/abs/2605.27501
Why is the night sky dark? 🌌🧪 @erikahamden.bsky.social breaks down Olbers' Paradox, the cosmic puzzle that helped scientists first hypothesize that the universe ... #Space #OlbersParadox #Astronomy #Science #Universe This project is part of IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.
Why Is the Night Sky Dark?
YouTube video by Museum of Science
youtube.com
Whose zodiac sign is Ophiuchus? 🌌🧪 @erikahamden.bsky.social breaks down the real science of where zodiac signs come from. #Space #ZodiacSigns #Astronomy #StarGazing #Science This project is part of IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.
Is Your Zodiac Sign Wrong? The Science Behind the Ecliptic Plane
YouTube video by Museum of Science
youtube.com
Space might be closer than you think. 🌍🛰️🧪 @erikahamden.bsky.social explains how the “edge of space,” known as the Kármán line, begins at about 62 miles above Earth’s surface. #Space #Moon #Astronaut #Earth #Science #ISS This project is part of IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.
Is Space Only 62 Miles Away?
YouTube video by Museum of Science
youtube.com
Incredible video made using images taken by the Artemis II crew shows satellites in orbit around Earth. This is at 30x speed x.com/i/status/205...
DPS 2026 prize announcements! dps.aas.org/news/aas-div... LPL sweeps the scientist prizes! @markmarley.bsky.social, @planetneish.bsky.social, @alibramson.bsky.social, Tad Komacek
AAS DIVISION FOR PLANETARY SCIENCES ANNOUNCES 2026 PRIZE WINNERS | AAS Division for Planetary Sciences
The Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society has named its prize winners for 2026. Prof. Mark Marley of the University of Arizona is the recipient of the 2026 Gerard ...
dps.aas.org
NASA just dropped more than 12,000 photos from the Artemis II mission. It'll take me a few days to go through them all, but so far it's one stunner after another. Link: eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos... Credit: NASA/Artemis II Crew (h/t @jonostrower.com)
Astronomers have found the building blocks of life in space! 🧬🧪 @erikahamden.bsky.social explains how scientists detect amino acids like tryptophan in meteorites, asteroids, and even diffuse clouds of gas between stars. #Space #Universe #Astronomy #STEM #Science
From NASA: One week in the solar system 🌔 Even as Artemis II was making its historic trip to the Moon, several other NASA missions were exploring all across the solar system. Here are just a few of the images that some of them captured during the course of a few days in April 2026.
Well, isn’t this a sight for sore eyes! 😍 Our beloved Hubble appears in this amazing image from one of Vantor's WorldView Legion satellites. It was 36 years ago today that Hubble was launched in the bay of the Space Shuttle Discovery from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Vantor.
Holy shit. The Hubble Space Telescope, photographer in space, BY A SATELLITE ALSO IN SPACE (Happy 36th birthday, Hubble!)
