Sign in

Ashley Balzer Vigil

@ashleybvigil.bsky.social
140 followers 108 following 35 posts

NASA science writer, freelance environmental & quantum physics writer, mom of three 💙💙🩷

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @rubinobservatory.org · 08/10/2026
Spooky vibes for spooky month 👻🌌 The more you look at this region of NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory’s Ocean of Stars, the more emerges. Wispy galactic cirrus veils stars and distant galaxies, while thousands of spiral galaxies, smooth galaxies, shell galaxies, & more lurk in the depths. 🔭🧪
Vast star field with numerous bright stars and distant galaxies of various shapes, sizes, and colors. On the left, a ghostly haze of galactic cirrus drifts like cotton candy.A wide, panoramic view of a dense field of countless tiny, pinpoint stars filling the entire frame like fine dust. Wispy, faint, grayish-brown clouds of galactic cirrus drift across the scene, creating a patchy texture over the dark background. Several brighter stars stand out across the field, most notably a large blue star on the upper right surrounded by a glowing halo, along with a few other scattered blue and orange stars. A white rectangle at upper center highlights a specific area.
25511
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Yes! How can I apply?
100
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 18/07/2026
This is Comet Leonard during its approach to the Sun, imaged by Gerald Rhemann on Christmas Day 2021. The comet had been discovered earlier that year, and broke apart in 2022. This photo won the overall prize for Rhemann of the Royal Observatory Greenwich's Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2022.
A bright point of light at the top of the image is the comet's nucleus; the comet's gas and dust tails trail from the nucleus to the bottom of the image. Complex structures in the dust tail result from outbursts from the nucleus as it undergoes solar heating.
7803240
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 25/06/2026
1) Open this image up 2) Find the small, blue feature in the very middle Congratulations, you've spotted the Perseverance rover on Mars, photographed from orbit! 3) Trace the rover tracks as they wend their way across the surface
A complex landscape of buttes, hills, hummocks, and sand dunes, in tones of gold and teal. In the middle, a small, beetle-blue feature. Around it, faint parallel tracks.
411149388
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
New favourite paper title? IIb or not IIb: A Catalog of ZTF Kilonova Imposters in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific by Barna et al. 🔭 iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

IIb or not IIb: A Catalog of ZTF Kilonova Imposters

Barna et al.
5372
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
John Lewis @astrojthe3.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Excited the Nance Grace Roman Space Telescope is Complete!? Pan + Zoom see how much of your favorite object will be captured within a single Roman field of view projects.cosmicds.cfa.harvard.edu/roman-view-f... #astronomy #dataviz
the Roman field of view over the orion nebula. almost the entire orion nebula
071
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Why do we need Roman if we already have Webb? ➡️https://science.nasa.gov/roman-and-webb/
science.nasa.gov
Roman and Webb - NASA Science
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will conduct rapid surveys of wide swaths of the universe, unveiling new worlds and clues to mysteries like
010
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
So glad all the trauma was worth it. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
nytimes.com
How Did DOGE Disrupt So Much While Saving So Little?
012
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
From the first sighting of a colossal squid in the wild to a seriously goofy octopus, 2025 delivered some astounding photos from the ocean’s depths
scientificamerican.com
6 Otherworldly Deep-Sea Images from 2025
From the first sighting of a colossal squid in the wild to a seriously goofy octopus, 2025 delivered some astounding photos from the ocean’s depths
9855202
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Shout out to @chrislintott.bsky.social for teaching me what the thick disk is a few months ago. Now we included it in a new diagram of the Milky Way! nasa.tumblr.com/post/8033060...
nasa.tumblr.com
Milky Way Anatomy
If we could see our galaxy, the Milky Way, from the outside, it would look like an enormous, bedazzled pinwheel. Vast sprays of stars form spiral arms that curl outward from a bright center that...
020
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Paper: mapress.com/zt/article/v...
mapress.com
Systematics and biogeography of tube-nosed bats, Murina (Mammalia, Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae), from the Philippines with descriptions of six new species | Zootaxa
000
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
They looked so similar to other species that even when scientists did find them, they lumped them in with others. Genetic sequencing and an ultra-close look at their teeth, fur, and skull shapes revealed them as separate species. (Photo credit: J. Sedlock)
A closeup of a bat’s face. The poor silly guy has teeny black eyes, a large snout, and gigantic ears. As if that weren’t bad enough, it is also a ginger with lots of fuzzy reddish hair. Credit: J Sedlock
100
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Meet six new species of itty-bitty bats! They’re only about the size of a walnut and as light as a AAA battery, and their leaf-like wings help them blend right in with the trees. Researchers found them lurking in the shadowy forests of the Philippines.
A photo of a bat with outstretched wings that are so thin that they’re almost transparent. They look greenish with pink leaf-like veins. Text below the image says: scientists discover six new itty-bitty bat species.
110
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
An orca pod has been spotted for the first time repeatedly targeting and flipping young great white sharks onto their backs to paralyze and dismember them
scientificamerican.com
First-Ever Footage Shows Killer Whales Attacking Great White Shark Nursery
An orca pod has been spotted for the first time repeatedly targeting and flipping young great white sharks onto their backs to paralyze and dismember them
24410
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
For the first time, astronomers have confirmed a tidal disruption event, dubbed AT2024tvd, located outside its galaxy’s core. Now, astronomers are trying to understand what the black hole is doing 2,600 light-years from where they expected it to be. www.astronomy.com/science/blac...
astronomy.com
Black hole caught snacking on star far from host galaxy’s center
Astronomers are wondering why a recently discovered supermassive black hole is some 2,600 light-years from where it’s supposed to be.
020
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Check out the toads that transform from chocolate pudding brown to lemon meringue yellow, not to attract females but deter other males: www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
nationalgeographic.com
Scientists reveal the secret of toads that can turn neon yellow
The color change, driven by hormones, seems aimed at preventing males from accidentally mating with each other.
000
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
@leebillings.bsky.social’s book Five Billion Years of Solitude has ruined science writing for me, because how is anything I write ever supposed to compare to this line? 🤩
A photo of the first page of a book with one line starred and underlined: “One by one, the giant stars popped off like firecrackers, ejecting heavy elements that sizzled with radioactivity as they rode shock waves through the murk like so much scattered confetti.” 

The full paragraph for context is: “This story properly begins 4.6 billion years ago, with the birth of our solar system from a cloud of cold hydrogen and dust several light-years wide. The cloud was but a wisp from a much larger mass of primordial gas, a stellar nursery manufacturing massive stars destined to explode as supernovae. One by one, the giant stars popped off like firecrackers, ejecting heavy elements that sizzled with radioactivity as they rode shock waves through the murk like so much scattered confetti. One of those enriching shock waves may have compressed the cloud, our cloud, in its passage. The cloud became dense enough for gravity to seize control, and it collapsed in on itself. Most of its material fell to its…”
020
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
Douglas Main @dmain.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
new gecko just dropped via @ashleybvigil.bsky.social @andreatweather.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/six-...
scientificamerican.com
Mildly Menacing Mating Calls Lead to Discovery of New Gecko Species
Scientists found new gecko species hidden in plain sight in pristine deserts of southern Africa, thanks to their loud, barking mating calls
162
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
I saw it earlier and saved it to read when the kids are asleep! 😊 check the hashtag for another question from a while back lol
120
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
Used to pronounce both Os in Oort ☁️
000
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 03/08/2025
#askethan Would you consider pop II and I stars to be enriched or contaminated by metals?
110
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
I think it might be broken…it didn’t play any music when I opened it? But fr we freelancers should each have a top 8 clients section we regularly update lol
110
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @rubinobservatory.org · 23/07/2025
Happy birthday, Vera Rubin! 🥳✨ What better way to celebrate than with NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's view of galaxies SHE studied? NGC 4343, 4526, 4535, and 4378 are just a few gems from our Cosmic Treasure Chest. Explore them and more at skyviewer.app 🔭🧪
Edge-on spiral galaxy angled pointing lower left to upper right. It's glowing with a bright core that's cut with the dark veins of dust clouds. The background is peppered with a myriad of colorful stars and distant galaxies in black space.A smooth, cigar-shaped galaxy angled pointing lower left to upper right glowing with a bright core. Two bright stars beam just to the upper left and lower right of the galaxy. The background is peppered with a myriad of colorful stars and distant galaxies in black space. A face-on spiral with a bright core and sweeping arms knotted with blue clusters of star-forming regions. The background is peppered with a myriad of colorful stars and distant galaxies in black space.A face-on spiral with a bright core and a single thin arm wrapping all the way around, almost looking like a ring. Two bright blue stars beam above and to the lower left of the galaxy, with a third yellow star to the lower right. The background is peppered with a myriad of colorful stars and distant galaxies in black space.
418253
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
The park’s newest hydrothermal feature has an otherworldly milky texture from dissolved silica
spklr.io
New Thermal Hole Opens at Yellowstone National Park
The park's newest hydrothermal feature has an otherworldly milky texture from dissolved silica
05810
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
If some men feel like they’ve been “reduced to ‘walking wallets’ in romantic relationships,” perhaps they should consider bringing something more to the table. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/b...
nytimes.com
‘Who Killed Love?’ A Video Game Plays to Male Resentment in China.
031
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
NASA's Parker Solar Probe made the closest-ever studies of the Sun -- and got this unprecedented look at multiple solar eruptions piling up on top of each other. 🧪🔭 science.nasa.gov/science-rese...
310340
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Both much better than pubic affairs!
120
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
It’s been a month now and I still think about this gif reply sometimes and laugh 😂
010
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Hi, I would like to include a quote from you in a story I’m writing about this for Astronomy.com — can I email you? Or feel free to reach out to me at ashleymbalzer@gmail.com. Hoping to turn a draft in within the next 8-24 hours!
100
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history The largest brain drain in history was when thousands of scientists left Nazi Germany; it became known as "Hitler's gift." America's current assault on science is set to surpass that. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #science
bigthink.com
American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history
Over the first half of 2025, the USA has cut science as never before. This disaster for American science is a gift to the rest of the world.
87743
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
Phil PlAIt @philplait.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Something lost a bit in the amazing images released earlier: Vera Rubin Observatory is a steely-eyed asteroid hunter! It's already found thousands of new ones in just a few nights, and is predicted to find *3.7 MILLION* more. THREE POINT SEVEN MILLION badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/vera-rubin... 🔭🧪
badastronomy.beehiiv.com
Vera Rubin Observatory will find millions of asteroids. Millions.
That’s a lot of space rocks.
524045
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/o...
A screenshot from the article that says: Mothers have less money in personal retirement accounts, and they also receive less money from Social Security because they're more likely to have gaps in their employment history, and their caregiving isn't valued by society in the way that it should be. Which is to say, caregiving is neither paid nor truly respected.
0378
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
My mind is absolutely blown by these stellar halos nearby NGC 4364! Left: DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys (DR10) Right: Newly released @vrubinobs.bsky.social imaging!!! #AstroSci 🧪🔭
717851
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
What about a science writer 👀
010
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
James Davenport @jradavenport.com · 03/06/2025
Attn 🔭 fans: the Vera Rubin US Quarter is now available!! www.usmint.gov/american-wom...
usmint.gov
American Women Quarters 2025 Rolls and Bags - Dr. Vera Rubin | US Mint
Check out our American Women Quarters 2025 Rolls and Bags - Dr. Vera Rubin and more from US Mint!
13211
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
"For every $100 the US government spent, it put 40¢ in the bucket for NASA. And what do we get for that? ✨The Universe ✨" "One of these bills represents, to scale, the federal budget & the other with NASA’s total budget trimmed off the edges. Can you tell the difference?" @philplait.bsky.social
Two 1 dollar bills looking identical.  The caption reads

One of these bills represents, to scale, the federal budget, and the other with NASA’s total budget trimmed off the edges. Can you tell the difference? Credit: Phil Plait
312159
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
From stargazer to storyteller ✨ www.nasa.gov/people/ashle...
A smiling woman with fair skin and dark blonde wavy hair sits at a desk with a pen and notebook. The wall behind her features a framed painting of an astronaut sitting in a field of wildflowers. Bookcases line the wall on either side of it. Photo credit: Moments by MangoA smiling woman with dark blonde wavy hair pulled half up sits at a desk and holds a spacey book up toward an open laptop. Photo credit: Moments by MangoA collage of four photos from a 2012 internship at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Top left: a young Ashley stands beside then-center director Mike Coats; a large model rocket is in the background. Top right: Ashley and Veronica Seyl float in microgravity on the Vomit Comet. Bottom left: Ashley holds a paper up toward an off-screen camera as part of the Weightless Wonders program. Bottom right: Ashley and Veronica pose for a photo together, each in their flight suits.Ashley stands alongside a man who is looking through a camera on a tripod. On the other side of the camera, a man speaks to Ashley animatedly as part of an interview. Photo credit: Patrizia Madiona
050
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 27/05/2025
Totalling around 120 hours of observing time, this is the longest the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has ever focused on a single target. The deep field aims to probe the Cosmic Dawn, when the Universe was only a few million years old. Read more 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed... 🔭 🧪 ☄️
A field of galaxies in space, dominated by an enormous, bright-white elliptical galaxy that is the core of a massive galaxy cluster. Many other elliptical galaxies can be seen around it. Also around it are short, curved, glowing red lines, which are images of distant background galaxies magnified and warped by gravitational lensing. A couple of foreground stars appear large and bright with long spikes around them.
331303232
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 22/05/2025
Saturn's icy moons Dione, against a backdrop of the giant planet itself, its rings, and tiny Enceladus at upper right. Goodnight, friends!
1053576
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
I’m screaming 😂😂😂
000
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Late to the party, but astronomers might have (but probably haven’t) found Planet Nine out in the Kuiper Belt 🪨
astronomy.com
Have Astronomers Found Planet Nine?
Old data may hint at a new world beyond Neptune — but not the one astronomers expected.
162
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Exciting news! Roman is moving right along, with one half fresh out of a successful thermal vacuum test. We’ll have a complete observatory before the end of the year! www.nasa.gov/missions/rom...
This picture looks down into a massive black cylindrical chamber that encloses a large piece of centrally-located space hardware. The core of the space hardware is a gray cylinder, covered in crinkly metallic blanketing and thin strips of copper colored tape. The base of the core, covered in copper metallic blanketing, juts out towards the bottom, becoming more rectangular. The central core is hollow, and in the center several rods form a cone held together at the point by a flat copper blanketed disk. A dark gray visor extends upwards from the back half of the central core, its base arcing around the central circular opening. The visor extends far, stretching across the top half of the image. Symmetrical copper panels stretch outward from either side behind the visor, appearing about halfway down. They continue down the body of the central core and approach the bottom of the chamber. Six people stand to the left and right of the space hardware, divided so that three people stand on each side. One person stands in front of the space hardware. All seven people wear in white head-to-toe clean room suits with blue gloves. Various cables and pieces of hardware adorn the floor and walls of the chamber.A photo inside NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. At center, a large copper colored panel is suspended high in the air, on its way toward a large piece of hardware at the right of the frame (part of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, consisting here of the outer barrel assembly, deployable aperture cover in stowed position, and test solar panels). At the left, several technicians supervise the activity and in the background we see the other major component of the Roman observatory, consisting of the telescope, instruments, and spacecraft bus. The wall in the background at left is covered in a grid of pale pink squares (filters).An infographic of Roman’s two major subsystems — SCIPA, the spacecraft integrated payload assembly (at left) and the OSD, which consists of the outer barrel assembly, solar array sun shield, and deployable aperture cover. SCIPA will slot into the hollow OSD like a pen into its cap.
192
Reposted by Ashley Balzer Vigil
Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 07/05/2025
Experience the Cosmic Cliffs like never before! #NASAWebb’s iconic image of dusty “mountains” and “valleys” is featured in a new 3D visualization from NASA’s Universe of Learning: webbtelescope.pub/4jRHIh9 🔭 🧪
11560108
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Just figure we could all use a little news that isn’t so doom & gloom, and it’s an excuse to share photos of one of my favorite places on Earth!
A high-angle, wide shot of Yellowstone’s Lower Falls under a partly cloudy sky (also from 2023). Seen face-on from across the canyon, the waterfall plunges into a deep, winding canyon, creating a misty spray at its base. The canyon walls are a mix of yellow, tan, and white, contrasting with the lush green trees that line the rim and descend into the gorge. A paved walkway with railings can be seen winding along the canyon edge below, offering visitors a closer view.A 2023 photo of the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone, seen from an elevated viewing point. The large, vibrantly colored hot spring features a deep blue center, surrounded by concentric rings of yellow, orange, and brown. Steam rises from the surface, and a boardwalk encircles part of the spring, with tiny figures of people visible. In the foreground, the tops of several bright green trees frame the view. The background is covered in trees.A deep-brown bison grazes alongside a river near a trail in this 2023 photo from Yellowstone.This 2023 photo is a close ish view of animal tracks on the textured surface of ground near a hot spring at Yellowstone. They appear on an area visitors are warned not to venture onto. Mineral deposits create intricate patterns in shades of tan and brown and dark, winding lines crisscross like veins.
030
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Instead of building toward an eruption, the volcano seems to be steadily venting gas through cracks in the rock, which lowers the risk of a catastrophic blow-up. That tracks with chemicals released from some of the park’s geysers and other surface features. 🧵
A 2023 photo of Mammoth Hot Springs. A wide, eye-level shot captures the terraced travertine formations, which look like a very flat, many-tiered cake. The terraces, built up by mineral deposits from the hot springs, cascade in shades of white, tan, and brown. Water flows gently over some of the formations, creating shallow, reflective pools. In the background, rugged mountains with patches of snow rise against the overcast sky.
110
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
This layer is full of bubbles, which could be cause for alarm since the gas could increase pressure and drive an explosive eruption (a real Mentos-and-Diet-Coke situation). But it’s a leaky lid—there appears to be a natural “pressure-release valve” letting gas escape. 🧵
A 2023 photo of a steaming hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, with clear turquoise water surrounded by a pale, rocky shoreline. Clouds of steam rise into a bright blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds, while dark hills and distant trees line the horizon.
110
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
They set up 600 seismometers around the area and used a powerful new imaging method to identify a gas-rich layer of magma more than two miles underground, capping the caldera. 🧵
110
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
A Yellowstone eruption could be fairly apocalyptic. To get a clearer picture of what’s going on beneath the surface, researchers used a massive vibroseis truck (a heavy-duty machine normally used in oil exploration) to essentially create mini earthquakes to map the subsurface, sort of like sonar. 🧵
A 53,000-pound vibroseis truck that helped the research team gather data is pictured at right on a mostly empty road at night. They could only operate the truck at night and on designated roadside turnouts. (Photo provided by Brian Schmandt).
110
Ashley Balzer Vigil @ashleybvigil.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
A new study shows the Yellowstone supervolcano is bubbling, but not about to blow. Scientists mapped a “pressure relief valve” beneath Yellowstone that may be keeping the volcano calm www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵
A 2023 photo of a geyser at Yellowstone National Park. A close ish view of a plume of thick, white steam billowing high into the sky. Rocky, mineral-stained ground is in the foreground, and a forest of sparse trees stands in the background at right.
194