iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The face of an INNOCENT cat who would NEVER try to bite a human toe*! *except in a FOOD EMERGENCY

A grey and white cat sleeps with his head upside down on a brown blanket. His pink nose, pink toe beans, and one sharp tooth are visible.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

WTF is this "Entrepreneurial Mindset" nonsense and why is my college pushing faculty workshops about it

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Entrepreneurial Mindset: The key to success for undergraduate engineering students

Engineers can no longer depend on just their technical skill set to be successful. They also need an entrepreneurial mindset. An entrepreneurial mindset (EM) encompasses attitudes, habits and behaviors that shape a unique approach to problem-solving, innovation, and value creation.

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For engineering students, EM amplifies the technical skills they learn, equipping them to
* Recognize and identify opportunities.
* Assess and focus their impact.
* Pursue and create value in any context.

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The 3Cs of Entrepreneurial Mindset
EM consists of three key elements: Curiosity, Connections, and Creating Value -- the 3Cs. A thorough understanding of the 3Cs helps engineering students question, adapt, and make positive change in classes, campus, communities, and the world.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

That red glow is sunlight, filtering through the Earth’s atmosphere and getting redirected to hit the Moon’s surface. A lovely visual treat created by the gravitational dance of the three celestial bodies. 😍

The Moon in near-total eclipse. The top edge is a bright white crescent, while the lower regions are reddish-purple with craters and maria visible. Taken with a Seestar S50 from Denver, CO.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Nothing from here either. Oh well, it was a nice sight anyway 🤩

An image of a waning Moon on a black background, taken with a Seestar S50 from Denver, CO, USA. Many craters and bright spots are visible. The color is orangey, and the limb is wavy due to Earth's atmosphere.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Oh well, it was still a pretty target! (A bit rusty-colored from here due to wildfire smoke)

An image of the Moon’s illuminated limb against a black background, taken with a Seestar S50 smart scope from Denver, CO, USA. The color is orangey and many craters and bright spots are visible. The very edge is a little wavy due to the Earth’s atmosphere.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Best shot of the night, the lovely Dumbbell Nebula 🤩

A colorful nebula (M27, the Dumbbell Nebula) on a black starry background. It is elongated left to right, bluish green in the middle with red borders on either side. Some orangey interior filaments are visible. Taken with a Seestar S50 telescope in Denver, 2 minute exposure.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

I'm delighted to be singing in this gorgeous and poignant concert tomorrow night. It's a meditation on conflict and reconciliation spanning 6 centuries and 5 languages. 6pm MDT, in person at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Denver or live-streamed on their website! www.facebook.com/events/44043...

Image of Picasso's "Guernica" with text: "Tomorrow at 6pm, Out of the Narrow Place: A Journey from Conflict to Possibility, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Denver"

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

This VERY VERY GOOD BOY has been eating more on his new meds and even pooped 2 days in a row! (These are the things that make caretakers of a senior kitty happy, lol)

A grey and white cat snoozes peacefully on a blanket patterned with red berries and green leaves. He has an adorable white nose stripe.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Perfect relaxing morning: cat, coffee, and an excellent book (h/t @chanda.blacksky.app!)

A grey and white cat loafs on a blanket patterned with red berries and green leaves. In the foreground is the colorful cover of the book “The Edge of Space-Time,” by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

There was one at an artificial pond on my campus today!

A slim black cormorant stands on the edge of a small pool, surrounded by green grass and university buildings. Its reflection is clear in the smooth water.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Sister goddesses: today’s lunar occultation of Venus!

Before: Venus approaching the dark limb. Bright spot above a faint crescent on a blue background. iPhone camera (with lens flare) through 4.5” Dobsonian eyepiece.

After: Venus emerging from the bright limb. Bright spot below a white crescent on a blue background. iPhone camera (with lens flare) through 4.5” Dobsonian eyepiece.

After: Venus hovers above the Moon’s edge (image vertically flipped from the others). Bright semicircle just above a dim crescent on a dark blue background. Some dark craters are visible on the Moon’s surface.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

We got to see the ISS fly over @chamberlin-obs.bsky.social tonight — and hear it too, thanks to a @denverastro.bsky.social member with a ham radio! 🤩

A night sky view of an observatory dome that is open to reveal the telescope inside. The ISS is visible as a bright spot in the sky amid patchy clouds.

A night sky view of an observatory dome that is open to reveal the telescope inside. Because the image is a long (3-second) exposure, the sky appears light blue-gray and the ISS is visible as a bright streak.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Hey #Denver, come stargaze with me and @denverastro.bsky.social TONIGHT at @chamberlin-obs.bsky.social! The weather looks beautiful, and we will be pointing our telescopes at Venus, Jupiter, the Moon, and the stars of early summer. ✨ FREE, no reservations needed, drop by any time after sunset! 🔭

A nighttime time-lapse photo showing a red brick observatory with a silver dome, surrounded by trees. The dome is open to reveal a long white telescope inside. Above, many star trails trace circular patterns around a center not visible above the photo. Credit: University of Denver

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Here’s Badminton sending soft and cuddly vibes. Hope things ease up soon!

A grey and white cat is curled up asleep on a black and red flower-patterned blanket. His eyes are tightly closed and his nose is hidden by a front paw. Pink toe beans are visible on the other front paw, and his tail is subtlely ring-patterned.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Badminton peed on the couch last night but is Unrepentant

A grey and white cat sleeps curled up on a black and red flower-patterned blanket. One front paw shows pink toe beans and the other covers his nose. He appears to be smiling.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

I love this poem by Sara Teasdale. My choir sang a lovely setting of it a few years back.

The New Moon
by Sara Teasdale

Day, you have bruised and beaten me,
As rain beats down the bright, proud sea,
Beaten my body, bruised my soul,
Left me nothing lovely or whole,

Yet I have wrested a gift from you,
Day that dies in dusky blue:
For suddenly over the factories
I saw a moon in the cloudy seas,

A wisp of beauty all alone
In a world as hard and gray as stone,
Oh who could be bitter and want to die
When a maiden moon wakes up in the sky?

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Badminton has purrfected his napping technique

A grey and white cat sleeps on his side with his front paws curled up, showing off his white feet and pink toe beans. He is lying on a black blanket patterned with red berries and green leaves. He appears to be smiling in his sleep.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

So happy vernal equinox, first day of spring/fall, First Point of Aries (Pisces) Day, and origin of right ascension day! 🤓 Whatever you call this time of year, take a moment to appreciate this cosmic alignment and how it affects us here on Earth. (8/8) ☀️🌎⏳ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap26032...

A composite time-lapse view showing the daily motion of the sky on the equinox. It features many elliptical star trails and a bright line marking the Sun's daily motion when it is located on the celestial equator. Image credit: Juan Carlos Casado (Starry Earth, TWAN)

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Things you might notice around this time of year: ☀️ The Sun is rising due east and setting due west. If you have a N/S street grid, it'll be in your eyes while driving or biking! ☀️ The day length is changing rapidly even aside from Daylight Saving Time. (7/8)

Photo showing a very long shadow of a person extending straight down a residential street with bare trees and snow on the grass. The sky is blue and the distance is still sunlit. Photo taken at sunset in Denver on March 17, 2021.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

The point on the sky called the vernal equinox is also the zero point for the coordinate on the celestial sphere that corresponds to longitude. This coordinate is called, for obscure historical reasons, "right ascension." (6/8) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_a...

The Earth is shown at the center of a spherical coordinate grid, with the right ascension and declination coordinates labeled. By Tfr000 (talk) 15:34, 15 June 2012 (UTC) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19907447

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Oddly enough, the vernal equinox is also called the First Point of Aries, even though it's in Pisces. That's because the Earth's spin axis is slowly wobbling, so the celestial coordinate system gradually shifts through the constellations over millennia. (5/8) www.britannica.com/science/prec...

Graphic showing how Earth's axis wobbles over time while keeping the same angle with respect to its orbit. Via britannica.com

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

So as we move around the Sun, the Sun appears to travel slowly along the ecliptic. On the vernal equinox, the Sun is located at the point in the sky where the ecliptic and equator cross in the constellation Pisces. It's moving northward, which means more light for the northern hemisphere. (4/8)

Two annual equinoxes, in spring and in autumn, mark intersections of plane of ecliptic (red) with celestial equator (light blue/white); spring equinox (upper right) occurs with sun in front of Pisces the Fishes constellation: Tau’olunga, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecliptic_path.jpg
From https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/03/first-point-of-aries-for-spring-equinox.html .

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

The celestial equator is a circle on the celestial sphere that mimics Earth's equator (in fact it sits right above it). The ecliptic is the path the Sun appears to take around the celestial sphere over the course of a year. The two circles meet at two points on the sky: the equinoxes. (3/8)

Graphic showing that the Earth’s celestial equator is inclined at 23.5 degrees from the ecliptic.
©Vito Technology, Inc., via https://starwalk.space/en/news/what-is-the-ecliptic

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

It was one of my first perspective-shifting moments as an astronomy student to learn that in addition to being a day, the vernal equinox is a point on the celestial sphere. That's the imaginary "globe" that surrounds the Earth and gives us a coordinate system for the sky. (2/8)

Illustration of the components of the celestial sphere. The Earth is shown in the center of a sphere of stars, with various reference points labeled. Image from the Lunar and Planetary Institute, https://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/skytellers/constellations/

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Happy vernal equinox! You may know this as one of 2 dates when the day and night are roughly equal length, or as the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and fall in the southern. But to astronomers, the vernal equinox has an additional fun significance... 🧪🔭 (1/8)

A full disk view of the earth taken by NASA's GOES 16 satellite on the vernal Equinox, showing a shadow dividing the disk into two. The right side of the Earth, including South America and the Atlantic Ocean, is sunlit, while the left side including North America is in shadow. Credit: NOAA/NASA, https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/night-sky-network/embracing-the-equinox/

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Our only issue is dosing, because this grumpy old man is hard to pill. But we muddle along, because it does make vet visits easier for all of us.

A grey and white cat lounges on his side in a sunbeam, showing off his pink heart-shaped nose.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Saw you from afar at AAS, sorry I didn’t get to say hi! Here’s Badminton in a sunbeam for moral support.

A grey and white cat lolls on his side on a blue blanket in the sun. His eyes are open but his expression is blissfully vacant.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Last picture in your roll is your 2026 vibe, OH YES.

A very lorge plump white and orange cat sleeps in a blue and grey dog bed. His face is smooshed into the side of it and one front paw shows some silly pink toe beans.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

Beautiful night of Moon- and planet-gazing at @chamberlin-obs.bsky.social this evening! Thanks to everyone who came out!

$An interior shot of a long refracting telescope pointed at the first-quarter Moon through an open dome slit. The interior light is red, but the sky is deep blue and the Moon a brilliant silver-white.$

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Yes! Also a purple Grand Canyon hoodie with your name on it. 💜

A grey and white cat lolls on a cat tower shelf, gazing at the camera with yellow eyes. He is contemplating a sparkly blue toy in the foreground.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

This one is also helping by snoring gently next to me.

A grey and white cat is curled up in “shrimp pose” on a red and black flowered blanket. His face is buried in his front paw, his back legs are extended to show pink toe beans, and his tail is artfully curled.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

I can offer a perfect shrimp pose in exchange

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Okay, I've volunteered to be a media contact person for stories about this week's amazing #aurorae. Scientists, what are your favorite fun facts or useful similes? Non-scientists, what questions do you have that I could try to answer? 🔭🧪 Definitely mentioning that you can get an #auroraselfie!

Aurora selfie! Jennifer Hoffman, a white woman with short red hair, stands in front of a nighttime neighborhood scene. A curving red curtain of northern lights arches above her head.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

🚨HEY DENVER, GO LOOK AT THE SKY!!! 🚨 Never seen aurorae this good before. 🤯 They were totally naked-eye around 9:45pm from south Denver, bright red and green. They're coming and going, so if you don't see anything at first, try again later! Pics with an iPhone 13, 3-sec exposures

A night scene of pink streaky aurorae above a lit building

A night scene of pink and green aurorae behind silhouettes of trees and power lines

A night scene of red aurorae with a flamelike structure, behind houses and trees

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

I saw this from the ground! Naked eye, best one I've ever seen!

A night sky with bright pink and green aurorae behind tree silhouettes

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Got in some prime comet viewing tonight with my class! (2025 A6 Lemmon, taken near Larkspur, CO)

A comet with a greenish fuzzy head and a diffuse tail with a central bright streamer, seen against a black starry background. Caption says “Seestar S50, C-2025 A6, 3min” and gives the coordinates of the park where I took the photo.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Late summer trip up Mt. Blue Sky. Aspens are still green, but there’s a dusting of snow at the summit!

A mountain scene with green sunlit trees in the foreground, pine-covered peaks in the background, and puffy grey and white clouds filing the sky.

View of a mountain lake (Echo Lake, Colorado) from above. The lake is a pale blue irregular oval surrounded by dark green pine trees. Mountain peaks are in the distance and the sky is cloudy.

Mountain tundra scene with grey-brown rocks poking out of a thin layer of snow. Tattered dark grey clouds screen much of the distance, but at left a few faraway ridges are visible.

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Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷 @astroprofhoff.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Hi everyone! I'm Jennifer, an astronomer at the U. of Denver. I study binary stars and supernova explosions, specifically the interesting shapes created by gas and dust in both. I also direct our local observatory, @chamberlin-obs.bsky.social, and am a former Grand Canyon Astronomer in Residence!

$Jennifer Hoffman, a woman with short red hair wearing a dark blue blouse, looks up at the eyepiece of a large refracting telescope, the 20" telescope at Chamberlin Observatory. The dome slit is open in the background and various pulleys and dials are visible.$ Animated gif showing the outward movement of dust in the spirals around WR140, a binary star observed by JWST. From Lieb et al. 2025, Astrophysical Journal Letters, 979, L3.

Animated gif showing the outward movement of dust in the spirals around WR140, a binary star observed by JWST. From Lieb et al. 2025, Astrophysical Journal Letters, 979, L3.

HST images of the galaxy NGC 4790, a fluffy, nearly face-on spiral galaxy. Insets show before and after images of the supernova SN 2012au. Image credit NASA / ESA / J. DePasquale, STScI. Upcoming paper by DeSoto et al. in the Astrophysical Journal studies this explosion.

Jennifer Hoffman, a woman with short red hair and wearing sunglasses and a purple coat, stands in front of a Grand Canyon landscape with blue sky, red rocks, and green plateaus.

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