iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Fat Bear Week comes but once a year. The final round of voting is today; make your vote count!

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I cited Tycho Btrahe (1573), but it was in a textbook, where a little historical background is permitted.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Don't mildly threaten your co-authors with a good time.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

It's a rainy #Caturday here, and the cats are napping.

Two cats sleeping in postures that look goofy to the human eye

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Stegosaurus! (I love any dinosaur with a thagomizer.)

The thagomizing end of a stegosaurus skeleton, as seen at the Natural History Museum, London.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Pearson claimed 88% on my book... despite the fact that they returned the rights to me back in 2015. (Yes, I've got the receipts, and I am ready to use them!)

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Just to clarify, that is Marc on the *left* of the photo. And yes, he is OK!

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Jeez! I haven't seen that word since I hung out with William Gladstone in the 1860s!

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I live in a household where N_cat = N_human, which permits a one-to-one cat-lap mapping, with no one free to fetch the tea.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

i love the indignant evicted pigeons!

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Isn't it grand? (Agnostic/Presbyterian speaking here.) Of course, I walked 280 km, so my response to the cathedral was somewhat dulled by exhaustion.

Assorted tired pilgrims in front of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

International Cat Day falls on a #Caturday this year! That means it is time to party like a cat.

An orange tabby cat lounges upside down on the lap of a mere human.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

That chair does not look comfy.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I love that Hoyle/Redman exchange!

"A star is basically a pretty simple structure."
"You'd look pretty simple, Fred, at a distance of ten parsecs."
Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) and Roderick Redman (1905-1975)
at Cambridge Observatory [1954]

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Hello, Tray! You were a very good doggo.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Let's all be hermits together!

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Only 30%? If you try harder, you can raise that to at least 40%!

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Counterpoint: That was only a teeny-tiny ~10 solar mass burp back in the 1840s. Nothing to worry about. Eta Carinae has everything totally under control. Nothing to see here.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Though his table cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest-toss'd.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I always say that stars are failed brown dwarfs. "Oh no! I've accreted too much gas! My precious hydrogen is being consumed from within!! Horror of horrors!!!"

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

January 1921: NGC 584 is inconceivably distant. VP-elect has faith in America's moral fiber. July 2026: NGC 584 is at a distance of ~20 megaparsecs. Current VP is not regarded as an authority on moral fiber.

New York Times, Wednesday, January 19, 1921, page 6. Headlines are: "COOLIDGE HAS FAITH IN OUR MORAL FIBRE" and "DREYER NEBULA NO. 584 INCONVEIVABLY DISTANT"

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Orthogonal cat axes: which is X and which is Y?

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Orange tabby cat (Finn) lies lengthwise on the sofa. Gray and white cat (Trim) lies crosswise.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

How many Goodyear blimps does it take to fill the Royal Albert Hall?

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

And what happened to (Ca)lcium?

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

That sphinx has seen a lot. (Including, but not limited to, a small plush hippopotamus named Epsilon).

Small plush hippo rests between the forelegs of the sphinx statue at Miramare Castle.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Since the cats have anti-parallel spins, they can both occupy the ground state. (Since they are cats, they are seldom in an excited state.)

Two cats engage in cat napping, side by side.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

I'm on the cusp of a breakthrough...

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

It's all part of my frivolous, corefree attitude...

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Seen from certain angles, at occasional moments, the OSU campus is lovely.

An egret flies over Mirror Lake, on the main campus of the™ Ohio State University. A fountain plays at the far end of Mirror Lake.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Trim and Finn are recovering after their Caturday night party.

A gray and white cat (named Trim) and an orange tabby cat (named Finn) are sprawled side by side on an end table next to a sofa.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Or perhaps it has gone "virial," as you Newtonian dynamicists say.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

@benneholwerda.bsky.social is an authority. Pay attention to their words of wisdom!

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

I'm glad to uphold the astro minor! 🏋️‍♀️ What would you like to see in the 2nd edition of Foundations of Astrophysics? (I have signed a contract, but I'm still trying to figure out what to adopt, adapt, and improve...)

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

"a little touch of Hawrence in the night"

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Because it is sooo hard nowadays to get a good woodcut artist to illustrate your paper.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Make it the first stop on your next visit to Bath! (Because of course there will be a next visit; you've been bitten by the Bath Bug.)

Fairly large astronomer standing next to a very petite dress once worn by Caroline Herschel.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Apparently, I am an author. It says so, right on my label.

An astronomer is wearing a space-cat-themed shirt. A nametag is clipped to the shirt, reading "Barbara Ryden AUTHOR"

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

And stars suck at converting hydrogen to heavier elements. It is their whole job and they are very bad at it.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Although my Friday lecture was on quasars, I decided to spread some Moon joy in the cover slide for the lecture. (The students seemed to tolerate the digression.)

Cover slide for the Friday, April 10 lecture of Ast 2142 (Black Holes) at The Ohio State University. The slide includes two images: on the right, the "Earthset" photo from the Artemis II mission; on the left, the "Earthrise" image from the Apollo 8 mission, cropped to match "Earthset."

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

"I'd like to get away from Earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over." For some reason, Robert Frost keeps running through my head today....

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

I'd apply for this but I'm always going off on tangents

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Any relation to the Giant Rat of Sumatra?

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Thank you! Until I saw the baby giraffe, I was unaware how badly I needed to see a baby giraffe.

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Barbara Ryden @bsryden.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Happy #Caturday! Trim and Finn have each others' back, in a fine example of feline solidarity.

A gray and white cat (named Trim) and an orange tabby cat (named Finn) are sleeping back-to-back on a fleece blanket.

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