iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I've spent more than three months of my life observing on this telescope, searching for exoplanets. McDonald is a beautiful observatory site both day and night.

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CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @rami.spaceaustralia.com · 11/09/2026

LFG, team #Calcite! It's such a neat mineral; it exhibits birefringence! Light has two propagation modes through the crystal structure, giving this effect. We see similar behaviour in the strongly magnetised plasma of pulsar magnetospheres: two modes of wave propagation! Vote Calcite in #MinCup26

Calcite crystal wth a line and the word "calcite' below it. The birefringence effects are causing the word and line to double up

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Go Roman! So exciting to watch the launch. I was lucky enough to see some of the spacecraft hardware in person a couple of years ago, amazing this is all now in space!

A photo of a smiling bearded white man leaning against a window. Behind the window is a giant clean room holding various pieces of spacecraft hardware. Decals on the windows read "Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope."

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CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @rami.spaceaustralia.com · 30/08/2026

T-60min to the scheduled launch time of the Nancy Grace Roman space telescope on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy. Watch live here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wq3...

youtube.com

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Launch

YouTube video by NASA

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Had what I'm pretty sure was a big #birding 🪶moment this morning; I spotted a pair of swallow-tailed kites which, as far as I can tell from eBird, is the first time anyone has ever reported them in my county! A bunch of other birders showed up after I reported and eventually saw them too.

A low-quality photo of a bird flying past the viewer. It has a white body, dark wings, and a long, forked tail.

A low-quality photo of a bird flying away from the viewer. It has a white body, dark wings, and a long, forked tail.

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Live in: 🇺🇸 Born in: 🇺🇸 Parents: 🇺🇸🇺🇸 Grandparents: 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Great-grandparents: 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Great-great-grandparents: 🇺🇸x11* 🇩🇪x4** 🇬🇧 Been to: 🇨🇦🇬🇷🇹🇷🇩🇪🇧🇪🇨🇵🇬🇧🇪🇸🇦🇹🇨🇿🇮🇪🇮🇹🇻🇦🇮🇸🇸🇪🇯🇵🇨🇱🇳🇴🇵🇹

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

The last half day of #HoRS3S kicks off with Kevin Hoy (Ohio State Astro alumnus!) presenting the first evidence of radial velocity signals from satellite(s) around a substellar companion. CRIRES+ RVs give a nice orbital solution. Exciting system! Unclear what to call objects of this kind.

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

#HoRS3S Day 4 starts with a keynote by Joost Wardenier on 3D effects in ultra hot Jupiters. High resolution observations often interpreted using Kp-vsys maps. The atmospheric dynamics affect the structure of these maps, but be careful of bad ephemerides, eccentricities. Lots of info in these data!

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Day 3 of #HoRS3S is out of the gate with a gallop 🐎 w/ Luca Fossati discussing non local thermodynamic equilibrium in exoplanet atmospheres. "NLTE is horrible and fascinating at the same time" - every individual spectral line responds differently to NLTE, & is very important for He NIR triplet

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Thanks to the generous conference schedule at #HoRS3S with sessions not starting until 10, I went out on a 7 km #birding 🪶 hike and got 3 fantastic lifers! Iberian magpie! Little owl!! European bee-eater!!! But now it's time to get back to astronomy.

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

I'm at the Third Conference on High-Resolution Exoplanet and Stellar Characterization Today and in the ELT Era #HoRS3S (we astronomers love our bad acronyms) this week in Granada. Will attempt to at least sporadically live-post during the conference. Stay tuned for conference updates and horse puns.

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Nothing like a bit of travel chaos but I'm on my way to #HoRS3S (is that the conference hashtag??)

A photograph of a crocheted astronaut in an orange spacesuit being held in front of an airplane window. An airplane wing, airport tarmac, and a Delta Airlines jetbridge are visible outside

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Last is the SOYSAUCE survey, PI Madyson Barber. Work on studying the alignment between planets and their host stars, focusing on <200 Myr systems (fast misalignment or primordial misalignments). So far, things look aligned. This was done as a twilight zone reference 🧪🔭⭐ #exoplanets

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

June 27, 2006: I graduate from Astronomy Camp at the University of Arizona after a visit to the then-incomplete Large Binocular Telescope June 27, 2026: I obtain the first light spectrum on the iLocater spectrograph, one of the second generation of LBT instruments 🔭🪐 #exoplanets

A slightly dark and grainy photograph of a teenager with long dark hair accepting a graduation certificate and poster from a white-haired man. Both are wearing white "Astronomy Camp 2006" t-shirts. They are standing at the front of a classroom which is filled with other people, many in the same t-shirts.

A selfie of a smiling bearded white man wearing a "The Ohio State University Department of Astronomy" hoodie. He is standing in front of a giant telescope, much larger than a house, a huge frame of red and silver metal with a giant circular mirror visible at right.

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Black In Astro @blackinastro.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Time to vote on our art competition submissions! 1 like = 1 vote. The entry with the most votes wins! 🧵👇

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Dr. Caprice Phillips @capricephillips.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Make sure to get submissions in and spread the word! Submissions can be print or visual media! Astrophotography, space poems, musical pieces related to space, heck you can do a nice picture of the moon hehe all can count #BSW2026.

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I was thrilled to have played a very small part in this ornithological discovery - back in March I had recorded a fish crow in this park and posted to eBird, which was one of several things that prompted @skwinnicki.bsky.social to realize that they were nesting there. Woo citizen science!

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Bibiana Prinoth @handle.invalid · 02/06/2026

Magnetic fields tend to be the running joke at #exoplanets conferences. You can be sure someone asks „what about magnetic fields?“. This is the answer ⬇️

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Jasmine 🌌🔭 @astrojaz.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

this is a pride flag made from real nasa imagery happy pride month 🏳️‍🌈✨

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Huge congratulations to my first (co)-supervised grad student, Dr. Connor Basinger, who successfully defended his Ph.D. today! 🎉🔭🪐 His research spanned from using stellar models to tackle the Faint Young Sun probably to high-resolution transmission spectroscopy of an ultra hot Jupiter.

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

My #biggestweek long weekend starts with a bang before I even leave town, 49 species this morning including a golden-winged warbler! 🪶

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James Davenport @jradavenport.com · 28/04/2026

I feel like we’re willing to make Pluto a planet again, at least provisionally, if they’re willing to fund astrophysics. I’d say $100 billion/year is reasonable But if you keep cutting our budgets, I swear we’ll keep eliminating them. Hope you like a three planet solar system!

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George Zhou @georgezhouastro.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

We are looking for two new PhD students to join our group at the University of Southern Queensland to work on exoplanet demographics and atmospheres. See AAS ad below. aas.org/jobregister/...

aas.org

PhD Positions in Exoplanets | American Astronomical Society

The Exoplanet group at University of Southern Queensland Centre for Astrophysics is inviting candidates for two fully funded PhD scholarships (3 years).

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

I searched the Epstein files for astronomy and astronomers, and consistent with Sean Carroll's posts about why his name is listed, it seems like Epstein was trying to rope in scientists they perceived as smart, and scientists tried to get financial backing from him. 🔭 Some examples:

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Dustin Johnson 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇬🇱🇵🇸 @warandcoffee.eurosky.social · 26/01/2026

Fellow academics and others who have personal websites for their work: what hosting platforms do you use that are user friendly, affordable, and not US-based? EU or Canadian company + servers preferred.

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Cartoon by Mike Luckovich

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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

You and your wife drop your 6-year-old off at school. You just moved here. You see ICE terrorizing your new neighbors. You film them, as is your legal right. Your wife complies with orders. She is then shot in the head. You still have to pick up your child later today. This could be you.

Distraught woman says ICE killed her wife in video after deadly Minneapolis shooting
"They killed my wife," the distraught woman says, adding, "They shot her in the head."
An ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman who was driving an SUV in Minneapolis on Wednesday. / Screenshot/@Breaking911

"They killed my wife. I don't know what to do," the woman says through sobs in the footage, with a damaged SUV visible in the distance behind her. "We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head," the woman cries.
"We have a six-year-old at school," she says, almost unable to breathe, as a chaotic scene in which federal officers prevented at least one doctor who was on the scene from assisting the shot victim unfolds. "We're new here," the distraught woman says in despair.

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

I did an impromptu Big Day today to keep my mind off (gestures vaguely at everything) and ended up having a really lucky #birding 🪶 day. Saw a merlin, peregrine falcon, Wilson's snipes, greater white-fronted geese, and short-eared and eastern screech owls, among 45 species total.

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Josh Grubbs @joshuagrubbsphd.com · 03/01/2026

It’s 1990, I’m 1 years old, and the republican president of the US is attacking a petrol state It’s 2004, I’m 15 years old, and the republican president of the US is attacking a petrol state It’s 2026, I’m 37 years old, and the republican president of the US is attacking a petrol state

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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Just woke up even angrier. Impeach, convict, remove. Draft articles now. Either we have a representative government or we don’t. Do not shut up about this until there’s a vote.

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David Grinspoon @drfunkyspoon.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Ring out the old and… …that’s it? This is not OK. 🧪🔭

Headline from NY Times about NASA closing its largest library.

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Year-end #birding 🪶 roundup for 2025: 364 species observed, a new record for me! 🎉 60 lifers, the first being the Mexican jay and the last the sage thrasher, ending the year with 569 species on my life list. I don't do much photography, but here's a hairy woodpecker using its beak to get through ice

A picture of a black, white and red woodpecker perched on a wooden railing. Its head is cocked to the side and it is using its beak to punch a hole in the ice covering a shallow tray of water.

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Bruce Macintosh @bmacastro.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

In not-very-good news, extreme winds (114 mph gusts) on the early morning of the 25th caused significant damage to the 36" Great Refractor at Lick Observatory. Half of the main shutter broke off and landed on the main building.

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

OSU limiting participation in SACNAS is heartbreaking. I have attended SACNAS since 2003 as an undergrad, & it was the first scientific space where I felt welcome. I always bring students (pic is OSU participants at 2022 SACNAS), & now it is in our city & OSU doesn't want us to go? So disappointing.

24 Ohio State University attendees (undergrads, grads, staff, and faculty) of the 2022 SACNAS annual meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We stand in three rows in front of a green backdrop that says SACNAS. I am at the bottom right in the image.

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Very successful #globalbigday 🪶 today on a short trip to the San Francisco Bay Area -- 48 species including 8 lifers! Particularly proud that 5 of the lifers were notoriously difficult shorebirds (willet, least sandpiper, black oystercatcher, wandering tattler, and black turnstone).

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Ohio State just advised all staff and students not to attend the SACNAS (Society for the advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) annual meeting of 6000+ scientists -- which is in Columbus, OH this year! -- saying it may be exclusionary, even though it is open to all.

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Linn Boldt-Christmas @nplinnspace.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

We *absolutely* should celebrate it. Do your part by enjoying the 200+ page masterpiece in its entirety on ADS! ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1925PhDT... 🔭 Special shoutout to Figure 2, an incredible piece of art that I want on my wall (and suspect could even make an excellent tattoo if executed well?)

Figure caption:

Figure 2. The hydrogen atom. The ten innermost orbits possible for the single electron of the atom of hydrogen are diagrammatically represented. All possible quantum transitions are included as follows: — short dashes, Lyman series, terminating at a 1-quantum orbit; full lines, Balmer series, terminating at a 2-quantum orbit; long dashes, Paschen series, terminating at a 3-quantum orbit. Transfers are only possible between orbits with azimuthal quantum numbers differing by ±1.

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Today would have been the 100th birthday of my grandfather, physicist and bioinformatician Walter Goad, who was born #otd in 1925. A 🧵 on his life and work... He was born in Marlow, GA, but by the time he was in high school his family had settled in Kinston, NC. (1/n) 🧪

A black and white photograph of a clean-shaven older white man with white hair. He is facing away from the viewer, and his face is reflected in a computer screen. The computer is a model from the early 1980s, and its screen displays text including genetic sequences. The man's hand rests on one corner of the monitor, and his hand holds a pair of reading glasses.

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

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Fun Fact Science with Kovi @funfactscience.com · 03/09/2025

"this is fine" meme but for academia

this is fine meme of cartoon dog in room on fire, but with added additional arms holding papers and coffees and laptops

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Al Yankovic @alyankovic.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

My last living musical hero is still my hero but unfortunately no longer living. RIP to the great, great Mr. Tom Lehrer.

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Come see my student @toribonidie.bsky.social 's poster at #exoclimesVII to hear about high resolution retrievals and a fantastic ultra hot Jupiter dataset! 🔭🪐

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Marshall @captain-exoplanet.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

A day late and from a different airport in a different state than intended, but on my way to #eprv6 !

A photograph of a large white airliner with the red and blue tail of Delta Airlines sitting at an airport gate.

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Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

NASA is being told to cancel 19 *active* missions to save $6B, which looks to be less than the ICE *hiring/retention* budget going forward. I need people to let that sentence sink into their bones for a minute.

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John Debes @johndebes.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

🔭🧪 Once more for the morning crowd—HUD secretary, like a vulture, is deciding to kick NSF out of its building with NO plan for NSF staff. This is just after forcing staff to be in person at work. The guy is planning on having a private elevator and gym, among other perks, according to AFGE

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Amy Westervelt @amywestervelt.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

The dismantling of the research apparatus that made America the science and tech giant it's been over the past century is the greatest own-goal in history. We haven't even begun to calculate or feel the losses

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Dr. Caprice Phillips @capricephillips.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

I successfully defended my thesis and am now Dr. Caprice Phillips (its got a nice ring to it!). So thankful for my advisors and mentors including Jackie Faherty and @ohdearz.bsky.social and friends who were here to support me. Im the 2nd Black women to get a PhD from my department. Full of joy.

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