Sign in

Chad Bender

@chadfbender.bsky.social
321 followers 278 following 295 posts

Astronomer at University of Arizona's Steward Observatory. Instrument builder: LFAST, NEID, HPF. Building giant telescopes! Hobbyist woodworker. Decent vinyl collection.

PostsRepliesMedia
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
This cat house has been sitting in our living room for 3 years, and neither cat has ever expressed any interest. The thing has collected dust. Until tonight, where they are now fighting over who gets to sit inside.
A cardboard house with a black cat inside and a grey cat trying, but failing, to force his way inside
060
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
To science. Pilot of Industry. Conquer of disease. Multiplier of the harvest. Explorer of the universe. Revealer of natures laws. Eternal guide to truth. Important messages from the past that are extremely relevant today.
Ceiling vault in the National Academy of Sciences building, with the above message around the perimeter.
010
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
I am invisible. You cannot see me. Just wait for the secret attack! #caturday
Two cats playing.  One has buried his head in tissue paper, but the rest of his body is clearly visible.  The head is all that matters, right?
040
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Monsoon is here, and brought with it fire to Ventana Canyon area. Lots of rain though, so hopefully will contain itself
010
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Well, this is going to be interesting. Our first real beehive in the decade we've lived here. Anyone in Tucson have a beekeeper they recommend for removal? (Also, don't plan on visiting us for a few days - it's right over the driveway).
A small beehive in a Palo verde tree, swarming with bees
120
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Ok, @nytimes.com , I'm pretty sure my paper this morning was not supposed to include 3 arts sections and 3 book reviews. Maybe you could stop raising rates so frequently if you stopped this nonsense (which is not uncommon).
A photo of three copies of the same newspaper section that came out of this morning's Sunday Times
000
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
This agave sent up a spike that's 25 ft tall, and top heavy. Not looking forward to what happens when it falls over...
An agave spike with a giant head of flowers and is leaning over to the side.
030
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Disappointing. Very disappointing. Not even the sourest I've had today, let alone "on the planet".
A small package of candy labeled "The sourest gummies on the planet".
000
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
We're finally getting some heat here in Tucson, so I expect hollyhock is not long for this world. Normally, winter freezes kill fall plants. Not this year though, and so the stalks are 10 ft tall and the flowers are human head sized.
040
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Updates in experiments with evap coating: Today was 80nm of Al followed by 50nm of SiO2. The coating is cleanable - squeaky glass when scrubbed with isopropanol, and no apparent damage to the Al! Lots of pinholes in the Al under the microscope, but that's my dirty lab and a problem for next week.
020
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Having a great visit to the Cornell Dept of Astro and @carlsaganinstitute.bsky.social talking about #LFAST telescope and how it will probe exoplanet atmospheres, nearby starrs, and extragalactic transients!
A picture of me standing in an elevator in front of a flyer with a picture of me
061
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
This is a troubling development.
A giant agave send out its shoot as a last desperate act before death, and leaving a giant mess behind.
001
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Virgil is contemplating the meaning of the door...
000
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Spent the afternoon resawing some truly spectacular figured cherry for drawer fronts.
020
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
I'm making this out of curly cherry from PA that I purchased in a matched set from Irion Lumber a few years back. This way all of the wood should age the same color, and have the same grain pattern. Hidden bits of the frames and the future drawer sides use plain cherry. 2/4
Wooden boards laid out in a garage for inspection.
110
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Finally managed to get some time in my wood shop this weekend, and made good progress test fitting a dresser I've been working on for a while. This is modeled after the Harvey Ellis designed #913 in the Gustav Stickley catalog. I've used paneled sides and back, and full web-frames inside. 1/4
A wooden dresser being fitted up, on its side in a workshop
160
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
The above average temps we had in November and lack of freeze so far, means my fall tomatoes have lost their minds. Things we can get away with in Tucson...
120
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Wyatt thinks he's been caught in the act doing something he shouldn't. I'm like, dude, it's your cat tree...
A gray housecat pausing halfway up the cat tree
040
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Two juvenile bobcats paid me a visit this morning. Of course our house cats missed the whole thing, since they were buried in blankets and passed out for the day
A small bobcat looking at meTwo bobcats eating grass
030
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
So you have a reference. Comes in a box with a bunch of packets.
010
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
I think someone at Safeway misordered the canned peppers...
A vast array of peppers
040
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
A lovely day to fly across the middle of the country, and working DirectTV on United to boot meant I could simultaneously watch clouds and NE football. Go Big Red
010
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Virgil is a true Labor Day hero
A grey cat completely passed out in a cat tree.
020
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
I really need to have a "no frogs in the pool" policy.
A frog swimming in a swimming pool.
000
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
More baseball! Brazil vs Germany. Winner advances. We really need more of this in Tucson! #worldbaseballclassic
Baseball
130
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
Baseball is back in Tucson! World Baseball Classic: Germany vs China. Someone brought a trumpet, supplementing the sound effects from the stadium speakers!
140
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
A giant bobcat strolled through our patio this morning and decided to have a drink. Good thing I haven't put much chlorine in the pool lately.
Bobcat drinking from swimming pool
140
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
What fresh hell is this? AZ has a Pauxatauny Phil groundhog equivalent that is a rattlesnake.
020
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Ok folks, it's been quite a day. But check this out: these pickles have zero calories. I could just keep eating them all day and nothing would happen...
120
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
A great benefit of living in Tucson is that I can spend a comfortable Saturday afternoon in my hammock reading a #HPF and #NEID paper.
A hammock
040
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Closing out a long and troubling day by working through this weekend's finds from the record store. Some apt titles for today's events. Zep4 is a PeckoDuck pressing, clean and pretty quiet! And the Apollo 11 one was quite fun.
150
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Wyatt summoning a demon
A black cat standing on his hind legs.
110
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
It was worth it.
010
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
Last view of National Harbor. Not as bad as I'd expected. Still annoying, compared with a downtown location.
Convention center in the background of view from DCA, with planes taking off and taxiing.
000
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
We.had a death in the house today. This rat ornament, killed by one of the cats, who will not admit to the deed (and who presumably is also responsible for a candy cane being on the floor all the way across the house).
011
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
New Christmas lights have resulted in a bit of a Griswold situation. It's a bit bright out there...
120
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
I've hit the go big or go home phase in my life with Christmas lights....
020
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
The lair, a good 20m from the bush.
000
Chad Bender @chadfbender.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Ant appear to be stealing the flowers off a bush in our yard. Unclear why. But there is a whole brigade carrying little purple flowers.
120