iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Last night we were remote observing on Magellan! They have such a good setup there -- it was really super smooth ☺️ 🔭

Two computers sit on a desk in front of a large window at sunset. The computers show the control room and instrument controls for the telescope we were connected to remotely in Chile.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Was washing some berries today and I accidentally created a holiday display.

Blueberries and strawberries lay across a white dish cloth, lit from the side by the afternoon sun.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Subtly dressed my baby in some pride colors today 😎

A baby sits on a wooden floor, facing away from us, wearing a pastel pink shirt with blue shorts. Her shirt has rabbits printed on it.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

On my way back from Cool Stars Japan with my new friend Large Plushie Pikachu! 🐣✈️

Eliot sits in an airport seat with a large yellow stuffed Pikachu character. They both look tired.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Wow actually the notes not only include Dolly Parton, but also paper dolls for Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris! Adorable.

The liner notes for a cassette tape open fully to reveal paper dolls for cartoons of Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris. Each doll is surrounded by several paper doll outfits, ready for cutout.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

The liner notes for this cassette tape include a tiny Dolly Parton paper doll! How novel.

A cassette tape case open to the backside with the paper liner visible. Printed on the liner is a cartoon of Dolly Parton in her underwear surrounded by paper doll clothes ready for cutout and assembly.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Rocket launches are always inspiring on such a deep level. We watched it together. :) 🔭

A small child sits with her back to us, watching the rocket launch on TV.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Visiting MIT Kavli today to give a talk. Today started rainy but I guess it's getting brighter!

Me standing in front of the dome building at MIT in Boston. The sky is cloudy but bright, and I am squinting.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Husband has been doing all the cooking since Baby arrived. Tonight I said "hey btw I bought a salmon and forgot to tell you" and he's like no problem, sounds fun ♥️

A piece of seared salmon with herbs sits in a bowl atop a mushroom cream sauce.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

The next issue of "the Solar Neighborhood" is up! 🔭 In TSN 54 we present 54 orbits of nearby M dwarf binaries. These come from our 300-star, 4-year speckle program at SOAR. Also included: 1000+ relative astrometry points -- keep watching these for longer orbits later! arxiv.org/abs/2601.18905

Nine orbits of low-mass star binaries from our program. The orbits range in size from a few dozen milliarcseconds to a few hundred milliarcseconds, and are mostly around 0.3 eccentricity, although they are projected to a variety of shapes on the sky.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

And here's the Subaru, mid-excavation.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

We got 20 inches of snow (and counting) in western Massachusetts. Here you see our fence (4 ft high), trash bin, and a mountain formerly known as our 2007 Subaru Outback.

Snow comes halfway up the side of a fence that is usually 4 ft high.

Snow completely covers a car in front of a derelict garage. The car underneath the snow is a 2007 Subaru Outback.

Snow piles halfway up two city trash bins and covers their tops like big white hats.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Night 3: captured this dramatic view of PRISM nearly sweeping the floor as the Perkins telescope slew deeply toward the east. 🔭

An instrument hangs on the end of a telescope, very close to the floor. The room is dark and the instrument is spot-lighted dramatically by a single flashlight beam.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Year 2025 was really really tough, but it had its moments.

Me sitting at the dinner table while our baby sleeps on my shoulder.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Several months ago I ordered @themountaingoats.bsky.social new book as a surprise for my future self! So far the poetry+prose mix has proven to be great read-aloud material. Baby likes following the words on the page, and I'm particularly enjoying the creative punctuation.

I'm holding up a book titled "This Year: 365 Songs Annotated" by John Darnielle. A baby sits in the background on the sofa.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

This baby board book is very fun, but I am a little confused about its target audience. (Although tbf my baby did find it interesting)

A page in an open book showing an illustration of the Sun with two atoms fusing into one atom. The text reads, "The energy source inside of stars is nuclear fusion, where atoms join together to form new elements." Below this text is a smaller text paragraph with a more technical elaboration.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

I fixed my sewing machine!! After years of hand sewing, this beautiful machine feels like UNSTOPPABLE. :D

A black vintage sewing machine stands on a table, illuminated by a desk lamp. A piece of white fabric lays under the needle.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

September has arrived -- and so has my work anxiety -- so we're trying a low-key return-to-office idea here today.

A baby sleeps in a bassinet on an outdoor porch. Next to the bassinet is a camping chair with a laptop. Plenty of sunshine and bright green bushes, trees, and grass are visible just outside the porch railing.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Final pregnancy picture of the year. Because now we're at that cool sciencey facility where baby exits her fishy phase and starts hanging out with us on the outside. Yay! (induction is kinda boring but at least you get to watch your body make time-series plots on the monitor)

A pregnant person with a very big tummy takes a photo in a hospital bathroom.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Trying to tempt baby out using fun activities. "If you were born already, you could be looking at antique furniture with me right now!"

A 9 month pregnant person takes a photo of themself in a mirror at an antique store.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Month 9: got to the office and the effort was too much, had to pack up and go home for a nap. I guess leave starts now, lol

A very tired pregnant person stands in the bathroom, holding their shirt back to show off their belly.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

Maybe the best part of the Rubin press conference was this moment at the end when Prof. Zeljko Ivezic finally expresses *in full* what we're all feeling about this milestone. 🔭🧪 @vrubinobs.bsky.social

A mild-mannered man in a suit stands at a podium at the end of a press conference. He is Professor Zeljko Ivezic, director of Rubin Observatory construction. After a minute of smiling at the applauding audience, he waves his arms and dances wildly in happiness for several seconds.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Wow, that first search suggestion... Grim 🫤

A Google search that starts with "does NASA" has several suggested searches below it, based on common searches people do, and the first suggestion is "does NASA still exist"

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

So wow I guess we're officially in month 8 now... Not sure how it's possible for baby to keep growing for EIGHT MORE WEEKS omg

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Pregnancy update: now I understand that I actually *did* have a second trimester energy boost. Because now it's all gone. 😭

A person wearing a grey cardigan and white shirt photographs themselves in a bathroom mirror. Their very round pregnancy belly protrudes clearly beneath their clothes.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

Hey 🔭 astronomers, our AAS committee SGMA is taking applications for new members! We advise the AAS on the needs of LGBT+ astronomers. All career stages and identities welcome (yes, including allies!). Deadline is April 15 (1 week from yesterday). Application: forms.gle/VR9hafCMoKEu...

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Side note: so, uh, im definitely no longer under the radar with this project.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

This cat loves observing proposals. 🔭

A black cat lounges on a pile of papers. The text and formatting visible under her make it clear that the papers are NOAO (NOIRLab) observing proposals.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

The students scheduled their meetings with me tomorrow all back-to-back for the ENTIRE afternoon (oops), so I scheduled an 11:00 meeting with myself to make sure I get time for lunch.

A screenshot of my calendar, showing my meetings for tomorrow. Every half-hour is booked starting at 12 pm. A meeting at 11:00 is titled "Eliot eats lunch".

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Baby-to-be is "bell pepper" size this week. Not sure if that refers to the big varieties we get in the NE though! Although this one actually matches the size of my newly-grown midsection.... 😯

A very large red bell pepper. It's bigger than my hand.

The large red bell pepper is the same size as my tummy!

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

A few inches every couple days has really added up. The snow by the car is so thick that I can stand on it! I'm 14 inches taller! (Toyota Camry for scale)

I'm standing on a pile of snow next to a car, and it lifts me so high I can see the entire car roof easily. Everything is covered in snow.

A white car (Toyota Camry, 4-door sedan) sits under a cover of snow. The snow on the ground next to it nearly reaches the tops of the tires.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

She's beautiful but this is actually a cat trying to look casual after waking me up from my nap to complain about dinner.

A tabby cat dramatically looks off into the distance in an orange room. Her posture is impeccable.

The tabby cat poses in a cute yet dignified manner in the orange room. Her head is locked at a playful angle.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Trying really hard to think of an excuse to buy this fantastic product...

A can of paint labeled "chunky glitter silver topcoat." It adds sparkles to whatever you paint it on. This can is on sale for only $7.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

My dream competition has finally been invented!!

A sign advertises an "integration bee", which is like a spelling bee but people integrals (math) instead. There will be raffle prizes and food and drinks.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

Going to be late to a thing this morning because

A black cat sleeps soundly on a blanket on my lap. She looks so peaceful.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 22/02/2024

I've had a tough time finding things in Massachusetts grocery stores -- but like, maybe it's not all my fault?

A grocery store aisle sign that says "bagels, bread, tortillas, light bulbs, stationery, stuffing".

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 03/02/2024

Halloween pumpkins in February. (Yup really!)

Two orange pumpkins on the ground, looking flattened and deflated. The landscape behind them is stark and wintery.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 18/01/2024

Cloudy night at Perkins Observatory. We're playing Cat Bingo. 🔭

A monitor displays a cloudy image from the telescope. On the table is a box of cookies, sticky notes with doodles, and a bingo card with cat icons on top of the observing log sheet.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 25/12/2023

Check it out! We are actual adults now with big decorations that will take half an entire closet to store! Feels like we've finally "made it". (Also they're so pretty!!)

A large light-up deer lawn ornament wearing a wreath and a red bow, followed by a smaller light-up deer ornament. They appear to be walking outside a red house.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 09/12/2023

Is baking soda really that important? Well, would you rather have cookies or tiny cookie nubbins?

Three small, spherical cookies sitting on an outstretched hand.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 11/11/2023

A mouse ate the hot grabber my mother knitted for me 10 years ago! 😢 Maybe it's revenge for kitty killing his friend?

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 24/10/2023

In other news, a semi truck drifted into our lane at 70 mph last night and chewed up half our car. Husband did some real Fast & Furious driving and we are truly 100% ok. Huge shout-out to Toyota Camry R&D: car's interior was untouched. Perfect transfer of momentum, from semi to car and no further!

The driver's side of our little white car, all crumpled up with dark scratches.

A close-up view of the driver's side of our little white car, showing how crumpled the door is.

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Eliot Halley Vrijmoet @eliothalley.bsky.social · 10/10/2023

I actually finished a project!! This room was a weird beigy yellow and now it is happy light-filled pink. Seemed like too much pink at first but it's grown on us quickly. 🩷

A view from inside the kitchen, looking into the newly painted room. There's an antique desk in the corner and light shines through the window onto the ceiling.

In the rest of the new pink room, a black cat enjoys a patch of sunlight on the floor in front of an old black stove. A yellow armchair waits against the wall. Moving boxes are piled in the opposite corner.

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