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Dr. Gerard van Belle

@fringedoctor.bsky.social
857 followers 395 following 501 posts

Active astronomer, intrepid interferometrist, doting dad, happy hubby, heuristic homebrewer, lapsed pilot, Director of Las Cumbres Obs in Santa Barbara. Asteroid 25155 van Belle.

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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Sigh What could have been
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
And paper posters return! Nirvana is within reach!
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SpacePolicyOnline @spacepolicyonline.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Thomas Zurbuchen, former head of science at NASA, is joining Blue Origin as SVP of Advanced Concepts. www.linkedin.com/posts/zurbuc... Congrats Thomas!!
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Oh crap
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Live version, of course
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Airplane! (1980) @airplane1980.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
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Airplane! (1980) @airplane1980.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
There's a sale at Penney's!
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STARtorialist @startorialist.com · 26/09/2026
Good morning from the pale gray skies of NYC! Our Equinox Sale is on this week - Buy One, Get One 50% Off almost everything in the shop until Sunday! Shop.STARtorialist.com
shop.startorialist.com
STARtorialist Online Shop
STARtorialist is a women-owned small business founded by professional astronomers to curate space- and science-themed products, support independent designers, and contribute to STEM education and outr...
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
A man, a plan, Panama!
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ε @epsilonsky.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
And Trump like he's still a reality tv star. Root of our entire predicament.
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Dr. Laci Brock 🪐 @stellerarts.com · 18/09/2026
My shop is open to everyone now! There is one mini painting left, some Artemis II mini prints, and Project Hail Mary prints ✨ stellerarts.com/collections/...
4x4” (10x10cm) painting of mallards under the Milky Way sitting on small easel next to mini succulent
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Unfortunately true, I fear
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I thought your remarks on "not too late to change course" were rather bright and hopeful, actually
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Beat me to it
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is why I think rail guns shooting ice bricks from the Earth to the moon are long overdue - yes, you'll lose 99% of the mass on the way up, but snowballs will get there and solve all this
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Jayke Samson Nguyen @jayke.io · 10/09/2026
Hot off the press! Via the magic of differentiable forward modeling and of non-redundant masking on JWST we may have found a new exoplanet! One of the most challenging papers I've written, but I'm glad its finally out! Submitted to AJ, pending peer review. arxiv.org/abs/2609.10507
arxiv.org
A Candidate Innermost Fifth Planet In the HR 8799 System Revealed By JWST NIRISS Aperture Masking Interferometry
We detect a candidate fifth planet in the HR 8799 system, directly imaged with the JWST/NIRISS Aperture Masking Interferometer (AMI). The detected source lies just above a $3σ$ contrast curve at a con...
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Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy @api.uva.nl · 07/09/2026
We are hiring! We currently have two tenure track positions open: One in high energy astrophysics and one in exoplanet science. Here's the info for high energy astrophysics. Closing date is 4 October werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...
werkenbij.uva.nl
Vacancy — Tenure-track Faculty Position in Observational Massive Star and Compact Object Binary Science
Do you work in the field of observational massive star and compact object binary science? Are you interested in contributing to a diverse and collaborative research and teaching community?
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International Meteor Organization @imometeors.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Meter-sized CERNQ52 asteroid is definitely going to impact the Earth at 16h 07min UT, between Australia and Indonesia: it's the 13th asteroid to be discovered before it entered the atmosphere of our planet!
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Dr. Teddy Kareta @teddykareta.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
bair, schleicher, kareta, knight, and kelley, "The Highly Unusual Behavior and Chemical Composition of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov", accepted in PSJ and available on arxiv here: arxiv.org/abs/2608.23701
the title and author list of the paper as listed in the post
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
So prescient it's scary. A reader since the 90s - and nowadays a proud supporter!
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Probably not because those objects are too far away to have a large enough angular size to make for a meaningful occultation
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
"Not-photons" are sometimes easier to detect than photons; searches for Oort objects occulting distant stars from HST FGS archives have been done but haven't turned up anything. But it's a super tricky measurement.
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Airplane! (1980) @airplane1980.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I'm doing everything I can. And stop calling me Shirley
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Don Davis @ddavisspaceart.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
51 years ago I painted a trio of Viking related works for NASA HQ including the widely reproduced one of the landing on Mars. I have reimagined the Landing portrayal in updated form using digital methods of visualization and painting. I chose the same angle but with reality replacing anticipation.
This oil painting portrays the Viking 1 landing on Mars, which appeared in countless publications. The story of this work is relayed in an earlier post and is shown here for comparison with the new portrayal of this very view, showing the event as it would have appeared. 
This 1975 anticipatory painting was done with oils on a gesso smoothed 16 X 20 canvas panel, using traditional art methods including a tracing paper guide featured earlier. 
 This work shows in retrospect my ideal of the 'spirit of space art', showing something of a summary of what is known of the subject while conveying what it is about the subject's known or theorized attributes that I find visually compelling. The new digital painting updates that visual impression with one based on our current knowledge. The new digital work was also done at the same size as this one was for possible printing purposes, 16 by 20 inches at 300 DPI.
 #Sciart   In 1976 the pair of Viking spacecraft orbiter/lander combos were sent to Mars. Before Viking, Mars was still largely a place of our imaginations, an unknown that we wrote stories about then studied from Earth and space. The dominance of cratered terrain on the portions of Mars photographed by Mariners 4, 6 and 7 gave an initially Lunar impression of that world, which changed during the development of the Viking lander after Mariner 9 revealed the planet.
 The first landing was aimed for a flat flood plain, judged as a decent place to search for life. The landing date was July 4, however the intended site appeared too rough for comfort in the high quality orbiter photos, causing the landing to wisely be delayed. A smoother site further 'down stream' was found using photo and radar data.
The landing proceeded quite nominally, a magnificent achievement that apparently accounted for what it had to and made it the first time.

The first photo from the surface was a look at a footpad to see how solid the 'footing' appeared. Then a moderate resolution panorama of the surroundings was obtained, first showing the rocks, hills, dunes-and bright sky. The latter was my biggest surprise as a space artist. 

The adjustments to the color balance of the later photos were gradually narrowed down. The ubiquitous dust is planet wide, suspended in the air and coloring the sky a luminous tan ochre. 

This digital painting shows the view a meter above the surface seeing the lander briefly kicking up dust less than a second before touchdown with the footpads 1.4 meters high. The landing rockets were designed with many nozzles to disturb the surroundings as little as possible. The nearby disturbed dust resembles in color that of the sky. We are 6 meters away from the center of the lander. field of view is 60 degrees, we are looking Northwest with the Sun and Earth off the frame to the left.

This is a digital art update of the pre mission oil painting I did for NASA HQ 1n 1975.

  #Sciart
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ESO @eso.org · 03/08/2026
Unusual asteroid unmasked! 🪨 Using our VLT in Chile & the Large Binocular Telescope in the US, astronomers have resolved the shape of (44) Nysa, a peculiar asteroid between Mars and Jupiter. They revealed a structure unlike anything observed before! 🔭 🧪 📹 ESO/K. Minker et al. 1/2
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
So sorry for your loss
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Always
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Coo-pole-uh USA (Pacific Northwest accent)
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Benjamin Pope @benjaminpope.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
the real open access is arXiv
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Can somebody hurry up and invent fail-proof reaction control wheels? It's ALWAYS the friggin reaction control wheels
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Ruh roh
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I love Bluesky serendipity
A Washington Post article on airplane auto land is followed by a quote from the airplane movie
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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 25/07/2026
Admirable clarity @science.org
The Trump administration hates academic science funding, full stop. They hate where that money goes, and they hate who it goes to. They want to keep all that money for themselves, to hand out to favored cronies who can help them get elected and to steer yet more money and more power back into their hands.

That’s it. That’s the story
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Jason Wright @astrowright.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
I testified before a PA House committee about the PSETI Center and got asked about inspiring a new generation of kids to be scientists: www.facebook.com/watch/?v=134...
facebook.com
1.3K views · 12 reactions | Today, the House Communications and Technology Committee held an informational meeting on how modern communications systems, data integration and sensor technologies improve our ability to identify and analyze anomalous signals and objects. During the hearing, I had the opportunity to ask Dr. Jason Wright, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University, how we can inspire more young people to pursue careers in science, technology and space exploration. It reminded me of growing up and attending school with Col. Mike Fincke, whose journey led him to become a NASA astronaut. Encouraging the next generation to dream big and pursue careers in Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) is critical to maintaining Pennsylvania's and America's leadership in innovation, research and discovery. | PA State Rep. Valerie Gaydos
Today, the House Communications and Technology Committee held an informational meeting on how modern communications systems, data integration and sensor technologies improve our ability to identify...
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
[528130-sunny-spring-morning].
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I'm going to live forever
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samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 21/07/2026
the most realistic scene in Jurassic Park is when two scientists make a questionable decision — traveling to an undisclosed location with a strange man — on the promise of three years of modest funding
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Airplane! (1980) @airplane1980.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Reading the photo notes, wow
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Don Davis @ddavisspaceart.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The first glimpse of the Martian surface was long anticipated. Bonestell's art dominated ideas of what Mars was like, basically the desert Southwest with most air absent. The idea of a dark blue sky on Mars persisted in space art until that morning. Here are those first looks at the Martian surface.
Top: the first view of the Martian surface, which appeared in slow steps left to right as the data came in. They wanted first thing to know if the lander was on solid ground and not too buried, sinking etc. The imaging sequence started 25 seconds after landing and continued for 5 minutes as the camera scanned a vertical line at a time moving to the right to scan the next. Having the orbiter relay the data took another 20 minutes. At left a brightening in the image can be seen that intensifies then fades, followed by a darkening that soon goes away. That represents a kind of record of the dust kicked up by the landing that brightened the field of view, then the shadow of the dust cloud briefly darkened the scene. The prominent angular rock near upper center is about 10 cm (4 inches) across. This first peek reassured everyone that the lander was on solid ground. A little dirt kicked up by the lander rockets can be seen pooled in the footpad.  

 Bottom: 6 minutes after landing  the second photo was obtained, a lower resolution 300 degree wide panorama of the surroundings taking in the scene in 9 minutes. At once the character of the scenery showed its distinctive nature, rocky and lightly even ground with small drifts and patches of lighter fine dust. The presence of dust in the atmosphere brought a brightness to it that was not anticipated, as an artist that was the major revelation I felt when looking over the scene. The atmospheric density was known to be like Earth's at 40 kilometers or 130,000 feet, so any noticeable blue sky brightness should only be evident near the horizon. In reality, the eternal presence of wind blown dust makes the sky a luminous version of the color of the ubiquitous surface dust, especially in the quarter of the sky near the Sun.

  Suddenly rendered dated were all those paintings by Bonestell, Pesek and others which were done between the times of the Mariner missions and the Viking landings, showing interpretations of known features but … I had my Polaroid SX-70 camera with me when just after the landing I was suddenly escorted from the press area into into the imaging team room, hastily badged and plopped in front of some of the many monitors in the area which steadily unveiled the first two looks at the Martian surface. No journalists were there dur to JPL PR department policy, but I got a few photos and a sound recording of the excited chatter of the geologists seeing Mars revealed. "Look at the exposure on that S_O_B" I remember hearing when the prominent rock appeared. Then the President called in his congratulations which went over the PA system. A highlight of my life, onr of several instances where I was in the Coolest Place in the world at that moment. My carefully obtained Polaroid from a monitor in the Imaging team area, at the conclusion of the introductory scanning of the first photo obtained of the surface of Mars.
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Airplane! (1980) @airplane1980.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Oveur speaking.
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Jorts (and Jean) @jortsthecat.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
We are all going to have so many kinds of diarrhea
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Hype @hype.aero · 18/07/2026
NASA and Draper have terminated plans for a lunar lander mission following significant delays in development of the spacecraft. The cancellation marks a setback for the program’s timeline and underscores continuing schedule risk in lunar surface systems procurement. - More on hype.aero
spacenews.com
NASA terminates Draper lunar lander mission
NASA and Draper have terminated plans for a lunar lander mission after significant delays in development of the spacecraft.
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Great article - one nit, which I wouldn't even mention but it's the cover art: O'Neill's space settlement work was scientific studies, not sci-fi
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⭐ ᗰᗩᖇᛕ ᗩ. ǤᗩᖇᒪIᑕᛕ ⭐ @markgarlick.com · 15/07/2026
Hi! I'm Mark, a former astrononer now a full-time illustrator and animator. I do mostly space-related work. Welcome, new followers! Mostly created with #Blender. 🚫 AI #SciArt #spaceart #scifi
Ancient Mars in the background, with seas. In the foreground is a former moon, disintegrating. Digital illustration the interior of a Stanford Torus during a simulation of night. This is a donut-shaped space colony A futuristic hotel room with a large picture window. The limb of the Earth is seen through it. A woman, speaking on a phone, stands taking in the viewThe Galileo probe is seen against the backdrop of the swirling cloud tops of the planet Jupiter
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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
For those who missed it at Cool Stars 23 I want to highlight some really awesome posters from my students. Really creative design and awesome science. 🧪🔭⭐ #exoplanets
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Ladies and gentlemen, our newest supervillain... Algae Capone
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Advertise your Bluesky account with a Simpsons GIF
static.klipy.com
Homer Simpson Riding a Rocket
ALT: Homer Simpson Riding a Rocket
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Emily Lakdawalla 🏳️‍⚧️ Uranus Expert @elakdawalla.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Hi everybody, I organized the #Artemis2 photos for you. Index pages containing all ~10,000 images in chronological order with time stamps and focal lengths, color coded by which of three cameras was used to shoot them. countlessworlds.com/data/artemis/
countlessworlds.com
Emily's data pages: Artemis
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Dr. Gerard van Belle @fringedoctor.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Yeah but half the time it's just eggs
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