iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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European Space Agency @esa.int · 30/09/2026

Our Smile mission is ready for science. Its ultraviolet camera has already captured this substorm rippling through the northern lights around Earth’s North Pole. @science.esa.int 🧪🔭

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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 30/09/2026

Oh my. The aurora borealis, seen in ultraviolet light from space. Our planet, putting on a show ✨

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

My desks are busy, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And piles to clear before I sleep, And piles to clear before I sleep.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I seem to have lost a computer. So if you happen to see one, let me know.

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Andre the Chemist @andrechemist.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Proposal: chemists should do these kind of press releases for experiments with uncertain/unconfirmed results just like physicists do "BREAKING: The the Chemist group might have done a catalysis. More research needed to confirm." [narrator: they just misinterpreted the NMR spectrum... again]

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Robert Mahon @bedform.org · 31/08/2026

NPS requesting info on hikers s who may be missing or unaccounted for following a significant flash flood in Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch area on August 29 www.nps.gov/grca/learn/n...

PUBLIC ASSISTANCE REQUESTED
The National Park Service is asking the public to provide information for more than 20 individuals who may be missing or unaccounted for following a significant flash flood in Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch area on August 29.
If you know of hikers or backpackers who were in the Bright Angel Creek corridor on August 29, or if you had a campground reservation in the affected area, please contact the NPS Investigative Services Branch (ISB).
This includes people who may have been:
• Traveling the North Kaibab Trail from the North Kaibab Trailhead to Phantom Ranch
• Staying at Bright Angel Campground or Cottonwood Campground
• Traveling through “the Box” north of Phantom Ranch
📞 NPS ISB Tip Line: 888-653-0009
📧 Email: nps_isb@nps.gov
Please provide any information you have, including a person’s name, approximate location, travel plans, group size, clothing or backpack description, or when they were last known to be in the area. You do not have to provide your name.
https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/public-assistance-requested-to-account-for-individuals-following-grand-canyon-flash-flood.htm

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

A very cool thing about eclipses is that it makes very clear the motion of the moon around the earth. It’s always there but against black or blue sky can be hard to tell

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

There is no funding model for running modern R1 research universities without foreign students & federal funding. We should stop pretending there is & things are somehow going to be fine & actually have our leaders get out in public & explain this to voters, loudly & clearly & constantly.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Oof. They say you get used to rejection. Some day, perhaps.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I was one of the many who could not sit thru Blair Witch without severe motion sickness. Have just had the experience for the second time in my life an hour or so into The Odyssey, which I was quite enjoying. Criminy.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Took a little trip to see a shadow. Got rained on. But I had a hot dog. Linked is a video of totality from just outside the Keflavik terminal. You can find my blog on the trip and the eclipse on my website in bio. 🧪🔭 #eclipse #Iceland youtu.be/gGUf55yd5tY?...

youtu.be

2026 Total Solar Eclipse from Keflavik.

YouTube video by Paul Jones

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Working on a project I've put off for a very long time. If you loved my blogs about time zones, be sure to catch this thrilling adventure in sidereal time. There is even some exploration of the morality and utility of "AI". Fun! 🔭🧪 paulbrandonjones.com/2026/07/29/s...

paulbrandonjones.com

Sidereal Clocks

The first observatory I ever entered had a red digital sidereal clock that utterly fascinated me. It was grimy and dusty, displayed a time that was clearly – clearly! – not the real tim…

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Going through family stuff and have now read two letters that are 60-65 years old. In both cases I was able to identify the writer (my mom and aunt) by their voice. They were ~20 and in addition to sounding like themselves, they sound like 20 year olds today. We are who we are. And we are human.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

"Kid's today" supposedly have tiny attention spans. And, yet, they hate paragraph breaks. Odd.

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 12/04/2026

I think another reason many Americans Feel Bad About the Economy: There is a constant barrage of information indicating to the casual observer that people who run scams and lie and refuse to play by the rules aren't just going unpunished, they're *making way more money than you are* as a result.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Not tough on crime? Sure, he gives you lots of chances but, man, you should see the punishment if you don't eventually confess.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

A double play may be a pitcher’s best friend but a bad call is his mistress. #wbc

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

If I wasn't American, the craziest thing about our country wouldn't be the everyday mass shootings or car ownership as a precondition of citizenship, it'd be television ads for prescription medicine.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Seems to me that having an analog clock in the room for an exam containing absolute configuration questions is a huge advantage. #iTeachChem

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Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

First Pipeline post of the year! A statement of purpose, and science topics resume on Monday:

science.org

Last Year, and the Year to Come

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Mr. McKitrick. After very careful consideration sir I've come to the conclusion that your new year sucks.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

So, uh, pneumonia seems to be a proper illness. My goodness.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

I have excellent news to report: the number of final exams in my possession equals the number of students I have! Always nice. #finals

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

The fall semester has been a blur and the weather has mostly sucked so I haven't taken many astrophotos. But I had a glorious week at the Staunton River Star Party with many clear nights. I got a number of nice images. I'll present one a day. Here is M78, a nebula in Orion. #astronomy 🔭🧪

Messier 78, an reflection nebula in Orion. The brightest part of the nebula is a blue cloud, with an arc of three stars lighting up the brightest area, that trails off in wisps and swirls pointed toward the bottom of the frame. Dimmer swirls of light stretches left to right across the middle third of the frame, with knots of light and twists of dark lanes where dust obscures our view of the illuminated cloud. The top third and bottom third of the frame is black starfield sprinkled with stars.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

My hot Thanksgiving take: Whatever you eat or do to celebrate Thanksgiving is fine, so long as it makes you and yours happy and does not harm another. Love pie? Have two. Hate pie? Eat cake. Just be good to each other.

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Glenn Facey @uottawanmr.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Which one would you put on your pancakes? u-of-o-nmr-facility.blogspot.com/2016/06/nmr-... #nmr #nmrchat #chemsky

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SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Lots of folks captioning aurora photos like "for a few minutes we didn't think about politics" guess I'm built different, every time I'm out trying to see night sky stuff I frequently think about how much light pollution is entirely preventable with just a tiny bit of regulation

Basic light pollution diagram showing four different streetlight set ups ranging from more light pollution on the left to less light pollution on the right. The most pollution option, labelled "very bad" is a street lamp with a round uncovered bulb on top, making a sphere of light in the air. The next option, labelled "bad" has a tiny cap on top, that limits the upward pollution a bit. The "better" option is mostly uncovered on top, limiting pollution above the streetlight. The final option, labelled "best" has a full shroud overtop, limiting the light to only below the streetlight, where it is needed for pedestrians and vehicles.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

The 2025 World Series will see more innings than any series since 1921 (Giants 5-3 win in best of 9). The only series with more innings was 1919 (Reds 5-3 win with one 10 inning game). 11 innings tomorrow gets us the longest series in history. #baseball #worldseries

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Rob Smith @robsmith.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

There are far too many people who scoff at just having a good time for its own sake.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Saturn was at opposition last night. I imaged Titan and its shadow crossing the disk the night before. Here I show that image with an image of Saturn with Titan's shadow on the disk on Sept 4. Note how much brighter the ring is on the 20th. This is the Seeliger Effect. #astrophotography 🔭🧪

Two photos of Saturn arranged above and below one another. In the top photo, Titan (a very, very small orange ball) hangs to the upper left of Saturn's disk (at about the ten o'clock position) while its shadow is a black spot just on the edge of the disk at about 11 o'clock. In the bottom photo, Titan's shadow is again on the edge of the disk at 11:30 while Titan itself is an orange/grey disk of the same size just to the lower left of the shadow. The two spots just touch one another.

Saturn's disk is a ruddy orange/tan. The rings are nearly edge on and presented horizontally. The equatorial zone, just to either side of the rings is much brighter than the rest of the disk. In both images, the planet's disk is banded horizontally, though it's easier to see in the lower photo due to the seeing and scope collimation being a touch better on that night. In the bottom image, two small storms, presenting as small white spots, are visible in the southern hemisphere.

The rings are much brighter, relative to the planet's disk, in the lower photo, taken the night before opposition, than in the top photo, taken 17 days before opposition. This increase in brightness of a rough, particulate surface, is known as the Seeliger effect, and can be seen in a variety of objects when the light source (here, the Sun) is directly behind the observer.

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Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

To my H-1B friends, I am so fucking sorry. This all sucks so much.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

I sometimes think it's possible that current American politics are simply the result of someone asking a genie for Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to be as humiliated as they possibly could be but not being specific about other outcomes.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

With Earth crossing Saturn's ring plane, we're being treated to some lovely moon and shadow transits. Titan is currently casting its shadow on the disk every 18 days. With gear too long unused, I managed to catch last night's transit. Color is in Vis light, Gray in IR. 🔭 🧪 #astrophotography

The planet Saturn captured in IR (wavelength 685nm - ~950nm) and, so, presented in grayscale against a black background. The planet is tilted so that the rings stretch from lower left to upper right across the disk. The rings are seen very close to edge on so that they appear to be a thin streak. Across the disk, one can just make out the shadow cast by the rings just below the razor thin rings themselves. Titan is just off the disk at about the ten o'clock position and is casting a shadow onto the disk at about the ten thirty position. The moon is a small gray disk, the shadow a completely black circle on the gray disk, which is covered in darker and lighter bands running parallel to the rings.

The planet Saturn captured in visible light and, so, presented in color against a black background. Saturn's disk is a banded yellow gold. Two equatorial bands, running parallel to the rings are darker brown than the rest of the bands. The planet is tilted so that the rings stretch from lower left to upper right across the disk. The rings are seen very close to edge on so that they appear to be a thin streak. Across the disk, one can just make out the shadow cast by the rings just below the razor thin rings themselves. Titan is just off the disk at about the nine o'clock position and is casting a shadow onto the disk at about the ten o'clock position. The moon is a small orange disk, the shadow a completely black circle.

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Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Anyone from the University of Montreal here? Please DM. Please RT.

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Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 02/09/2025

Watch as the familiar pattern of the Scorpius constellation distorts into a whole new perspective. The opening of the sequence pans up to Scorpius in the night sky. The brightest star in the constellation, Antares, is a red supergiant known as the "heart of the Scorpion." 🔭 🧪

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Ken Tremendous @kentremendous.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

The #1 way to explain America working properly is by saying “comedians can make fun of he President on TV.” A good way to explain fascism is “the President forces companies to fire those comedians as a condition of allowing them to conduct business.”

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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 16/07/2025

Matt Walsh's imaginary professor: "good morning student-comrades. today we learn how to bayonet a white Christian capitalist while taking trans hormones" actual average professor: "folks, I am begging you, please do the reading for tomorrow this time. it is five pages"

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Chris Person @papapishu.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

We should be putting a gargantuan amount of money into solar and storage. War economy levels. It should be free to have a guy from the government solar your house up. Electricity should basically cost nothing.

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Christopher Owens @scavamungus.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

The problem is once you support something, even if things change for the worse, you tend to stick by your earlier statements. This trick is known to salesmen, cult leaders, conmen, and politicians.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

M27 imaged over June 22-23, two clear nights in a very cloudy month. The Dumbbell shape (L/R here) is apparent in even in small scopes. With my 15" and a dark sky, I can see the more delicate parts above and below. It's all greenish gray in the eyepiece, of course. 🔭 🧪 #astrophotography

A planentary nebula, Messier 27 fills the center tenth to an eighth of the field of view, surrounded by a dense starfield against a black background. The nebula is mostly blue-green (from the O-3 emission) but there is some pink from hydrogen emission. The famous dumbbell shape is formed left-right in the image, with the outer edges of the blue-green dumbbell (which is the brightest part of the nebula) tinged pink. An X of pink nodules crosses the bright dumbbell part. Above and below the dumbbell, filling in the missing space to make the nebula more circular, is lacy blue-greenish nebula. The bottom edge is, again, tinged pink. A very faint green and pink arc surrounds the bright nebula at center, the result of an earlier outgassing from the central star.

The image was made with a Celestron 8 Schmidt Cassegrain working at f/7, a ZWO ASI2600MC camera, and an Optolong L-Quad light pollution filter from within the city limits of Winston-Salem, NC. The image is the result of a stack of 90 5 minute exposures processed in Astro Pixel Processor and Photoshop. No AI was involved, it's all real data.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

Man. Today is going to be a long day.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Had a guy here to replace my gas meter. Said it would be a few hours. Took 30 minutes. Now I have to go to work. Feeling cheated.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

I have few followers and little reach. Which is fine. But I'll say this at the outset of a tense weekend and beginning of what will likely be a long, hot summer. Know who you're fighting. And why. Punching those you can reach simply because you want to punch someone is a bad plan.

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

In so many forums I keep reading ~ “AI just said X. X seems wrong…so I’m not sure what I’m missing.” You’re not missing anything! Why do you assume AI is right and you’re the idiot. Forget ethics and cost and environment, AI is just often completely wrong.

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 26/05/2025

As the parent of a type-I diabetic, I would like to invite the ignorant piece of shit currently directing the FDA to kiss my ass.

“Maybe we need to treat more diabetes with cooking classes, not just throwing insulin at people,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said on Fox News’ Sunday Futures. “You know, scientists have been waving the flag for years, saying you’ve got to look at this body of scientific data, and the modern medical establishment really has been disconnected.”

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pbjonearth @pbjonearth.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

In Trek of a certain era, there were allusions to the early dangers of transporters. But anyone older than 50 who had 36 hours of travel (which has recently changed to 60, yay!) would happily have been a test subject: I might not reassemble? fine. I might turn inside out? Fine. Let's go.

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