iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Peter Gao

Sarah E Moran @offallingstars.bsky.social · 2h

#JWSTC6 APT has crashed with ~8 minutes before the deadline tonight. Chatter says the deadline will be extended but we don't know until when...

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 23h

@stsci.edu when I add in another \vspace to my proposal

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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 23/09/2026

I said I'd do a thread about my new Space Science Reviews paper, so here it is! This is part of a collection of papers arising from a meeting at the International Space Science Institute in Bern in 2024: a workshop to better understand rocky extrasolar planets. A 🧵:

Interior structure models of Earth, Venus, Mercury, Mars, the Moon, and Io, all shown to scale and key elements labelled.

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

you: on submission 3 of your JWST cycle 6 proposal me: haven’t started writing, haven’t downloaded APT we are not the same

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

1-800-got-junk makes money by taking your junk to the junk fairy who gives $5 per junk

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

What’s stopping a gas station from just lowering their price by a buck and getting All The Customers?

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

luckily no one expects me to be wise thanks to the years I spent carefully crafting a bumbling theorist persona

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

yesterday was exactly 10 years since I defended my PhD (and the 60th anniversary of Star Trek - not a coincidence) - guess I’m officially mid-career! on a similar note, just a few days earlier I was at a meeting where I was the most senior person, which was slightly upsetting

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

it’s so funny that a number getting excited turns it into another number

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Jonathan Fortney @jjfplanet.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Insane lightning over Ohio, from 37,000 feet, @planetarygao.bsky.social !

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Patrick Tamburo @tamburo.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I will be announcing a Cycle 1 Call for Proposals for using my pixel shortly

A certificate from Roman's Adopt a Pixel program. My pixel is #00016807.

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

when you write a postdoc ref letter for a student where the PI advertising the position is someone you know well, do you still introduce yourself or can you just go “hey man it’s me let me tell you something”

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I’ve been misreading Peltola as Peralta and I am sorry

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

do you think the scientific community ever gets stressed out when someone with a funny name invents a thing and wants to name it after themselves

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

slowly introducing fantasy violence to my 7 yo so he can watch LOTR with me before we go see the 2028 eclipse in New Zealand

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Brian Halligan @halligan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Almost as cold as the family in Home Alone. Absolute zero Kevin.

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

imagine if they misspelled Kelvin and used Kevin instead like “the CMB is 3 Kevins” lmao

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

>arrive back to the US from China extremely jet legged >decides to take an afternoon nap at 4 pm >sets alarm for 5 pm >somehow must’ve woken up at 5 and turned it off then immediately went back to sleep >no memories of this >wakes up at midnight >uh oh

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

this begs the question: who’s been shitting on our lettuce

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I watched Tenet for the first time on the plane to Japan and it took me like 5 hours because I had to rewind and pause constantly to figure out what was going on. I then spent days afterwards reading explainers to fully understand it It’s now one of my favorite movies

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

what would have happened to human civilization if people hibernated for N months every winter like bears

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

my main takeaway from being in China is that the close door button on elevators actually work and they expect you to use them

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Hannah Wakeford @stellarplanet.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

New Paper Klaxon🚨 I am super excited to share this one which has been 3 years in the making! "Magnesium Silicate Clouds in the Atmosphere of HD 209458b from a Rule-Based Tree-Structured Data Reduction" which is led by Katy Chubb & David Grant Cloud & data 🧵 time #astronomy🔭 #science🧪 1/n

arxiv.org

Magnesium Silicate Clouds in the Atmosphere of HD 209458b from a Rule-Based Tree-Structured Data Reduction

HD 209458b is the canonical hot Jupiter: the first to have its atmosphere measured and the first to hint at the role of aerosols in exoplanet atmospheres through the muting of Na absorption signatures...

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

why did they go with gen X instead of a letter earlier in the alphabet? did they not foresee the obvious problem

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Look Costco if your return policy is basically “anything goes” then I don’t want to be judged when I return year-old vitamins (that are not expired!)

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

society: you should keep your eyes on the road when driving also society: HEY LOOK AT THESE GIANT BILLBOARDS

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

any time they publish one of those maps where a country has insufficient data I’m like why didn’t you collect enough data first before publishing you lazy bum

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

IAD added new JWST images along one of their halls, including our first WASP-39b spectrum!

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

My OCD demands that TESS observe the final missing block as soon as possible. 🧪🔭⭐

plots of rotation periods from TESS. There's a rectangular "hole" caused by scattered light from the Earth + Moon. It will get filled as the orbit precesses, but that takes time. I am not patient.

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

radio astronomy is crazy like what do you mean this field of poles and wires is a telescope

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

you know Noah’s Ark was written by people from the desert because 40 days of nonstop rain is just normal winter in the PNW

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

sometimes people forget just how small Belgium is

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

blue wave ❌ blue tsunami ❌ blue wall of water from that black hole planet in Interstellar ✅

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

found out about Artemis II’s splashdown the best way possible: watching a livestream as part of a science fair project at our elementary school GO NASA GO ARTEMIS WOOOO

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

doing rm -rf / on a bloomberg terminal

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

they should have front brake lights on cars so I know if an oncoming car is going to stop or run the yellow light when I’m turning left

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

when you’re an academic and go to a zoom meeting that has to end after 40 minutes because of the time limit

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

can’t wait to find out if the moon is really haunted

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

This might be just me, but it’s a bit telling that the best words we apparently have for expressing our awe of the cosmos is still those of Carl Sagan from almost 50 years ago What does this say about our current society, culture, and outlook on science and space exploration?

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Reposted by Peter Gao

Alex Ji @alexji.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

🔭 Paper day, and it’s a big one! We have found the most metal-poor object known in the universe. It’s a star, and it comes to us from our nearby friend the Large Magellanic Cloud. Out in Nature Astronomy today: rdcu.be/fbylI

rdcu.be

A nearly pristine star from the Large Magellanic Cloud

Nature Astronomy - A high-resolution spectroscopic analysis reveals ultralow amounts of heavy elements in the star SDSS J0715−7334. The star originates from the Large Magellanic Cloud...

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Crystal clear ice on the shores of Lake Erie

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

I’ve driven dirt roads that are smoother than paved roads in toronto

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

>DC suburb has best cherry blossom display outside of downtown >no sidewalks

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Hari Nair @mcfiddish.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

He was my thesis advisor too. His enthusiasm, energy, and never ending stream of ideas was infectious. He (along with Mark Allen) were huge influences on my life and career. I will miss him. Thank you for posting.

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Mark Marley @markmarley.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Yuk was new faculty when I was an undergraduate studying planetary. It always felt like he was unchanging and ageless. He made so many contributions while remaining positive and joyful. Truly will be missed.

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Peter Gao @planetarygao.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

My PhD advisor, Professor Yuk Yung, has passed away. The suddenness of this - I had only become aware of his illness a week ago - is shocking and it’s surreal that he’s gone. www.caltech.edu/about/news/c...

caltech.edu

Caltech Mourns the Passing of Planetary Scientist Yuk Yung

Yuk Yung, professor of planetary science and JPL senior research scientist, passed away on March 16.

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