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Kelsey Johnson

@profkelsey.bsky.social
1.5K followers 246 following 492 posts

Mother, astrophysicist, educator, writer, artist, thinker about things. Views expressed are mine. Duh.

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Reposted by Kelsey Johnson
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social @cosmicfineprint.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I'm not at all convinced we appreciate all the externalities we've let in the gate, but I am 100% sure it isn't the #AI companies who will pay the price.
Black-and-white ink cartoon of a huge wooden Trojan horse on wheels labeled “Generative AI.” A tiny ancient Greek soldier stands beside it holding a spear. At his feet is a small empty water trough. Looking up at the enormous horse, he says, “We’re gonna need a bigger trough.” The cartoon uses the Trojan horse and the undersized trough to evoke questions about generative AI’s water demands and the less visible consequences of allowing it into everyday life.
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Reposted by Kelsey Johnson
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social @cosmicfineprint.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
The spectacular #Roman mission is on its way to help us learn amazing things about the universe. Roman has successfully separated from SpaceX. NASA... not so much. ✨🔭🧪🚀
Cartoon of a Roman Space Telescope mission control room. A large checklist reads: “Launch” ✓, “Stage separation” ✓, “Roman separation” ✓, and “NASA separation from SpaceX” unchecked. Two mission controllers look at the board; one says, “Private launch. Public capture.”
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Reposted by Kelsey Johnson
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social @cosmicfineprint.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Did you know the FAA wants to waive 13 federal environmental laws for commercial rocket launch and reentry? ✨Comments are due by Aug 31.✨ More at this link on the situation and how to submit useful comments. kelseyjohnson367.substack.com/p/the-launch... 🔭🧪🚀 #EnviSci
A black-and-white cartoon illustrated a rocket launch location polluting a local wetland habitat.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The FAA wants to waive 13 environmental laws for commercial launches. Meanwhile federal projections can’t even agree on the # of launches/reentries a year. This seems like a spectacularly bad time to stop measuring the consequences. Comments due Aug. 31. open.substack.com/pub/kelseyjo... 🧪🔭🚀
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Reposted by Kelsey Johnson
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social @cosmicfineprint.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
“Into what?” Aluminum. Copper. Lithium. Lead. Titanium. Chromium. Nickel. Niobium. Hafnium. And a long list of metal oxides. We are turning satellites into atmospheric chemistry. (and before a smartypants points out meteors, the projected values from 🛰️+🚀 are orders of magnitude higher) 🧪🔭🐡
Black-and-white ink cartoon titled “Into What?” Two men in business suits stand in front of a landscape filled with rockets launching into the sky. One, holding a clipboard, says, “Don’t worry. When we’re done with them, they should each vaporize in the upper atmosphere.” The other replies, “Into what?”
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Reposted by Kelsey Johnson
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social @cosmicfineprint.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
How quickly “shared human heritage” becomes “just a rock” once somebody shows up with explosives and an unfathomably large budget. ✨🔭🧪🐡 #SpaceEthics #Moon #Cartoon
Black-and-white two-panel cartoon. In the top panel, five people watch an explosion on the Moon and cheer: “We get to watch the show!”, “This is so cool!”, “Humans are awesome,” “The next frontier!”, and “Who cares, it’s just a rock.” In the bottom panel, seven people look at an intact Moon and describe what it means to them: stories from a grandmother, connection across time and space, inspiration for songs, a shared sky, a reminder that we are part of something vast and old, a hope that grandchildren will see it this way, and feelings of peace and wonder. A black panel beneath asks: “Can you guess which perspectives have a seat at the table?”
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Reposted by Kelsey Johnson
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social @cosmicfineprint.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
✨New Account I've started drawing editorial cartoons about space ethics, because apparently writing only works if people read. If you like space with a side of “have we really thought this through?”, please follow. Reposts, likes etc would help this new account lift off. Y'all know the drill. 🙏🏻 🔭🧪🐡
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Lovely people— I just started a new account to share my editorial cartoons related to the accelerating human footprint in space. Please welcome @cosmicfineprint.bsky.social ! Huge 🙏 and 💜 for likes and follows!
A black and white cartoon of Earth with a price tag that says, “Market Value TBD”.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I had planned to do other things today, but here we are. ✨🔭🧪 open.substack.com/pub/kelseyjo...
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
I'm consumed be "externalities" that private companies quietly distribute across humanity for profit while preaching narratives about "progress". Add in "Shifting Baseline Syndrome" and most people don't notice what's happening until it is too late. Some underlying verifiable facts 👇 ✨🔭🧪
Cartoon illustrating satellites crossing the night sky circa 2030, seen from a wilderness area. A child asks, "What is that point of light that doesn't move?"
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
PSA
nytimes.com
Opinion | How to Kick SpaceX Out of Your 401(k)
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
FYI #SpaceX is leading an uncontrolled global-scale experiment in the upper atmosphere as satellites are vaporized in the upper atmosphere on reentry. The impact on atmospheric chemistry, aerosol microphysics, cloud formation, and radiative effects are not currently well understood. ✨🔭🧪🛰️
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
The newly released UAP files say more about us than aliens. kelseyjohnson367.substack.com/p/the-truth-... ✨🧪🔭👽
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Scientific progress is built by people doing unglamorous work because they believe knowledge and evidence matter. The #NSB does its work quietly, competently, and far from the spotlight or political headlines—three qualities that have become oddly unfashionable in modern governance. ✨🔭🧪🚀
open.substack.com
America’s Bold New Innovation Strategy: Fire the Adults in the Room
Firing the National Science Board is latest step in America’s growing contempt for expertise
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Has terra nullius ever bothered you? Me too! One of the quiet assumptions of modern life is that empty things are available things. That logic shaped colonialism, environmental destruction, and now how we talk about the Moon and Mars. I'd love for you to read my new essay. ✨🔭🚀🧪
kelseyjohnson367.substack.com
We Keep Mistaking Empty for Available
Why the Moon, Mars, and the natural world may deserve more than utilitarian math
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
My sense is that the overwhelming majority of people don't understand what the Artemis mission was really about, which is not space exploration but space exploitation. I've started up a Substack account and written a piece that isn't behind a paywall that I hope you will read and think about. 🚀✨🔭
open.substack.com
The Shadow of Artemis
The mission was inspiring. What it sets in motion should give us pause.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Lots of people asking me about #Artemis. As an astronomer who thinks a lot about humanity’s future in the universe, I’ll be blunt: We've no business advancing our footprint in space until we behave responsibly on Earth. The Manifest Destiny framing of space exploration drips with unchecked hubris.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Poe’s Law in action. XKCD FTW. ✨🔭🧪
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Nothing makes me more unreasonably proud than figuring out something new in Excel. Today it was how to insert a line break, and it feels like I’ve unlocked a new mystical power.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
My daughter’s school went on lockdown today because… cows. 🐮🐮🐮 Can we go back to having lockdowns for lovely reasons like livestock that broke out of their pasture? I’m good with that.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Dusted off and connected our old Wii. OMG it is so fun and nostalgic. I am cursing Nintendo for discontinuing this amazing platform (now over a decade ago).
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
🧪🔭✨🙏
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Doing my mandatory emergency training. I love my coffee as much as anyone, but I think I might set down the mug in this situation. Or maybe it makes a better weapon than I realize?
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
In my local FB marketplace right now.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Oh this is rich. Should we be expecting Trump to go after governor Abbott and take over the state with 1000s of ICE agents?
fox4news.com
48 Texans charged in nationwide $14.6 billion healthcare fraud takedown
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Congratulations, we are officially increasingly close to destroying ourselves.
independent.co.uk
Doomsday Clock moves closer to midnight in stark ‘apocalypse’ warning
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
The ability of humans to come up with explanations so our unfounded beliefs can stay intact is literally killing people.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
I’m curious— if you’re playing one of the violent video games and you shoot an innocent person, are there any consequences?
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Thinking this is like a video game in which you kill people, and that is “cool”, really explains a lot about all of this.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Maybe he thinks late night hosts need more material? That is surely the most logical explanation.
nytimes.com
Trump Confuses Iceland and Greenland in Davos Remarks
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Breaking news: when people care about other people everyone is better off. MN is above average across the board, which is totally on brand for Lake Wobegon.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Some people spend years working on a treaty to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Others try to take over countries…? Irony doesn’t even begin to cover this narcissism.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Some people spend years working on a treaty to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Others try to take over countries…? Irony doesn’t even begin to cover this narcissism.
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Live Updates: President Linked Greenland Push to Nobel Prize Snub, Officials Say
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
I’m leaning into my maternal Minnesotan Finnish ancestry. Sisu runs strong there. #Minnesota #ICE
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
I’m not sure what their long-game is, but if the plan is to sacrifice humans for corporate profit, they’re nailing it. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
nytimes.com
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
I have never felt as much existential stress about humanity’s future (both on and off of Earth) as I do now. It’s like the emergency breaks on an elevator have all failed while greed and ignorance are accelerating us toward catastrophe.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
So fun to be quoted (and interviewed!) by @scifri.bsky.social ✨🔭🧪
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Can we please get past this “might makes right” BS? This is what people say when they don’t have any actual defensible and logical arguments.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Astronomers at #AAS247, I’d love to see our community show up for the special session on Tuesday an interdisciplinary discussion of the Ethics of Outer Space. Decisions are being made now that will affect everyone on earth for generations to come. What is our role? What are the ethical frameworks?
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
I got a super fun surprise in the mail today! I’m so excited for this book to be introduced to the Chinese market, and I LOVE the cover. Now my Chinese DuoLingo training needs to catch up :). 🧪🔭✨ #books #science #astronomy
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Gorgeous picture-perfect autumn day at #UVA today. This is my favorite time of year in Virginia. 🍁🍂🎃
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Reposted by Kelsey Johnson
How On Earth Radio @howonearthradio.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
Are you ready to explore the known, unknown, and possibly unknowable with @profkelsey.bsky.social? We talk about her book Into The Unknown: The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos. Part 1 of the interview aired this week howonearthradio.org/archives/10317 Join us for Part 2 next week.
howonearthradio.org
Into The Unknown (Part 1)
Into The Unknown (starts at 7:57) What do we know about the universe, and how do we know we know it? Conversely, what do we know we don’t know, what don’t we know that we don’t know, and why not? T…
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Procrastination takes may forms. Tonight as a service to the astronomical community I offer help with your JWST proposal titles. #JWST 🧪🔭✨
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Reposted by Kelsey Johnson
Jason Herbert @herberthistory.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
And that brings us to tonight's #HATM questions- 1) What are your favorite books on the history of space exploration? Or on space itself? (It's totally @profkelsey.bsky.social latest book. Link below) 2) And what is on the menu at your home tonight? amzn.to/3WB72xQ
amzn.to
Into the Unknown: The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos
Humans have learned a lot about the world around us and the universe beyond. We have made powerful insights and created profound theories about the universe and everything in it. Surely the ultimate t...
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Ok wait, just so we are clear, does the FCC idea that media should not lie to the public apply to, oh I don’t know, like Fox News? Just curious.
nytimes.com
ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Off Air for Charlie Kirk Comments After F.C.C. Pressure
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
On brand. 🧪🔭✨
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
This tracks.🔭🧪✨
nytimes.com
SpaceX Gets Billions From the Government. It Gives Little to Nothing Back in Taxes.
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
I am excited to see the memes that come from this.
theguardian.com
JD Vance’s team had water level of Ohio river raised for family’s boating trip
Exclusive: Incident raises questions of exploitation of public services, but Secret Service says it was requested for ‘safe navigation’
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Kelsey Johnson @profkelsey.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
<checks watch> Yep, the year is 2025.
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