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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 3h

Astronomy is, like, so amazing sometimes...

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 3h

I didn't read it until I picked it up on my own as an adult, and I completely agree with you!

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 7h

His son, Martin was a mentor to me - one of the finest persons I've ever known.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 11h

I like the clever way you couched that...

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

So I heard! Of course, in Australia it's gonna be a more reasonable time, so you're more likely to have your wits abut you.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Maybe to much of an obscure or insider joke, but I was amused by this pattern of citations to Volonteri & Begelman (2010), which raised the possibility of "Black Hole Stars," (as it's now known), which is a leading hypothesis to explaining Little Red Dots.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I always wanted to try that on someone, but thought that it would be a little too cruel.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

He should go and sit up front just to drive them nuts.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I wonder what ever came of Freeman Dyson's vacuum cleaner file. People kept sending him irate letters over the years yelling at him about Dyson vacuum cleaner issues, which he kept.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

You still have to have meetings/judgements/reviews to integrate the various ideas. And I'm not a big fan of forced marriages. Some astronomers know how to run and work within teams effectively, but teaming well is an art. But I think we have plenty of huge progs. Are we done with small ones?

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Astronauts, Cooper, See, Armstrong with Gus Grissom gesturing to the photographer:

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Gemini 12 was "The End" of the Gemini program. hence the signs on the Aldrin and Lovell's ends, who were the final crew:

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The prime and backup crew of Gemini 8. Three of them would walk on the Moon, and 4th would orbit it:

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

And we still leave off discovery of the expanding universe.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Dice sounds superficially attractive, but as you noted, it still requires a triage. You can't roll the dice, until you're pretty sure you're rolling it on the good stuff. Might be on only those in the top quintile.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Someone who flies high-performance aircraft with her hands I think gets the certificate for honorary instrumentalist.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

So what do we do to fix it? And what is broken in the sense that the scientific program being run falls significantly short of what the facility could/should be doing? I have not been able to get time on JWST, and think the reviews are awful, but I have no ideas for a general fix.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Why wouldn’t we do that? Isn’t it a logical extension of the robotic craft that we now use to explore the solar system? And doesn’t that lend an approach to participation? You can ride along or even see directly through the eyes of the android. Think of the possibilities!

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

So tracking it down... I have MT in my den right across from me. Haven't looked at it in decades, and the Chopin essay is right there. Really enjoying it! I wasn't working on the piano when I first read the book, but it's now my major hobby - and DH's essay is direct hit. Thanks again.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Oh, I remember his column, which was always brilliant, but not that particular essay. I’m gonna have to run it down. Thanks!!

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Just a little Chopin for you. It's a technically simple etude exploring 4/3 polyrhythm rhythms, but it's harmonically crazy, and almost other worldly in feeling. The more I listen to Chopin, the more mysterious his music seems. Where did it come from? www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjVn...

youtube.com

Chopin Nouvelle Etude No.1 - P. Barton FEURICH Harmonic Pedal piano

YouTube video by Paul Barton

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I think if they crash the APT they have to move back three spaces and skip a turn.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Jonathan... But do come by if you wanna watch Batman or something...

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I'm wondering if we should have filled out that suppository section of our JWST proposal.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It's completely baffling. Schmitt was attorney general and had to now a little about evidence. Half the placard was Fanny Willis, the rest vague texts about seats. He had to know what he was doing. I suspect a flustered reaction was the goal, with the expectation of no fact checking in real time.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

If I could meet any scientist from the past, it would be Fermi. I had a number of teachers and mentors that worked with him, and they all revered him.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I have thought on this many times, and indeed remember following the mission in real time in 1965. Borman and Lovell had a pretty miserable time.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Jeez... looks like you're *wearing* the plane!

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

2 rpm as I understand it is too fast. While some can adapt to fast rates, your basic tourist would be challenged. This issue came up in discussions of the old O'Neill colonies. People always want to spin things too fast, cause it's expensive to make them big.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Extensive research says that you don't wanna go faster than 1 rpm.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

At the rotation rate you're showing, everyone is going to be barfing.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Exercise for the reader. How do you revise a JWST proposal when in cycle 4 you got top quintile (but no time), so you just tried again in cycle 5 but got bottom quintile?

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Ah! A slow fuse paper - I can name a number of them.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Doesn't this progression defy the second law of thermodynamics, or something?

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I spent all this time with him, but never got to know who he was...

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

It’s a hyperspace of unit volume. The trick is to ask about the other axes.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

We only have about 800 Myr - slow evolution off the ZAMS will already have made things too warm.

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Reposted by Tod Lauer

Melina Thévenot🏳️‍⚧️ @melina-iras07572.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Proper Motion of stars in the galactic center with #JWST NIRCam F182M. programs: 1306, 4515 www.stsci.edu/jwst-program...

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I don't need help from AI for that, it happens just from my colleagues...

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I had the pleasure of having talked with him about finding the Surveyor crater - a trick I still don't understand! All he had to guide him were vague rises seen on the lunar horizon by Surveyor 3.

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