Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
@ahrensscience.bsky.social
1.7K followers 920 following 140 posts
Planetary scientist, lunar exploration and sustainability policy. Lunar architecture nerd! UMD-CRESST-II Asst. Research Scientist at NASA GSFC. Science Outreach! Ten Outstanding Young Americans 2018. WVU alum. Views are my own.
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
melina-iras07572.bsky.social
Planet #Uranus 🪐 and inner moons with #JWST NIRCam 🔭 #planetsci Observation from this Monday (lol moon🌕day).

Filters: F150W2; F162M
Date: 2025-10-06 between 02:15:43 UT and 04:46:47 UT

Program: www.stsci.edu/jwst-program...
Uranus with rings and small elongated dots (tracks) around it.
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
hourlycosmos.bsky.social
Titan as seen through three different filters: August 20, 2013 - From Val Klavans (valklavans.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/fAMQzR
On August 20, 2013, Cassini's camera system, the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS), looked for clouds across Titan's sub-Saturn hemisphere from 1.33 million kilometers (0.82 million miles) away. The ISS took a number of images of Titan in different filters. Three of which were used for this composite image. This RGB false color composite of Titan is in 3 different filters: continuum filter (where methane is more transparent), methane band (where methane is strongly absorbing), and ultraviolet.

These images were taken on August 20, 2013 and received on Earth August 22, 2013. The images were taken using the CL1, CB3, UV3 and MT3 filters.

Credit: NASA / JPL / SSI / composite by Val Klavans
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
steve-elardo.com
I'm incredibly honored to be a part of this team and proud of this award!!! But I'm just a very small part of this program. Anita Marshall @bakingsodavolc.bsky.social deserves all the credit for the idea, the passion, the grunt work, and for its success!!! ⚒️🧪🔭
ufgeology.bsky.social
🎉🏆🥳UF Geology's GeoSPACE field program has been honored with the Award for Advancing Inclusive Excellence in STEM from @agu.org!!! Led by Prof. Anita Marshall @bakingsodavolc.bsky.social, it's the first designed to be accessible to students with disabilities and other complicating life factors ⚒️🧪🔭
GeoSPACE field program honored with national award for advancing inclusive STEM education
GeoSPACE is the first geoscience field camp designed specifically to be accessible and inclusive for students and faculty with disabilities.
news.clas.ufl.edu
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
kevinstalder.bsky.social
Statement from the Nobel Peace Prize Committee 👏 🙏
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
coreyspowell.bsky.social
China's Tianwen-2 is on its way to Kamoʻoalewa, an asteroid that currently doubles as a "quasi-moon" of Earth. The spacecraft will collect samples & bring them back home.

On its outward trajectory, Tianwen-2 looked back and got this lovely view of our planet. 🧪🔭

english.news.cn/20251001/ef3...
This image released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Oct. 1, 2025 shows a view of the Tianwen-2 probe alongside Earth, captured by the probe during its deep-space journey. The newly released image, acquired by a monitoring camera mounted on the probe's robotic arm, showcases China's five-starred red flag and the white return capsule against the backdrop of a distant, blue Earth. (Some slight image processing by me.)
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
westportastro.bsky.social
🌏 A powerful M7.4 earthquake struck off the southeastern coast of the Philippines near Mindanao, about 79 miles from Davao. Tsunami warnings were issued. The USGS seismometer at the Westport Observatory detected the quake 8,850 miles away! 🌎 #Earthquake #Philippines #Seismology
Three seismograph charts from Westport, CT, showing blue, red, and green waveform data recorded on October 10, 2025, with time stamps and network status details.
HHZ = vertical
HH1 = North/South
HH2 = East/West
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
nbcnews.com
A former Wyoming library director who was fired amid an uproar over books with sexual content and LGBTQ+ themes that some people complained were inappropriate for young people and who sought their removal from youth shelves will be paid $700,000 after settling a lawsuit.
Wyoming library director fired amid book dispute reaches $700,000 settlement
"It's been a rough road, but I will never regret standing up for the First Amendment," Terri Lesley said.
nbcnews.to
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
elleisanisland.bsky.social
this cat looks like one of the Old Master painters who's just slept with three servants, argued viciously with his annoying patron about the inferior ham he receives, and then painted his masterpiece out of spite
Collection of paints, brushes and pots on an old table. In the corner a large very fluffy cat sprawls in decadence
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
science.org
In an analysis of 1.2 million news stories about scholarly research, men-led papers were found to receive more attention overall and were heavily overrepresented in the top 5% of most covered studies. https://scim.ag/4o7l5a5
When women researchers publish, media attention doesn’t always follow
Men-led papers receive more media coverage than women’s, new study finds
scim.ag
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
artologica.net
Shanthi Chandrasekar, Cosmic Web, pen and ink on paper #sciart
Geometric art with blue background and connected red and yellow dots
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
princetonupress.bsky.social
Now available in #paperback, Volcanoes in Human History by Jelle Zeilinga de Boer & Donald Theodore Sanders is the classic account of how volcanism has shaped human culture & science, from the Bronze Age eruption that destroyed Minoan Crete to Mount St. Helens.

press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Volcanoes in Human History: The Far-Reaching Effects of Major Eruptions by Jelle Zeilinga de Boer and Donald Theodore Sanders. The classic account of how volcanism has shaped human culture and science, from the Bronze Age eruption that destroyed Minoan Crete to Mount St. Helens.
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
kellyhereid.bsky.social
Sheesh - a tsunami big enough to push coral boulders 100s of m inland in the British Virgin Islands around the year 1400, likely sourced from an earthquake on the Puerto Rico Trench.
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
science.esa.int
🆕Researchers combed through images from ESA's #MarsExpress & #ExoMars spacecraft to find 1039 swirling dust devils 🌪️

Using these dust devils to track raging winds on Mars, their findings include that the strongest winds blow much faster than we thought!

Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🧪 ☄️
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
vrubinobs.bsky.social
Golden hour hits different above 2600 meters. ✨🌅

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory basks in that sunset ✨glow✨ at its site on Cerro Pachón. And with over 300 clear nights on average per year here, that's a lot of sunset basking we get to do! 🔭🧪
Large boot-shaped observatory with a massive telescope dome reflecting orange and golden sunset light atop its rocky mountain site. Large boot-shaped observatory with a massive telescope dome atop its rocky mountain site, with the golden glow of sunset over the rolling peaks in the distance. Large boot-shaped observatory on a rocky mountain peak during a vibrant sunset with layered mountain ranges in the background. Drone shot of a massive teal telescope within an observatory's dome with a vertical opening, surrounded by winding mountain roads and dry terrain.
ahrensscience.bsky.social
Laughing but crying inside. It’s like a mini Black Mirror episode!
ahrensscience.bsky.social
They got the 3 cultural regions of WV pretty spot on as well!
gabeeggers.bsky.social
Ozarks extends a little far northeast in my experience, but I appreciate the nuance in this chart. But it really captures how the area where I grew up (~100 miles south of St. Louis along the river) was a crossroads in many ways.

I'd love to see the methodology in making this, though!
williamhazen.bsky.social
This is the most accurate depiction of the Midwest to date. Wichita has always felt like the last Midwest city while also being the first plains city.
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
allthegalaxies.galaxyzoo.org
A smooth galaxy, observed with the Apache Point 2.5m Telescope in the SDSS survey.

It is at redshift 0.059 (lookback time 819.8 million years) with coordinates (179.99979, 10.69105).

44 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo 2.🔭
A smooth galaxy from the Galaxy Zoo 2 project, classified by 44 volunteers.
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
thomasronge.bsky.social
🚨New publication🚨
A new Exp398 study led by @abigaillily.bsky.social showed that caldera volcanism is associated with rifting on the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, Santorini and Kos Volcanoes may be coupled by regional lithospheric stresses...
#NSFfunded
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Research vessel JOIDES Resolution off the Greek village of Oia, Santorini.
Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens
kaleidoscopesci.bsky.social
#EduSky friends join @scifri.bsky.social for some out of this world fun!
scifri.bsky.social
Train like an astronaut 🚀
Cool your community ❄️
Raise cosmic crops 🌿

Experience these #DownToEarth missions and more this #WorldSpaceWeek: buff.ly/zdH5j1t
Down To Earth