Mordecai-Mark Mac Low
@astrocurator.bsky.social
Researching the formation of planets, stars, and galaxies, mostly through numerical simulations. Curator-in-Charge, Dept. of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History. All opinions are my own and not the institution's.
Reposted by Mordecai-Mark Mac Low
Proposed NOAA budget zeros out ALL climate laboratories and cooperative institutions.
GFDL, NSSL, GML, etc.
This appears to also end the US greenhouse gas sampling network, including at Mauna Loa, the oldest continuous carbon dioxide monitoring site on Earth.
www.commerce.gov/sites/defaul...
GFDL, NSSL, GML, etc.
This appears to also end the US greenhouse gas sampling network, including at Mauna Loa, the oldest continuous carbon dioxide monitoring site on Earth.
www.commerce.gov/sites/defaul...
June 30, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Proposed NOAA budget zeros out ALL climate laboratories and cooperative institutions.
GFDL, NSSL, GML, etc.
This appears to also end the US greenhouse gas sampling network, including at Mauna Loa, the oldest continuous carbon dioxide monitoring site on Earth.
www.commerce.gov/sites/defaul...
GFDL, NSSL, GML, etc.
This appears to also end the US greenhouse gas sampling network, including at Mauna Loa, the oldest continuous carbon dioxide monitoring site on Earth.
www.commerce.gov/sites/defaul...
Reposted by Mordecai-Mark Mac Low
I’ve been a bit quiet on here lately, but I’ve been working on a project.
After 65 hours of integration, my largest and longest astro image to date is finally complete. This is a 4-panel mosaic of the Fighting Dragons of Ara 🐉🔥
#Astrophotography #nebula #NGC6188 #FightingDragonsOfAra #tasmania
After 65 hours of integration, my largest and longest astro image to date is finally complete. This is a 4-panel mosaic of the Fighting Dragons of Ara 🐉🔥
#Astrophotography #nebula #NGC6188 #FightingDragonsOfAra #tasmania
June 30, 2025 at 8:28 PM
I’ve been a bit quiet on here lately, but I’ve been working on a project.
After 65 hours of integration, my largest and longest astro image to date is finally complete. This is a 4-panel mosaic of the Fighting Dragons of Ara 🐉🔥
#Astrophotography #nebula #NGC6188 #FightingDragonsOfAra #tasmania
After 65 hours of integration, my largest and longest astro image to date is finally complete. This is a 4-panel mosaic of the Fighting Dragons of Ara 🐉🔥
#Astrophotography #nebula #NGC6188 #FightingDragonsOfAra #tasmania
I'm advising one NSF graduate fellow working on understanding how heavy elements produced by the first stars mixed into subsequent generations of stars, ultimately leading to our own existence, and have another considering thesis work with me on planet formation.
Well... I just found out today that the proposed FY26 president's budget will eliminate the NSF graduate research fellowship program that is funding my Ph.D. I have an award in progress, too. This won't just affect future funding or applications.
June 29, 2025 at 12:17 AM
I'm advising one NSF graduate fellow working on understanding how heavy elements produced by the first stars mixed into subsequent generations of stars, ultimately leading to our own existence, and have another considering thesis work with me on planet formation.
Reposted by Mordecai-Mark Mac Low
Well... I just found out today that the proposed FY26 president's budget will eliminate the NSF graduate research fellowship program that is funding my Ph.D. I have an award in progress, too. This won't just affect future funding or applications.
June 27, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Well... I just found out today that the proposed FY26 president's budget will eliminate the NSF graduate research fellowship program that is funding my Ph.D. I have an award in progress, too. This won't just affect future funding or applications.
Well, ready to gamble?
Advice distilled from an NSF PO:
Apply for NSF funding this year. Because NSF's current policy is to forward-fund active projects (e.g. pay down their mortgage on the future years of funding), there are plausible budget scenarios where NSF has a LARGE budge to spend next fiscal year (on your grant)
Apply for NSF funding this year. Because NSF's current policy is to forward-fund active projects (e.g. pay down their mortgage on the future years of funding), there are plausible budget scenarios where NSF has a LARGE budge to spend next fiscal year (on your grant)
June 27, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Well, ready to gamble?
Reposted by Mordecai-Mark Mac Low
A huge blow was dealt to hurricane forecasters this week as a critical tool was abruptly terminated by the Department of Defense and NOAA. The immediate discontinuation of data from three weather satellites will severely impact hurricane forecasts this season and beyond. More ⬇️
Critical Hurricane Forecast Tool Abruptly Terminated
U.S. Department of Defense announced Tuesday it would no longer process and deliver data essential to most hurricane forecasts
michaelrlowry.substack.com
June 26, 2025 at 1:17 PM
A huge blow was dealt to hurricane forecasters this week as a critical tool was abruptly terminated by the Department of Defense and NOAA. The immediate discontinuation of data from three weather satellites will severely impact hurricane forecasts this season and beyond. More ⬇️
The destruction of the US scientific enterprise continues. Or, at least, work from home just got another boost.
NEW: NSF will be kicked out of their building. Announcement will be made tomorrow by HUD Sec. and Governor of VA. HUD will take over the NSF building over the next two years.
NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
June 25, 2025 at 12:03 AM
The destruction of the US scientific enterprise continues. Or, at least, work from home just got another boost.
Join the American Physical Society @apsphysics.bsky.social in opposing crippling cuts to US science funding. www.aps.org/initiatives/...
Support Federal Science Funding: A Call to Action
The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance physics by fostering a vibrant, inclusive, and global community dedicated to science and society.
www.aps.org
June 24, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Join the American Physical Society @apsphysics.bsky.social in opposing crippling cuts to US science funding. www.aps.org/initiatives/...
Jargon overload: I am revising two papers using the acronym SFE. In one of them it stands for star formation efficiency, while in the other it stands for surface free energy. Yikes!
June 23, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Jargon overload: I am revising two papers using the acronym SFE. In one of them it stands for star formation efficiency, while in the other it stands for surface free energy. Yikes!
Reposted by Mordecai-Mark Mac Low
I am privileged to announce the publication of the Anti-Autocracy Handbook: sks.to/autocracy 1/12
The Anti-Autocracy Handbook: A Scholars' Guide to Navigating Democratic Backsliding
The Anti-Autocracy Handbook is a call to action, resilience, and collective defence of democracy, truth, and academic freedom in the face of mounting authoritarianism. It tries to provide guidance to ...
sks.to
June 19, 2025 at 9:44 AM
I am privileged to announce the publication of the Anti-Autocracy Handbook: sks.to/autocracy 1/12
New @amnh.org curator Jackie Faherty's (co-mentored) student celebrating her thesis defense. Congratulations!
I successfully defended my thesis and am now Dr. Caprice Phillips (its got a nice ring to it!). So thankful for my advisors and mentors including Jackie Faherty and @ohdearz.bsky.social and friends who were here to support me. Im the 2nd Black women to get a PhD from my department. Full of joy.
June 17, 2025 at 3:19 PM
New @amnh.org curator Jackie Faherty's (co-mentored) student celebrating her thesis defense. Congratulations!
Reposted by Mordecai-Mark Mac Low
🚀 Curious about how the Museum produces its iconic Hayden Planetarium Space Shows? Join us on June 25 for a look at the making of the Museum’s new Space Show: Encounters in the Milky Way. Learn how scientists transformed data into a journey through our galactic neighborhood: bit.ly/4jQi2AE
Behind the Scenes of a Planetarium Show | AMNH
Go behind the scenes of Encounters in the Milky Way with the creative team behind the Museum’s latest Space Show.
bit.ly
June 16, 2025 at 6:38 PM
🚀 Curious about how the Museum produces its iconic Hayden Planetarium Space Shows? Join us on June 25 for a look at the making of the Museum’s new Space Show: Encounters in the Milky Way. Learn how scientists transformed data into a journey through our galactic neighborhood: bit.ly/4jQi2AE
The famously draft-dodging president violating 4 U.S. Code § 9 "Conduct during ... passing of flag":
"During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag or when the flag is passing in a parade or in review, all persons present in uniform should render the military salute.
(1/2)
"During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag or when the flag is passing in a parade or in review, all persons present in uniform should render the military salute.
(1/2)
June 15, 2025 at 1:11 AM
The famously draft-dodging president violating 4 U.S. Code § 9 "Conduct during ... passing of flag":
"During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag or when the flag is passing in a parade or in review, all persons present in uniform should render the military salute.
(1/2)
"During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag or when the flag is passing in a parade or in review, all persons present in uniform should render the military salute.
(1/2)
An amazing valedictory piece by Dennis Overbye on my colleague Carter Emmart's career as Director of Astrovisualization at @amnh.org. I've had the immense privilege of working with him multiple times, resulting in planetarium shows seen around the world (Journey to the Stars and Dark Universe).
Carter Emmart, director of astrovisualization at the Museum, spoke to @nytimes.com about his decade-spanning career of creating Space Shows for the Hayden Planetarium. Before his retirement later this year, he directed one last Space Show: Encounters in the Milky Way, which just opened this week.
Traveling the Cosmos With Carter Emmart, One Last Time
For nearly three decades he has created mesmerizing planetarium shows at the American Museum of Natural History. But other galaxies await.
bit.ly
June 14, 2025 at 3:56 PM
An amazing valedictory piece by Dennis Overbye on my colleague Carter Emmart's career as Director of Astrovisualization at @amnh.org. I've had the immense privilege of working with him multiple times, resulting in planetarium shows seen around the world (Journey to the Stars and Dark Universe).
#nokingsday is even being covered by Fox... #nokings
June 14, 2025 at 3:34 PM
#nokingsday is even being covered by Fox... #nokings
Reposted by Mordecai-Mark Mac Low
Please tell me people have flooded his social media accounts with this Obi-wan GIF.
two men are standing next to each other and one of them is saying that 's no moon it 's a space station
ALT: two men are standing next to each other and one of them is saying that 's no moon it 's a space station
media.tenor.com
June 13, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Please tell me people have flooded his social media accounts with this Obi-wan GIF.
Hitler: burned down the Legislature
Putin: blew up five apartment buildings
TACO: 300 demonstrators in LA.
Stephen Miller isn't the sharpest tool in the shed even if he is a world-class hater.
Putin: blew up five apartment buildings
TACO: 300 demonstrators in LA.
Stephen Miller isn't the sharpest tool in the shed even if he is a world-class hater.
June 9, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Hitler: burned down the Legislature
Putin: blew up five apartment buildings
TACO: 300 demonstrators in LA.
Stephen Miller isn't the sharpest tool in the shed even if he is a world-class hater.
Putin: blew up five apartment buildings
TACO: 300 demonstrators in LA.
Stephen Miller isn't the sharpest tool in the shed even if he is a world-class hater.
Reposted by Mordecai-Mark Mac Low
BREAKING: Texas lawmakers passed S.B. 37, which dramatically increases state control of public universities.
Allowing politically appointed bureaucrats to police curricula and override faculty expertise is a direct threat to academic freedom in Texas.
Allowing politically appointed bureaucrats to police curricula and override faculty expertise is a direct threat to academic freedom in Texas.
May 31, 2025 at 8:36 PM
BREAKING: Texas lawmakers passed S.B. 37, which dramatically increases state control of public universities.
Allowing politically appointed bureaucrats to police curricula and override faculty expertise is a direct threat to academic freedom in Texas.
Allowing politically appointed bureaucrats to police curricula and override faculty expertise is a direct threat to academic freedom in Texas.
Reposted by Mordecai-Mark Mac Low
📡Our antenna is getting into position. Our station engineers are pointing the antenna towards Voyager.
May 31, 2025 at 7:07 PM
📡Our antenna is getting into position. Our station engineers are pointing the antenna towards Voyager.
Proposed US retreat from the Solar System.
The Presidents Budget Request for NASA is out. It’s a bloodbath
Canceled are DAVINCI, VERITAS, Juno, OSIRIS-APEX, US participation in ExoMars and EnVision…
Huge cut to R&A. No funding to begin development of the Uranus Orbiter.
If you’ve ever cared about NASA, time to contact congress.
Canceled are DAVINCI, VERITAS, Juno, OSIRIS-APEX, US participation in ExoMars and EnVision…
Huge cut to R&A. No funding to begin development of the Uranus Orbiter.
If you’ve ever cared about NASA, time to contact congress.
May 31, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Proposed US retreat from the Solar System.
Looks like I may have to start learning the rules and residency requirements for European Research Council grants if I want to continue funded research in understanding how our planet and star formed in context.
It’s Fustilarian Friday again.
This week: NSF all but abolished in the President’s proposed budget.
This week: NSF all but abolished in the President’s proposed budget.
Presidential budget is out. Here's NSF. Biggest cut, by amount, is $1 billion, or 66.8%, from MPS (Physics & Math directorate). nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF...
May 31, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Looks like I may have to start learning the rules and residency requirements for European Research Council grants if I want to continue funded research in understanding how our planet and star formed in context.
Reposted by Mordecai-Mark Mac Low
The fact that the U.S. is turning inward and potentially set to decimate the science from its own space program while China is offering up its recently returned lunar samples for researchers around the world to analyze speaks volumes as to how the tides of science are going to shift.
May 31, 2025 at 12:33 AM
The fact that the U.S. is turning inward and potentially set to decimate the science from its own space program while China is offering up its recently returned lunar samples for researchers around the world to analyze speaks volumes as to how the tides of science are going to shift.
The actual definition of "Habitable Zone"
Your annual PSA that the 'habitable zone' is defined as where a planet like Earth, with an atmosphere like Earth's, could have liquid water on the surface. THAT'S ALL. Any other planet in the same place is not necessarily habitable.
The Earth Could Have Liquid Water On The Surface (ECHaLWOTS) Zone.
The Earth Could Have Liquid Water On The Surface (ECHaLWOTS) Zone.
May 30, 2025 at 7:04 PM
The actual definition of "Habitable Zone"
It's a grift all the way down, isn't it?
FDA chief Marty Makary says that diabetics should be given cooking classes instead of insulin.
I found the textbook.
I found the textbook.
May 28, 2025 at 10:54 AM
It's a grift all the way down, isn't it?