Eric Mamajek
@ericmamajek.bsky.social
Guy interested in (exo)planets and stars, and everything in between. Statements and opinions posted here are my own.
Life is something that happens to planet(s).
This lava on east end of Hawaii just solidified in 2018.
Life is processing it.
Just incredible to see how fast life responds to a little challenge like a fresh lava flow.
A mile NE of the 2018 “fissure 8” cone on Kapoho Rd near Puna Geothermal Venture
This lava on east end of Hawaii just solidified in 2018.
Life is processing it.
Just incredible to see how fast life responds to a little challenge like a fresh lava flow.
A mile NE of the 2018 “fissure 8” cone on Kapoho Rd near Puna Geothermal Venture
November 19, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Life is something that happens to planet(s).
This lava on east end of Hawaii just solidified in 2018.
Life is processing it.
Just incredible to see how fast life responds to a little challenge like a fresh lava flow.
A mile NE of the 2018 “fissure 8” cone on Kapoho Rd near Puna Geothermal Venture
This lava on east end of Hawaii just solidified in 2018.
Life is processing it.
Just incredible to see how fast life responds to a little challenge like a fresh lava flow.
A mile NE of the 2018 “fissure 8” cone on Kapoho Rd near Puna Geothermal Venture
@aussiastronomer.bsky.social
Interesting idea for automated plot in NASA Exoplanet Archive?
Interesting idea for automated plot in NASA Exoplanet Archive?
Question for the #exoplanets crowd:
Does any one know where to find an updated version of this plot?
I'm looking for the "standard" exoplanet mass vs. semi-major axis plot, but with an overlay of which planets have a spectroscopic measurement of their atmosphere
wasp-planets.net/2020/09/29/w...
Does any one know where to find an updated version of this plot?
I'm looking for the "standard" exoplanet mass vs. semi-major axis plot, but with an overlay of which planets have a spectroscopic measurement of their atmosphere
wasp-planets.net/2020/09/29/w...
Which exoplanets do we have atmospheric spectra for?
Here’s an interesting plot created by Zafar Rustamkulov (@exoZafar), a PhD student at Johns Hopkins University. He has added up all the exoplanets for which we have either transmission spectr…
wasp-planets.net
November 19, 2025 at 12:24 AM
@aussiastronomer.bsky.social
Interesting idea for automated plot in NASA Exoplanet Archive?
Interesting idea for automated plot in NASA Exoplanet Archive?
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
Great news: Johns Hopkins makes tuition free for most undergraduate students. ($200k/year or less is about 85% of American households.)
hub.jhu.edu/2025/11/13/j...
hub.jhu.edu/2025/11/13/j...
Johns Hopkins becomes tuition-free for undergraduate students from families earning up to $200,000
New tuition promise program will offer free tuition for students from more than 85% of American households and tuition plus living expenses for families earning up to $100,000
hub.jhu.edu
November 13, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Great news: Johns Hopkins makes tuition free for most undergraduate students. ($200k/year or less is about 85% of American households.)
hub.jhu.edu/2025/11/13/j...
hub.jhu.edu/2025/11/13/j...
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
ICE sprays large canister of pepper spray directly into family car—hitting 1 year old baby.
"They were simply shopping at Sam's Club," said man who took video.
"ICE agents drove by and sprayed pepper spray directly inside—where their baby and 16 year old sister sat."
Cicero, Illinois
"They were simply shopping at Sam's Club," said man who took video.
"ICE agents drove by and sprayed pepper spray directly inside—where their baby and 16 year old sister sat."
Cicero, Illinois
November 9, 2025 at 9:14 PM
ICE sprays large canister of pepper spray directly into family car—hitting 1 year old baby.
"They were simply shopping at Sam's Club," said man who took video.
"ICE agents drove by and sprayed pepper spray directly inside—where their baby and 16 year old sister sat."
Cicero, Illinois
"They were simply shopping at Sam's Club," said man who took video.
"ICE agents drove by and sprayed pepper spray directly inside—where their baby and 16 year old sister sat."
Cicero, Illinois
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 2:02 AM
#Roman #Microlensing Data Challenge 2026 (RMDC26) Kickoff Workshop @ #AAS247 in Phoenix, Sunday, January 4, 2026
rges-pit.org/data-challen...
#NASA #exoplanets
rges-pit.org/data-challen...
#NASA #exoplanets
Roman Microlensing Data Challenge 2026 (RMDC26)
Roman Microlensing Data Challenge 2026 (RMDC26): overview, datasets, ground rules, key dates, submission tooling, and AAS 247 workshop details.
rges-pit.org
November 8, 2025 at 12:04 AM
#Roman #Microlensing Data Challenge 2026 (RMDC26) Kickoff Workshop @ #AAS247 in Phoenix, Sunday, January 4, 2026
rges-pit.org/data-challen...
#NASA #exoplanets
rges-pit.org/data-challen...
#NASA #exoplanets
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
Dear Physicists and Physics fans,
I would like to encourage you to celebrate #WomenInPhysics Day this Friday, November 7th.
Why November 7th? Because it is the birthday of two of the most impactful women physicists of the 1900's: Marie Curie and Lise Meitner. 🎢 ⚛️ 🧪 👩🔬
I would like to encourage you to celebrate #WomenInPhysics Day this Friday, November 7th.
Why November 7th? Because it is the birthday of two of the most impactful women physicists of the 1900's: Marie Curie and Lise Meitner. 🎢 ⚛️ 🧪 👩🔬
November 3, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Dear Physicists and Physics fans,
I would like to encourage you to celebrate #WomenInPhysics Day this Friday, November 7th.
Why November 7th? Because it is the birthday of two of the most impactful women physicists of the 1900's: Marie Curie and Lise Meitner. 🎢 ⚛️ 🧪 👩🔬
I would like to encourage you to celebrate #WomenInPhysics Day this Friday, November 7th.
Why November 7th? Because it is the birthday of two of the most impactful women physicists of the 1900's: Marie Curie and Lise Meitner. 🎢 ⚛️ 🧪 👩🔬
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
What is happening at Goddard is absolutely devastating. We are losing history. We are losing an incredible amount of human talent, skill, and knowledge. Rebuilding it will be impossible same for same. Industry can not absorb the people or the equipment. This is undoing space science in the US.
Goddard spacecraft engineer: "I think it just kind of speaks to the atmosphere of the agency and the nation, where people are like, 'Well, laws don't matter for the people at the top anymore.'"
NASA is sinking its flagship science center during the government shutdown — and may be breaking the law in the process, critics say
"There is just a general acknowledgement that a lot of what is happening is illegal…"
www.space.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:43 PM
What is happening at Goddard is absolutely devastating. We are losing history. We are losing an incredible amount of human talent, skill, and knowledge. Rebuilding it will be impossible same for same. Industry can not absorb the people or the equipment. This is undoing space science in the US.
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
“Tens or hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded NASA property and laboratories are at risk of either being discarded, mishandled, or out-of-commission for significant time periods.” 🔭🧪
www.gesta-goddard.org/blog/gestas-...
www.gesta-goddard.org/blog/gestas-...
GESTA’s Summary of Goddard Building Closures Status
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is the largest group of scientists, technicians and engineers in the US who develop Earth and space science flight missions. Below is GESTA's understanding of the...
www.gesta-goddard.org
November 6, 2025 at 2:50 AM
“Tens or hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded NASA property and laboratories are at risk of either being discarded, mishandled, or out-of-commission for significant time periods.” 🔭🧪
www.gesta-goddard.org/blog/gestas-...
www.gesta-goddard.org/blog/gestas-...
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
After 13 years as the top federal workplace, NASA is facing an employee exodus and months of turmoil after deep budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration.
If fully implemented, the changes could reshape U.S. science for years.
If fully implemented, the changes could reshape U.S. science for years.
NASA has lost thousands of workers. Here’s what that means for science.
Staffers told The Post about months of turmoil and sweeping changes that, if fully implemented, could transform NASA and American science beyond the Trump years.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:30 PM
After 13 years as the top federal workplace, NASA is facing an employee exodus and months of turmoil after deep budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration.
If fully implemented, the changes could reshape U.S. science for years.
If fully implemented, the changes could reshape U.S. science for years.
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
Reposting to correct an error: trump admin is quietly gutting 13 buildings and about 100 laboratories at Goddard campus that has been instrumental to Hubble and James Webb telescope missions. Staff say they’ve be locked and told to move equipment. Anything left behind will be thrown away.
NASA may be quietly gutting an iconic campus with what it calls strategic closures, workers fear
(CNN) — Alarm is growing among federal workers at NASA’s iconic Goddard Space Flight Center’s main campus in Greenbelt, Maryland — the nerve center for groundbreaking missions like the Hubble
www.wkow.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposting to correct an error: trump admin is quietly gutting 13 buildings and about 100 laboratories at Goddard campus that has been instrumental to Hubble and James Webb telescope missions. Staff say they’ve be locked and told to move equipment. Anything left behind will be thrown away.
If even half of what is in this article is true, the effects may set #NASA and US space program back **decades**. #AAS #astrophysics
'“In terms of future missions, once this lab goes away, we won’t be able to do anything like it again,” one Goddard employee said.'
'“In terms of future missions, once this lab goes away, we won’t be able to do anything like it again,” one Goddard employee said.'
November 5, 2025 at 6:36 PM
If even half of what is in this article is true, the effects may set #NASA and US space program back **decades**. #AAS #astrophysics
'“In terms of future missions, once this lab goes away, we won’t be able to do anything like it again,” one Goddard employee said.'
'“In terms of future missions, once this lab goes away, we won’t be able to do anything like it again,” one Goddard employee said.'
Big congrats to Jennifer Burt, Xavier Dumusque, and Sam Halverson on finishing their epic (instant classic) Annual Reviews of Astronomy & Astrophysics article "Precise Radial Velocities"!
arxiv.org/abs/2511.01954
contains some great new graphics for talks on
#exoplanets #EPRV #DopplerSpectroscopy
arxiv.org/abs/2511.01954
contains some great new graphics for talks on
#exoplanets #EPRV #DopplerSpectroscopy
November 5, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Big congrats to Jennifer Burt, Xavier Dumusque, and Sam Halverson on finishing their epic (instant classic) Annual Reviews of Astronomy & Astrophysics article "Precise Radial Velocities"!
arxiv.org/abs/2511.01954
contains some great new graphics for talks on
#exoplanets #EPRV #DopplerSpectroscopy
arxiv.org/abs/2511.01954
contains some great new graphics for talks on
#exoplanets #EPRV #DopplerSpectroscopy
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
I have just received from Kevin Walsh of SWRI a re-analysis of the PUNCH data for 3I/ATLAS, & have redone our gas and dust coma prediction models as a result. These new data agree well with the independent reductions of Thomas Lehmann and bode well for the Juice observations starting November 2nd.
October 29, 2025 at 1:05 PM
I have just received from Kevin Walsh of SWRI a re-analysis of the PUNCH data for 3I/ATLAS, & have redone our gas and dust coma prediction models as a result. These new data agree well with the independent reductions of Thomas Lehmann and bode well for the Juice observations starting November 2nd.
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
A personal reflection on the destructive erosion of ethics, norms and respect for law at NASA:
🧪🔭
🧵
🧪🔭
🧵
October 31, 2025 at 2:16 PM
A personal reflection on the destructive erosion of ethics, norms and respect for law at NASA:
🧪🔭
🧵
🧪🔭
🧵
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
Exoplanet atmosphere characterization is built on a foundation of lab data and chemistry. We need more reaction rates, cross sections, & line lists, at a broader range of conditions than the Solar System. Got together with Earth/planetary scientists to comment on this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
How to understand exoplanets — space scientists call on lab-based chemists to help
Stronger links between researchers who work on Earth’s and other planets’ atmospheres, and between the experimental, modelling and observational communities, will help to interpret the astronomical da...
www.nature.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Exoplanet atmosphere characterization is built on a foundation of lab data and chemistry. We need more reaction rates, cross sections, & line lists, at a broader range of conditions than the Solar System. Got together with Earth/planetary scientists to comment on this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
"The NOAA aircraft left the storm early after
experiencing severe turbulence in the southwestern eyewall."
These men and women are not being paid due to the US government shutdown. Not to mention that according to AOML's director emeritus Robert Atlas, they are down 40-50% staff. #Melissa
experiencing severe turbulence in the southwestern eyewall."
These men and women are not being paid due to the US government shutdown. Not to mention that according to AOML's director emeritus Robert Atlas, they are down 40-50% staff. #Melissa
October 27, 2025 at 3:49 PM
"The NOAA aircraft left the storm early after
experiencing severe turbulence in the southwestern eyewall."
These men and women are not being paid due to the US government shutdown. Not to mention that according to AOML's director emeritus Robert Atlas, they are down 40-50% staff. #Melissa
experiencing severe turbulence in the southwestern eyewall."
These men and women are not being paid due to the US government shutdown. Not to mention that according to AOML's director emeritus Robert Atlas, they are down 40-50% staff. #Melissa
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
The Walton family (who own Walmart) are worth over $400 billion, yet many of their employees are on SNAP.
Bezos is worth over $400 billion, many Amazon employees require SNAP.
The people who need help are not the problem.
It’s corporate greed. It’s an unwillingness to pay a living wage.
Bezos is worth over $400 billion, many Amazon employees require SNAP.
The people who need help are not the problem.
It’s corporate greed. It’s an unwillingness to pay a living wage.
October 27, 2025 at 9:08 PM
The Walton family (who own Walmart) are worth over $400 billion, yet many of their employees are on SNAP.
Bezos is worth over $400 billion, many Amazon employees require SNAP.
The people who need help are not the problem.
It’s corporate greed. It’s an unwillingness to pay a living wage.
Bezos is worth over $400 billion, many Amazon employees require SNAP.
The people who need help are not the problem.
It’s corporate greed. It’s an unwillingness to pay a living wage.
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.
October 27, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
Atlantic Hurricane Melissa Advisory Number 18
...MELISSA LIKELY STARTING TO RAPIDLY INTENSIFY AND EXPECTED TO BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE TOMORROW... ...LIFE-THREATENING AND CATASTROPHIC FLASH FLOODING AND LANDSLIDES EXPECTED IN PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN HISPANIOLA AND JAM...
Additional Details Here.
...MELISSA LIKELY STARTING TO RAPIDLY INTENSIFY AND EXPECTED TO BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE TOMORROW... ...LIFE-THREATENING AND CATASTROPHIC FLASH FLOODING AND LANDSLIDES EXPECTED IN PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN HISPANIOLA AND JAM...
Additional Details Here.
October 25, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Atlantic Hurricane Melissa Advisory Number 18
...MELISSA LIKELY STARTING TO RAPIDLY INTENSIFY AND EXPECTED TO BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE TOMORROW... ...LIFE-THREATENING AND CATASTROPHIC FLASH FLOODING AND LANDSLIDES EXPECTED IN PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN HISPANIOLA AND JAM...
Additional Details Here.
...MELISSA LIKELY STARTING TO RAPIDLY INTENSIFY AND EXPECTED TO BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE TOMORROW... ...LIFE-THREATENING AND CATASTROPHIC FLASH FLOODING AND LANDSLIDES EXPECTED IN PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN HISPANIOLA AND JAM...
Additional Details Here.
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
NEWS: Astronomers announce discovery of a "Super-Earth" in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star just 22 light years away
October 24, 2025 at 3:01 PM
NEWS: Astronomers announce discovery of a "Super-Earth" in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star just 22 light years away
Reposted by Eric Mamajek
The amounts of data from the Nancy G. Roman Telescope will be staggering! To prepare for the Mission, become familiar with the tools and data. Our first webinar will be focused on the “Tools for Exploring Roman’s Core Community Surveys". For more information, please check our website: bit.ly/4oaaewG
October 24, 2025 at 5:58 PM
The amounts of data from the Nancy G. Roman Telescope will be staggering! To prepare for the Mission, become familiar with the tools and data. Our first webinar will be focused on the “Tools for Exploring Roman’s Core Community Surveys". For more information, please check our website: bit.ly/4oaaewG