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kellylepo.bsky.social
Kelly Lepo
@kellylepo.bsky.social
3.2K followers 340 following 1.2K posts
Astronomer | Science communicator | Adult Lisa Simpson
Education and Outreach Scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute (@stsci.edu) supporting JWST.
Personal account — Views are my own
Also on Mastodon: @[email protected]
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
astroryan.bsky.social
Very excited to share the NASA/ESA/STScI press release of our team's work on Apep! It's a terrific writeup, complete with a brand new beautiful visualisation of the nebula geometry.
1/? ⚛️🔭🧪
science.nasa.gov/missions/web...
Webb First to Show 4 Dust Shells 'Spiraling' Apep, Limits Long Orbit - NASA Science
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has delivered a first of its kind: a crisp mid-infrared image of a system of four serpentine spirals of dust, one expanding
science.nasa.gov
November 19, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
hbhammel.bsky.social
Here are the #I/ATLAS releases from varied NASA/ESA missions. Having worked with such telescope & spacecraft data for 40 years, my perspective is: no surprises. It's a comet; its differences from Solar System comets are intriguing but every comet is different! science.nasa.gov/solar-system...
November 19, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
astrokatie.com
Just want to emphasize here that this is an image of an INTERSTELLAR COMET taken by a camera orbiting MARS. Space is so cool!
alexwitze.bsky.social Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 6d
NASA's pix of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS are now up science.nasa.gov/solar-system...

This is the HiRISE/MRO image ⬇️
A blurry white fuzz in the center of a black frame.
November 19, 2025 at 8:30 PM
kellylepo.bsky.social
I'm glad this is finally out after the government shutdown!

JWST's images of dusty, spiraling shells around Wolf-Rayet star binaries are my favorite.
stsci.edu Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 6d
Three #NASAWebb discoveries in ONE! Webb shows there are FOUR dust shells (only one was previously seen), allowing researchers to narrow the stars’ orbit of one another to a LONG 190 years. Plus, they confirmed a third star is part of the “party”: https://bit.ly/4n1tpas 🔭 🧪
November 19, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
megschwamb.bsky.social
NASA will host a live event at 3 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Nov. 19, to share imagery of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS collected by a number of the agency’s missions. The event will take place at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. www.nasa.gov/news-release... ☄️🔭
NASA to Share Comet 3I/ATLAS Images From Spacecraft, Telescopes - NASA
NASA will host a live event at 3 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Nov. 19, to share imagery of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS collected by a number of the agency’s
www.nasa.gov
November 17, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
rami.spaceaustralia.com
Well, here's some very exciting news!

I've been wanting to share this for a few months, but had to wait for the pre-print to drop.

A NEW GLITCH ON A MILLISECOND PULSAR HAS BEEN OBSERVED!

These events are extremely rare - only two others since MSPs discovered.

🔭🧪📡
spaceaustralia.com SpaceAustralia.com @spaceaustralia.com · 8d
For only the third time ever, a glitch event has been observed on a millisecond #pulsar.

@rami.spaceaustralia.com chats with lead author and PhD candidate Bhavnesh Bhat about the significance of this important, yet rare, event.

www.spaceaustralia.com/news/new-gli...

#SpaceAustralia

📸 NASA SVS
November 17, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
spahn711.bsky.social
My entire timeline rn.
A two frame meme from Seinfeld. The top frame is a picture of Jerry basking in a red glow. "Good lord! Whats happening in there?" The bottom frame is Kramer in his doorway, also basked in a red glow. "Aurora borealis."
November 12, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
celestelabedz.bsky.social
Submit them to Aurorasaurus!!! They're an NSF funded project out of University of New Mexico that takes crowdsourced aurora observations for research purposes:
www.aurorasaurus.org
Aurorasaurus - Reporting Auroras from the Ground Up
Friends, see my real-time #aurora report on the aurorasaurus.org map! Follow us on www.facebook.com/aurorasaurus.org. Reporting #northernlights and #citizenscience from the ground up since 2012!
www.aurorasaurus.org
November 12, 2025 at 3:25 AM
kellylepo.bsky.social
Auroras from north of Baltimore, MD.

Taken with a long exposure on my phone. They are just barely visible to the naked eye. 🔭🧪
A night scene showing the sky lit up with red and green auroras. The lower half of the frame is filled with silhouetted trees. The upper half shows the night sky. Near the horizon, the sky glows green. Above this is a wide, faint red band with smaller red streaks. A few stars appear as points of white. A night scene showing the sky lit up with red and green auroras. The lower half of the frame is filled with silhouetted trees. Leaves from a tree are out of focus in the foreground near the left edge of the frame. The upper half shows the night sky. Near the horizon, the sky glows green. Above this is a wide, red band with smaller red streaks. Above this are thin, white clouds. A few stars appear as points of white.
November 12, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
hbhammel.bsky.social
3I/ATLAS is behaving just as a comet should. No shenanigans. Looking forward to the possibility of JUICE (a European spacecraft heading eventually to Jupiter) observing this object in the coming weeks!
marshall-eubanks.bsky.social Marshall Eubanks @marshall-eubanks.bsky.social · 27d
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.
Magnitude estimates for the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS.
October 31, 2025 at 3:28 PM
kellylepo.bsky.social
A video I made for last night's @aot-baltimore.bsky.social event.

A group of astronomers must defeat a group of demon paleontologists who are trying to steal their fans 🔭 🦖

youtu.be/PCAPX1UjTWA
Sci-Comm Demon Hunters - Astronomy on Tap Baltimore
YouTube video by Kelly Lepo
youtu.be
October 30, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
ligo.org
We are pleased to announce our discovery of #GW241011 and #GW241110

Both come from binary black holes where one black hole is much larger than the other. The larger black holes have large spin. Could these black holes have formed in a previous merger?

ligo.org/science-summ...

#O4IsHere 🔭🧪⚛️☄️
Infographic about GW241011 and GW241110 GW241011's source contained black holes about 13 and 8 times the mass of our Sun. The spin of the bigger black hole is high and bear aligned with the orbit. GW241110's source contained black holes about 17 and 8 times the mass of our Sun. The spin of the larger black hole is high and near anti-aligned with the orbit. Credit: Shanika Galaudage/Northwestern University/Adler Planetarium
October 29, 2025 at 1:58 PM
kellylepo.bsky.social
I'll be there with a very special intro video. Hint: 🦖
aot-baltimore.bsky.social Astronomy on Tap Baltimore @aot-baltimore.bsky.social · 29d
Astronomy on Tap is happening TOMORROW!

Come join us at Guilford Hall Brewery starting at 7:30 pm (doors open at 7:00 pm) for a spooky evening of astronomy trivia, beer, and space knowledge!

(Costumes not required, but encouraged.)
a skeleton with a pumpkin head is standing in front of a gravestone that says r.i.p.
ALT: a skeleton with a pumpkin head is standing in front of a gravestone that says r.i.p.
media.tenor.com
October 27, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
astroerika.bsky.social
Want to know more about my recent paper about this cool geriatric white dwarf eating its planets? 🤩

It’s all detailed in this news article by @stsci.edu ! 🔭
stsci.edu Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · Oct 22
Astronomers have found a rare, ancient planetary system 145 light-years away, where a white dwarf star is actively consuming debris from a disrupted planet—the oldest and most “polluted” disk ever seen around such a star: https://bit.ly/47mYktj 🔭 🧪
At image center is a small, white star against a gray background. It is surrounded by a large translucent disk with rings and gaps that extends from upper left to lower right. In the foreground, irregular chunky rocks are floating in space along the bottom of the frame. A stream of material extends from lower right toward the central star. The words, artist’s concept are at lower left.
October 22, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
wikipedia.org
The answer to the Olbers' paradox lies in cosmic history: stars have not existed forever, and light from the most distant galaxies is stretched by the expansion of space.

Expand your knowledge about our expanding universe ➡️ w.wiki/3BFu
A diagram illustrating mipmapping, showing texture detail decreasing with distance from the viewer's perspective. Text says: If the universe is filled with countless stars, why isn’t the night sky ablaze with light? Known as Olbers’ paradox, this mystery reveals that the universe has a finite age and is expanding.
October 15, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
benjaminpope.bsky.social
Thrilled to have two years' of work out, in a pair of papers led by @gradientrider.bsky.social and @maxecharles.bsky.social.

We've built a data-driven calibration of the James Webb Interferometer to near its fundamental limits for high-res imaging - explainer at @aunz.theconversation.com!
How we sharpened the James Webb telescope’s vision from a million kilometres away
The only Australian hardware on board the legendary telescope is starting to fulfil its duties.
theconversation.com
October 14, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
theplanetaryguy.bsky.social
Layoff notices at JPL are going out today.

About 11% of the Lab, or 550 people, are being let go.

I'm thinking of my friends and colleagues there, some of whom will still be employed after today and some of whom won't.

I'm sorry you're having to deal with this.
October 14, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
stsci.edu
Why do some rocky planets have atmospheres when others don’t? #NASAWebb and Hubble space telescopes are teaming up to find out. ➡️ https://go.nasa.gov/47a9fFD 🔭 🧪
Artist's concept showing a distant star, with two rocky planets in the foreground. One planet is larger than the other.
October 14, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
stsci.edu
Are you looking for our Public Lecture Series? The 2024 and 2025 lectures are now available on this YouTube channel playlist. 🔭 🧪
STScI Public Lecture Series - YouTube
The STScI Public Lectures Series held monthly presentations on all aspects of astronomy and space telescopes for several decades. Due to changes in funding, ...
youtube.com
October 13, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
marspidermonkey.bsky.social
As a primatologist, Jane Goodall was a huge inspiration to me. I admired the way she describes chimpanzee behavior with such detail and empathy, and she’s inspired so many people and advocated for chimpanzee conservation and welfare.

However, I'm dismayed at what her narrative leaves out (1/10)
Photo of Jane Goodall in the center, signing a book, with three women standing slightly hunched behind her. A very young Michelle is to the right, smiling.
October 2, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
jradavenport.com
Glad to see an amazing astronomer on the list of MacArthur awards this year - congrats to Kareem El-Badry! 🔭
www.macfound.org/fellows/clas...
Kareem El-Badry
Expanding our knowledge of binary star systems, black holes, and other wonders of the universe.
www.macfound.org
October 9, 2025 at 4:37 PM
kellylepo.bsky.social
Interesting article on the technical details of how Hubble and JWST observations are scheduled, from the STScI newsletter.

www.stsci.edu/contents/new...
Planning and Scheduling Observations with Hubble and Webb
www.stsci.edu
October 9, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
arpbot.bsky.social
Also known as Arp 189.
pomarede.bsky.social Daniel Pomarède @pomarede.bsky.social · Oct 5
CFHT Astronomy Image Of The Month

The Umbrella Galaxy (NGC 4651)

Credits: data obtained using the MegaCam camera on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope; image by Jean-Charles Cuillandre (CFHT) & Giovanni Anselmi (Coelum); copyright © 2025 CFHT
www.cfht.hawaii.edu/HawaiianStar... 🧪🔭
A photography of the spiral galaxy NGC 4651. This member of the Virgo Cluster is known as the Umbrella Galaxy due to the umbrella-shaped structure that extends from its disk and that is composed of stellar streams, being the remnants of a much smaller galaxy that has been torn apart by NGC 4651's tidal forces.
October 7, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Reposted by Kelly Lepo
arpbot.bsky.social
Image of Arp 85, also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy or M51, from Halton Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies (1966).

In the original catalog it was in the category: Spiral galaxies - Large, high surface brightness companions.
Source
A grainy, black and white image of two galaxies. The larger of the two galaxies, a spiral, is on the left side of the image. Two well-defined arms extend to from its center and form loose spirals around the middle. The smaller galaxy on the far-right side is fuzzy sphere. The view of this smaller galaxy is partially obstructed by the tip of one of the arms of the spiral galaxy, which appears to cover the top third of the smaller galaxy. Many white dots, stars, are seen on the black background.
October 2, 2025 at 12:31 AM
kellylepo.bsky.social
We have found many rocky planets orbiting cool, red dwarf stars. But do these planets have atmospheres?

The Rocky Worlds Director’s Discretionary Time program has 500 hours of JWST time plus 250 HST orbits to help answer that question. 🔭🧪

science.nasa.gov/mission/webb...
Illustration showing a distant star, with two rocky planets in the foreground. The star is deep orange and appears to be very active, with dark and light spots and large flares. The planets appear to be the same distance from the star. The planet on the left is significantly smaller than the one on the right. Text beside the planet at left reads, “Smaller planet. Weaker gravity. Lower escape velocity. Atmosphere less likely.” Text for the planet at right reads, “Larger planet. Stronger gravity. Higher escape velocity. Atmosphere more likely.” The small planet at left is gray. The right quarter of the hemisphere is lit by the star. The boundary between the lit and dark sides is sharp. The larger planet at right is blueish white with swirling clouds. The left quarter is lit by the star. The boundary between the lit and dark sides is fuzzy. Illustration showing two star-planet systems, with stars in the background and planets in the foreground. The planets are the same size, but the stars are different colors and distances. The system on the left side of the graphic shows a star that is deep orange and appears to be very active, with dark and light spots and large flares. It appears to be close to the planet. The planet is gray and looks airless. The left quarter of the hemisphere is lit by the star, with a sharp boundary between the lit and dark sides. Text below the planet reads, “More high-energy light from the star. Atmosphere less likely.” The system on the right side of the graphic shows a star that is yellower and appears to be less active and farther away from the planet. The planet is blueish white with swirling clouds. The left quarter is lit by the star. The boundary between the lit and dark sides is fuzzy. Text below the planet reads, “Less high-energy light from the star. Atmosphere more likely.”
October 1, 2025 at 6:42 PM