Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · 1d

If it’s half, that’s more than most tenured professors bring in by a lot.

Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · 1d

Remember, if tenure were gone tomorrow, Loeb would certainly be untouched (he brings in tons of private money). The people criticizing him, that’s a bit less clear.

Loeb is an example of why we need tenure, not a reason to get rid of it.

🧪🔭

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · 4d

Extrapolating from growth just at my house, one day the entire universe will be nothing but Rosemary and toddler fingernails. 🧪🔭💅

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · 5d

I’m not the problem here.

Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · 5d

There are two kinds of email inboxes:
0-5 unread emails
>10,000 unread emails.

🧪🔭

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Reposted by Andrew Mann

Science Vs @sciencevs.bsky.social · 7d

This moment from our latest episode with science writer @edyong209.bsky.social is 🔥

We asked Ed — how do we talk up the benefits of science in the face of government cuts? He told us that's the wrong approach. 🧪

Listen wherever, or watch on Spotify 👇

open.spotify.com/episode/7Evh...

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Reposted by Andrew Mann

Emily Hunt @emily.space · 29d

What happens when a star cluster disperses? Well, it forms a stream of stars - and those streams are all around us!

In a new paper by Sebastian Ratzenböck at the CfA / @univie.ac.at, we looked into streams near to the Sun, and found that the Milky Way's disk is *full* of streams! 🔭☄️🧪 #galactic

Figure from the paper showing detected streams in the Milky Way in Cartesian coordinates, where streams are shown as highlighted volumes. The Sun is at X=Y=Z 0 pc (the red cross): so these streams are all around us!

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · Sep 9

!!

Reposted by Andrew Mann

Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · Sep 8

The GRFP lives!! (due end of October)
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

www.nsf.gov

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · Sep 4

What's one more plot when you've already maxed out the AAS publication charges? 🔭🧪🤑💸💰

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Reposted by Andrew Mann

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · Sep 1

This ‘blue states closed schools too long’ narrative is becoming increasingly entrenched in the Polite Center but it’s arguable at best.

Republican states had far more deaths during COVID and their students have roughly comparable learning loss.

Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · Sep 1

I've never seen such a disconnect between Dem elected/staff/consultants and actual Dem voters.

The latter understand what's going on.

The former are awash in right-wing brainrot, hence @schatz.bsky.social blaming COVID mitigation and BLM marches for the GOP's wanton destruction of public health.

Brian Schatz
@brianschatz
·
21h
This is worth reading. I agree it is impossible to justify the govt action then. In Hawaii during Covid, for a time, the bars were open and the schools were not. The smart response to this, however, isn’t to put someone in charge who will cause measles to make a comeback.
Quote
Sean T at RCP
@SeanTrende
·
22h
The damage done by this is incalculable. This, and the closing of churches while liberal-coded institutions were opening was a radicalizing, red-pill moment for so many conservatives. x.com/esotericcd/sta…
Sean T at RCP
@SeanTrende
·
21h
To be clear, I 100% agree, and have never voted for Trump in a primary or a general. As a father of a kiddo with autism, the HHS developments are beyond horrifying. This is descriptive, not prescriptive or justifying.
Brian Schatz
@brianschatz
·
21h
I know what you meant and I’m glad this is a constructive exchange. I think what you are saying is important because I know people for whom Covid and the govt response seemed so kafakaesque as to reorient not just people’s partisan affiliations but everything else.

@SeanTrende
The damage done by this is incalculable. This, and the closing of churches while liberal-coded institutions were opening was a radicalizing, red-pill moment for so many conservatives.
Quote
Jeff Blehar is *BOX OFFICE POISON*
@EsotericCD
·
23h
It was in this moment that many of us hanging on to a thin sliver of trust in our institutions irrevocably lost faith in them. One of the most poisonous blows to public trust in living memory - worse than the effect of the Iraq War in many ways. RFK Jr is a direct result of this. x.com/SteveGuest/sta…
12:22 PM · Aug 31, 2025
·
454.1K
Views

@EsotericCD
It was in this moment that many of us hanging on to a thin sliver of trust in our institutions irrevocably lost faith in them. One of the most poisonous blows to public trust in living memory - worse than the effect of the Iraq War in many ways. RFK Jr is a direct result of this.
Quote
Steve Guest
@SteveGuest
·
Aug 31
Politico 5 years ago:
[screenshot of article falsely claiming public health officials lied about COVID measures then abandoned them for BLM protests]
Views

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · Sep 1

not worth as much since the new speeder came out

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · Aug 30

For reference, the call was open but this time every prior year since I was a student usually with an October deadline.

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · Aug 30

So… will there be an NSF GRFP call this year? 🧪🔭

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Reposted by Andrew Mann

Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · Aug 23

Hi astro 🔭 sky, I heard that the NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoc Fellowship (AAPF) is not being offered this year. Is that correct? I know it was cut in the PBR, but I wasn't sure what that meant in practice. Typically app would have opened Aug 15. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships (AAPF)

www.nsf.gov

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Reposted by Andrew Mann

Ethan Vishniac 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇺🇸 @ethan-vishniac.bsky.social · Aug 21

Some personal news.
🔭
aas.org/press/ethan-...

Announcing one’s retirement two years in advance may strike a lot of people as excessive notice, but I expect the search for my successsor to be time-consuming (and I was determined not to extend my tenure beyond the announced date).

Ethan Vishniac to Step Down as Editor in Chief of AAS Journals in 2027 | American Astronomical Society

Dr. Vishniac’s retirement will mark the end of a 12-year term, during which he has led the journals through a period of remarkable growth and innovation.

aas.org

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · Aug 18

It's a GI program for funding and cadence. Some TESS programs are also for time on other telescopes (simultaneous observations), but most are for funding or to get certain targets at the faster download.

That's why it's a weird situation to in - funding is the MAIN output of the TESS GI program.

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · Aug 18

Apparently zero TESS proposals were "selected" because they don't know about funding. Best ranking you can get is "selectable". 🧪🔭 #exoplanets

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · Aug 15

I’m only familiar with two songs about rainbows 🌈 and yet one of them opens with a question asking why there are so many such songs.

kermit the frog is holding a banjo and says someday we 'll find it

ALT: kermit the frog is holding a banjo and says someday we 'll find it

media.tenor.com

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · Aug 15

I have bad news for all of you, while the AIs can't tell how many Rs there are in Strawberry, they can absolutely replace [at] with @ and [dot] with .

Scrapers could do this a decade ago. You aren't protecting your email from anything. Get a better spam filter.

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · Aug 14

Wat...
👽🔭🧪

"The Loeb Scale: Astronomical Classification of Interstellar Objects"
a paper from arxiv. Dude named a scale after himself...

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · Aug 12

Spoken like someone who has never actually tried to make such a call to a university admissions office.
I've been at multiple institutions where tiny changes (like not accepting GRE scores) took 1-2 weeks of emails.

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Reposted by Andrew Mann

Joey Rodriguez @astrojrod.bsky.social · Aug 12

We were able to get the application portal closed for the astronomy graduate program at @michiganstateu.bsky.social for the upcoming cycle. Not an ideal circumstance, but we wanted to communicate this to the community as early as possible.

Yvette Cendes @whereisyvette.bsky.social · Jul 30

Sign of the times- Michigan State, one of the biggest astronomy programs in the USA, is not accepting ANY applications for its graduate program this year 😖

🔭🧪🎢

Text detailing how MSU isn’t accepting grad applications for astronomy on their website

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Reposted by Andrew Mann

Yvette Cendes @whereisyvette.bsky.social · Jul 30

Sign of the times- Michigan State, one of the biggest astronomy programs in the USA, is not accepting ANY applications for its graduate program this year 😖

🔭🧪🎢

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Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · Aug 12

2+2 = 3.99999999999 and you can't convince me otherwise.

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