banner
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby
@battersbot.bsky.social
170 followers 52 following 23 posts
Astrophysicist, educator, and mama who likes to play outside. Low-key vibes, fancy degrees. I believe that which unites us is greater than that which divides us, so let's find common ground. Associate Professor at UConn, views my own.
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · Sep 5
Check out my interview with the amazing @fcain.universetoday.com on youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpaE... !!!

This was fun and nerve-wracking, but I am so excited to share my love for science with you all <3 <3
Unveiling The Most Obscured Part of Our Galaxy
YouTube video by Fraser Cain
www.youtube.com
1 4
Reposted by Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby
prima-probe.bsky.social
PRIMA probe @prima-probe.bsky.social · Sep 3
The PRobe Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA) team is excited to announce the release of a special issue in the Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems (JATIS), Volume 11 Issue 03! This issue was edited by Naseem Rangwala and Matt Griffin.
Advanced Search | arXiv e-print repository
arxiv.org
1 5 9
Reposted by Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby
aas.org
American Astronomical Society (AAS) @aas.org · Jun 6
Last week, NASA and NSF released their FY26 budget requests. We list the detailed impacts on the astronomical sciences in this blog post, and share how you can take action today.
aas.org/posts/news/2...

@policy.aas.org
1 37 59
Reposted by Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby
planetdr.bsky.social
Sarah Hörst @planetdr.bsky.social · May 30
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.
140 2.6K 5.6K
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 29
Nervousness aside, I hope I did justice to the amazing science being done by the folks at the Milky Way Laboratory (battersby.physics.uconn.edu/our-team/). I'll share the video when it's published and in the meantime, check out and consider supporting Universe Today (www.patreon.com/cw/universet...)
Team | Professor Cara Battersby
The Milky Way Laboratory Research Team Meet the people who make the science happen! Faculty: Dr. Cara Battersby is the PI and founder of the Milky Way Labor ...
battersby.physics.uconn.edu
1 2
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 29
3) After the fact, I kept thinking of how I could have said something better, an analogy I could have brought up, someone's work I should have mentioned, etc. But I'm pretty sure if you wait to put yourself out there til you are perfect... it won't happen. So, deep breath, leap of faith, go!
1 3
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 29
2) I was SO much more nervous than I expected. I'm used to talking to auditoriums full of people about astronomy, but I was definitely feeling intimidated and majorly starstruck. Feeling in awe of the folks who do this on the reg. how. do. you. do. it??
1 2
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 29
1) Fraser Cain and the team at www.universetoday.com are *awesome*. I've been a fan for a long time, but the work they are doing is more important than ever. High quality, engaging astronomy journalism - now with no ads 🤯. If you're not a fan already GET. ON. THAT. TRAIN.
Home
www.universetoday.com
1 2
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 29
Whew guys, I had a big, fancy, grown-up interview with THE @fcain.universetoday.com today! 🤯😮🤩 You'll be able to check out the interview (mostly me gushing about our fabulous Galactic Center maybe?) on his youtube channel (www.youtube.com/@frasercain) soon.

A few take-aways:
Fraser Cain
Your ultimate guide to all things space with Fraser Cain, Publisher of Universe Today and co-host of Astronomy Cast. Here you can find: 🚀 Space Bites – all the most important space news stories rele...
www.youtube.com
1 7
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 21
The highly filamentary nature of dust and gas in the interstellar medium is a huge topic of discussion and debate, so good observation! Depending on the scale and environment it could be from gravitational flows, turbulence, magnetic fields, some combination or something else entirely!
2
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 21
Perspective! The Sun (and therefore the Earth and all of us!) are deep in the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy, so we see it "edge-on" when we look out. To get a "top-down" perspective you'd need to send a spacecraft several thousand light years above the plane - not practical now or probably ever!
1 2
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 20
Not a dumb question at all! Being in the middle of all the gas and dust of the Milky Way is a big challenge! Most surveys of galaxies just look ABOVE the Galactic plane to avoid it. But I want to understand all the gas and dust of the Galaxy, so I stare straight at it 😜
1 1 3
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 20
Lol, I've already decided we just have to embrace the typos, otherwise, it will drive us crazy 😆
1 1
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 20
Yay, thank you @sarahkendrew.bsky.social ❤️🎉
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 20
to be fair, i literally joined yesterday, but your support is so greatly appreciated 🙏❤️
1
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 20
Love it!!! There is SO SO much more to be seen in the Galactic Center, as perfectly evidenced by the combination with that phenomenal MeerKAT data 😍🤩
1
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 20
haha, yes true! But that's historically been the "universe" that we could access at high spatial resolution. That's changing with new facilities though!
1 1
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 20
I do astrophysics research with an awesome group of students at the Milky Way Lab (battersby.physics.uconn.edu) at UConn and would love to be able to share our most exciting results!
Home | Professor Cara Battersby
Contact InformationEmail: [email protected] Office: Gant South S-113F Virtual Office: https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/meet/cab16109 Phone: (860 ) 486-398 ...
battersby.physics.uconn.edu
1
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 20
Thank you! And yes - how big the universe and its largest structures are is absolutely mind-blowing!
1 1
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 20
yes
1
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 20
Yes exactly! What I wouldn't give for the top-down view... 😮🤩
2 2
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 20
Great thanks! @bot.astronomy.blue
signup
1 1
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 19
By combining with other datasets and cutting edge simulations (see our 3-D CMZ page! centralmolecularzone.github.io/3D_CMZ/) we are creating a top-down model of our Galaxy's center, allowing us to trace gas flows from the disk of the Galaxy, all the way to its center.
3-D CMZ
Unveiling the Structure of our Galaxy’s Central Molecular Zone
centralmolecularzone.github.io
2 13
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 19
By systematically studying light from the entire inner Milky Way, we showed (in Battersby et al. 2025a: ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025ApJ....) that the CMZ is separate and unique in our Galaxy and may be bigger than previously thought.
3D CMZ. I. Central Molecular Zone Overview
The Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) is the largest reservoir of dense molecular gas in the Galaxy and is heavily obscured in the optical and near-IR. We present an overview of the far-IR dust continuum, ...
ui.adsabs.harvard.edu
1 2 19
battersbot.bsky.social
Dr./Prof. Cara Battersby @battersbot.bsky.social · May 19
This image shows three far-infrared wavelengths from the Herschel space observatory (350, 160, and 70 micron) towards the inner 7 degrees of our Galaxy. The "figure 8" shape near the very center is our Central Molecular Zone (CMZ), the site of the most extreme star formation in the Galaxy.
2 2 21