John Debes
@johndebes.bsky.social
1.2K followers 460 following 780 posts
ESA/AURA astronomer at STScI. Opinions my own. I study exoplanets and disks around stars.
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johndebes.bsky.social
I cracked 1000 followers on Blusky recently and excited to talk to folks about astronomy, exoplanets, being kind to your community, and of course furbabies
Reposted by John Debes
carlzimmer.com
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
Reposted by John Debes
Reposted by John Debes
apnews.com
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted “no one has died” as a result of U.S. foreign aid cuts. In Myanmar, the grieving father of a 2-year-old boy who died after their food rations were cut calls such claims a lie.
Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.
bit.ly
johndebes.bsky.social
Man if they called my wife she would be lecturing them about the gender imbalance of prize winners and then probably lay out the mistake of not awarding one to Vera Rubin 😂
Reposted by John Debes
whitehouse.senate.gov
AG Bondi, here’s that correction you requested.
Reposted by John Debes
Reposted by John Debes
abigaillarson.com
In honor of Edgar Allan Poe's 176th deathday, here are a few of my recent pieces inspired by Poe's works 🫀
Illustration by Abigail Larson depicting a scene from Edgar Allan Poe's poem "Annabel Lee". Two lovers embrace at the edge of the sea, water splashes around them and the surrounding rocks. A full moon shines over them, and storm clouds loom.
Published in "Sticker Jigsaw: The Edgar Allan Poe Collection" 2024 Macmillan illustration by Abigail Larson of a raven perched on a skull with a teal curtain backdrop illustration by Abigail Larson depicting a scene from Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" showing a man restrained as a pendulum blade swings close to him. Rats have swarmed around him, chewing the ropes that hold him down. This illustration is featured in "Sticker Jigsaw: The Edgar Allan Poe Collection" for Macmillan Books. Illustration by Abigail Larson for Macmillan's "Edgar Allan Poe Sticker Jigsaw" book. The illustration is a scene from Edgar Allan Poe's poem, "The Raven". The narrator is at the center of the image looking up at at raven perched above an open doorway. Behind the narrator is a tall window with red curtains, and the ghost of Lenore lurks nearby. A black cat is watching the scene from the lower right corner.
Reposted by John Debes
astrodino.planetngo.ca
It's the start of postdoc job application season again. I see quite a few #astro fellowship postdocs posting the same salary this year as they offered when I was applying in 2016, almost 9 years ago :O

For those who are applying, this was the hardest part of my career! Take care of yourselves <3
johndebes.bsky.social
No—have never invested in that kind of setup before!
Reposted by John Debes
johnilee.bsky.social
Great to see our paper on methanol in TW Hya finally come out today (with Catherine Walsh and Jenny Calahan). A quick overview.... 🔭 ☄️ #radioastro

arxiv.org/abs/2510.04106
Reposted by John Debes
science.esa.int
On the night of 13-14 October, Jupiter's moon #Ganymede will pass in front of star HIP37442.

Observing this occultation pinpoints Ganymede's position even more precisely, helping our Juice mission reach its target.

Can you help?

Details from @obs-paris-psl.bsky.social 👉 bit.ly/4hcPguB
Illustration of the Juice spacecraft seen in space, at Jupiter. Text reads 'Juice needs you'.
johndebes.bsky.social
Just my regular iPhone 15!
johndebes.bsky.social
Deeply creepy that sexual experience is on the list 🤮
Reposted by John Debes
aclu.org
ACLU @aclu.org · 6d
BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador.

Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.
Reposted by John Debes
eso.org
ESO @eso.org · 7d
🆕 Our VLT finds a rogue planet growing at record rate: six billion tonnes a second!

This is the strongest growth rate ever recorded for a planet of any kind, providing insights into how rogue planets form&grow: https://f.mtr.cool/pvyxnsjnfx 

🔭 🧪 ☄️
#exoplanets
Illustration ESO/L. Calçada
A digital illustration of a planet surrounded by a flat gaseous disc, in bright orange tones. In the central parts of the disc, material is flowing from the disc onto the planet along arched trajectories above and below the plane of the disc.
Reposted by John Debes
bartlettastro.bsky.social
Our science is better together

#astrophysics #heliophysics #planetaryscience #earthscience
scixcommunity.bsky.social
Our biggest challenges don’t fit neatly into one field - and neither should their solutions. #SciX connects knowledge across disciplines, making it easier for researchers to share insights, combine methods, and spark unsiloed breakthroughs. #InterdisciplinaryResearch #OpenScience
Reposted by John Debes
startswithabang.bsky.social
Thousands of NASA employees to bid farewell to the NASA they knew

Yes, NASA science is being destroyed, and the NASA we know is actively in the process of being gutted.

Here are the receipts.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro #nasa #usa
Thousands of NASA employees to bid farewell to the NASA they knew
As October begins, thousands of longtime NASA employees are leaving the agency. 4000+ will exit by January 9, 2026, changing NASA forever.
bigthink.com
Reposted by John Debes
dangaristo.bsky.social
Similar/identical language for NSF. Here's my transcription of an email shared with me by staff.

President Trump opposes a government shutdown and strongly supports the enactment of H.R. 5371, which is a clean Continuing Resolution to fund the government through November 21, and already passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Unfortunately, Democrats are blocking the Continuing Resolution in the U.S. Senate due to unrelated policy demands. If Congressional Democrats maintain their current posture and refuse to pass a clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded before midnight on September 30, 2025, federally appropriated funding will lapse. 

A funding lapse will result in certain government activities ceasing due to a lack of appropriated funding. In addition, designated pre-notified employees of this agency would be temporarily furloughed. P.L. 116-1 would apply.

The agency has contingency plans in place for executing an orderly shutdown of activities that would be affected by any lapse in appropriations forced by Congressional Democrats. 

Brian Stone
Performing the Duties of the Director
Reposted by John Debes
sarahkendrew.bsky.social
Astronomers have long been blessed by the existence of #ADS - excited for the new @scixcommunity.bsky.social platform, expanding to other disciplines - developed via NASA #openscience funding. Look forward to trying it out! 🔭🧪
scixcommunity.bsky.social
#SciX is created by the #ADS team & operates out of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under a NASA Cooperative Agreement. Created and developed by scientists, for scientists, SciX builds on decades of open research infrastructure and collaboration: https://bit.ly/CfASciXNews
Reposted by John Debes
melina-iras07572.bsky.social
Star Cluster VVV CL005 with #Hubble in the infrared. The cluster was discovered in 2011 by Borissova et al. in the @eso.org survey VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) #stars

My image processing from today: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VV...
Blue stars surrounded by a nebula.
Reposted by John Debes
mattkenworthy.bsky.social
Wolff, @andrasgaspar.bsky.social et al. with a beautiful analysis of “JWST/MIRI Imaging of the Warm Dust Component of the Epsilon Eridani Debris Disk”, the last of the “Big Four” circumstellar disks with #JWST - a smooth disk at all but the longer wavelengths and hosting an RV #exoplanet ☄️
Four images showing a smooth round disk face on to our line of sight. The longest wavelength image a thin ring can be seen superimposed in the image.
Reposted by John Debes
starlights.bsky.social
🧪🔭☄️
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), top Democrat on Senate Commerce Cmte, is out with a Democratic staff report: "The Destruction of NASA's Mission: Whistleblowers Reveal OMB's Unconstitutional Plot to Gut the Agency."
www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...