xkcd.com/2762/

I know, right? I think the Universe owes me a Milky Way supernova in my lifetime.

I fact checked the social media for this release. Normally I just have to review the astronomy. For this one, I also had to learn about platypus biology.

Thanks! Here's hoping that 2026 will be much better than 2025.

If you like my content on here, and you want to support me as I figure things out, you can buy me a coffee: ko-fi.com/kellylepo

I'm still trying to figure out my next steps. I have a few creative projects in the works that I finally have time to finish. I'm also open to freelance writing, editing, teaching, and curriculum design gigs.

Just saw this. I've been ignoring Arp Bot over the winter break.

You can have rich text links like that when posting via the Bluesky API, but not through the app/website. I don't see many other people doing it, but I was a little desperate to get extra characters, lol.

github.com/MarshalX/atp...

In the run-up to launch, as the date was pushed back a few times and it was looking more and more likely that it would be in late December, I was told that JWST would launch any day except Christmas Day. The workers at the Spaceport would not work the holiday. I'm glad they made an exception.

The Universe doesn't have a center. As far as we know, it extends infinitely in all directions.

Representing our view of the 3D Universe in 2D is always imperfect. It's like making a map of the Earth from a globe.

The images are a map projection of the sky centered on the center of the Milky Way.

The science data are huge! These press release images are 0.1% of the full-resolution SPHEREx data images.

First image: Wavelengths of light emitted by stars. We see millions of stars in the Milky Way, the Large and Small Magallanic Clouds, and some background galaxies.

Second image: Wavelengths of light emitted by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (red), a type of cosmic dust, and hydrogen gas (blue).