Dr. Adeene Denton
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spacewhalerider.com
Dr. Adeene Denton
@spacewhalerider.com
5.3K followers 210 following 3.4K posts
Planetary scientist, earth + space science historian, dancer/choreographer, part-time community radio DJ. (they/she) 🏳️‍🌈

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spacewhalerider.com
Have you tried just putting more Titan in your proposal
In this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, you can see beneath the atmosphere of Saturn's massive moon Titan to its surface features.
January 8, 2026 at 4:58 PM
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How sacred is it? Glad you asked!
Screenshot of Amazon pricing for the book in the previous post (Impact Cratering). Prices range from $499.99 to $1,091.28
January 2, 2026 at 3:58 AM
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Load-bearing in its sacredness to impact physicists:
Impact Cratering: A Geologic Process by Jay Melosh
January 2, 2026 at 3:57 AM
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It's never too early to start planning to make it through this year!
A meme of a guy who is smiling in a dead-eyed sort of way holding up two finger guns pointed outward. The text reads: I hate when people ask me what I'll be doing this year, come on guys I broke free on a Saturday morning I put the pedal to the floor Headed north on Mills Avenue And listened to the engine roar My broken house behind me and good things ahead A girl named Cathy wants a little of my time Six cylinders underneath the hood crashing and kicking Aha! Listen to the engine wine I am gonna make it through this year (these lyrics are from The Mountain Goats song This Year)
January 1, 2026 at 2:05 PM
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Text that reads: Welcome to 2008!!! in front of a rainbow background
January 1, 2026 at 4:28 AM
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Me trying to work this week:
a tumblr post by certified-silly-guy. A picture of a man from Osaka Aquarium is wearing a surgical mask while holding a white baby seal pup. The picture makes it look like he's staring directly into its eyes. It looks overwhelmed and very young. The picture is captioned: LOCK IN LOCK IN LOCK IN
December 30, 2025 at 4:05 AM
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Getting job rejections this weekend like
Ben Affleck looking extremely tired while standing outside. His eyes are closed, his face is exhausted. He holds a cigarette loosely by his side.
December 28, 2025 at 5:32 PM
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Metallic snow (or maybe frost, depending on your definition of "snow") is radar-bright material at the tops of Venus’ highest mountains, such as Maxwell Montes (11 km high), possibly made of condensed lead sulfide and bismuth sulfide that sublimate at warmer altitudes and condense on mountaintops ❄️
This Magellan full resolution radar image is centered at 65 degrees north latitude, zero degrees east longitude, along the eastern edge of Lakshmi Planum and the western edge of Maxwell Montes. The plains of Lakshmi are made up of radar-dark, homogeneous, smooth lava flows. Located near the center of the image is a feature previously mapped as tessera made up of intersecting 1- to 2-km (0.6 to 1.2 miles) wide graven. The abrupt termination of dark plains against this feature indicates that it has been partially covered by lava. Additional blocks of tessera are located along the left hand edge of the image. A series of linear parallel troughs are located along the southern edge of the image. These features, 60- to 120-km (36- to 72- miles) long and 10- to 40- km (6- to 24- miles) wide are interpreted as graben. Located along the right hand part of the image is Maxwell Montes, the highest mountain on the planet, rising to an elevation of 11.5 km (7 miles) and is part of a series of mountain belts surrounding Lakshmi Planum. The western edge of Maxwell shown in this image rises sharply, 5.0 km (3.0 miles), above the adjacent plains in Lakshmi Planum. Maxwell is made up of parallel ridges 2- to 7-km (1.2- to 4.2 miles) apart and is interpreted to have formed by compressional tectonics. The image is 300 km (180 miles) wide.
December 28, 2025 at 2:01 PM
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Three years ago, I graduated with my PhD on an incredibly cold December day! My Texan family lasted 10 minutes outside to take this photo before begging me to go indoors 😂 I'm so proud of all the science I've been able to accomplish in the last three years, all while moving across the country twice!
Post author leaning with crossed arms in front of a statue of a giant P, which stands for Purdue and has been made to look as if it was carved out of a solid rock face. The post author is wearing their PhD graduation robes, which are black lined with gold and a cool floppy velvet hat, and holding their diploma.
December 19, 2025 at 2:44 PM
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Ahmed is finally getting his student visa so he can get to Europe and start his Masters degree. We're raising money to help pay for his living costs and his flight so he can get there safely (111/360 by January 3). Kick in a $5 if you can! tinyurl.com/HelpAhmedF
A banner that is a gradient from purple-yellow through pink and to yellow-orange. In the background is a painted texture, with a black ink drawing of a great cormorant sitting on rocks in the sea, all in silhouette. The title is dark green and says, "Help survivor Ahmed start his degree." In the bottom corner are some green paint strokes, over which the text reads, "Give: tinyurl.com/HelpAhmedF. Accountability: tiny.cc/HelpAhmed.”
December 19, 2025 at 2:26 PM
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So do we think this person uses their rearview mirror or nah
License plate that reads "Orpheus."
December 8, 2025 at 4:43 PM
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Let's start with this - Pluto and Charon aren't slow burn either! I am ON THE RECORD in articles and on podcasts that Pluto and Charon are U-Haul lesbians. This is fundamental to the impact. Let's revisit the video:
December 5, 2025 at 6:23 PM
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My paper got covered by a sci-comm person on Instagram, which is super cool! But I feel compelled to clarify a point raised by this comment: the Earth-Moon collision is NOT enemies to lovers! To explain why, I need to return to the differences in the geophysical responses between these systems.
Screenshot from an instagram reel showing the comments. The person in the reel is saying "an incredibly gentle" while citing "Capture of an ancient Charon around Pluto by C. Adeene Denton et al., 2025, Nature Geoscience." The comment says "Oh, so the Earth and the Moon were enemies to lovers and Pluto and Charon were a slow burn, yearning romance.
December 5, 2025 at 6:21 PM
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December mood:
License plate that reads: I'm sad License plate that reads: I'm tired
December 3, 2025 at 11:47 PM
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Speaking more seriously, my gender is whatever Hyperion has going on
Hyperion, a moon of Saturn, seen from Cassini. It looks weirdly porous, kind of like a space loofah. Very strange moon and no one knows what's going on. Much like me
December 3, 2025 at 6:55 PM
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At research group meeting someone joked that tomorrow we should come prepared to present our favorite economic systems and. Well. You joked with the wrong one:
A title slide that reads: What scientists can learn from the Paris commune of 1871. The Paris commune portion of the text is in hot pink barbie font. The slide background is a picture of a barricade thrown up by Communard National Guard on 18 March 1871.
December 2, 2025 at 5:24 PM
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Here you go! I usually substitute oat milk for the heavy cream and it turns out great and very tasty 😊
The whole wheat pasta with Brussels sprouts recipe. I can’t type it all!
November 22, 2025 at 5:23 PM
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LPI/USRA right now:
Guy from Pawn Stars (I think? I just don't know) being edited to say "Best I can do is actively make things worse."
November 20, 2025 at 8:54 PM
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That's right! Sparkly new abstract fees!
Abstract Submission Fee The abstract submission fee is a required, non-refundable fee for each submitted abstract, separate from meeting registration fees. The fee is not based on approval of your abstract submission or attendance at the meeting. The submission fee must be paid in full as a step in the online abstract submission process before abstract submission can be completed. Revised abstracts submitted before the deadline with the same abstract number are not subject to an additional fee. Regular Abstract Submission Fee $65 Student Abstract Submission Fee $35
November 18, 2025 at 10:16 PM
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Choosing to go to LPSC now that they've doubled down on banning any content about making the field a better place for underrepresented scientists? That would be rewarding this behavior and make the field even more unsafe! Just a thought!
Abstract Submission Abstract submission deadline: January 6, 2026, 11:59 p.m. U.S. CST No new or revised abstracts will be accepted after January 6. Abstract Submission Criteria All submitted abstracts must comply with Administration Executive Orders. Any non-compliant abstracts will be removed from consideration for the conference program.
November 18, 2025 at 9:53 PM
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As a former Boilermaker in need - go fuck yourselves!! I'm not the one who's paying grad students, faculty, and staff so poorly that the Purdue food bank is always oversubscribed. Asking alumni to help solve a problem you created is disgusting
You can help make sure no Boilermaker goes hungry this Thanksgiving season. The ACE Food Pantry combats food insecurity on Purdue’s campus and is available to all students, faculty, and staff.
November 17, 2025 at 6:09 PM
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Got to run a 50K today and spend my day contemplating the extreme excellence of Moab's rocks:
Photo facing east on a climb. The sun is just barely rising over the La Sals into a partly cloudy sky. The highway is far below, stretching towards the sun. The cliffs surrounding are a beautiful, deep red. A view from the top of a hill of a canyon in the distance. Runners stream out of the canyon along a wide, flat path. A view of cliffs of wind-sculpted sandstone stretching into the distance. Selfie of the post author with their finisher medal from the ultra.
November 15, 2025 at 11:15 PM
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I know nothing at all about birds but I know this one found the perfect spot!
Some sort of bird that is blue, gray, and white is perched on the top of a tree that sits right on the edge of the Grand Canyon’s south rim. The perfect spot Zoom in on blue gray and white bird on a tree branch right in front of the Grand Canyon
November 14, 2025 at 2:52 PM
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One more sunrise.
Grand Canyon at sunrise. Clouds above. Post author in front of the south rim, wearing a beanie with a cat on it The light filtered through the canyon walls begins to reach the lower cliffs
November 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM
spacewhalerider.com
Got one more Grand Canyon sunset for y’all 💗
The setting sun is so bright on the canyon tops that my camera can’t grasp the depths! The post author in front of the Grand Canyon at sunset The south rim of the Grand Canyon is in the foreground with the north rim behind, facing east. Blue is chasing the pink and orange up the sky, turning to dusk. The south rim of the Grand Canyon is in the foreground with the north rim behind, facing west. The horizon is still a vibrant orange and yellow
November 14, 2025 at 12:40 AM