Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️

@spahn711.bsky.social

60K followers 970 following 3K posts

Storm chaser. Volcano hunter. University Physics, Astronomy, & Earth Science Instructor. MS Physics/BS Astrophysics. Rockhounder & Mineral Collector. Raccoon whisperer. Allow me to share our planet's beauty with you. linktr.ee/spahn711

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · Oct 18

With all the new faces here, I figured I'd also say hi and reintroduce myself. I am a professor of physics, astronomy and earth science, among other things, but most of what you'll get from me are photos of our immensely beautiful planet. Sharing that beauty is my passion; we're so lucky to be here.

A photo of myself writing "Hi! :)" on a lightboard.

A photo of a comet just after sunset with a rocky, foggy waterfall among tree-covered hills in the foreground.

A supercell thunderstorm with pancake-stacked structure and lightning protruding out from the clouds in a few directions. A clear, starry sky sits to the left.

A gibbous Moon sits directly above an erupting volcano, with lava fountaining in all directions and a lava pool sitting out front.

68 120 1.3K

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 3h

The funnel of a dissipating EF-2 tornado in north Texas with bizarrely iridescent clouds around it. 🌈

The dark funnel of a dissipating tornado points down toward the ground. Wrapped around the funnel is a thin veil of iridescent clouds showcasing a rainbow of color.

1 10 77

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 6h

An image of a dark street with the words "winter fans be like: ah yes, 3 pm"

12 11 120

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 9h

How does he still think that "asylum seeker" means they come from mental institutions lol

2 7 110

Reposted by Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 9h

Everyone can set aside partisanship, psychologizing, pathologizing, whatever, and—I would hope—still see that it’s incredibly dangerous for a political leader to be this disconnected from the real conditions in the country.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h

Trump: "I don't know what could be worse than Portland. You don't even have stores anymore. They don't even put glass up. They put plywood on their windows."

270 1.3K 5.1K

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 9h

Some random dude from Turning Point USA lol

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 10h

Man this Antifa roundtable that is ongoing is some of the most insane shit I have ever heard. Really hard to be optimistic about things when this is the stuff the President takes in 24/7

2 21 120

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 11h

If you decide to have children, you have to do so knowing that your child could be gay, trans, etc., and if you go into it knowing that you wouldn't support them if that were the case, you don't love them and you shouldn't be having children.

Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 11h

1. In a devastating new Pew Research Survey, only 3 in 10 transgender adults report being accepted by their parents.

And only 1 in 10 say they are accepted by their extended family.

This is the lowest number ever found in surveys asking similar questions.

Subscribe to support our journalism.

Pew Survey: Only 31% Of Trans People Report Being Accepted By Their Parents

The survey comes as transgender people experience a legal assault from the far-right in the United States.

www.erininthemorning.com

4 15 90

Reposted by Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️

Kimber @kimberebmik.bsky.social · 1d

didn't notice the person til I read the alt text

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 1d

Among giants.

The House group of sequoia trees with 6'3" me standing right in front of them for scale as they tower over me out of the frame.

1 2 24

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 1d

Among giants.

2 23 190

Reposted by Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️

Sean T. Collins @seantcollins.com · 2d

CHATGPT: I understand where you're coming from. You worked really hard to get here, and now it's time to enjoy the fruit of your labors.

ISILDUR: So I should keep it? Elrond says I shouldn't

CHATGPT: The ring is precious. Sometimes friends don't have your best interests at heart.

ISILDUR: true

41 2.9K 10K

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 1d

If I remember correctly, the hill I watched from was just ~1,500 ft from the vent - close enough to be looking up at the lava as it was propelled hundreds of feet into the air. The river of lava was against the base of the hill.

1 2

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you, my friend! 🌋

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you so much! 🌋

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 2d

Just found this image of the 2021 Fagradalsfjall eruption in Iceland that I've never shared before. Being in the presence of this volcano and feeling the intense heat of the Earth on my skin was genuinely the best experience of my life and its not even close. #photography

An erupting volcano. A black spatter cone with a gap in the front has lava fountaining out, hundreds of feet into the air, smacking against the cone, and flowing along a snaking lava river toward the camera. A plume of gas rises into the air with mostly cloudy sky in the background.

13 77 370

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 2d

My kink is watching the Chiefs lose.

2 2 35

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you! Such a special place.

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks, Dee!

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 2d

That idea is a lot more prevalent than I'd like. Even when I was there on one of my visits, a lady was telling her family that and I so badly wanted to interject. 🙃

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 2d

👏 Harnessed 👏 tiger 👏 moth 👏

2 6 82

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 2d

Yuuuup. It is absolutely rampant, particularly in online courses.

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 2d

He went to Jared.

3 40

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 2d

I'm not even a fan of his, but out of curiosity, what exactly do you think a democrat can do to end a shutdown when the entire government is republican-controlled?

2 6

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 2d

Okay, so what are you doing to end it??

1 8

Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 2d

Tower Defenders. #photography

An older looking photo (sepia-like tone) of three bison stand on a grassy hill before Devil's Tower, with partly cloudy skies above.

10 34 370