Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
@stellarplexus.bsky.social
Give me Space! Astronomy nerd, animal friend, sketcher of things, recovering research librarian, writer, reader, night owl, former island hopper, aspiring forest witch
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
Hello fellow migraineurs who are also readers! A friend who teaches at Portland State is doing a survey about our reading experiences and it would be great if you were interested in taking it. Survey and more info here: portlandstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... 📚
December 11, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Hello fellow migraineurs who are also readers! A friend who teaches at Portland State is doing a survey about our reading experiences and it would be great if you were interested in taking it. Survey and more info here: portlandstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... 📚
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
Astronomer Annie Jump Cannon was born #OTD in 1863. She was a pioneer of stellar classification and co-creator of the Harvard Classification Scheme.
Over her lifetime she *manually* classified around 350,000 stars. (1/n) 🧪 🔭 👩🔬 ⚛️
Image: Harvard University, Radcliffe Archives
Over her lifetime she *manually* classified around 350,000 stars. (1/n) 🧪 🔭 👩🔬 ⚛️
Image: Harvard University, Radcliffe Archives
December 11, 2024 at 3:39 PM
Astronomer Annie Jump Cannon was born #OTD in 1863. She was a pioneer of stellar classification and co-creator of the Harvard Classification Scheme.
Over her lifetime she *manually* classified around 350,000 stars. (1/n) 🧪 🔭 👩🔬 ⚛️
Image: Harvard University, Radcliffe Archives
Over her lifetime she *manually* classified around 350,000 stars. (1/n) 🧪 🔭 👩🔬 ⚛️
Image: Harvard University, Radcliffe Archives
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
The Witch Head Nebula! 🌌
This is my latest photo of the haunting Witch Head Nebula, captured through a small telescope under dark skies.
It's a reflection nebula that glows primarily by reflecting the light of the nearby bright star Rigel in Orion (you can't miss it!)
#astrophotography
This is my latest photo of the haunting Witch Head Nebula, captured through a small telescope under dark skies.
It's a reflection nebula that glows primarily by reflecting the light of the nearby bright star Rigel in Orion (you can't miss it!)
#astrophotography
December 11, 2025 at 3:53 PM
The Witch Head Nebula! 🌌
This is my latest photo of the haunting Witch Head Nebula, captured through a small telescope under dark skies.
It's a reflection nebula that glows primarily by reflecting the light of the nearby bright star Rigel in Orion (you can't miss it!)
#astrophotography
This is my latest photo of the haunting Witch Head Nebula, captured through a small telescope under dark skies.
It's a reflection nebula that glows primarily by reflecting the light of the nearby bright star Rigel in Orion (you can't miss it!)
#astrophotography
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair, said the beetles who made these cylinder seals out of trees. 🪲 🌳
www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/exhibits/onl...
www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/exhibits/onl...
December 11, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair, said the beetles who made these cylinder seals out of trees. 🪲 🌳
www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/exhibits/onl...
www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/exhibits/onl...
And a legend was born.
💀 🚙 💨
💀 🚙 💨
SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW
PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going—
SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT
PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti—
SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE
PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going—
SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT
PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti—
SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE
'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.'
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
December 11, 2025 at 4:39 AM
And a legend was born.
💀 🚙 💨
💀 🚙 💨
“What’s your most controversial dessert opinion?”
Cloves ruin pumpkin pie
Cloves ruin pumpkin pie
Meringue is bad
What’s your most controversial dessert opinion?
Options that make me feel skipping dessert:
Cannoli (actually most Italian pastries of that kind)
Tiramisu (sorry again, Italy)
Panettone (oh fuck IM SORRY)
British Christmas cake/pudding
Flan
Creme Brûlée
Pavlova or any kind of meringue
Options that make me feel skipping dessert:
Cannoli (actually most Italian pastries of that kind)
Tiramisu (sorry again, Italy)
Panettone (oh fuck IM SORRY)
British Christmas cake/pudding
Flan
Creme Brûlée
Pavlova or any kind of meringue
December 11, 2025 at 2:51 AM
“What’s your most controversial dessert opinion?”
Cloves ruin pumpkin pie
Cloves ruin pumpkin pie
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
After a weeklong trek across central Nova Scotia, the crowd-controlled Internet Roadtrip has reached the Halifax area, and for some reason the first thing they voted to do was to visit IKEA neal.fun/internet-roadtrip
June 10, 2025 at 3:22 PM
After a weeklong trek across central Nova Scotia, the crowd-controlled Internet Roadtrip has reached the Halifax area, and for some reason the first thing they voted to do was to visit IKEA neal.fun/internet-roadtrip
This sequence of scale is full of pleasant little moments of “oh, I didn’t realize.” And the illustrations are lovely.
Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :)
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
December 10, 2025 at 10:14 PM
This sequence of scale is full of pleasant little moments of “oh, I didn’t realize.” And the illustrations are lovely.
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
- William Carlos Williams
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
- William Carlos Williams
If you are providing me with an education that is low utility in the world then it’s a disservice. My composition class spent four weeks on poetry. I’m sorry, but that only would’ve been useful if I wanted to be a poet. I don’t need to know iambic pentameter in order to be a victim advocate.
December 10, 2025 at 6:22 PM
It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
- William Carlos Williams
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
- William Carlos Williams
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
San Francisco at the center of the world, in an octahedral butterfly map by Bernard J.S. Cahill, 1922
December 10, 2025 at 8:15 AM
San Francisco at the center of the world, in an octahedral butterfly map by Bernard J.S. Cahill, 1922
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
December 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
Just look at this beautiful star that gives us life.
The spectacular fireworks of two eruptive M-class flares from AR 4299 today. First, an M1.1 around 1921 UT followed by an M8.1 around 2039 UT. Both flares were near the center of the Earth-facing disk and eruptive. The M8.1 CME looks the most Earth-directed.
December 7, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Just look at this beautiful star that gives us life.
Instantly one of my all time favorite nuggets of science, ever.
I say this as someone who once accidentally befriended a colony of honey bees who came to visit me (3-4 at a time, at the end of every fine afternoon, all summer) on a docked boat… & who’s tried to befriend bees on purpose ever since.
I say this as someone who once accidentally befriended a colony of honey bees who came to visit me (3-4 at a time, at the end of every fine afternoon, all summer) on a docked boat… & who’s tried to befriend bees on purpose ever since.
Have you ever wondered what you would find if you could keep your eyes on a bee for more than a few meters? Us, too!
preprint (with videos!) + thread 🧵
Precise, individualized foraging flights in honey #bees 🐝 revealed by multicopter drone-based tracking
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
1/9
preprint (with videos!) + thread 🧵
Precise, individualized foraging flights in honey #bees 🐝 revealed by multicopter drone-based tracking
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
1/9
December 7, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Instantly one of my all time favorite nuggets of science, ever.
I say this as someone who once accidentally befriended a colony of honey bees who came to visit me (3-4 at a time, at the end of every fine afternoon, all summer) on a docked boat… & who’s tried to befriend bees on purpose ever since.
I say this as someone who once accidentally befriended a colony of honey bees who came to visit me (3-4 at a time, at the end of every fine afternoon, all summer) on a docked boat… & who’s tried to befriend bees on purpose ever since.
“Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?”
Nothing must happen to you
No what am I saying
Everything must happen to you
And it must be wonderful
Nothing must happen to you
No what am I saying
Everything must happen to you
And it must be wonderful
Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?
December 6, 2025 at 10:36 PM
“Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?”
Nothing must happen to you
No what am I saying
Everything must happen to you
And it must be wonderful
Nothing must happen to you
No what am I saying
Everything must happen to you
And it must be wonderful
“Cloud Dancer is[…] the color of bad news delivered with bureaucratic indifference. The color of congressional insider trading. […] The color of an email from an exec proposing a live-action remake. The color of the popcorn ceiling in the hotel room of said exec’s extramarital affair.”
sorry I'm late! I have at last broken my silence on Pantone's Color of the Year johnpaulbrammer.substack.com/p/cloud-danc...
'Cloud Dancer': A Measured Response
Regarding Pantone's decision, and so on, and so forth
johnpaulbrammer.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 9:10 PM
“Cloud Dancer is[…] the color of bad news delivered with bureaucratic indifference. The color of congressional insider trading. […] The color of an email from an exec proposing a live-action remake. The color of the popcorn ceiling in the hotel room of said exec’s extramarital affair.”
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
Did you make sure to keep the camera away from the volcano like we discussed?
Yeah, about that…
Yeah, about that…
December 6, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Did you make sure to keep the camera away from the volcano like we discussed?
Yeah, about that…
Yeah, about that…
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
Never apologize for treating your dog like a baby. In a world that forces you to be tough, having a creature that lets you be soft, nurturing, and vulnerable is a blessing. You are lucky if one loves you, you are luckier still if you love each other.
December 6, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Never apologize for treating your dog like a baby. In a world that forces you to be tough, having a creature that lets you be soft, nurturing, and vulnerable is a blessing. You are lucky if one loves you, you are luckier still if you love each other.
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
Y'all the latest episode of the #Kilauea #eruption just went CRAZY. It looks like pressure built up enough to explode out the ground around the two existing vents (first few seconds), leading to a massive surge in lava fountaining.🌋🤯
USGS Live stream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiyt...
USGS Live stream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiyt...
December 6, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Y'all the latest episode of the #Kilauea #eruption just went CRAZY. It looks like pressure built up enough to explode out the ground around the two existing vents (first few seconds), leading to a massive surge in lava fountaining.🌋🤯
USGS Live stream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiyt...
USGS Live stream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiyt...
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
Video: Mars - Dust Storm - North Polar Cap - ESA Mars Express - From Andrea Luck (andrealuck.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2qtp1Vt
December 6, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Video: Mars - Dust Storm - North Polar Cap - ESA Mars Express - From Andrea Luck (andrealuck.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2qtp1Vt
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
The Nobel Prize committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow
December 6, 2025 at 4:29 AM
The Nobel Prize committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
I don't think Netflix should get to eat anything else until it finishes all the prematurely cancelled shows on its plate
December 6, 2025 at 1:31 AM
I don't think Netflix should get to eat anything else until it finishes all the prematurely cancelled shows on its plate
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
STORE: Thank you for your order!
STORE: We are preparing your order!
STORE: We put your order in a box!
STORE: Look who has a mailing label!
STORE: Your order has been shipped!
STORE: Your order is in your city!
STORE: Your order is nearby!
STORE: Your order sees you.
STORE: Turn around.
STORE: We are preparing your order!
STORE: We put your order in a box!
STORE: Look who has a mailing label!
STORE: Your order has been shipped!
STORE: Your order is in your city!
STORE: Your order is nearby!
STORE: Your order sees you.
STORE: Turn around.
December 5, 2025 at 12:25 AM
STORE: Thank you for your order!
STORE: We are preparing your order!
STORE: We put your order in a box!
STORE: Look who has a mailing label!
STORE: Your order has been shipped!
STORE: Your order is in your city!
STORE: Your order is nearby!
STORE: Your order sees you.
STORE: Turn around.
STORE: We are preparing your order!
STORE: We put your order in a box!
STORE: Look who has a mailing label!
STORE: Your order has been shipped!
STORE: Your order is in your city!
STORE: Your order is nearby!
STORE: Your order sees you.
STORE: Turn around.
Reposted by Merideth [Ctrl-Alt-DeYeet]
NOIRLab image of the week
Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) over Hawai‘i
Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA; Image processing: M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
noirlab.edu/public/image... 🧪🔭
Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) over Hawai‘i
Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA; Image processing: M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
noirlab.edu/public/image... 🧪🔭
December 4, 2025 at 6:59 PM
NOIRLab image of the week
Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) over Hawai‘i
Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA; Image processing: M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
noirlab.edu/public/image... 🧪🔭
Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) over Hawai‘i
Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA; Image processing: M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
noirlab.edu/public/image... 🧪🔭