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npub1dgcla3rthltveuxzp7pvnu6rzug2076hhu9dwq8axzmg8r7jvcmq82cla4

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nprofile1qqsx5v07c34ml4kv7rpqlqkf7dp3wy98ldtm7zkhqr7npd5r3lfxvdspqqfc3e36

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Last Notes

2026-08-10 02:29:14 CEST

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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.

2026-08-09 23:56:07 CEST

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The world would be a much better place if everyone had easy access to infinity's doorstep, to realize how small we are, how unique and fragile our pale blue dot is.
You don't need a trip on a billionaire's rocket to get the "overview effect." You can do it by finding dark sky access, which is becoming harder and harder to get, partially due to billionaires' rockets.

2026-08-09 23:50:56 CEST

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"At night this reassuring curtain of blue is pulled away and you realize where you really are: at infinity’s doorstep. A plain is what a mountain aims to be: the closest you can come to being in outer space while yet having your feet on this planet."
I really hope to get out to Grasslands Nat'l Park this week and appreciate infinity's doorstep, despite smoke and satellites trying to take that away.

2026-08-09 23:49:59 CEST

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A stunningly beautiful quote from Yann Martel, sent to me by a satellite engineer who loves the sky:
"If you’ve never been, the south of Saskatchewan is so flat the horizon is perceptibly round. Above you, during the day, lords an immense dome of sky so empty it feels like a fullness, with clouds the size of mountains, the sun but a small disk, and a depth of colour that is often chalk blue, oh so chalk blue.
...

2026-08-09 18:32:51 CEST

RE: https://social.treehouse.systems/@ariadne/117063592703392163
Most city dwellers don't know how much of the night sky has already been stolen by billionaires, because poorly planned, wasteful city lights have already drowned out the stars for them.

2026-08-08 22:31:50 CEST

My oldest kid has started regularly volunteering with a dog rescue group, helping out at adoption events. It's the perfect volunteer opportunity for her, she's so good with dogs. But... gosh I don't need more dogs.... even really cute sweet ones... danger danger danger!

2026-08-06 16:58:54 CEST

There's a new crater on the moon due to SpaceX accidentally crashing a leftover junked rocket body yesterday. Give me your best name suggestions!
(Please note that *I* have absolutely no control over naming craters on the moon, there's an IAU committee for that, this post is a joke. I will appreciate and boost my favourites.)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/spacex-moon-crash-scar-9.7298047

2026-08-05 17:48:33 CEST

Second interview of the day about stuff in orbit is starting shortly, and I have a third interview request in my email, where they possibly want to send a camera person to my location...haha I need an interview with goats in the background. Maybe today's the day

2026-08-05 00:35:59 CEST

Reminder: if you are inside the green or dark green area of this map, watch the ~10 o'clock position of the moon tonight at 2:35am EDT/11:35pm PDT. More info here: https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?day=28&month=07&year=2026&view=view
You probably won't see anything. But maybe you'll see a little poof of dust within a few minutes as something the size of a bus crashes into the moon at more than 8,000 km/hr
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/117/039/601/320/618/148/original/639b61f35ec1635c.png

2026-07-31 16:49:20 CEST

I didn't get interviewed for this article, but at least they briefly mentioned one of the two recent Saskatchewan debris falls, and used it to introduce this quote which is going to keep me awake for a few nights: "The company [SpaceX] now says that about 5 percent of the mass of some satellites may not disintegrate."
There are almost 11,000 SpaceX satellites above our heads. I do not like this Russian roulette game.
https://mastodon.social/@fullywoolly/117013241064815417
#note1swz…5fej

2026-07-30 18:46:13 CEST

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WOW it gets even more whimsical and hand-wavy in the orbital debris section. Actual quote: "Certain commenters raise concerns regarding the extent of the orbital debris mitigation information provided in the application but ignore Cowboy Space’s steadfast commitment to operating
safely."
In other words: "Why won't scientists believe the words that we wrote down without any actual data, information, citations, or sketches?"

2026-07-30 18:08:45 CEST

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This company also posted an ex parte filing (which means they had a super special extra FCC meeting), their satellites are too fucking huge to even be physically possible. They just can't fucking do this.
My estimate from looking at this ridiculous sketch is 8x60x10m solar panels... that's a reflecting area of 4800 m^2. The International Space Station, the biggest thing in orbit, has a solar panel area of about 3400 m^2.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/117/009/778/478/939/372/original/e5cc68e2a3967d7e.png

2026-07-30 18:03:05 CEST

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After modelling this in detail, I can say that that these companies can't even do basic geometry, apparently. They want tens of thousands of satellites to have 24 hour sunlight, so sun-synchronous terminator orbits, baybeeee!
But as Hugh Lewis pointed out (I know, ew, linkedin sorry) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sun-always-shines-tv-hugh-lewis-tlkbe/ IT DOESN'T FUCKING WORK unless you're above 1400km altitude. And then you're not in the *magical* low-latency low-altitude zone that these companies actually want for fast comms.

2026-07-30 17:59:15 CEST

Cowboy Space (I hate their name so much) published their consolidated response a week ago but we just noticed it. We either have 3 days or 8 days to respond now. So... I guess I have to read this shit. Swearing a lot here will get me through it.
A reminder: this is the 4th company that wants to launch fucking enormous "AI data center" satellites into sun-synchronous terminator orbits, giving Earth a ring. This particular company wants 20,000 satellites in one ring.

2026-07-28 04:09:45 CEST

Haaaaayyyy there
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/995/165/194/594/399/original/b293fc7c02bd342e.png

2026-07-27 22:06:01 CEST

Well THAT was a stressful set of meetings about how much one stupid awful company is going to change the night sky and the operations of every telescope in the world and also health and safety and ecology.... From the bottom of my heart, fuck you, Reflect Orbital.

2026-07-23 04:18:25 CEST

Cute chicks are still cute
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/966/884/352/875/363/original/fb1d701f9f146fb7.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/966/884/808/053/040/original/bf1456b2481d3174.png

2026-07-22 16:21:58 CEST

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UK people! I have a question! My standard reference point for talking about the mass of Starlink satellites for Canadian audiences is a Ford F150. In New Zealand I used a Ford Ranger. What's the equivalent in the UK? (Or do you not have ridiculous pickup trucks at all?)

2026-07-22 16:20:04 CEST

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Aaahhh nothing like an intense interview about how dangerous the situation in orbit is to make me want some breakfast. At least there are raspberries, I guess...

2026-07-20 04:14:51 CEST

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Do you happen to have that recipe in a way that's easy to share? I will have a LOT of zucchini to use up this year!

2026-07-20 03:24:31 CEST

After a lovely few summer weeks without smoke, we're getting some high altitude smoke here now (nothing like the smoke happening to the east, I'm so sorry). The colour of the light is anxiety-yellow.
But there were enough zucchini today for the first zucchini cake of the season! Thanks for sharing this recipe, @npub1san…jgxu !
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/chocolate-zucchini-cake-recipe

2026-07-19 23:44:05 CEST

Gosh I have so much work to do... but I'm too angry because the engineer who built the fucking space mirror for Reflect Orbital and then quit openly admits that it won't actually provide solar power and that it's just for "Maybe there's some, you know, grand party in the desert"
But they're still going to launch it. Fuck ecology and sleep patterns, we have to light up a party in the desert from orbit!
FUCK TECHBROS EVERYWHERE.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2026-07-19/reflect-orbital-wants-to-sell-sunlight-to-earth/106918866

2026-07-19 00:52:16 CEST

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Did you see my post about how my partner planted TWENTY zucchini plants this year??? Thanks for the recipe!

2026-07-14 19:08:21 CEST

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Do talks count? I just gave a lunchtime talk for Mission Control - I think that's the first time I've given a talk to a satellite building company. My main message (deliver your services with fewer satellites, and make those satellites last as long as possible) was definitely heard, and repeated back to me by the CEO! So that's satisfying. https://missioncontrolspace.com/about/
Hilariously, this talk happened because an employee read the cow-culation paper and loved it! https://arxiv.org/pdf/2603.29324

2026-07-11 01:24:51 CEST

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Beautiful! Lots of satellites though :(

2026-07-10 05:24:55 CEST

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK NOOOOO
https://ca.pcmag.com/news/16760/fcc-approves-reflect-orbitals-giant-mirror-satellite-that-astronomers-hate

2026-07-08 05:14:07 CEST

HAHAHA FUCK SpaceX just launched a nuclear powered satellite.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-just-launched-the-1st-ever-nuclear-powered-commercial-satellite
Sounds like this particular satellite is tiny and doesn't have a lot of tritium on board but HOLY SHIT this is a bad precedent.

2026-06-26 16:28:45 CEST

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Daniel Scheeres (CU Boulder) Binary small bodies are important and frequent. How do they form? Even more fun, how do you make 3 component systems (like asteroid Dinkinesh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/152830_Dinkinesh)
Lots of simulations! Found an area of energy/angular momentum space that makes triples very easily. Finds lots of contact binaries.
#DDA2026

2026-06-25 21:30:21 CEST

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Dallin Spencer (BYU) warm classical TNOs are hard to explain, time to run a bazillion integrations! Sees the gap in density distribution at 4-6 degrees - this is right along 2 secular resonance (nu 8 and n 18) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_resonance
Conjunctions pump eccentricity and move them out of this gap. Did this change the boundary of the cold classical belt?
Upcoming paper will have proper elements for all known TNOs.
#DDA2026

2026-06-23 23:15:27 CEST

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Paul Wiegert (U. Western Ontario): finding interstellar meteors is really hard! Lots of meteors are from comets with high-eccentricity orbits, hard to get good enough data to measure meteor pre-impact orbits. There *are* interstellar meteors, just not as many as that Harvard astronomer (who the speaker did not name) seems to think, and none have been conclusively discovered yet.
#DDA2026

2026-06-22 18:13:30 CEST

Between my normal meetings and writing, I'm watching a few talks at the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) Division for Dynamical Astronomy (DDA) annual meeting this week. They have this fantastic option where you pay US$10 and you can watch all the talks at the meeting. I'll try to share summaries of a few highlights using #DDA2026

2026-06-16 20:52:25 CEST

May this piece of peanut butter chocolate chevre pie power me through writing an FCC comment draft, the first draft of a space junk pamphlet for Saskatchewan farm kids, AND my last meeting of the day!
(Chevre pie?! Yes, I just sub chevre into pretty much anything that uses cream cheese. Goat farmer pro-tip!)

2026-06-05 20:21:58 CEST

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Yeah! 2 SpaceX spacecraft hitting the ground in 2024 in Saskatchewan certainly doesn't give me confidence in that claim, as they make their satellites bigger and bigger... Also if you take their 0.0001 casualty risk at face value, that's still 100 casualties with 1 million sats!!!

2026-05-31 19:40:11 CEST

Happy dandelion day to all who celebrate (mostly ruminants)
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/670/398/496/448/303/original/f5a1c9683b3c077f.png
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2026-05-15 22:21:46 CEST

Today I had coffee with an aerospace engineering postdoc who happened to be in Regina briefly. He works on technology for refueling and fixing satellites in orbit, which is EXACTLY the kind of engineering we need! Don't chuck that 3 or 5 year old satellite into the atmosphere, FIX it and make it keep working longer!
Really delightful chat, and the best part is this connection actually happened because of the cow-culation April Fool's day paper I helped write: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2603.29324

2026-05-15 01:43:22 CEST

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Still have power (so far) but there's a leak in the ceiling in a place that has never leaked before, and that I can't even figure out how it's leaking. There are solar panels, a new metal roof, an old asphalt roof, and a partial attic in between the rain and where it's leaking. Not great.
(Not asking for advice, just complaining. Poor old farmhouse.)

2026-05-15 00:57:58 CEST

I wrote my semi-regular emails to politicians. And I'm writing about it here to maybe inspire a few of you to write another email to your politicians about any of the many things that need fighting right now. It's one of those things that is important in aggregate, so keep doing it, even though it sucks.

2026-05-14 04:58:59 CEST

I apparently really like to use trucks (both pickup and the bigger types) as comparison points for satellite stuff. And all the local terminology variations for trucks are silly.
Which of the following would you recognize as a term to describe a large vehicle that has a detachable front part that drives and which can pull a large trailer (or 2 or 3)

2026-05-11 16:35:53 CEST

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A scary quick calculation: there are 10,375 Starlink satellites in orbit https://planet4589.org/space/con/conlist.html, all coming down within 5 years.
That's an *average* of 5 or 6 a day for the next 5 years. And the v2's are bigger than the v1's. v2's are (conservatively) 1000kg and (conservatively) half aluminum. That's 2.5-3 tonnes of aluminum per day. 8 times the natural infall rate of aluminum (and there's lots of other scary things like lithium). What will that do to our atmosphere?
SpaceX is awful.

2026-05-11 15:39:00 CEST

It's a Good Cloud Day. But the goats are very annoyed there was a teeny tiny bit of rain (they really do not like rain).
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/556/201/345/753/135/original/427d10f6abeb17a4.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/556/201/968/549/110/original/2ab02695516b5db7.png
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2026-05-05 23:48:48 CEST

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I want to see companies that promise to use a handful of well-tested, ethically built, perfectly functioning satellites with decades-long operating lifetimes to do something that benefits the vast majority of humanity. Why can't we have more proposals like that?

2026-05-05 23:34:04 CEST

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But of course nothing beats SpaceX's drunk teenager scifi novel of an FCC filing about how we need AI data centres in orbit to ascend into Kardashev civilization land. Which the FCC took totally seriously, opened for public comment in 4 days (record-short time!) https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-113A1.pdf
and the FCC will probably approve despite a couple thousand comments from the public and at least two petitions to deny opposing it. Fuckers.

2026-05-05 23:31:11 CEST

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Or THIS shit which is really shit: https://harvardtechnologyreview.com/2025/09/05/the-future-of-energy-unlocking-the-potential-of-space-based-solar-power/
Many companies are looking at different ways to do this (like the stare-into-the-IR-beam company above). All of them have huge safety, tech, and/or feasibility issues.

2026-05-05 23:15:58 CEST

I'm trying to rage-write an article about all the completely awful, useless, polluting, dangerous shit that companies are proposing to launch into orbit and I can't even tell what's fake and what's real on these fucking techbro websites anymore. It's all so fucking ludicrous.

2026-05-05 01:05:14 CEST

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and then there's magnitudes...

2026-05-04 16:08:50 CEST

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Now the really horrible part: this image was taken in August 2022. According to [@planet4589.bsky.social](https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social )'s website https://planet4589.org/space/stats/out/stat001.txt, there are almost TEN THOUSAND MORE ACTIVE SATELLITES today than there were in August 2022.
Fuck.

2026-05-04 05:27:07 CEST

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And now I need to answer a journalist's last minute questions about atmospheric pollution from satellites (which will mostly be me saying "actually nobody knows how this works or what will happen!")
And then I can go to bed.

2026-05-01 16:44:29 CEST

One of the upsides of being a goat is that you can actually climb inside your breakfast
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/499/848/258/513/584/original/4549cbc155f50021.jpg

2026-04-21 20:00:33 CEST

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It was also recently pointed out to me by a journalist that I've been making a mistake... Starlink V2's are "only" about 1250kg, which is actually only about half a Ford F150, because Ford F150s are freaking enormous!!
Fediverse, what's a better comparison point for something that is mostly metal and weighs about 1250kg? Toyota Corolla? That makes it seem small... Something big that's not a car?

2026-04-21 19:56:08 CEST

RE: https://mastodon.social/@markhurst/116443904029279313
New paper came out today by atmospheric chemists looking at what changes are already happening in the atmosphere due to billionaires using the atmosphere as a satellite crematorium: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273117726003509
#note1jxv…kwxz

2026-04-08 15:47:18 CEST

The Royal Tyrrell Museum is probably the best museum I've ever been to. Completely unapologetic, fully scientific presentations on evolution, Earth's history, extinction, and it even ends with a powerful statement on climate change. With the added bonus of many children (and some adults...perhaps me...) completely losing their minds over cool dinosaurs. WOW.
Definitely go to this museum if you're ever anywhere near Alberta!!
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/369/381/821/769/961/original/75e2468d8371a173.png

2026-04-01 06:46:59 CEST

*Secret hilarious project* is now live!
Astronomy has a fine tradition of April Fool's Day papers, where there are real calculations, but perhaps on a very silly topic.
Compilation of this year's Acta Prima Aprilia papers here: https://www.actaprimaaprilia.com/2026-issue

2026-03-30 21:10:17 CEST

I am getting so many Artemis launch interview requests! Trying to decide if I should try to let myself get excited about it and pretend like I'm not totally disillusioned and burned out on rockets (e.g. https://theconversation.com/an-astronomers-lament-satellite-megaconstellations-are-ruining-space-exploration-215653) and do some reading so I can take some of these interviews, or if I should just sit back and ignore it like I was planning to...

2026-03-28 22:49:38 CET

I got to go to an A&P show yesterday (the equivalent of a county/town/agricultural fair in N. America) and HOLY SHEEP. It was everything I could hope for, with the added bonus of a vegetable sculpture contest and the prizewinning alpacas (and cows and horses) marching behind the town's bagpipe band! It ended with a sheep shearing speed contest, where everyone was hanging around drinking beers and taking turns shearing sheep (the shearers were averaging 2 min per sheep. Wow.)
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/308/982/492/354/606/original/c54f24eea3480a1a.png
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2026-03-26 08:10:19 CET

For no reason at all, please give me your favourite cow-related figures of speech! (Stuff like "No use crying over spilled milk" or "until the cows come home", puns extremely welcome)

2026-03-22 23:49:10 CET

I just proofread the American Astronomical Society response to SpaceX's response to AAS's petition to deny on SpaceX's million sat filing. It's a great document, but the fact that we need to say any of this (and spend volunteer time fighting SpaceX's highly paid lawyers) is completely infuriating.
I need to go outside now, really tough that I'm in a city and don't have a hay field available for easy rage-screaming.

2026-03-20 01:30:36 CET

I presented at the local planetary journal club this morning about the 3 articles I co-authored for The Conversation in the past weeks about the effects that one million satellites would have on the night sky, the atmosphere, and the orbital environment (spoiler alert: all very very bad)
https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
https://theconversation.com/too-many-satellites-earths-orbit-is-on-track-for-a-catastrophe-but-we-can-stop-it-275430
And one on light pollution that I thought would get published today but might not be out until after the weekend.

2026-03-19 02:25:04 CET

Well, I have now been quoted calling SpaceX "fuckweasels" in a real publication by real journalists: https://au.pcmag.com/ai/116598/spacex-to-start-small-with-1-million-satellite-plan-pushes-back-on-critics
I guess I am proud of myself? (They are, indeed, fuckweasels, for their complete lack of care for the atmosphere that we all depend on, as well as not caring about Kessler Syndrome, or light pollution, or smashing people on the ground...)

2026-03-18 22:08:53 CET

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Grant me the (Saskatchewan pirate?) strength to not throw my laptop out the fucking window as I try to write parts of the text for the American Astronomical Society's response to SpaceX's infuriating, arrogant, ignorant, irresponsible non-response.

2026-03-17 22:57:35 CET

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-The really fun tidbit of info from today's meeting: apparently there are still 40 or so Soviet uranium-fueled nuclear reactor cores in orbit at about 900km altitude. Just to make any possible future Kessler syndrome even more exciting? (Maybe someone should model how likely the Kessler Syndrome collisional cascade is to reach 900km altitude... or maybe not)
A super interesting but depressing podcast about Kosmos 954 here: https://www.cbc.ca/arts/operation-morning-light-podcast-soviet-satellite-exploded-traditional-dene-land-1.6650994

2026-03-17 22:48:30 CET

One of the best parts of my academic committee work is that I get regular meetings with [@planet4589.bsky.social](https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social ), who is a lovely human and has the best public database on launches and reentries https://planet4589.org/space/index.html
The worst part is hearing all the stuff that happened in orbit since the last time we met.... A few highlights from today's meeting:
-There are now 10,049 Starlink satellites above our heads. More than 1,500 have already been burned up in Earth's atmosphere.

2026-03-17 20:30:33 CET

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Yesterday I borrowed a book off [@astrokiwi.bsky.social](https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/astrokiwi.bsky.social )'s bookshelf written by @npub1hhs…rl5g. Feeling slightly homesick for Saskatchewan after a few weeks in New Zealand, I was DELIGHTED to find that the book begins with "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuGGNsE3_8Y and I'm totally going to channel that Saskatchewan pirate energy into the talks, writing, and meetings I have today fighting satellite pollution.
Aaaarrrr, Matey! Get it? Métis?

2026-03-06 23:18:23 CET

There was a bagpipe band competition happening at the park the local farmer's market is held in, and it was incredible! I have never in my life seen so many bagpipers together, playing perfectly in tune! That was so cool. Bagpipes won me over today. #ProfSamLectureTour
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/184/539/661/158/495/original/8f0cc1efd878771f.png
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2026-03-06 19:24:27 CET

Trying to dig through my email pile from the last week of various disasters, and I'm delighted to see that there's a talk series being organized by my fellow professors critiquing the constant genAI/LLM use that the university seems to keep mindlessly pushing. Yay awesome professors!

2026-03-02 20:07:59 CET

There are over 600 comments submitted on Reflect Orbital's filing at the FCC!! That's amazing, especially given how hard the FCC has made the submission process.
If you want to submit your own comment (on this or SpaceX's million sat filing), there's still a few more days to do that, and instructions are here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc

2026-02-24 02:53:16 CET

Nothing like a mid-afternoon surprise interview about what I was frantically working on anyway. Thanks for writing about the SpaceX million satellites filing, [@astrojonny.bsky.social](https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/astrojonny.bsky.social )!

2026-02-19 18:43:42 CET

I had no idea that even mustard can be mansplained. Good morning, fediverse 😬

2026-02-05 02:29:34 CET

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If anyone has time and energy to set up instructions for how to submit a comment to the FCC (it's really fucking complicated, on purpose, I'm sure), I would very much appreciate it! Otherwise I'll do it in the coming days.

2025-12-16 14:19:10 CET

WHAT is even happening with the weather today yikes
When I went out to the barn just now it looked like spring thaw. It's +2C, there are giant puddles, and in a lot of places (like the entire driveway) there's a layer of water on top of ice. It's about to drop back to way below freezing and then we're supposed to get 15 cm of snow tomorrow.
Wheeeeee
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/729/432/448/666/187/original/35a1807224c2726a.png

2025-12-03 22:27:29 CET

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I'll say it again: there is a hard limit to how many satellites you can have in orbit without terrible consequences, and I am quite sure we are already above that limit, mostly thanks to Starlink.

2025-11-24 18:36:28 CET

Everybody go read "Termination Shock" by Neal Stephenson, because apparently that whole scenario is actually about to start happening: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/11/21/stardust-geoengineering-janos-pasztor-regulations-00646414

2025-11-02 02:03:34 CET

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Spent allll day outside, fixing things, cleaning up, getting the farm and house ready for Real Canadian Winter, and hanging out with my animals. It was pretty good.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/477/376/225/242/100/original/06becd8e69dbc34c.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/477/378/766/195/770/original/d8a274cb92398f52.png
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2025-11-01 21:42:19 CET

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Ha, this totally sounds like compliment fishing, doesn't it? It's more just "this interview that I stressed out about all week just aired" and I don't want to listen to it because I'm stressed about it. But I want other people to listen to it!
...this is all just Impostor Syndrome again, isn't it? GAH.
Time to go back outside to my goats and dogs (and llama) who never have any impostor-y thoughts.

2025-10-23 04:35:56 CEST

I found the comet again! It's still incredibly cool looking in binoculars! Go take a look if you've got a moderately dark sky (https://stellarium-web.org/ is a good place to check to see where it is, there's a free app version too)

2025-10-21 16:01:18 CEST

Good morning. Starlink has now launched more than TEN THOUSAND satellites into orbit. Nearly 1400 have already been burned up in the atmosphere so far.
Here's a "lovely" image from my Kuiper Belt discovery program with dozens of satellite streaks in a 3 hour stacked exposure from CFHT. This was from 2022, when there were thousands fewer satellites... This is dumb.
Image credit: P. Cowan/W. Fraser/S. Lawler/CLASSY Survey Team
(The small streaks that are similar lengths are actually asteroids!)
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/412/508/636/277/432/original/899c9d455224e584.png

2025-10-17 17:30:29 CEST

Now time to join a meeting to figure out if it's worth trying to have a conference where astronomers talk to satellite builders and nicely ask them to maybe make their satellites a little darker and use fewer of them, with zero funding! (I am... not very excited about any of this. But at the same time astronomers have no power at all in this discussion so I'm not sure what else we can do...ugh)

2025-10-09 19:20:26 CEST

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Reflect Orbital (RO) https://www.reflectorbital.com/ wants customers to pay them to reflect beams of sunlight down from
orbit. This is called “sunlight as a service.”
Their initial plan is for each beam to be several times as bright as the full moon and at least 5 km in diameter on the ground.
https://www.darkskyconsulting.com/blog/the-dangers-of-sunlight-as-a-service
Due to the high speed needed to orbit Earth, each satellite will shine on one point for only
a few minutes at most (Reflect Orbital says 4 minutes https://thetundradrums.com/reflect-orbital-order-sunlight/)

2025-09-02 22:37:52 CEST

Behold! The first perfect heirloom tomato of the year!
...and maybe the only one. Looks like it's going to frost tonight. Fuck.
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2025-09-02 00:16:15 CEST

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Some people in northern Europe are reporting auroras now! https://www.aurorasaurus.org/

2025-09-02 00:12:21 CEST

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According to https://spaceweather.com/ the CME has arrived and there will be auroras once it's dark! Woohoo!

2025-08-28 23:42:03 CEST

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Oh, I should link the essay: https://theconversation.com/spacexs-starlink-satellites-are-about-to-ruin-stargazing-for-everyone-149516
And the follow-up I wrote a year later after publishing a scientific prediction: https://theconversation.com/soon-1-out-of-every-15-points-of-light-in-the-sky-will-be-a-satellite-170427
(I've never more badly wanted to be wrong about a scientific prediction before, but this is totally where Starlink and other megaconstellations are taking us)

2025-08-18 19:39:47 CEST

I think I get shielded a bit from how enshittified the internet has gotten because so much of what I'm looking up is usually in reputable news sources or peer-reviewed research in astronomy (which isn't a big money-maker). But wow, trying to find information on solar panel efficiencies or home repair, there certainly are a lot of completely useless shit websites out there. I can only imagine this is even worse in health or other areas that already had lots of scamminess... This sucks.

2025-08-10 02:15:52 CEST

Cleaned out a cupboard in the barn that I hadn't ever been through carefully (apparently).
Found cow magnets! https://www.iflscience.com/this-is-why-they-put-magnets-inside-cows-71175
Also two different types of the largest syringes and fattest needles I've ever seen!
Not pictured: A whole bag of those arm-length veterinary gloves!
All of which make me happy I have goats not cows.
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2025-08-07 19:19:02 CEST

Well fuck. Reflect Orbital just filed for their first satellite with the FCC. https://www.reflectorbital.com/
I hate them even more than AST SpaceMobile. At least AST does something mildly useful, unlike Reflect Orbital, which is 100% a scam and will collide with a lot of junk in orbit.
Time to go rage-scream in the hay field. And then go to a meeting with astronomers to talk about what we can do to fight it.

2025-06-30 03:57:03 CEST

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So... I want to be helpful here, but Katie Mack really explains the situation well for big theories (and believe me I get a LOT of emails from people who think they have big theories).
https://www.astrokatie.com/faq#theory
It makes me sound like an ivory tower snob, but it is indeed extremely unlikely that he has come up with a theory that no one else working in cosmology has thought of. But if he has, maybe he should write it up and submit it to a journal? Sorry that's not very helpful.

2025-06-13 15:13:24 CEST

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It was too smoky/cloudy to see auroras. But I did see a firefly so it was totally worth going outside at 1am (and not being able to fall back asleep for way longer than I'd like. Still worth it.)
Fireflies are rather rare in Saskatchewan, to the point that most people who have lived here their whole lives have no idea that there are fireflies here.

2025-04-24 21:39:20 CEST

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Here's a different way of summarizing these (very unscientific, very biased, but still super interesting) poll results. Name recognition of selected environment-related terms:
Recognize "Kessler Syndrome"?
40% (over 30)
34% (under 30)
Recognize "Exxon Valdez"?
86% (over 30)
25% (under 30)
Recognize "Montreal Protocol"?
33% (over 30)
29% (under 30)
Exxon Valdez is the "winner" for name recognition. Interesting!!

2025-04-23 21:31:09 CEST

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Part 3: Without doing a web search, do you know what the Montreal Protocol is?

2025-04-23 21:28:52 CEST

Need to do some quick research for terminology and naming for a future project (you can probably guess the general topic by my questions).
Part 1: Without doing a web search, do you know what Kessler Syndrome is?

2025-03-20 16:30:43 CET

Anybody else just have a whole bunch of new 0 posts, 0 followers, no-profile-pic accounts follow them? (I just blocked a whole bunch, but I'm sure I missed some)
Edit: they all follow exactly 40 accounts? This is... weird.

2025-03-14 17:21:20 CET

So remember how a few days ago I shared this official Starlink document that just casually mentions that they found a piece of a Starlink satellite on a farm in Saskatchewan? https://www.starlink.com/public-files/Starlink_Approach_to_Satellite_Demisability.pdf
I had really convinced myself it must be some kind of chatgpt gobbledygook. But... a reliable source confirmed that this really happened.

2025-03-04 17:53:55 CET

I don't know who needs this, but 2 baby eagles just hatched in California: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4-L2nfGcuE

2025-02-05 01:17:35 CET

I got some fortran code to run! Please clap
Also holy cow fortran is so fast. This is why we're still using it... sigh.

2025-01-29 17:13:26 CET

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HAHAHAHA now I have a 3rd, in person interview about the space junk Tesla, after I pick up my kids from school for local TV. My life is hilarious.

2025-01-29 15:09:14 CET

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First interview done. Didn't get to talk about the 22% collision chance with Earth, but did talk about how you can see satellites and space junk with your eyes.
Active satellites look like stars that are moving across the sky, space junk will be flashing because it's tumbling. (Not coloured like from an airplane, just white flashes).
Anyway... maybe a few more people will be inspired to go out and look up and see how many damn satellites there are.
Next interview in 4 hours. I'm tired.

2025-01-29 14:04:49 CET

Radio interview in half an hour, and I am so incredibly tired this morning. I sure hope this tea is magic so I can effectively teach people about space junk. (And then do it again later today for a different local radio show).

2025-01-08 16:57:13 CET

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The evac zones all expanded again. Terrifyingly close to where my family all went to, in Glendale. Not sure where they'd go if Glendale gets evacuated too. Now planning with my outside LA sister (going there is a possibility, but it's like a 7 hour drive from LA)

2025-01-08 15:40:24 CET

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My outside-LA sister is taking the lead on being the contact for everyone in my family now evacuating (which is great, she's actually got disaster prep training). But that means that I just have to sit here and wait for updates and try not to text anyone because it's not helping.
I'm supposed to meet with a student in 20 minutes to talk about their disability accommodations for the astro 101 class I'm teaching and it's going to be really hard to do anything but worry about my family.

2024-11-16 00:25:47 CET

This just never gets old.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/489/547/580/955/085/original/ba47750d94aa6926.jpg

2024-11-04 14:14:56 CET

Ah yes, today is the day to celebrate the Saskatchewan provincial day of oh-shit-everyone-else's-time-changed-yesterday-and-mine-didn't-so-now-all-my-out-of-province-zoom-meetings-conflict-with-my-local-ones.
I hear this holiday is also celebrated in Hawaii, Arizona, and Taiwan. Good luck to all on this exciting holiday.