Planetary astronomer, studying piles of rock in space. Reader of books. Drinker of tea. He/him. This is a personal account. To bigotry no sanction.
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2026-07-27T11:13:13Z Event JSON
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Last Notes npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I continue to wonder where the push for these blanket bans on social media, cell phones, etc. are coming from. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Today in the Planetary Science Journal: npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Software vendor: "Use our new generative AI tools." npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Regarding what burning up Starlinks can do to stratospheric ozone, refer to Ferreira et al. 2024 - https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL109280 . npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Link to Törnqvist et al. 2026. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Duffy's blatant lie is apparently based on an executive order by Donald Trump that purports to end the prohibition on commercial supersonic flight over the United States (which is why the Concorde only flew into New York and Dulles). npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I am reminded that while there is value to quoting just how absurd and blatant the lies and propaganda are, they really do need to be preceded and followed by the actual facts. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch There are exactly zero commercial supersonic aircraft in production and have not been for well over 20 years. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch If you should want another way to get planetary scientists to argue, here is another question: npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Today in Research Notes of the AAS: npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Is there confirmation that none of the flashes were recorded? npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch The IAU naming conventions have often been justifiably critiqued. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch For those unaware: npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch SpaceX takes out massive loans to litter low Earth orbit with Starlinks, running up interest. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I read people disappointed there was not more science done on the flight around the Moon. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch #Apophis will be flying by Earth, closer than the geosynch satellites, just about exactly 3 years from now. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Yet again, USA: npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch This is a reminder that UFOs are a social phenomenon based on people misunderstanding things they see. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch There is a building like that along the Gold Line in Pasadena. The residents did not seem to mind. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I did not appreciate the trans allegory in "The Matrix" until I read a piece by the Wachowskis explaining it. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Jeff Bezos is supposedly a fan of "The Expanse". Which is strange, since he is so obviously the villain of the series. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Counterpoint: Freedom 7 (for which there was never a Freedom 1-6, but because it was the McDonnell Model #7 capsule). npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Starfleet Academy would still work with a TNG-like model. The smaller number of episodes per season gives less opportunity for non-arc plots; of which there are plenty that could have been expanded on. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Paramount apparently continues to not understand Star Trek and its fans. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch The Starlinks have orbital inclinations 43° and up. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch The trajectory is wrong: https://fireballs.imo.net/members/imo_view/event/2026/1959 . npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch When I first moved to Pasadena in '05, I learned it used to be a prank to not tell new arrivals about the mountains north of town so that they would freak out on the rare clear days. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Windfall, Ohio is accidentally an appropriate name for a place to look for falling meteorites blown by the wind. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Strewn field map for the 2026 March 17 meteor over Ohio that is now named Windfall, accounting for strong winds blowing meteorites sideways: https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/meteorite-falls/events/windfall-oh npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Fireball reports from today's meteor over Lake Erie: https://fireballs.imo.net/members/imo_view/event/2026/1828. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch That is not one that I have encountered. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I have lately had to explain to the undergraduate research students who Carl Sagan was. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Looking through the referenced paper ( https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3322/caac.70067 ) and its references ( https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2844189 ): npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Re. last repost of @tadethompson.bsky.social : npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch The neutrino flash from Betelgeuse going supernova will get here 2 to 3 hours before the optical flash does. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch RE: https://mastodon.social/@startswithabang/116160638960675056 npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch If anyone was wondering what the heaviest telescope is: npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch The leadership of the American Astronomical Society explains why "move all the telescopes to space" is neither possible nor desirable: https://spacenews.com/the-future-of-astronomy-is-both-on-earth-and-in-space/ npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch QT ESA Space Science @science.esa.int npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Company: "We have a new AI that automatically identifies file formats!" npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I learn that the NASA Planetary Science Summer School on spacecraft mission planning will be taking place this year, amid everything else that is happening. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Didn't VIMS pick up CO2 on Iapetus; produced photochemically in sunlight and then cold trapped in darkness? npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Water and not CO2, because Ceres is warmer. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I was reminded today of this paper from 2024: npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Yet again, USA: npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch This is very sad news. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch And, yet again, USA: npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch More ICE agents who need to be charged with attempted murder, #Minnesota. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Just like baseball cards. Or anything else that is portable and easily convertible to cash. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch "space data centers" continues to be quite the scam. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch That reads like it might be "Elder Race" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, except that that was only published in 2021. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Listening to a presentation about the asteroid impact hazard. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch As the linked article acknowledges when it points out that pork and chicken are several times more efficient as food sources than beef. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch This is a reminder that while we need systemic changes to global food production and consumption; they are much more complicated than "don't eat meat". npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Only satellites that are not adequately prepared in terms of radiation shielding are at risk. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch This is a regular reminder that geomagnetic storms only induce significant amounts of voltage and current across very long continuous pieces of conductor. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch SpaceX is pleased to claim that Starlink makes money, but only by not including the costs of replacing the satellites. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Quite the thing when the "good" brand is the company that is blowing up Starships and littering the sky with Starlinks while losing lots of money. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch This is an occasional reminder that there is precedent for Congress forcing out both POTUS and VP and replacing them with the Senate Minority Leader and Governor of New York. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch RE: https://alaskan.social/@AlaskaWx/115945176086559767 npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch ICE is kidnapping snow plow drivers in Minnesota in the middle of winter. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch #AbolishICE and the Border Patrol. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Today on the #arXiv : npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I would say rather that the current set of text generators being promoted as "AI" have been designed to manipulate people into anthropomorphizing the software. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch "As the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion ..." npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Venus' clouds would be briefly sour until the sulfuric acid dissolved your taste buds. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch PSR J2322–2650b is very light on hydrogen and very heavy on molecular carbon. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch With tater-tots as a topping; that would be Minnesotan hotdish. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I have helped teach a lot of people how to cook using Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking". npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Thanks go to the National Association of Letter Carriers, who I assume would rather be completing their appointed rounds. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch #AbolishICE npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch How many decades has "READFITS" been a command now? npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I have again encountered pieces suggesting mining asteroids for rare-earth metals to ship back to Earth. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I once heard a child psychologist say "anything short of fratricide is normal". npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Discussion of 3I observations with PUNCH by Kevin Walsh and @npub10m8…6gmu : npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosbaez/115677835220476940 npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Somebody pushing new code to production without checking for the possible failure modes of bits getting flipped? npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Radiation causing bit flips is a known problem. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch If I do the math correctly, the LD50 for untreated comet water would be about 1 pint. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch There is < 10% as much methanol being sublimated off of 3I as there is water, and only a few parts per thousand as much cyanide as water. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Today on the #arXiv: npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Images and other data from the OSIRIS-APEX flyby of Earth this year: https://news.arizona.edu/news/osiris-apex-spacecraft-takes-selfie-earth-during-flyby npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Nearly 20 years ago now, there was a piece critiquing another sulfate aerosol scheme. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch It is a very interesting dot. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch #subpost npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I just have this idea that if we taxed the few richest people on the claimed value of all of their assets, we would have fewer cases of investment bubbles driven by billionaires propping up meme stocks. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Taking away Elon Musk's wealth by stopping Tesla from being overvalued. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I read stories about the massively inflated share prices of various companies. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch The Vatican has signed the Outer Space Treaty. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth continue to order mass murder. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Since I read discourse today, a reminder: npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I must again report that EMPs do not work that way. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch My city government is sending community health workers begging people whose children have not been vaccinated against measles to get them their shots. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I suddenly feel a need to quote a meme: npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch RE: https://mastodon.social/@space_environmentalism/115271334981541293 npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I learned this from my daughter's pediatricians, who explained their policies at intake - both to warn any vaccine denialists and to reassure everyone else that they are doing what they can to keep all the kids safe. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch There are many pediatricians who will only take vaccinated kids as patients: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7492908/ . npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Yet again, USA: npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch Borosilicate glass is sometimes used for windshields. npub1z4xr937anjupfyf52khlzq48av7807az4hgpcxz3eeqnw3f0hvfsqq4wwh Michael Busch I am going to guess that there was no multiple-comparison correction when computing those confidence values?
