Dr. Alex Parker
@alexparker.bsky.social
Exploration scientist, engineer, artist. Building things for space inspired by things in the sea, and things for the sea inspired by space. Discovered a few moons along the way.
Presented at a shellfish growers conference today — a first for me. Showed our results of mapping the 3D dissolved oxygen distribution around a working oyster farm with one of our little robot boats, seen here at work with wildfire smoke and White Rock BC in the background.
September 10, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Presented at a shellfish growers conference today — a first for me. Showed our results of mapping the 3D dissolved oxygen distribution around a working oyster farm with one of our little robot boats, seen here at work with wildfire smoke and White Rock BC in the background.
Reposted by Dr. Alex Parker
New paper day! In 'Near-future rocket launches could slow ozone recovery', we show that scaling up use of launch vehicles 🚀 has a point where the healing of the ozone layer is affected 🧪🛰️
Open access, free to read & share
Open access, free to read & share
Near-future rocket launches could slow ozone recovery
npj Climate and Atmospheric Science - Near-future rocket launches could slow ozone recovery
rdcu.be
June 10, 2025 at 1:31 AM
New paper day! In 'Near-future rocket launches could slow ozone recovery', we show that scaling up use of launch vehicles 🚀 has a point where the healing of the ozone layer is affected 🧪🛰️
Open access, free to read & share
Open access, free to read & share
I’ve been so excited by this news since the first time I heard it being circulated internally. Oh to be regarded by a whale.
PRESS RELEASE:
A team of scientists from the SETI Institute and the University of California at Davis documented, for the first time, humpback whales producing large bubble rings, like a human smoker blowing smoke rings, during friendly interactions with humans. 🧪
A team of scientists from the SETI Institute and the University of California at Davis documented, for the first time, humpback whales producing large bubble rings, like a human smoker blowing smoke rings, during friendly interactions with humans. 🧪
June 5, 2025 at 10:01 PM
I’ve been so excited by this news since the first time I heard it being circulated internally. Oh to be regarded by a whale.
Welcome to Bee-ham.
May 31, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Welcome to Bee-ham.
Reposted by Dr. Alex Parker
Listen, folks, we can usually give advice to prepare you ahead of time for emergencies.
But no one could have predicted 250 MILLION BEES would be loose on a road.
So, stay away. Just…. Don’t go anywhere near them.
But no one could have predicted 250 MILLION BEES would be loose on a road.
So, stay away. Just…. Don’t go anywhere near them.
Millions of pollinating bees are swarming in Whatcom County after a commercial vehicle rolled over Friday morning near Lynden, according to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Department.
250 million bees on the loose after commercial vehicle accident near Lynden | Cascadia Daily News
Section of Weidkamp Road closed due to incident
www.cascadiadaily.com
May 30, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Listen, folks, we can usually give advice to prepare you ahead of time for emergencies.
But no one could have predicted 250 MILLION BEES would be loose on a road.
So, stay away. Just…. Don’t go anywhere near them.
But no one could have predicted 250 MILLION BEES would be loose on a road.
So, stay away. Just…. Don’t go anywhere near them.
Cool, just now learning that the abstract that I published in 2020 on a low-cost tactile interface to enable sidewalk astronomy experiences for the blind and low vision was removed from the archive to preempt concerns about appearing too DEI.
May 23, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Cool, just now learning that the abstract that I published in 2020 on a low-cost tactile interface to enable sidewalk astronomy experiences for the blind and low vision was removed from the archive to preempt concerns about appearing too DEI.
Reposted by Dr. Alex Parker
It's paper day! Led by grad students Rosemary Dorsey and Matthew Hopkins, we bring you a beautifully detailed study of how interstellar objects will be visible to @vrubinobs.bsky.social 🔭🧪
The visibility of the Ōtautahi-Oxford interstellar object population model in LSST
With a new probabilistic technique for sampling interstellar object (ISO) orbits with high efficiency, we assess the observability of ISOs under a realistic cadence for the upcoming Vera Rubin Observa...
arxiv.org
February 25, 2025 at 8:56 AM
It's paper day! Led by grad students Rosemary Dorsey and Matthew Hopkins, we bring you a beautifully detailed study of how interstellar objects will be visible to @vrubinobs.bsky.social 🔭🧪
Reposted by Dr. Alex Parker
The Washington State Climate Office (WASCO) is now on Bluesky! Follow to be among the first to learn about WASCO announcements, research, newsletters, and general Washington climate and weather tidbits.
February 12, 2025 at 1:01 AM
The Washington State Climate Office (WASCO) is now on Bluesky! Follow to be among the first to learn about WASCO announcements, research, newsletters, and general Washington climate and weather tidbits.
I once built robots designed to do this to asteroids.
Literally anything but a starfish eating how starfish do.
We're having a discussion about which interesting animal behaviour would be terrifying on a different species. The rules are
a) it can't be an immediate danger to you
b) it has to be so scary you would stop filming and leave.
Feel free to play along. The current winner is vulture murmuration.
a) it can't be an immediate danger to you
b) it has to be so scary you would stop filming and leave.
Feel free to play along. The current winner is vulture murmuration.
January 26, 2025 at 10:44 PM
I once built robots designed to do this to asteroids.
Reposted by Dr. Alex Parker
Last Friday, the coast guard brought our little Indigenous community 2 humans who had been adrift on a damaged sailboat for nearly 3 weeks before they were rescued. They arrived in Bella Bella with the clothes on their backs.
January 22, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Last Friday, the coast guard brought our little Indigenous community 2 humans who had been adrift on a damaged sailboat for nearly 3 weeks before they were rescued. They arrived in Bella Bella with the clothes on their backs.
Reposted by Dr. Alex Parker
Well… Do ring particles count as micrometeoroids? 😅 science.nasa.gov/resource/shi...
Shields Up - NASA Science
Before settling into orbit around Saturn in 2004, the Cassini spacecraft faced a white-knuckle ride through the plane of the planet’s rings. The spacecraft was bombarded with about 100,000 impacts fro...
science.nasa.gov
January 16, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Well… Do ring particles count as micrometeoroids? 😅 science.nasa.gov/resource/shi...
Video and audio of a meteorite impact on Earth!
A Canadian man narrowly avoided being struck by a meteorite that crashed into the walkway outside his home.
The offending space rock has since been bagged & tagged. 🧪
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
The offending space rock has since been bagged & tagged. 🧪
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
January 16, 2025 at 4:10 AM
Video and audio of a meteorite impact on Earth!
One of my trail cams regularly triggers around 8:45 in the morning with nothing obvious in the frame. Given that I evidently live on the forest moon of Endor I can only assume it’s a stealthy Ewok.
January 6, 2025 at 7:38 PM
One of my trail cams regularly triggers around 8:45 in the morning with nothing obvious in the frame. Given that I evidently live on the forest moon of Endor I can only assume it’s a stealthy Ewok.
I found my first iPod in an old moving box — 20 years old now. I plugged it in and it booted right up and still has 3000 songs on it.
November 25, 2024 at 4:45 AM
I found my first iPod in an old moving box — 20 years old now. I plugged it in and it booted right up and still has 3000 songs on it.
Broke 1000 followers tonight. I should probably post more!
November 16, 2024 at 2:26 AM
Broke 1000 followers tonight. I should probably post more!
If you’re willing to stretch the definition of “hot,” we may have just discovered a hot spring in the outer solar system on the dwarf planet Makemake.
Preprint of the accepted paper: arxiv.org/abs/2410.22544
Preprint of the accepted paper: arxiv.org/abs/2410.22544
Prominent mid-infrared excess of the dwarf planet (136472) Makemake discovered by JWST/MIRI indicates ongoing activity
We report on the discovery of a very prominent mid-infrared (18-25 μm) excess associated with the trans-Neptunian dwarf planet (136472) Makemake. The excess, detected by the MIRI instrument of the Jam...
arxiv.org
October 31, 2024 at 7:58 PM
If you’re willing to stretch the definition of “hot,” we may have just discovered a hot spring in the outer solar system on the dwarf planet Makemake.
Preprint of the accepted paper: arxiv.org/abs/2410.22544
Preprint of the accepted paper: arxiv.org/abs/2410.22544
I’m in Miami this weekend pitching my ocean observing startup. So far, two dozen lizards on the airbnb patio have heard the good news.
October 26, 2024 at 5:43 PM
I’m in Miami this weekend pitching my ocean observing startup. So far, two dozen lizards on the airbnb patio have heard the good news.
Reposted by Dr. Alex Parker
We have a telescope!🤩
Last week, summit staff installed Rubin's primary/tertiary mirror. 🧪🔭
With all three mirrors & the commissioning camera in place, we officially—for the first time in 15 years of construction—have a complete telescope!🥳
Watch the time-lapse: https://youtu.be/6EWUpZG1pAM
Last week, summit staff installed Rubin's primary/tertiary mirror. 🧪🔭
With all three mirrors & the commissioning camera in place, we officially—for the first time in 15 years of construction—have a complete telescope!🥳
Watch the time-lapse: https://youtu.be/6EWUpZG1pAM
October 8, 2024 at 3:59 PM
We have a telescope!🤩
Last week, summit staff installed Rubin's primary/tertiary mirror. 🧪🔭
With all three mirrors & the commissioning camera in place, we officially—for the first time in 15 years of construction—have a complete telescope!🥳
Watch the time-lapse: https://youtu.be/6EWUpZG1pAM
Last week, summit staff installed Rubin's primary/tertiary mirror. 🧪🔭
With all three mirrors & the commissioning camera in place, we officially—for the first time in 15 years of construction—have a complete telescope!🥳
Watch the time-lapse: https://youtu.be/6EWUpZG1pAM
I maintain that these are the worst-branded LiPo batteries on the market.
September 27, 2024 at 11:31 PM
I maintain that these are the worst-branded LiPo batteries on the market.
Cleaning the robot boat today and discovered that the main payload locker had been transformed into the very cozy home of a very large spider. Autonomous but not uncrewed, I guess.
September 21, 2024 at 6:39 PM
Cleaning the robot boat today and discovered that the main payload locker had been transformed into the very cozy home of a very large spider. Autonomous but not uncrewed, I guess.
Great day to be a solar-powered robot boat.
September 7, 2024 at 12:09 AM
Great day to be a solar-powered robot boat.
Not now, Yellowstone. 2024 is interesting enough.
July 23, 2024 at 8:05 PM
Not now, Yellowstone. 2024 is interesting enough.
Me: Why is my phone always running out of storage space
Also me:
Also me:
May 19, 2024 at 1:07 AM
Me: Why is my phone always running out of storage space
Also me:
Also me:
I don’t know how many of you have been following the recent ridiculousness in the Washington State gubernatorial race, but this is an actual headline from today:
May 15, 2024 at 3:35 AM
I don’t know how many of you have been following the recent ridiculousness in the Washington State gubernatorial race, but this is an actual headline from today: