Chad Bender
@chadfbender.bsky.social
Astronomer at University of Arizona's Steward Observatory. Instrument builder: LFAST, NEID, HPF. Building giant telescopes! Hobbyist woodworker. Decent vinyl collection.
As a recovering oboist myself, this is a great article (and the comments section is pretty wild...) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/a...
If You Think This Instrument Is Hard to Play, Try Building One
www.nytimes.com
January 15, 2026 at 4:55 AM
As a recovering oboist myself, this is a great article (and the comments section is pretty wild...) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/a...
Reposted by Chad Bender
Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG...
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG...
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...
Statement by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell
YouTube video by Federal Reserve
www.youtube.com
January 12, 2026 at 12:35 AM
Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG...
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG...
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...
Finally managed to get some time in my wood shop this weekend, and made good progress test fitting a dresser I've been working on for a while. This is modeled after the Harvey Ellis designed #913 in the Gustav Stickley catalog. I've used paneled sides and back, and full web-frames inside. 1/4
January 12, 2026 at 1:37 AM
Finally managed to get some time in my wood shop this weekend, and made good progress test fitting a dresser I've been working on for a while. This is modeled after the Harvey Ellis designed #913 in the Gustav Stickley catalog. I've used paneled sides and back, and full web-frames inside. 1/4
Reposted by Chad Bender
Picard management tip: Suppress your inner alarm. Be the calmest person in the room.
January 11, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Picard management tip: Suppress your inner alarm. Be the calmest person in the room.
Reposted by Chad Bender
why you need big telescopes for spectroscopy -- “You have to collect enough photons because you’re spreading them out,” said @chadfbender.bsky.social, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, which is in charge of LFAST. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/s...
Google’s Former C.E.O. Wants to Build a Cosmic Search Engine
www.nytimes.com
January 9, 2026 at 4:05 PM
why you need big telescopes for spectroscopy -- “You have to collect enough photons because you’re spreading them out,” said @chadfbender.bsky.social, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, which is in charge of LFAST. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/s...
Google’s Former C.E.O. Wants to Build a Cosmic Search Engine
www.nytimes.com
January 9, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Chad Bender
Packed splinter session at #AAS247 for the announcement of The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System—a modular, rapid-response network of four novel observatories designed to democratize access to the cosmos.
Read more about the initiatives here: www.schmidtsciences.org/focus-area-a...
Read more about the initiatives here: www.schmidtsciences.org/focus-area-a...
January 7, 2026 at 11:05 PM
Packed splinter session at #AAS247 for the announcement of The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System—a modular, rapid-response network of four novel observatories designed to democratize access to the cosmos.
Read more about the initiatives here: www.schmidtsciences.org/focus-area-a...
Read more about the initiatives here: www.schmidtsciences.org/focus-area-a...
Just spent the day doing a thing: www.science.org/content/arti...
Roger Angel and I are Co-PIing the LFAST telescope, which is being built at @stewardobservatory.bsky.social and provides the ground based spectroscopic component of this venture.
@schmidtsciences.bsky.social #AAS247 #Arizona #LFAST
Roger Angel and I are Co-PIing the LFAST telescope, which is being built at @stewardobservatory.bsky.social and provides the ground based spectroscopic component of this venture.
@schmidtsciences.bsky.social #AAS247 #Arizona #LFAST
Ex–Google CEO funds private space telescope bigger than Hubble
Schmidt Sciences announces investments in orbiting observatory and three ground-based instruments
www.science.org
January 8, 2026 at 5:53 AM
Just spent the day doing a thing: www.science.org/content/arti...
Roger Angel and I are Co-PIing the LFAST telescope, which is being built at @stewardobservatory.bsky.social and provides the ground based spectroscopic component of this venture.
@schmidtsciences.bsky.social #AAS247 #Arizona #LFAST
Roger Angel and I are Co-PIing the LFAST telescope, which is being built at @stewardobservatory.bsky.social and provides the ground based spectroscopic component of this venture.
@schmidtsciences.bsky.social #AAS247 #Arizona #LFAST
Happening now!
More Astrophysics for More People ✨
Join us for a virtual #AAS247 session and a first look at The Schmidt Observatory System—a new network of ground and space-based initiatives designed to break the traditional limits of discovery.
📆 Jan 7 | 3-5:30pm MT / 5-7:30pm ET
Register here: buff.ly/kbbNFuB
Join us for a virtual #AAS247 session and a first look at The Schmidt Observatory System—a new network of ground and space-based initiatives designed to break the traditional limits of discovery.
📆 Jan 7 | 3-5:30pm MT / 5-7:30pm ET
Register here: buff.ly/kbbNFuB
January 7, 2026 at 10:02 PM
Happening now!
Reposted by Chad Bender
Standing room only for the Schmidt Sciences presentation at AAS.
January 7, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Standing room only for the Schmidt Sciences presentation at AAS.
The above average temps we had in November and lack of freeze so far, means my fall tomatoes have lost their minds. Things we can get away with in Tucson...
December 31, 2025 at 11:27 PM
The above average temps we had in November and lack of freeze so far, means my fall tomatoes have lost their minds. Things we can get away with in Tucson...
More billionaires buying newspapers. Previous experience across the country suggests it would be unusual if this proceeds without meddling in the papers' content.
The company that owns the Arizona Daily Star, Lee Enterprises, is coming under the control of billionaire David Hoffmann. He will become Lee's chairman after striking a deal to invest $50 million in the company. We don't know what this means for us in Tucson yet.
tucson.com/news/local/b...
tucson.com/news/local/b...
Entrepreneur Hoffmann leads deal to buy controlling stake in Lee Enterprises
Billionaire David Hoffmann leads $50 million deal with Lee Enterprises, the Arizona Daily Star's owner, to buy a controlling stake in the company and become its chairman.
tucson.com
December 30, 2025 at 11:38 PM
More billionaires buying newspapers. Previous experience across the country suggests it would be unusual if this proceeds without meddling in the papers' content.
Truer words have never been spoken.
Picard style tip: If you don't have much on top, keep the back and sides short.
December 30, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Truer words have never been spoken.
And astronomers everywhere give a small gasp of despair.
The atomic ensemble time scale at the NIST Boulder campus has failed.
December 20, 2025 at 11:58 PM
And astronomers everywhere give a small gasp of despair.
Wyatt thinks he's been caught in the act doing something he shouldn't. I'm like, dude, it's your cat tree...
December 20, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Wyatt thinks he's been caught in the act doing something he shouldn't. I'm like, dude, it's your cat tree...
This thread is the most fun I've had all week.
THREAD.
My parents' cat Bridget vanished. As the weeks dragged on they became ever more worried, so to distract himself my dad began to paint Bridget's adventures, imagining her travelling through time and popping up at some of art & music's most important moments.
I've collected his work here...
My parents' cat Bridget vanished. As the weeks dragged on they became ever more worried, so to distract himself my dad began to paint Bridget's adventures, imagining her travelling through time and popping up at some of art & music's most important moments.
I've collected his work here...
December 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
This thread is the most fun I've had all week.
Two juvenile bobcats paid me a visit this morning. Of course our house cats missed the whole thing, since they were buried in blankets and passed out for the day
December 14, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Two juvenile bobcats paid me a visit this morning. Of course our house cats missed the whole thing, since they were buried in blankets and passed out for the day
Anyone who lives in Tucson knows we have a vehicle - pedestrian collision problem, but the map in this article really drives it home. Many tens of deaths in just a couple of years. Speedway and 1st Ave particularly bad (hell, it's called speedway!). Slow down people! wapo.st/4polhCJ
The deadliest roads in America
The number of pedestrians killed by vehicles has increased in the U.S., with road infrastructure and inadequate safety measures among key contributing factors.
wapo.st
November 19, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Anyone who lives in Tucson knows we have a vehicle - pedestrian collision problem, but the map in this article really drives it home. Many tens of deaths in just a couple of years. Speedway and 1st Ave particularly bad (hell, it's called speedway!). Slow down people! wapo.st/4polhCJ
Reposted by Chad Bender
Picard management tip: Ignore rules that make no sense.
November 14, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Picard management tip: Ignore rules that make no sense.
This will kill federally funded STEM research, which will basically kill all research. The science community is intertwined, and cannot be separated like this. Nor is it necessary - there are already expert controls in place to prevent transfers of sensitive information.
“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 5:03 AM
This will kill federally funded STEM research, which will basically kill all research. The science community is intertwined, and cannot be separated like this. Nor is it necessary - there are already expert controls in place to prevent transfers of sensitive information.
Reposted by Chad Bender
Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.
Lowell Observatory slashes research funding in the midst of financial struggle
Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.
buff.ly
November 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.
Reposted by Chad Bender
i’m excited to announce that i am hiring (again)!
i am looking for a postdoc in computational astrophysics that’s excited about models of stellar transients and multi-messenger astronomy to join my group (star stuff @ steward) at @uarizona.bsky.social!
apply here ✨💥: aas.org/jobregister/...
i am looking for a postdoc in computational astrophysics that’s excited about models of stellar transients and multi-messenger astronomy to join my group (star stuff @ steward) at @uarizona.bsky.social!
apply here ✨💥: aas.org/jobregister/...
Postdoctoral Research Associate I Computational Stellar Astrophysics (Steward Observatory) | American Astronomical Society
The University of Arizona (U of A) Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory (SO) invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate. The successful candidate will work with Professor Ca...
aas.org
November 10, 2025 at 10:25 PM
i’m excited to announce that i am hiring (again)!
i am looking for a postdoc in computational astrophysics that’s excited about models of stellar transients and multi-messenger astronomy to join my group (star stuff @ steward) at @uarizona.bsky.social!
apply here ✨💥: aas.org/jobregister/...
i am looking for a postdoc in computational astrophysics that’s excited about models of stellar transients and multi-messenger astronomy to join my group (star stuff @ steward) at @uarizona.bsky.social!
apply here ✨💥: aas.org/jobregister/...
Genuinely confused: How can the (as seen on tv) cleaning product 'Alien Power' be 'Made in the USA'? They are lying about something ...
November 8, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Genuinely confused: How can the (as seen on tv) cleaning product 'Alien Power' be 'Made in the USA'? They are lying about something ...
Called Ciscomani's office this morning to yell about the ATC situation, and someone actually picked up the phone on the first ring. Sadly, the staffer appeared to be channeling Mike Johnson's "I don't know anything, head in the sand" vibe.
November 7, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Called Ciscomani's office this morning to yell about the ATC situation, and someone actually picked up the phone on the first ring. Sadly, the staffer appeared to be channeling Mike Johnson's "I don't know anything, head in the sand" vibe.
Reposted by Chad Bender
How long until pitchers & catchers?
November 2, 2025 at 4:20 AM
How long until pitchers & catchers?