Steve Desch
@deschscoveries.bsky.social
Professor of astrophysics / planetary science / meteoritics at Arizona State University.
Pinned
Steve Desch
@deschscoveries.bsky.social
· Nov 24
Hi! I’m a Professor of astrophysics at ASU. I use meteorite data to model how stars and planets form. I lead a NASA-funded team to predict the diversity of exoplanet compositions. I work with realice.eco to explore ways to thicken arctic ice. I fight bad science. Let’s karaoke!
Reposted by Steve Desch
November 11, 2025 at 5:30 AM
Reposted by Steve Desch
Oops. Ooooooooooooops.
I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years.
arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675
h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years.
arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675
h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Oops. Ooooooooooooops.
I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years.
arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675
h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years.
arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675
h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was born with different and more ancient chemistry, has been more irradiated, and is speeding toward the Sun faster compared to Solar System comets. It's got a unique personality. But since literally Day 1 it was recognized as a comet and has only ever done comety things.
I've summarized the truth about Loeb's 10 "anomalies" about 3I/ATLAS in one post.
Thanks to @deschscoveries.bsky.social @michael-w-busch.bsky.social @cometary.org and @marshall-eubanks.bsky.social for contributing their expertise!
Thanks to @deschscoveries.bsky.social @michael-w-busch.bsky.social @cometary.org and @marshall-eubanks.bsky.social for contributing their expertise!
Loeb’s 3I/ATLAS “Anomalies” Explained
Avi Loeb continues to claim that 3I/ATLAS has many anomalous behaviors that lead to the conclusion that it “might” be an alien spacecraft. He carefully hedges the probability that it is a spacecraft ...
sites.psu.edu
November 10, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was born with different and more ancient chemistry, has been more irradiated, and is speeding toward the Sun faster compared to Solar System comets. It's got a unique personality. But since literally Day 1 it was recognized as a comet and has only ever done comety things.
Reposted by Steve Desch
I've summarized the truth about Loeb's 10 "anomalies" about 3I/ATLAS in one post.
Thanks to @deschscoveries.bsky.social @michael-w-busch.bsky.social @cometary.org and @marshall-eubanks.bsky.social for contributing their expertise!
Thanks to @deschscoveries.bsky.social @michael-w-busch.bsky.social @cometary.org and @marshall-eubanks.bsky.social for contributing their expertise!
Loeb’s 3I/ATLAS “Anomalies” Explained
Avi Loeb continues to claim that 3I/ATLAS has many anomalous behaviors that lead to the conclusion that it “might” be an alien spacecraft. He carefully hedges the probability that it is a spacecraft ...
sites.psu.edu
November 10, 2025 at 12:22 AM
I've summarized the truth about Loeb's 10 "anomalies" about 3I/ATLAS in one post.
Thanks to @deschscoveries.bsky.social @michael-w-busch.bsky.social @cometary.org and @marshall-eubanks.bsky.social for contributing their expertise!
Thanks to @deschscoveries.bsky.social @michael-w-busch.bsky.social @cometary.org and @marshall-eubanks.bsky.social for contributing their expertise!
Mamdani is going to implement Oh Sherry law. All song titles must rhyme with the singer’s name, and our loves will hold on, hold on.
Mamdami is going to implement Share Law. Everyone will have to divide the dessert they ordered for themselves, after specifically being told by their spouse “I dont want any!” Into two equal portions because “it looks so good in person! I just want to try it!”
Mamdani is going to implement Shar Law. Everyone will have to bow down to the Mistress of the Night, the Lady of Loss, and devote themselves to bringing about a darkness that will smother her hated foe and sister Selûne
November 9, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Mamdani is going to implement Oh Sherry law. All song titles must rhyme with the singer’s name, and our loves will hold on, hold on.
Reposted by Steve Desch
"Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives."
― Carl Sagan, born 9 November 1934
Video Credit: @planetarysociety.bsky.social
#PaleBlueDot 🔭 🧪 #CarlSagan
― Carl Sagan, born 9 November 1934
Video Credit: @planetarysociety.bsky.social
#PaleBlueDot 🔭 🧪 #CarlSagan
November 9, 2025 at 6:21 PM
"Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives."
― Carl Sagan, born 9 November 1934
Video Credit: @planetarysociety.bsky.social
#PaleBlueDot 🔭 🧪 #CarlSagan
― Carl Sagan, born 9 November 1934
Video Credit: @planetarysociety.bsky.social
#PaleBlueDot 🔭 🧪 #CarlSagan
Reposted by Steve Desch
It’s time for Speaker Johnson to cut the ridiculous excuses and do his job. Adelita Grijalva won an election more than 6 weeks ago, and she still hasn’t been sworn in to represent more than 800,000 Arizonans. Read her op-ed:
I was elected 6 weeks ago. Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to swear me in.
Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to swear me into office, an unprecedented and starkly undemocratic position that sets a very dangerous precedent.
www.usatoday.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:37 PM
It’s time for Speaker Johnson to cut the ridiculous excuses and do his job. Adelita Grijalva won an election more than 6 weeks ago, and she still hasn’t been sworn in to represent more than 800,000 Arizonans. Read her op-ed:
I didn’t know Lego made an Avi Loeb minifigure!
LEGO as the building blocks of the solar system? Now there’s a conspiracy theory that “clicks”
a close up of a lego character with a smiley face
ALT: a close up of a lego character with a smiley face
media.tenor.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:47 PM
I didn’t know Lego made an Avi Loeb minifigure!
Yes!! Jason Wright, Sean Raymond and I also pointed out 'Oumuamua was stupidly thick, inefficiently reflected mostly red light, and was tumbling and non-functioning. Are aliens terrible engineers? Excellent engineers who make spaceships that LOOK like comets/chunks of ice? I can't disprove that.🤷
Speaking as a spacecraft engineer, the thing that gets me about Loeb's interpretations is that his alien engineers are insultingly incompetent.
RCS thruster plumes visible from the other side of the solar system, making no difference in the trajectory?!
And 'Oumuamua was a *terrible* solar sail.
RCS thruster plumes visible from the other side of the solar system, making no difference in the trajectory?!
And 'Oumuamua was a *terrible* solar sail.
November 8, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Yes!! Jason Wright, Sean Raymond and I also pointed out 'Oumuamua was stupidly thick, inefficiently reflected mostly red light, and was tumbling and non-functioning. Are aliens terrible engineers? Excellent engineers who make spaceships that LOOK like comets/chunks of ice? I can't disprove that.🤷
Reposted by Steve Desch
Is it jets from ices on a comet or are this an interstellar ice cream truck losing is cargo? We do not know.
November 8, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Is it jets from ices on a comet or are this an interstellar ice cream truck losing is cargo? We do not know.
New image of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS by M. Jäger, G. Rhemann & E. Prosperi.
Avi Loeb's: "Is the network of jets associated with pockets of ice on the surface of a natural cometary nucleus or are they coming from a set of jet thrusters used for navigation of a spacecraft? We do not know."
Avi Loeb's: "Is the network of jets associated with pockets of ice on the surface of a natural cometary nucleus or are they coming from a set of jet thrusters used for navigation of a spacecraft? We do not know."
November 8, 2025 at 6:35 PM
New image of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS by M. Jäger, G. Rhemann & E. Prosperi.
Avi Loeb's: "Is the network of jets associated with pockets of ice on the surface of a natural cometary nucleus or are they coming from a set of jet thrusters used for navigation of a spacecraft? We do not know."
Avi Loeb's: "Is the network of jets associated with pockets of ice on the surface of a natural cometary nucleus or are they coming from a set of jet thrusters used for navigation of a spacecraft? We do not know."
Reposted by Steve Desch
Reposted by Steve Desch
Speaker Johnson kicked me out of his office. Here's why.
November 7, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Speaker Johnson kicked me out of his office. Here's why.
Reposted by Steve Desch
Rep. Yassamin Ansari has set up a table and this sign outside Speaker Johnson’s office.
November 6, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Rep. Yassamin Ansari has set up a table and this sign outside Speaker Johnson’s office.
Reposted by Steve Desch
Seems like a good time for the Speaker of the House to swear in Rep. Grijalva.
November 5, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Seems like a good time for the Speaker of the House to swear in Rep. Grijalva.
Reposted by Steve Desch
Reposted by Steve Desch
this is how i will remember dick cheney.
November 4, 2025 at 1:35 PM
this is how i will remember dick cheney.
3I/ATLAS has both Ni and Fe vapor, like 2I/Borisov and dozens of solar system comets. These are probably from carbonyls formed when metal reacts with ice, and seems pretty universal. Its 3I/ATLAS’s hyperbolic orbit that tells us it formed in another star system.
3I/ATLAS, a rare interstellar comet spotted in 2025, shows vaporised nickel far from the Sun metal usually won’t evaporate there. It hints at the comet formed in a distant, cold star system, possibly older than our Sun.
Image: NASA/ESA/AP
Image: NASA/ESA/AP
November 3, 2025 at 11:07 AM
3I/ATLAS has both Ni and Fe vapor, like 2I/Borisov and dozens of solar system comets. These are probably from carbonyls formed when metal reacts with ice, and seems pretty universal. Its 3I/ATLAS’s hyperbolic orbit that tells us it formed in another star system.
Reposted by Steve Desch
(9/9)This article details the administration’s ongoing destruction of NASA science. Here Press Secretary Bethany Stevens clearly violates the Hatch Act, as Acting Administrator Duffy has done. If they’re not held accountable, NASA’s integrity may never be restored.
www.space.com/space-explor...
www.space.com/space-explor...
NASA is sinking its flagship science center during the government shutdown — and may be breaking the law in the process, critics say
"There is just a general acknowledgement that a lot of what is happening is illegal…"
www.space.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:23 PM
(9/9)This article details the administration’s ongoing destruction of NASA science. Here Press Secretary Bethany Stevens clearly violates the Hatch Act, as Acting Administrator Duffy has done. If they’re not held accountable, NASA’s integrity may never be restored.
www.space.com/space-explor...
www.space.com/space-explor...
Reposted by Steve Desch
I love how Rep. Joe Neguse reframed this question.
October 31, 2025 at 8:19 AM
I love how Rep. Joe Neguse reframed this question.
Reposted by Steve Desch
🧵
On 17 May 1902, Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais sifted through some artifacts from a shipwreck at Antikythera.
A 2,000-year-old corroded chunk of metal turned out to be part of the Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient analog astronomical computer.
Image by Logg Tand
🔭 🧪 #HistSci #Science
1/5
On 17 May 1902, Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais sifted through some artifacts from a shipwreck at Antikythera.
A 2,000-year-old corroded chunk of metal turned out to be part of the Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient analog astronomical computer.
Image by Logg Tand
🔭 🧪 #HistSci #Science
1/5
October 30, 2025 at 2:24 PM
If he racked up a Nobel Prize then Al Gore invented the Internet.
(Except Al Gore actually did take the initiative in advancing programs that created the Internet.)
(Except Al Gore actually did take the initiative in advancing programs that created the Internet.)
Trump congratulates himself for winning the Nobel Prize in Physics
October 30, 2025 at 7:38 PM
If he racked up a Nobel Prize then Al Gore invented the Internet.
(Except Al Gore actually did take the initiative in advancing programs that created the Internet.)
(Except Al Gore actually did take the initiative in advancing programs that created the Internet.)
Change one letter, ruin a candy.
Maby Ruth
Maby Ruth
Change one letter, ruin a candy.
Twig
Twig
Change one letter, ruin a candy.
Starwurst
Starwurst
October 30, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Change one letter, ruin a candy.
Maby Ruth
Maby Ruth
Just want to point out I *presciently* compared Avi Loeb to Nostradamus two months ago, wishing he would make just *one* prediction he could be simply wrong about. Instead he makes vague, even contradictory statements then later claims, See? I was right!
medium.com/@steve.desch...
medium.com/@steve.desch...
October 28, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Just want to point out I *presciently* compared Avi Loeb to Nostradamus two months ago, wishing he would make just *one* prediction he could be simply wrong about. Instead he makes vague, even contradictory statements then later claims, See? I was right!
medium.com/@steve.desch...
medium.com/@steve.desch...
Absolutely! retraction should be reserved for very big mistakes that referees should have caught but didn’t, or cases of fraud. Retraction has a stigma, and should not be used routinely. Making an example of a paper without such errors—from a decade and a half ago!—is confusing and petty.
Perhaps, I'm too influenced by Karl Popper, but I think we must recognize that *all scientific claims are wrong*. Science is a process towards truth. The scientific literature is a public record of this process and so it is filled with claims that have and will someday be shown to be wrong. 2/2
October 27, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Absolutely! retraction should be reserved for very big mistakes that referees should have caught but didn’t, or cases of fraud. Retraction has a stigma, and should not be used routinely. Making an example of a paper without such errors—from a decade and a half ago!—is confusing and petty.