Heidi B. Hammel
@hbhammel.bsky.social
planetary astronomer | nearly famous | jwst interdisciplinary scientist | looks just like an ordinary mom | oboist (thoughts expressed here are my own)
Happy to share that the "What's Your Map?" podcast just won a Gold Award for Best Education Podcast from the British Podcast Awards 2025 - you can find a link to the podcast I participated in about celestial maps via: oculi-mundi.com/heidi-hammel
November 7, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Happy to share that the "What's Your Map?" podcast just won a Gold Award for Best Education Podcast from the British Podcast Awards 2025 - you can find a link to the podcast I participated in about celestial maps via: oculi-mundi.com/heidi-hammel
Reposted by Heidi B. Hammel
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Looking to start a PhD in Physics & Astronomy in 2026? The team @physicsuol.bsky.social have announced their STFC-funded projects on offer next year, spanning astrophysics, planetary science, and space instrumentation. Deadline: Jan 18th, contact us to learn more!
le.ac.uk/study/resear...
le.ac.uk/study/resear...
November 7, 2025 at 1:39 PM
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I just saw a clickbait article about how "AI helped fix JWST's blurry vision." For the record, JWST's vision is just fine! This article is talking about a quirky mode of one instrument that doesn't work well and which few astronomers use anyway. JWST is doing great - at the peak of its game!
November 5, 2025 at 3:29 PM
I just saw a clickbait article about how "AI helped fix JWST's blurry vision." For the record, JWST's vision is just fine! This article is talking about a quirky mode of one instrument that doesn't work well and which few astronomers use anyway. JWST is doing great - at the peak of its game!
RIP Donna www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Grateful Dead Singer Donna Jean Godchaux Dead at 78
Donna Jean Godchaux, who spent the Seventies singing with the Grateful Dead and provided vocals on an Elvis Presley hit, has died at the age of 78.
www.rollingstone.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:28 PM
RIP Donna www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Reposted by Heidi B. Hammel
We already recovered it with the Lowell Discovery Telescope this morning: cometary.org/@qicheng/sta...
Post by Qicheng Zhang, @qicheng@cometary.org
After passing superior conjunction last week, interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is once again observable from the ground with optical telescopes, now in morning twilight. Here's a view from the Lowell Disco...
cometary.org
October 31, 2025 at 9:22 PM
We already recovered it with the Lowell Discovery Telescope this morning: cometary.org/@qicheng/sta...
I recommend this article by @meghanbartels.bsky.social and @leebillings.bsky.social for folks who are looking for *factual* information about why 3I/ATLAS is of interest to planetary astronomers: www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...
The Race to Study an Interstellar Comet from Deep Space
Astronomers are hustling to use interplanetary spacecraft to study the interstellar comet dubbed 3I/ATLAS while the sun is hiding it from Earth
www.scientificamerican.com
October 31, 2025 at 7:15 PM
I recommend this article by @meghanbartels.bsky.social and @leebillings.bsky.social for folks who are looking for *factual* information about why 3I/ATLAS is of interest to planetary astronomers: www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...
Update on the utterly normal activity of comet 3I/ATLAS: the lack of shenanigans continues - this is just a comet doing its comet thing.
Now we're up to perihelion and, yes, 3I/ATLAS is behaving itself.
October 31, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Update on the utterly normal activity of comet 3I/ATLAS: the lack of shenanigans continues - this is just a comet doing its comet thing.
3I/ATLAS is behaving just as a comet should. No shenanigans. Looking forward to the possibility of JUICE (a European spacecraft heading eventually to Jupiter) observing this object in the coming weeks!
I have just received from Kevin Walsh of SWRI a re-analysis of the PUNCH data for 3I/ATLAS, & have redone our gas and dust coma prediction models as a result. These new data agree well with the independent reductions of Thomas Lehmann and bode well for the Juice observations starting November 2nd.
October 31, 2025 at 3:28 PM
3I/ATLAS is behaving just as a comet should. No shenanigans. Looking forward to the possibility of JUICE (a European spacecraft heading eventually to Jupiter) observing this object in the coming weeks!
Perhaps one of the more important posts you'll read in a long time if you care about the future of space exploration. My (biased) tl;dr = the history of spaceflight suggests that gutting NASA tech dev (inc its science side!) may actually gut the future of the "commercial" space programs as well
my Bloomberg story on SpaceX's use of government technology projects to build its world-leading space tech has been syndicated, so now it's easy for anyone to read for free: www.al.com/news/2025/10...
What happens when the US stops funding the science behind SpaceX?
The US could once again spend hundreds of millions of dollars - public and private - and end up no further along than the last generation of overreaching programs that never flew.
www.al.com
October 29, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Perhaps one of the more important posts you'll read in a long time if you care about the future of space exploration. My (biased) tl;dr = the history of spaceflight suggests that gutting NASA tech dev (inc its science side!) may actually gut the future of the "commercial" space programs as well
For my Hawai'i based friends - public talk at the @keckobservatory.bsky.social HQ in Waimea. John Grunsfeld, astronaut and Hubble repairman, will discuss "From the Hubble Space Telescope to the Habitable Worlds Observatory."
October 29, 2025 at 3:13 PM
For my Hawai'i based friends - public talk at the @keckobservatory.bsky.social HQ in Waimea. John Grunsfeld, astronaut and Hubble repairman, will discuss "From the Hubble Space Telescope to the Habitable Worlds Observatory."
What Andy said!
While this is arguably my circus, these are not at all my monkeys.
Quite the battle royale here.
October 28, 2025 at 10:10 PM
What Andy said!
Reposted by Heidi B. Hammel
Another STUNNING image from JWST, this time of the Red Spider Nebula—the vast, wispy, gaseous remains of a now-dead star, the white dwarf core still glowing in the centre.
October 28, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Another STUNNING image from JWST, this time of the Red Spider Nebula—the vast, wispy, gaseous remains of a now-dead star, the white dwarf core still glowing in the centre.
Very cool image of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) shows a reddish dust tail spiraling around the blue gas tail
This was taken by Gianluca Masi using one of the telescopes in the Virtual Telescope Nework (@virtualtelescope.eu.web.brid.gy). He describes it here:
www.virtualtelescope.eu/2025/10/26/c...
www.virtualtelescope.eu/2025/10/26/c...
Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon and a meteor red afterglow: an epic image - 24 Oct. 2025. - The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0
A unique image, showing comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon and a meteor afterglow, captured on 24 Oct. 2025 by G. Masi, Virtual Telescope Project.
www.virtualtelescope.eu
October 27, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Very cool image of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) shows a reddish dust tail spiraling around the blue gas tail
Reposted by Heidi B. Hammel
Fresh JWST view of Uranus taken Oct 6 2025 with NIRCam.
Full size & more info: flic.kr/p/2rByidu 🔭🧪
Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Andrea Luck CC BY
Proposal PI: Varun Bajaj
Proposal ID: 8975
Filters: F150W2-F162M, F410M
Full size & more info: flic.kr/p/2rByidu 🔭🧪
Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Andrea Luck CC BY
Proposal PI: Varun Bajaj
Proposal ID: 8975
Filters: F150W2-F162M, F410M
October 26, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Fresh JWST view of Uranus taken Oct 6 2025 with NIRCam.
Full size & more info: flic.kr/p/2rByidu 🔭🧪
Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Andrea Luck CC BY
Proposal PI: Varun Bajaj
Proposal ID: 8975
Filters: F150W2-F162M, F410M
Full size & more info: flic.kr/p/2rByidu 🔭🧪
Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Andrea Luck CC BY
Proposal PI: Varun Bajaj
Proposal ID: 8975
Filters: F150W2-F162M, F410M
Doing traffic duty with my assistant (son26) for the neighborhood’s Annual Halloween Parade
October 25, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Doing traffic duty with my assistant (son26) for the neighborhood’s Annual Halloween Parade
Reposted by Heidi B. Hammel
note to self: bring a trash bag
(don't want "No Kings" to look like Charlie Kirk's funeral)
(don't want "No Kings" to look like Charlie Kirk's funeral)
October 17, 2025 at 5:50 PM
note to self: bring a trash bag
(don't want "No Kings" to look like Charlie Kirk's funeral)
(don't want "No Kings" to look like Charlie Kirk's funeral)
Double-vaxxed as of today: "strong" flu and covid. My immune system is ready to rumble!
a drawing of a heart with a syringe in it and a ribbon that says vaccinated
Alt: a drawing of a heart with a syringe in it and a ribbon that says vaccinated
media.tenor.com
October 17, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Double-vaxxed as of today: "strong" flu and covid. My immune system is ready to rumble!
Actually a good article once you get past the click-bait headline. The article itself correctly refers to astronomical image processing as "a careful scientific and artistic process that transforms invisible light in space into visible wavelengths humans can see" www.fodors.com/news/news/ho...
Everyone Is Lying to You About What Space Really Looks Like
Fodor's provides expert travel content worth exploring so you can dream up your next trip. The world is a weird and wonderful place—we want to show you around.
www.fodors.com
October 15, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Actually a good article once you get past the click-bait headline. The article itself correctly refers to astronomical image processing as "a careful scientific and artistic process that transforms invisible light in space into visible wavelengths humans can see" www.fodors.com/news/news/ho...
Reposted by Heidi B. Hammel
Procrastination takes may forms. Tonight as a service to the astronomical community I offer help with your JWST proposal titles.
#JWST 🧪🔭✨
#JWST 🧪🔭✨
October 15, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Procrastination takes may forms. Tonight as a service to the astronomical community I offer help with your JWST proposal titles.
#JWST 🧪🔭✨
#JWST 🧪🔭✨
Reposted by Heidi B. Hammel
The Smithsonian's museums and zoo are now closed due to the government shut down. Tours of historic Washington, D.C. sites have been suspended and the National Gallery of Art is also closed.
Smithsonian closes as government shut down continues
The Smithsonian's museums and zoo are now closed due to the government shut down. Tours of historic Washington, D.C. sites have been suspended and the National Gallery of Art is also closed.
n.pr
October 12, 2025 at 2:43 PM
The Smithsonian's museums and zoo are now closed due to the government shut down. Tours of historic Washington, D.C. sites have been suspended and the National Gallery of Art is also closed.
Reposted by Heidi B. Hammel
For more information about the Friday night massacre at CDC, I wrote up an analysis of who got terminated and what that means for public health.
Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.
rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...
Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.
rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...
October 11, 2025 at 4:42 PM
For more information about the Friday night massacre at CDC, I wrote up an analysis of who got terminated and what that means for public health.
Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.
rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...
Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.
rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...
😂
If i were an interstellar comet I'd file a 50 AU restraining order.
October 11, 2025 at 12:00 AM
😂
what Tod said
The effort put into understanding 3I/Atlas has been spectacular, imaginative, professional and well-organized. Planetary scientists don't need Avi Loeb put in charge of an international directorate to tell them how to do their jobs.
October 10, 2025 at 9:14 PM
what Tod said
New unified model of equatorial winds on giant planets helps to explain some of the zonal wind observations 🔭 I and my colleagues have made for Neptune and Uranus over the past few decades - www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
From gas to ice giants: A unified mechanism for equatorial jets
A bifurcation in equatorial jet formation can explain the differences between the gas and ice giants.
www.science.org
October 10, 2025 at 7:07 PM
New unified model of equatorial winds on giant planets helps to explain some of the zonal wind observations 🔭 I and my colleagues have made for Neptune and Uranus over the past few decades - www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🔭 Kudos to the Rubin team time.com/collections/...
Vera C. Rubin Observatory: The Best Inventions of 2025
Find out why Vera C. Rubin Observatory is on TIME's list of 2025's best inventions.
time.com
October 10, 2025 at 6:15 PM
🔭 Kudos to the Rubin team time.com/collections/...