Jason Baluyut
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jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
Jason Baluyut
@jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
390 followers 200 following 920 posts
I like to write and photograph stuff. I might get political. No to cruelty and broken systems; yes to kindness, love, and openness to possibility. He/him. Also on Mastodon: @bluejay@ohai.social
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jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
Jason Baluyut @jasonbaluyut.bsky.social · Feb 15
Hello Bluesky! Hoping this is a place where I can share photos, geek out about music/literature/astronomy/other obsessions, and signal-boost like-minded folks trying to stay compassionate, sane, and human in these terrible times.

Here’s some blue sky from my neighborhood. See you around!
A streetlight and a flock of pigeons alighting on a building against a clear blue sky.
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
#FotoVorschlag
“Joker, Freispiel” / Free play, as you please

I’ve never known what to do with this photo of sunlight streaming through the street grates above the 59th Street station in Manhattan, so here it is.

#photography #streetphotography #urbanphotography #lightandshadow #subway #nyc
Photo taken on the platform of a New York subway station, at an angled perspective looking onto the tracks which recede to a disappearing point near right frame. To the right of the tracks is the yellow caution strip of the tiled platform. This is echoed by the lighting on the platform on the far side (where some commuters mingle), which can be seen through the supporting columns between the near and far sets of tracks. Sunlight streams through the ventilation grates above and illuminates the near tracks (as well as highlights the station’s grubbiness and disrepair). Apart from the sunlight and the yellow station lighting, the rest of the image is in shadow.
November 11, 2025 at 11:25 AM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
#ThickTrunkTuesday
#TextureTuesday

#photography #autumnleaves #autumnvibes #urbannature #trees #tree
Closeup of a tree trunk with roughly textured bark. At the fork where the base splits off into two thick boughs, a cluster of small yellow leaves sprouts up on a slender stem, set off against the darker bark and luminous in the sunlight. Surrounding it are the tree’s greener leaves. Beyond are glimpses of buildings and sky.
November 11, 2025 at 10:31 AM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
The wind in the willows.

For #FotoVorschlag (“Ruhelosigkeit” / Restlessness) and an early entry for #ThickTrunkTuesday.

#photography #urbannature #tree #trees #wind
Photo of a weeping willow (Salix babylonica) with its long, trailing branches blown to the right by a strong wind, creating an effect of sunlit green waves. In the background are some buildings and a glimpse of blue sky.
November 10, 2025 at 12:27 PM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
#FotoVorschlag
“Ruhelosigkeit” / Restlessness

#photography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #whitetaileddeer #deer
Photo of a young white-tailed deer cautiously walking across a field of cut dried grass, with an unfocused patch of long grass in the background. The deer is on high alert, walking right with head twisted back to look left.
November 10, 2025 at 11:53 AM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
#MonochromeMonday
#FotoVorschlag
“Ruhelosigkeit” / Restlessness

#photography #monochrome #blackandwhite #horse
Black and white photo of a horse (Tucker, an old friend) walking directly toward the camera, head low and tail swishing. Sunlight illuminates his left side while his right is in shadow. He kicks up some dust on the dirt path in the foreground. Behind is a stretch of grassy lawn with an American flag at upper right. Beyond, some power lines stretch across a background of trees. Photo taken in Northern Idaho many years ago.
November 10, 2025 at 11:47 AM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
— Carl Sagan

For #CarlSaganDay I’m sharing my latest processing attempt for my #astrophotography class, the Andromeda Galaxy. Details in the alt text.

#photography #andromeda #galaxy
Image of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31/M31), our closest neighboring galaxy at 2.5 million light years away. It appears here tilted diagonally from upper left to lower right, in a vast field dense with stars of different colors. Near the galactic core are two noticeably bright spots: M110 to the lower left and M32 to the right, two of the 35 smaller satellite galaxies orbiting Andromeda. Data taken from the Amateur Astronomers Association’s Gateway Remote Telescope program. Processed by me in Siril, GIMP, and Snapseed.
November 9, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Jason Baluyut
hourlycosmos.bsky.social
Tethys, Saturn & Rings [updated] - From Gordan Ugarković (ugordan.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/oBN6o
This lovely natural color view shows Tethys, the lit side of the rings and Saturn's hazy limb below. A detached haze layer is visible near Saturn's equatorial band. Image is a narrow-angle red/green/blue composite processed to match sRGB colorspace. Taken on October 10, 2005. Distance to Tethys: 1.26 million km, phase angle: 40 degrees. North is to the left.
November 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Jason Baluyut
heykellyjensen.bsky.social
The People Want to Read: on the massive budget cuts proposed for Chicago Public Library. What's at stake and what you can do, whether or not you live in Chicago.

buttondown.com/wellsourced/...
The People Want To Read: On Massive Budget Cuts Proposed in Chicago
If passed, Chicago Public Library will lose half their budget for acquiring new books and materials.
buttondown.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:03 PM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
#CarlSaganDay
Happy birthday, Carl.

youtu.be/GO5FwsblpT8
Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot OFFICIAL
YouTube video by carlsagandotcom
youtu.be
November 9, 2025 at 2:17 PM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
#FotoVorschlag
“Quartett” / Quartet

#photography #lowkey #lightandshadow
Photo of four miniature ceramic figurines of bald, baby-faced monks in different colored tunics and striking different martial arts poses. They’re grouped together inside two overlapping circles created by concert glow sticks configured into rings, on a tabletop covered in blue batik fabric. The only light comes from the glowing rings, which create striking contrasts of light and shadow on the figurines while leaving the rest of the image in darkness.
November 9, 2025 at 12:00 PM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
#SilentSunday #photography #autumnvibes #brooklyn
Photo of a tabletop inside a Brooklyn diner, in warm tones of orange and brown. A tall glass of tea, with a wide brim tapering down to a narrower base, sits on a saucer with a stirring spoon. The teabag sits in the translucent golden liquid, with the string and tag outside hanging off the brim. Beside the tea is a small glass of water. Behind the table is a window with a picture of an orange pumpkin hand-painted on the outside of the pane, through which we see a blurred glimpse of buildings and trees. The morning sun streams in and gently illuminates the scene.
November 9, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Reposted by Jason Baluyut
sagan.bsky.social
"For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love."

Happy 91st Birthday to Carl Sagan – a true pioneer of science who ignited our cosmic curiosity. ❤️
Appreciation for our favorite science communicator, Carl Sagan.
November 9, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Reposted by Jason Baluyut
mostlybree.kitrocha.com
an arc where the former governor of NY loses increasingly inconsequential elections until the series finale is him trying to run for senior class president at a local high school and getting his ass kicked by some 17 year olds.
November 8, 2025 at 5:10 PM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
Photography is also the art of omission. If you want to capture a bit of serene natural beauty while crossing a loud, traffic-clogged expressway, just tilt the camera up.😁

#photography #trees #clouds
Photo of two trees with autumn foliage under an overcast sky. The trees sit small at bottom frame, with the sky taking up most of the image. The clouds are indistinct but luminous. The tree at left is slender while the one at right has a more rounded crown. Both are cut off by the photo’s edge before we can see their trunks or the busy expressway they overlook, leaving only a quiet, still image of sky and golden leaves.
November 8, 2025 at 11:35 AM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
A cozy #Caturday memory.

#photography #cats #catsofbluesky #monochrome #blackandwhite #lightandshadow
Black and white photo of a tabby cat (my Max) sitting on an afghan blanket draped over a couch. Sunlight shines on the left side of his body and the knitted pattern of the blanket, creating contrasts of light and shadow. Max tucks his legs under his body and closes his eyes, a picture of contentment.
November 8, 2025 at 10:05 AM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
#FotoVorschlag “Orientalisch”

This is a highly loaded term in the US (see the Wikipedia article on “Orientalism” and the book by Edward Said). Anyway here’s a war poster from the Vietnamese Women’s Museum in Hanoi, which reads “Nixon must pay a debt of blood.”

#photography #Vietnam #illustration
Photo of a framed vintage poster on a museum’s red wall, with an illustration depicting a woman standing in a bombed-out village. She carries a dead child in one arm and defiantly raises her fist to a falling bomb bearing Richard Nixon’s face. Red lightning bolts stretch between the woman and the bomb — perhaps indicating the bomb’s destructive power or (my preferred idea) the woman’s rage, the rage of a people, striking back. Large all-caps text on the poster reads “Nixon phải trã nợ máu!” (“Nixon must pay a blood debt,” translated on the museum placard as “Nixon owes the Vietnamese a debt of blood”).
November 8, 2025 at 9:52 AM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
#FensterFreitag
On an elevated subway station somewhere in Queens.

#photography #urbanphotography #streetphotography #windows #WindowFriday #nyc
View of an abandoned lot overgrown with plants in a neighborhood in Queens, NYC, as seen through an upper-level window in an elevated subway station. The window is a metal grid that divides the image into nine rectangular panels, each crisscrossed by its own grid of thin metal wires. Below is the green overgrown lot, with graffiti-covered bins here and there. Further off is a street lined with a mix of low-rise older buildings and taller glass towers under an overcast sky.
November 7, 2025 at 8:01 PM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
Autumn leaves in Brooklyn streets. Not the parks, not the botanic gardens. Just moments of beauty everywhere.

#photography #streetphotography #fall #fallcolors #fallfoliage #lightandshadow #autumn #autumnleaves #autumncolors #autumnvibes #brooklyn #nyc
Photo of a gold-orange five-pointed leaf, luminous in a spot of sunlight, among masses of green leaves in darker shade. Through the leaves we can glimpse bits of a building and blue sky. Photo of a tree trunk almost completely covered in green vine leaves in a shaded garden. Sunlight falls on a set of leaves that are a brilliant yellow and orange, set off against the green. Closeup photo of the feathery leaves of a bald cypress tree, some blurry and some in focus, in warm autumn colors of orange and brown. Photo of the feathery leaves of a bald cypress tree, hanging down from top frame, silhouetted against white clouds in a blue sky. One outlined leaf in particular stands out at the center. More slender tree branches push in from lower right.
November 7, 2025 at 3:55 PM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
#Fotovorschlag
"Nicht ganz scharf aber trotzdem gut" / Not quite sharp but still good

The moon (and its ghostly reflections) through my telescope, before I get it into focus.

#photography #moon #fullmoon #supermoon #beavermoon #clouds
Photo of a bright full moon in a cloudy sky, as seen through a telescope eyepiece, before the necessary focus adjustments. The moon itself is at the lower left of the image and is blown out, with no crater details. A ghostly blue moon reflection overlaps it, and another faint greenish reflection floats in the shadows at upper right, with some crater details visible. The clouds are illuminated by moonlight and the entire scene is framed by the circular rim of the eyepiece. The fantastical effect is of three moons, a composition of circles.
November 7, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Reposted by Jason Baluyut
esqueer.net
A non-negotiable for Democrats in the 2028 primaries is that they must promise to expand and reform the court. The Supreme Court has lost all legitimacy to rule and it needs to be completely overhauled. Nothing less would be an abject failure and acquiescence to Republican ratfucking of the court.
esqueer.net Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 5d
SCOTUS has granted a stay in Trump v. Orr, the trans passport case, meaning that the government will be able to once again deny gender marker changes to trans passport applicants.

This is a terrible decision with horrifying consequences for trans folks.

www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
A scanned Supreme Court of the United States order, dated November 6, 2025, in the case Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, et al. v. Ashton Orr, et al., No. 25A319. The document discusses an Executive Branch policy requiring passports to display an individual’s biological sex at birth. The highlighted passage reads: “Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth—in both cases.” The Court grants the government’s application for a stay at this preliminary stage, reasoning that the government is likely to succeed on the merits and that the policy does not violate equal protection principles.
November 6, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Reposted by Jason Baluyut
climatebrad.hillheat.com
The Trump regime is East Winging the Goddard Space Flight Center, home to the 10,000 scientists and engineers in NASA science and engineering directorates.
climatebrad.hillheat.com Brad Johnson @climatebrad.hillheat.com · 9d
BREAKING: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is illegally closing 13 campus buildings (including ~100 laboratories).

Report coming from GESTA, the Goddard employee union
November 4, 2025 at 10:44 PM
jasonbaluyut.bsky.social
Luna behind the veil.

#photography #astrophotography #moon #fullmoon #supermoon #beavermoon #clouds #cloudscape
Photo of the full moon with crater details (the Beaver Moon and supermoon of Nov 5, 2025) visible behind a layer of clouds. The moon has an orange tint to it and is partly obscured by dark clouds passing across its face. Surrounding it are glowing white clouds illuminated by its light, giving it a “crown” or “halo” above and an “apron” below. The rest of the sky is black. The effect is mysterious and magical. Shot on an iPhone 15 attached to a Celestron 130mm Dobsonian reflector telescope.
November 6, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Jason Baluyut
brettmorr.is
This is how you incinerate a field of science. 🔭🧪
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
November 6, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Reposted by Jason Baluyut
pamkeithdc.bsky.social
Moms for Liberty (aka racist Nazi moms who need to get a life)

went 0 for 32 last night.

Every single one of their candidates lost.

All of them.

Teeee heee! 🤣🤪
November 6, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Reposted by Jason Baluyut
esqueer.net
Don't talk to the New York Times about trans issues. They will betray your trust and use your story to undermine access to care. That's exactly what Azeen Ghorayshi did with families of trans kids in Missouri.
mrscrabapple.bsky.social your mom @mrscrabapple.bsky.social · 5d
heads up to anyone who holds trans kids near: amy harmon from the nyt is searching for and having a hard time finding people to interview to find out exactly what trans kids are doing when their care is limited or cut off, and for purposes of community safety, please shut the fuck up around her.
November 6, 2025 at 12:46 PM