Dr. Kelley Hess
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khesser.bsky.social
Dr. Kelley Hess
@khesser.bsky.social
30K followers 650 following 810 posts
Astronomer/Senior Researcher at Onsala Space Observatory/Chalmers University, Sweden; ultra runner, adventure racer, cyclist. Ironman WC 2012, 2014. Xterra World Champs 2014.
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khesser.bsky.social
Dr. Kelley Hess @khesser.bsky.social · Nov 14
What’s up new followers. Welcome to Bluesky! Tonight we had another amazing sunset at the Onsala Space Observatory (note the deer 🦌 !). I often tweet about telescopes and galaxies, with some running, bikes, and legos thrown in. I reskeet cool science, women’s sports, and other stuff.
Sunset from the second floor of the Onsala admin building. Three telescopes viewed against a row of orange clouds in the horizon on the right. The sky is reflected in the ocean on the left. A zoom in of the sunset on the coast. One telescope is seen on the far right in silhouette. Against the water you can see the silhouettes of a stag and doe. The water reflects the orange sky and pink clouds. A fading sunset with a view of the telescopes from a different angle. The three radio dishes are in silhouette against the orange sky on the left, the ray dome is a little higher on the horizon against the pink sky on the right.
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
jael.bsky.social
this @katelynburns.com piece about the death of lia smith deserves your full attention

www.teenvogue.com/story/politi...
Politicizing Transgender Athletes Is Dangerous. Lia Smith Deserved Better.
"Let her passing be an inflection point for how you think about trans rights and trans people more generally."
www.teenvogue.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
chriso-wiki.bsky.social
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
mcopelov.bsky.social
As recently as the late 1980s, tuition at @uwmadison.bsky.social was <$1000/semester. In current dollars, that's about $2500/semester. There is one central reason for that: the . This was a choice. Other choices remain readily available.
November 9, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
benneholwerda.bsky.social
Two panels about black GI’s who liberated the Netherlands disappeared in the Margraten War Cemetery.

This cemetery is both understated, solemn, and impressive and really drove home the steep price of a free country when I visited as a teen with my fellow “Bridge too far” interested friends.
November 8, 2025 at 11:20 PM
khesser.bsky.social
A cowardly betrayal of the ideals on which the university was founded.

Whhhhyyyy?
chrisgeidner.bsky.social Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 5d
BREAKING: Cornell caved.

Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
SIGNATURES For Cornell University: Michael I. Kotlikoff President of Cornell University Office of the President 300 Day Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 Ben the Winited States (including but not limited to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Servives and the U.S, Department of Education): /N istant Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 For the Department of Health and Human Services: Paula Matana S Paula M. Stannard Director, Office for Civil Rights U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201 Effective Date: 14/7/2025.
November 8, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
rahaeli.bsky.social
The world would be immensely better if more religions and their believers had even a tenth of the dedication the Sikhs do to doing good for people with no gatekeeping or expectations of anything other than "you are a fellow human in need and we can help you"
gbrockell.bsky.social Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 5d
Folks, if you are hungry, please contact your local Sikh gurdwara. Or just show up for langar, which most gurdwaras do several times a week, for a free meal. Lots also do weekly or monthly drives giving out groceries.

No conversion necessary. Feeding anyone who is hungry is a key part of Sikhism.
fangirljeanne.bsky.social Jeanne (she/they) @fangirljeanne.bsky.social · 6d
A lady on TikTok has been calling churches pretending to be a mother with a baby who needs formula and several churches turned her away. But wouldn’t you know that when she called a Mosque (Islamic Center of Charlotte) they immediately said yes.

[Source: www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMpoxsaW/ ]
November 8, 2025 at 4:42 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
niais.bsky.social
What is happening at Goddard is absolutely devastating. We are losing history. We are losing an incredible amount of human talent, skill, and knowledge. Rebuilding it will be impossible same for same. Industry can not absorb the people or the equipment. This is undoing space science in the US.
climatebrad.hillheat.com Brad Johnson @climatebrad.hillheat.com · 8d
Goddard spacecraft engineer: "I think it just kind of speaks to the atmosphere of the agency and the nation, where people are like, 'Well, laws don't matter for the people at the top anymore.'"
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 3:43 PM
khesser.bsky.social
@amtrak.com, this is your moment!
faineg.bsky.social Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 5d
Looks like American air travel is already fucked and getting more so, in the wake of Duffy’s 10% reduction announcement. Hold onto your butts.

nasstatus.faa.gov
Flighty & @Flighty ATC now says 'widespread departure delays out of the northeast. BOS - 3 hours staffing DCA - 2 hours staffing EWR - 2.5 hours staffing LGA - 1 hour wind ORD - 1 hour staffing YYZ - 1.5 hours staffing It'll probably stay like this. :( Flight status: apps.apple.com/app/id13588230. UNTIL 0200 -A90 TRACON UNTIL 0200 -ZNY AREA D UNTIL 0200 -PHL AREA C UNTIL 0200 -DCA ATCT UNTIL 0200 -ZOB AREA 7 UNTIL 0230 -ZID AREA 4 UNTIL 0300 -ORD ATCT 2300 0300 -ZKC FLINT HILLS AREA UNTIL 0400 -ZDC BIG APPLE AREA UNTIL 0400 -MDW ATCT SEVERAL STAFFING TRIGGERS HAVE BEEN ADDED SINCE THE LAST PLANNING TELCON. N90 IS ATTEMPTING TO UTILIZE MILES-IN-TRAIL RESTRICTIONS TO HELP MITIGATE THE SPACING NECESSARY FOR THEIR ARRIVAL FLOWS. LANDING LGA CAN EXPECT A GROUND DELAY PROGRAM REVISION FOR ARRIVALS AFTER 2100Z. DEPARTURE DELAYS COMING OUT OF THE NORTHEAST WILL OCCUR AND BECOME WIDESPREAD AS THESE MAJOR AIRPORTS TRANSITION INTO THEIR DEPARTURE BANKS FOR THE EVENING. STAFFING TRIGGER(S) : 0230 0700 -PHX ATCT TERMINAL CONSTRAINTS: BOS/N90/PHL/MSP - WIND TERMINAL ACTIVE: UNTIL 0259 UNTIL 0459 -EWR GROUND DELAY PROGRAM -LGA GROUND DELAY PROGRAM UNTIL 0459 UNTIL 0659 -DA GROUND DELAY PROGRAM UNTIL 0759 -ORD GROUND DELAY PROGRAM -BOS GROUND DELAY PROGRAM TERMINAL PLANNED: UNTIL 0300 -JFK GROUND STOP/DELAY PROGRAM POSSIBLE Last edited 1:48 PM • Nov 6, 2025 • 24K Views
November 6, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
aurorapeachy.bsky.social
Uninstall Grammarly NOW. They've partnered with an AI company and actively scrape your writing to train its models.
November 5, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
tyleraking.com
Reposting to correct an error: trump admin is quietly gutting 13 buildings and about 100 laboratories at Goddard campus that has been instrumental to Hubble and James Webb telescope missions. Staff say they’ve be locked and told to move equipment. Anything left behind will be thrown away.
NASA may be quietly gutting an iconic campus with what it calls strategic closures, workers fear
(CNN) — Alarm is growing among federal workers at NASA’s iconic Goddard Space Flight Center’s main campus in Greenbelt, Maryland — the nerve center for groundbreaking missions like the Hubble
www.wkow.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:54 PM
khesser.bsky.social
Good morning, Bsky! m.youtube.com/watch?v=cJqj...
The Rascals - It's A Beautiful Morning
YouTube video by mirrorro77
m.youtube.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
alexwitze.bsky.social
Fewer grad students means less science, but many STEM PhD programs in the US are cutting back on admissions this year due to federal funding uncertainties. Words by me for @nature.com:

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

@emsque.bsky.social @ucsdcooperlab.bsky.social @julieposselt.bsky.social 🧪
US PhD admissions shrink as fears over Trump’s cuts take hold
Some doctoral programmes are admitting no students at all amid uncertainty about federal science funding.
www.nature.com
October 21, 2025 at 8:47 PM
khesser.bsky.social
Bye Colorado! It’s been fun and you were beautiful.
Looking down a valley filled with green pine trees, golden aspens in the foreground, and creamy white clouds smeared across a blue sky. Looking uphill towards a rocky butte against a blue cloudless sky.
October 25, 2025 at 9:58 AM
khesser.bsky.social
🧪 🔭 🛰️ wtf!
uilliammac.bsky.social Uilliam Mac G ᚒᚔᚂᚂᚔᚐᚋ @uilliammac.bsky.social · 21d
A US tech bro corp in the US has decided the night sky should go away. They've made that decision for everyone on Earth.

Naturally they've named the first searing orbital array (many times brighter than the moon) after Eärendil, the light bearer, from Tolkien's work
www.space.com/space-explor...
Company's plan to launch 4,000 space mirrors alarms scientists
Reflect Orbital says their light-on-demand idea has generated significant interest from commercial and government customers.
www.space.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
eso.org
1/ The 4MOST instrument installed on our VISTA telescope in Chile completed its first test observations.

@4most-eu.bsky.social will help us unravel our galactic history, explore dark matter, and more.
www.eso.org/public/annou...

🔭 🧪
#instrumentation
📷 AIP/A. Saviauk
A view of the VISTA telescope and its 4MOST instrument. The structure is grey, with several cables visible around it. The telescope is viewed from above and is located inside a building with metallic walls.
October 21, 2025 at 1:28 PM
khesser.bsky.social
Block the trolls (and the trolls that follow them) early and often. Starving them of engagement is the best way.
October 18, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
pomarede.bsky.social
The Dish: Fact vs fiction

The Dish is an Aussie classic, set at Murriyang, a.k.a the Parkes radio telescope. Most of the film is based on fact, but what was added for the sake of a (rollicking) good yarn?

www.csiro.au/en/news/All/... 🧪🔭
The Dish: Fact vs fiction
The Dish is an Aussie classic, set at Murriyang, our Parkes radio telescope. Most of the film is based on fact, but what was added for the sake of a (rollicking) good yarn?
www.csiro.au
October 17, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
clancyny.bsky.social
Oh, man! This is not the kind of historical artifact that should be just chopped up for firewood for the winter. If this facility closes, it should be properly evaluated before it changes hands.
brittlundgren.bsky.social Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 27d
Very sorry to see that the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute is up for sale. Anybody know someone with $30M? 🔭https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1-Pari-Dr-Rosman-NC/37287415/?siteid=7049
Real estate listing, asking $30M for the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, a former NASA satellite tracking facility. The photo shows the site, with two prominent single dish radio telescopes and other cold-war era structures in the blue ridge mountains of western North Carolina.
October 16, 2025 at 12:52 AM
khesser.bsky.social
Congrats to Clara, my PhD student, on her first peer reviewed paper being accepted and now on the arXiv!! 🎉🎉🎉 another paper to write a thread about this week…
astroarxiv.bsky.social AstroArxiv @astroarxiv.bsky.social · 29d
Starburst galaxies in the Hydra I cluster. Clara C. de la Casa et. al. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.10222
r and H$ $ emission of a detection with homogeneous and relatively low background noise (NGC 3336, top), and a lower limit with uncertain continuum subtraction and inhomogeneus background noise distribution (LEDA 761585, bottom). In particluar, LEDA 761585 is the galaxy with the lowest S/N in the... Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4
October 15, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
aaronsojourner.org
"Humans aren’t very efficient movers—until you put us on a bicycle, when we become some of the most energy-efficient land travelers in the animal kingdom."
www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hu...
October 14, 2025 at 11:22 PM
khesser.bsky.social
Recently read the awesome Finder series by Suzanne Palmer, @zanzjan.bsky.social, just in time to learn that there is a fourth one out! 🎉 YAY! (It has been acquired.) Highly, highly recommend!
Three books by Suzanne Palmer. From left to right and first to third in the series: Finder, Driving the Deep, The Scavenger Door.
October 11, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
niais.bsky.social
Are you someone who is interested in astronomy graduate school? This is a list of many/most departments and their expectations for admissions this year. Please feel free to spread it far and wide. If you are doing admissions and you'd like to update your entry, reach out as per the form!
US Astronomy Graduate Admissions, AY 2025-2026
docs.google.com
October 10, 2025 at 6:44 PM
khesser.bsky.social
Link.
October 11, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
astroarxiv.bsky.social
CHILES X: Molecular and atomic gas at intermediate redshift. Kelley M. Hess et. al. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.07966
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4
October 10, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
joshuaerlich.bsky.social
endlessly embarrassing that the powers that be here banned Link. just disqualifying.
thinkingautism.com Thinking Person's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism.com · Oct 6
“As a neurodiversity advocate and as an autistic person, I’m really grateful for so much of the work that’s been done that allows me to be myself and to be successful being myself.” Link, who has been *banned*!?!? from this platform?

thinkingautismguide.com/2025/06/spac... #AutisticWhileBlack
Space Law, Race, and Neurodiversity: Autistic Advocate AJ Link
We live in a country & society that is built on racism. The neurodivergent community isn't free of that racism—per Autistic advocate AJ Link.
thinkingautismguide.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:05 AM