Dr. Kelley Hess
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khesser.bsky.social
Dr. Kelley Hess
@khesser.bsky.social
30K followers 660 following 870 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.
khesser.bsky.social
Woohoo! 🎉 Congrats to Barbara Šiljeg on having her most recent paper accepted, and for successfully defending her PhD @rug.nl this week! The lesson here is that one needs to resolve HI single-dish detections in order to properly ID their optical counterparts and to constrain their kinematics. 🔭 🧪 📡
astroarxiv.bsky.social AstroArxiv @astroarxiv.bsky.social · 2d
Not so-dark: High resolution HI imaging of J0139+4328 and identification of an optical counterpart. Barbara Šiljeg et. al. https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.12513
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4
January 22, 2026 at 3:16 PM
khesser.bsky.social
@geocycle.bsky.social
davidmichaelharris.bsky.social Michael Harris @davidmichaelharris.bsky.social · 1d
I need at least 3 more folk to sign up for my Edinburgh Adult Education Programme archaeology classes at Craigentinny, or the course will be cancelled. If you know anyone who might be interested, please let them know. Thank you!

adulteducationedinburgh.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spyd...
January 22, 2026 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
radiotelescoop.bsky.social
Great aurora visible in Dwingeloo yesterday!
Aurora above the Dwingeloo radio telescope
January 20, 2026 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
marianasastre.bsky.social
✨Auroras✨ over Groningen,NL during the first after-conference day of @rockyworlds.bsky.social This planet is just so incredible! Looking forward for the talks, sessions and activities the rest of the week🌌
January 20, 2026 at 6:34 AM
khesser.bsky.social
Underrated: Gothenburg is one of the best connected cities in Europe (I love living here!). Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslo are all within a 3.5 hour train ride. I got up at a not insane time and will be in Oslo before lunch. 🥰🚄🚆Almost forgot I needed a passport. 🤦‍♀️
January 20, 2026 at 7:36 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
emily.space
As far south as Budapest! 🔭
konkolyobs.bsky.social Konkoly Observatory @konkolyobs.bsky.social · 3d
Holy aurora, Batman!! :O
January 20, 2026 at 7:23 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
phillewis.bsky.social
Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.
Dr. Gladys West, Mathematician Whose Work Made GPS Possible, Dies at 95
ALEXANDRIA, VA — Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She passed away
thezebra.org
January 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
syntherella.bsky.social
I literally just bought a "melt ICE" charity polish from Pahlish (she's based in Minneapolis). Glitch lacquer has a Palestine collection also!
January 17, 2026 at 9:15 PM
khesser.bsky.social
Completed the Sandsjöbacka 60 km trail race yesterday. Had a really good time running with my friend Tom. His first ultra! Most of the trail was muddier and wetter than pictured here, but beautiful and tough. A 5000 calorie day. 😂
Strava map of the course from Kungsbacka to Gothenburg over Sandsjöbacka nature reserve. PR/records are inaccurate, but all good. Runner mid-stride, seen from the back with her arms up, running along a trail along the ridge of a hill. Landscape is dotted with matches of snow and low brush. Sky is overcast with a bit of lingering color from the sunrise on the horizon Runner coming at the camera over a path of packed snow. Finish line arch in the dark. In the distance two headlamps can be seen about to turn onto the finishing stretch.
January 18, 2026 at 10:36 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
aaronsojourner.org
They have quite an operation going.
www.mprnews.org/episode/2026...
Minneapolis church has delivered more than 12,000 boxes of groceries to families in hiding
DHH church has hundreds of volunteers packing and delivering groceries to families who have been too scared to leave their homes during the immigration operation.
www.mprnews.org
January 16, 2026 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
Holy hell, what an obituary
Renfrew Christie Dies at 76; Sabotaged Racist Regime’s Nuclear Program
www.nytimes.com
January 15, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
nathangrayson.bsky.social
in a refreshing change of pace, both bandcamp and games workshop announced this week that they've banned AI to varying extents. these stances are crucial during a time when AI is being rammed down our throats at every turn, and some people are starting to accept it
Bandcamp’s stance is a crucial one as the popularity of AI-generated music, regrettably, explodes. Take, for example, neo-soul artist Sienna Rose, who has three songs in the Spotify top 50 despite not existing. “She,” unfortunately, is just the tip of the iceberg. This does not mean AI has reached a standard of quality such that it’s an acceptable substitute for art made by people with hopes, dreams, and, well, souls; rather, decades of paint-by-numbers pop formulated by the same nine producers and the hyper-commercialization of music by services like Spotify – turning artists’ blood, sweat, and tears into disposable background noise – have primed people to accept watered-down, machine-made gruel. It’s not unlike the way SEO and algorithms turned numerous websites into barely sentient content mills before AI swooped in and finished the job. The powers that be have been trying to build this world for decades. AI was just the missing puzzle piece. All we can do now is support the people and organizations that prioritize authentic human ingenuity while doing the slow, hard work of constructing something, anything, better than the modern internet – preferably somewhere else.
January 14, 2026 at 9:59 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
bdinunno.bsky.social
Oh it gets better:

Much of the "landmass" is actually below sea level and isn't really land (until it isostatically rebounds in 20,000 years).

www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/new-gre...
Map of Greenland from JPL article based on UC-Irvine research showing a topographic map of the island with much of the "land" actually being below sea level, suppressed by the mass of the ice.
January 13, 2026 at 6:05 PM
khesser.bsky.social
In today’s very Scandinavian day, went cross country skiing with @lboschman.bsky.social in the afternoon (until the sunset at 3:50 pm), and later saw a wee bit of aurora from the snow covered ferry terminal across the Göta älv river with ice flows.
A guy in a blue zip-up and snow pants stands off trail with two pairs of skies and poles. A XC ski train disappears into the woods behind him. Snow everywhere. The iconic shipyard cranes of Gothenburg lit up in red at night across the river. In the foreground are ice flows in the river. A smudge of green of aurora viewed across the river and just above a layer of low clouds. Visible despite the city lights.
January 11, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
smackjackal.bsky.social
White image with the words "The evolution of the trash icon". On it are seven Windows "Trash icons", each with a year under it. (1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2015, 2025, and 2026) For 2025, the "Trash icon" is replaced with the Microsoft Teams icon. For 2026, the "Trash icon" is replaced with the Microsoft Copilot icon.
January 8, 2026 at 10:58 PM
khesser.bsky.social
Breaking: SKA-Mid achieved first fringes last month! This is the first step towards individual dishes becoming an interferometer. It's kind of a big deal. Congrats to the SKA Mid Commissioning Team! Looking forward to first SKA Mid image in 2026. 🔭 📡 🧪
www.skao.int/en/news/693/...
Quoted from the email announcement: "The figure shows the amplitude and phase data averaged over the 5 minute observation period (top panels) and the waterfall plots showing their variation with time. The phases are flat as a function of frequency, as expected for an isolated point source at the center of the field. Additionally, they are constant in time. This indicates that the system is stable and working as expected. Regions of strong, well-known RFI from geolocation satellites can be clearly seen in the amplitude plots. [Image produced by Shin’ichiro Asayama from data taken by the System AIV team with support from the ATLAS team]" Quoted from the website announcement: "One of the seven SKA-Mid dishes now constructed on site in South Africa's Northern Cape, with SARAO's MeerKAT radio telescope in the background. Credit: SKAO/Max Alexander."
January 9, 2026 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
clairewillett.bsky.social
Kendra asked about how learning about Fred Hampton and COINTELPRO in my 30s changed my perspective on like, what America is and how I exist in it as a white person, and I had a lengthy thread of thoughts
clairewillett.bsky.social Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 15d
I am happy to! I like answering this question. I think the simplest way to sum it up is that it's like, someone explained to you how the magician did that card trick. or Dorothy realizing Oz the Great and Powerful is literally just some guy. you can read the docs so you can see how the scam was done
January 7, 2026 at 9:48 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
mcnees.bsky.social
It's an MTV simulator with almost 30,000 videos, organized by decade, with special sections for Headbanger's Ball and Yo! MTV Raps. This is so good.
January 6, 2026 at 5:11 PM
khesser.bsky.social
SKAO is hiring SKA-Mid Commissioning Scientists: 4+ year fixed-term positions with potential to go permanent, or potential for secondments. 📡 🔭 🧪 recruitment.skao.int/vacancy/skam...
SKA-Mid Commissioning Scientists - SKA Observatory
recruitment.skao.int
January 6, 2026 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
astronomy.blue
At the AAS meeting this week? Find Kyle if you'd like to get some free sticker swag for your laptop! 🔭☄️
kwcookastro.bsky.social Kyle Cook @kwcookastro.bsky.social · 22d
Going to be at the AAS meeting in Phoenix next week? Find me (or visit my poster on Monday) to pick up an AstroSky Ecosystem sticker! Send your friends too.
New AstroSky stickers featuring the telescope logo surrounded by “The AstroSky Ecosystem” in a circular design.
January 3, 2026 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
djolder.bsky.social
"GenAI is the futu--
The Atari 2600 gaming console came into the world in 1977 powered by an eight-bit processor that ran at 1.19MhZ, and just 128 bytes of RAM – but that’s apparently enough power to beat ChatGPT at chess. So says infrastructure architect Robert Caruso, who over the weekend posted the results of an experiment he conducted to “pit ChatGPT against the Atari 2600’s chess engine (via Stella emulator) and see what happens.” ChatGPT confused rooks for bishops, and repeatedly lost track of pieces
January 6, 2026 at 3:31 AM
khesser.bsky.social
In case you missed it, SKAO posted a really nice 2025 Year in Review video of all the progress has been made towards construction of the two telescopes: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6er... 🧪🔭📡
2025 year in review: the SKA telescopes begin to take shape
YouTube video by SKA Observatory
www.youtube.com
January 5, 2026 at 12:52 PM
khesser.bsky.social
New Gear Day! Icebug shoes featuring integrated spikes with carbide tips for ice and snow. Sandsjöbacka 60 km in 2 weeks. Spent my last long run testing possible solutions to current weather outlook. Icebugs or YakTraxs on trail shoes. Both work but Icebugs win: less toe pinching and more stability.
Running shoes on a snowy bench showing one in profile and the bottom tread of the other. The knob’s in the year have small integrated spikes. Normal trail shoes secured to the outside of a running backpack. The shoes have removable “chains” on the bottom for extra grip. The chains are secured by a rubber collar that fits around the shoe.
January 4, 2026 at 2:10 PM
khesser.bsky.social
Time for a new Academic Work Tracker. Thx so much @brkeogh.bsky.social for this. It’s going to be my third year using it. Highly recommend. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
brkeogh.bsky.social Brendan Keogh @brkeogh.bsky.social · 23d
The Academic Work Tracker spreadsheet is now updated with 2026 dates! If you don't already, 2026 is a great time to start treating your academic work like the wage job where you are paid to work a certain amount of hours that it actually is: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Academic Work Tracker Template v2.3 (2026)
docs.google.com
January 2, 2026 at 10:33 AM
Reposted by Dr. Kelley Hess
michaelgerrard.bsky.social
The retirement of the MetroCard at midnight tonight is bittersweet for me. In 1983, as a young lawyer, I took a year's leave of absence from my law firm to serve as special counsel to Richard Ravitch, chairman of the NY MTA. He gave me the task of leading a study ...
mta.info Metropolitan Transportation Authority @mta.info · 22d
It's the final day of MetroCard sales—so as we say farewell to an icon, let's take a look at how it all started.

Thank you, MetroCard, for moving New York to the very last swipe.
January 1, 2026 at 3:33 AM