Dr. Adeene Denton
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spacewhalerider.com
Dr. Adeene Denton
@spacewhalerider.com
Planetary scientist, earth + space science historian, dancer/choreographer, part-time community radio DJ. (they/she) 🏳️‍🌈

adeenedenton.com
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Hello new followers! I'm a planetary scientist that specializes in what happens when planets collide, but I'm also a community radio DJ, trained historian, and professional dancer/choreographer. So naturally most of what I'm posting will be shitposts.
Want to learn about Pluto? Want to feel that love is real in the Solar System? I'll be at CU's Fiske Planetarium tonight and tomorrow night at 7 pm! Tickets here: fiske.vantixticketing.com/default.aspx
February 12, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
TONIGHT Death Panel x @haymarketbooks.org present

ABOLISH ICE, ABOLISH THE BORDER

Harsha Walia @harshawalia.bsky.social
Silky Shah @silkys13.bsky.social
Beatrice Adler-Bolton @reallandsend.bsky.social

7pm EST, register free here:
www.haymarketbooks.org/events/778-a...
Abolish ICE, Abolish the Border
Join Harsha Walia, Silky Shah, and Beatrice Adler-Bolton of Death Panel for an urgent discussion on the brutal enforcement of immigration policing in Minneapolis and beyond, and why resistance calls f...
www.haymarketbooks.org
February 12, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
A student attended a protest targeting companies that supplied Israel with weapons.

He was banned from Cornell University and ICE subpoenaed Google for his personal data, including credit card and bank account numbers:

theintercept.com/2026/02/10/g...
Google Fulfilled ICE Subpoena Demanding Student Journalist’s Bank and Credit Card Numbers
Amandla Thomas-Johnson didn't know how much information ICE requested in a subpoena now. Google never gave him a chance to fight it.
theintercept.com
February 12, 2026 at 3:23 PM
I’ve been awake for almost 24 hours and my only new idea is that I think I should order booty shorts to wear when doing outreach about giant impacts that say “my other vehicle blew up Uranus” on the ass
February 12, 2026 at 6:57 AM
I donate monthly to Spark Space to help them stay open, and so can you! Every $5 helps them do their amazing work 💗
February 12, 2026 at 3:10 AM
Heard someone say “imagine how cringe and bad a Soviet version of Star Trek TOS would be” and. Uh. Yeah? Star Trek TOS, the show that was famously never ever cringe or bad?
February 12, 2026 at 2:36 AM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
🔭🧪 Are you interested in having a night sky? (Like at all?)

File comments with the FCC telling them to deny permission to Starlink for “a million satellites” and to Reflect Orbital for their giant sunlight mirror in space.

The American Astronomical Society has info on how 👇
How to Submit Comments on Satellite Applications to the FCC
Step-by-step guide for submitting comments on satellite applications to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
aas.org
February 11, 2026 at 11:47 PM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
I'm trying to boost Spark daily, because their projects are increasing and they need every ounce of help. Hundreds of students & workers come every day to connect to remote classes & jobs.

Support this AMAZING work. chuffed.org/project/spar...
🇵🇸 Gaza Needs Your Support: Help Build a Lifeline for Students and Remote Workers!
In Gaza, war has destroyed homes, blocked roads, and left countless people without work. Yet, amidst the rubble, hope remains. Students and remote workers face daily struggles—power outages, broken…
chuffed.org
February 12, 2026 at 12:01 AM
A critical thing to remember is that the community need for help is often not acute, but chronic - this is something that's true everywhere, from Gaza to Minneapolis. The vulnerable still need help long after the media coverage has diminished, and it's up to us to continue our support.
February 11, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
Notice how the popular media narrative has moved on, while people on the ground in Minneapolis are still struggling and crying out that things are as bad as ever. This is how fascist regimes operate — overreach, recalibration, normalization. Get louder, not quieter.
February 11, 2026 at 3:54 AM
Everyone, @namyab.bsky.social just had her first grad school paper accepted and I am so proud!!!!! Everyone tune in to a JGR: Planets issue near you to see my Umbriel paper AND her upcoming paper about cratering on Psyche!
February 10, 2026 at 11:39 PM
Guy at the airport tried to dunk on me and my respirator by saying that I looked like a Mortal Kombat character... but that's cool? You think I don't want to look like Sub-Zero???
February 10, 2026 at 10:58 PM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
THIS THURSDAY

Sealed with a Kiss: The cosmic romance behind Pluto and its moon Charon! Join us to learn how cutting-edge simulations have revealed insight into their initial collisions how the impact may have big implications for the system’s geological evolution.

@spacewhalerider.com
February 10, 2026 at 5:38 PM
This Thursday and Friday in a special Valentine’s Day talk, I will prove that love is real using the formation of Pluto and Charon 💗
THIS THURSDAY

Sealed with a Kiss: The cosmic romance behind Pluto and its moon Charon! Join us to learn how cutting-edge simulations have revealed insight into their initial collisions how the impact may have big implications for the system’s geological evolution.

@spacewhalerider.com
February 10, 2026 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
nobody has ever convinced me that humans "own" the Moon, or that an unspoiled unexploited Moon is less valuable than one stripped of its "resources"
I already said my piece about why colonizing Mars is bullshit, but may now have to write a sequel about how mining/exploiting the Moon is also bullshit, since we're all doing bits about Moon cities after the Musk news
February 10, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
I'd love to see a piece from Adeene on this but while we wait, may I suggest my commentary of viewing space mining as an extension of extractivism rather than anything 'new': www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/...
February 10, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Oh, also - if your vision for the future of space exploration is dependent on mining the Moon for resources - think of a better future! Use your imagination! We don't HAVE to do anything, and that includes mining the Moon
The same ethical problems of Mars apply to the Moon. It is a challenge to all who do space exploration to commit to building a relationship to the Moon that respects the Moon itself. Taking the Moon seriously, as a planetary body and as a sacred space, is integral.
February 10, 2026 at 3:07 PM
I already said my piece about why colonizing Mars is bullshit, but may now have to write a sequel about how mining/exploiting the Moon is also bullshit, since we're all doing bits about Moon cities after the Musk news
February 10, 2026 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
DinoCon with a more prompt response to academics complicit in sexual abuse than uh, the entirety of academia.
February 10, 2026 at 8:11 AM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
Stunning update to mark 1 year of Spark chuffed.org/project/spar...
February 10, 2026 at 8:33 AM
The work at Spark Space is ongoing and urgent! Internet and electricity are a vital lifeline for families to connect to remote jobs and earn income, and for student to access remote learning opportunities. Help them keep going:
🇵🇸 Gaza Needs Your Support: Help Build a Lifeline for Students and Remote Workers!
In Gaza, war has destroyed homes, blocked roads, and left countless people without work. Yet, amidst the rubble, hope remains. Students and remote workers face daily struggles—power outages, broken…
chuffed.org
February 10, 2026 at 1:15 AM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
Spark Space is an incredible mutual aid project that helps students across north Gaza with a safe place to study, but they need our help to pay electricity costs:
🇵🇸 Gaza Needs Your Support: Help Build a Lifeline for Students and Remote Workers!
In Gaza, war has destroyed homes, blocked roads, and left countless people without work. Yet, amidst the rubble, hope remains. Students and remote workers face daily struggles—power outages, broken…
chuffed.org
February 8, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
If you stopped masking, you can always just start again! It's not a skill you have to work on. There are no gatekeepers who will kick you out of masking club for not having kept up with it. It protects you and others. There's literally no reason not to do it! #MaskUp
My colleague, out sick with her third cold of the school year: "Maybe I should go back to masking full time."

Me, wearing my mask, still COVID free, and having gotten only one cold in the last 6 years: "Um, yeah, no shit."
February 9, 2026 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
Abolish ICE, Abolish the Border

Join @harshawalia.bsky.social, @silkys13.bsky.social, & @reallandsend.bsky.social of @deathpanel.bsky.social for a discussion on the brutal enforcement of immigration policing in Minneapolis and beyond.

Thursday at 7 PM ET

events.haymarketbooks.org/events/hayma...
February 9, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Reposted by Dr. Adeene Denton
Since the early days of the space program, astronauts have quarantined before missions because any illness could be disastrous. It’s eminently logical — not “extreme” — for athletes who’ve trained their WHOLE LIVES for one event to take similar precautions in order to stay in peak physical condition
npr.org NPR @npr.org · 3d
For most people, the pandemic days of masking are behind us. In certain corners of the Winter Olympics, though, things still look a lot like they did in Covid times. Some athletes are taking extreme measures to stay healthy. n.pr/4akK70l
Olympic Covid restrictions are gone, but some athletes still self-quarantining
For most people, the pandemic days of masking are behind us. In certain corners of the Winter Olympics, though, things still look a lot like they did in Covid times. Some athletes are taking extreme measures to stay healthy.
n.pr
February 9, 2026 at 4:39 PM