Dr. Szilárd Gyalay 🪐
@szilardgyalay.com
Follow my adventures as a planetary scientist! At SETI/NASA Ames. UCSC & UCLA alum. Time Person of the Year 2006. He/him/ő. Views are my own.
Pinned
Dr. Szilárd Gyalay 🪐
@szilardgyalay.com
· Dec 12
Excited when a prediction of mine is accurate 🌋👀🛰️ (sadly not at #AGU24 to throw a party)
Here’s my paper from earlier this year showing that a global magma ocean should have significant contributions to Io’s degree-2 global shape, far more than what is observed on Io:
doi.org/10.1029/2023...
Here’s my paper from earlier this year showing that a global magma ocean should have significant contributions to Io’s degree-2 global shape, far more than what is observed on Io:
doi.org/10.1029/2023...
I love* reading a jingoistic “space superiority” executive order where “the costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration” while they continue to slash science funding across the board 🫠
*loathe
*loathe
December 18, 2025 at 9:50 PM
I love* reading a jingoistic “space superiority” executive order where “the costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration” while they continue to slash science funding across the board 🫠
*loathe
*loathe
A snippet of my #AGU2025 poster as a teaser. Drop by posterboard P21E-2658 tomorrow (Tuesday) morning to learn more about what the location of Herschel crater might have to say about Mimas' interior! 👀
December 16, 2025 at 5:20 AM
A snippet of my #AGU2025 poster as a teaser. Drop by posterboard P21E-2658 tomorrow (Tuesday) morning to learn more about what the location of Herschel crater might have to say about Mimas' interior! 👀
Catching up on Star Wars: Visions Season 3, and in episode 6 they just did the funniest thing and referenced the Back to the Future scene where Marty says he’s Darth Vader
November 12, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Catching up on Star Wars: Visions Season 3, and in episode 6 they just did the funniest thing and referenced the Back to the Future scene where Marty says he’s Darth Vader
Not Google’s AI drawing the complete opposite conclusion from my work when I was trying to quickly grab a copy of my paper 😭
August 27, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Not Google’s AI drawing the complete opposite conclusion from my work when I was trying to quickly grab a copy of my paper 😭
Fucking hell
Breaking News: The Supreme Court is allowing the Trump administration to deport migrants to countries other than their own, pausing a judge’s previous ruling.
Trump Administration: Latest News and Live Updates
trib.al
June 23, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Fucking hell
May all he accomplished only be as enduring as his Starship
Disillusioned and distanced from President Trump, Elon Musk said he is ending his government work.
A Disillusioned Musk, Distanced From Trump, Says He’s Exiting Washington
www.nytimes.com
May 29, 2025 at 4:17 AM
May all he accomplished only be as enduring as his Starship
Reposted by Dr. Szilárd Gyalay 🪐
Or maybe they could, you know, just fucking fly the rover mission they already planned, paid for, and built. 🤬
NASA to Explore Additional Methods to Send VIPER to Moon - NASA
Following an evaluation of partnership proposals to land a water-seeking robot on the lunar surface, NASA is instead opting to explore alternative approaches to deliver its VIPER (Volatiles Investigat...
www.nasa.gov
May 7, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Or maybe they could, you know, just fucking fly the rover mission they already planned, paid for, and built. 🤬
I’m still devastated by how the echoes of history in Andor s2e8 instead feel eerily prescient because of how fucking reliable humanity is at committing the same atrocities over and over again. I was already feeling more depressed than usual today, but now Star Wars got me fucking crying 😭
May 7, 2025 at 6:53 AM
I’m still devastated by how the echoes of history in Andor s2e8 instead feel eerily prescient because of how fucking reliable humanity is at committing the same atrocities over and over again. I was already feeling more depressed than usual today, but now Star Wars got me fucking crying 😭
Reposted by Dr. Szilárd Gyalay 🪐
I can't really describe how heartbreaking it is to be a scientist in America, especially an early career one. So many of us did everything right to set ourselves up for success, only to watch our career path crumble.
I am extremely pleased to share this feature articulating why I have lost my sanity lately. www.science.org/content/arti...
U.S. scientists’ lives and careers are being upended. Here are five of their stories
As the second Trump administration sends U.S. science into upheaval, countless researchers are fighting for their futures
www.science.org
May 3, 2025 at 11:42 PM
I can't really describe how heartbreaking it is to be a scientist in America, especially an early career one. So many of us did everything right to set ourselves up for success, only to watch our career path crumble.
Reposted by Dr. Szilárd Gyalay 🪐
Trump’s proposed budget would mean ‘disastrous’ cuts to science | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
Trump’s proposed budget would mean ‘disastrous’ cuts to science
Key research budgets would shrink by one-third to one-half in 2026 spending plan
www.science.org
May 2, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Trump’s proposed budget would mean ‘disastrous’ cuts to science | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Dr. Szilárd Gyalay 🪐
In 100 days in office, US President Donald Trump has destabilized eight decades of government support for science.
This has included terminating more than 1,000 grants in areas such as climate change, cancer, and HIV prevention.
Will US science survive Trump 2.0?
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
This has included terminating more than 1,000 grants in areas such as climate change, cancer, and HIV prevention.
Will US science survive Trump 2.0?
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
April 29, 2025 at 11:42 AM
In 100 days in office, US President Donald Trump has destabilized eight decades of government support for science.
This has included terminating more than 1,000 grants in areas such as climate change, cancer, and HIV prevention.
Will US science survive Trump 2.0?
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
This has included terminating more than 1,000 grants in areas such as climate change, cancer, and HIV prevention.
Will US science survive Trump 2.0?
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Dr. Szilárd Gyalay 🪐
Good morning. Today I have an essay running in the New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/o...
Opinion | Watching ‘Andor’ Is No Substitute for Actual Resistance
I have always found the praise for the show’s revolutionary politics to be at odds with the means of its production.
www.nytimes.com
April 22, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Good morning. Today I have an essay running in the New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/o...
I love that at some point, someone decided stegosauruses should be green with orange plates, and everyone agreed.
March 22, 2025 at 7:06 PM
I love that at some point, someone decided stegosauruses should be green with orange plates, and everyone agreed.
Akiba et al. discuss the thermal-orbital evolution of Eris, the trans-Neptunian object so large that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Fittingly, it is named for the goddess of strife and discord. 🤭
They ask if Eris’ small moon, Dysnomia, leads to a lot of tidal heating. 1/3 #LPSC2025
They ask if Eris’ small moon, Dysnomia, leads to a lot of tidal heating. 1/3 #LPSC2025
March 14, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Akiba et al. discuss the thermal-orbital evolution of Eris, the trans-Neptunian object so large that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Fittingly, it is named for the goddess of strife and discord. 🤭
They ask if Eris’ small moon, Dysnomia, leads to a lot of tidal heating. 1/3 #LPSC2025
They ask if Eris’ small moon, Dysnomia, leads to a lot of tidal heating. 1/3 #LPSC2025
Denton et al. revisit impact-formation scenarios for the Charon and Pluto (pic JHU/NASA). However, here they account for the material strength of the bodies rather than fully approximating them as fluids for the impact (usually a fine assumption). 1/3 #LPSC2025
March 14, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Denton et al. revisit impact-formation scenarios for the Charon and Pluto (pic JHU/NASA). However, here they account for the material strength of the bodies rather than fully approximating them as fluids for the impact (usually a fine assumption). 1/3 #LPSC2025
Reposted by Dr. Szilárd Gyalay 🪐
Tonight’s dumb napkin cartoon…
March 13, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Tonight’s dumb napkin cartoon…
Schurmeier et al. examined craters on Titan's surface, which she noted tend to have a shallower depth than one would predict from similarly large craters on other large, icy satellites like Ganymede. So they asked: what if Titan's crust was made of a different material? 1/3 #LPSC2025
March 13, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Schurmeier et al. examined craters on Titan's surface, which she noted tend to have a shallower depth than one would predict from similarly large craters on other large, icy satellites like Ganymede. So they asked: what if Titan's crust was made of a different material? 1/3 #LPSC2025
Sori presents on the possibility of a regional (non-global) subsurface sea beneath Occator crater on Ceres (our solar system's largest asteroid). Occator (pic from wikipedia) is famous for bright salt deposits discovered as the Dawn spacecraft approached Ceres. 1/6 #LPSC2025
March 13, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Sori presents on the possibility of a regional (non-global) subsurface sea beneath Occator crater on Ceres (our solar system's largest asteroid). Occator (pic from wikipedia) is famous for bright salt deposits discovered as the Dawn spacecraft approached Ceres. 1/6 #LPSC2025
Reposted by Dr. Szilárd Gyalay 🪐
One of the employees fired from NASA told me how much their career meant to them: "Prior to everything happening today, NASA has been an incredible place to work — to dream big, to innovate, to do things that I never thought I could have done.”
Words by me. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Words by me. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
NASA begins mass firings of scientists ahead of Trump team’s deadline
Top advisers in the Office of the Chief Scientist are among the first to go amid downsizing effort.
www.nature.com
March 11, 2025 at 1:13 PM
One of the employees fired from NASA told me how much their career meant to them: "Prior to everything happening today, NASA has been an incredible place to work — to dream big, to innovate, to do things that I never thought I could have done.”
Words by me. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Words by me. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Blanco-Rojas & Sori examine how Herschel crater (the big one that makes Mimas look like the Death Star) might relax within the presence of a subsurface ocean. The idea is that an ocean would imply a warm shell and couldn't hold the shape of Herschel's peak and rim for too long. 1/2 #LPSC2025
March 11, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Blanco-Rojas & Sori examine how Herschel crater (the big one that makes Mimas look like the Death Star) might relax within the presence of a subsurface ocean. The idea is that an ocean would imply a warm shell and couldn't hold the shape of Herschel's peak and rim for too long. 1/2 #LPSC2025
Fuhrman et al. examine polygonal craters on Mimas, to see what is going on beneath Mimas' surface. Simply put, a polygonal crater has straight edges (e.g., Earth's meteor crater is basically a square). These can form when the shockwave from impact encounters fractures in the crust. 1/3 #LPSC2025
March 11, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Fuhrman et al. examine polygonal craters on Mimas, to see what is going on beneath Mimas' surface. Simply put, a polygonal crater has straight edges (e.g., Earth's meteor crater is basically a square). These can form when the shockwave from impact encounters fractures in the crust. 1/3 #LPSC2025
Schenk & McKinnon examine Mimas' surface for tectonic activity. Historically, folks simply declare Mimas to show very little activity. What does exist though, seems to be evidence of extension, rather than the contraction you might expect if forming an ocean. #LPSC2025
March 11, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Schenk & McKinnon examine Mimas' surface for tectonic activity. Historically, folks simply declare Mimas to show very little activity. What does exist though, seems to be evidence of extension, rather than the contraction you might expect if forming an ocean. #LPSC2025