Brandt Gaches
@brandt-gaches.space
Astronomer, astrochemist. Cosmic origins fellow at Chalmers University. Emmy Noether group leader starting 2025.
It was recently international #coffee day! As everyone knows, coffee fuels science! For fun, I recently decided to add to my group page also what coffees I currently have! I found a really great whiskey-barrel aged coffee, but it makes it smell like I'm having routine morning irish coffees...
October 3, 2025 at 3:32 PM
It was recently international #coffee day! As everyone knows, coffee fuels science! For fun, I recently decided to add to my group page also what coffees I currently have! I found a really great whiskey-barrel aged coffee, but it makes it smell like I'm having routine morning irish coffees...
Reposted by Brandt Gaches
We have lift-off! Science Explorer, or #SciX to its friends, is excited to be your new home for open, connected, and trustworthy science. Explore. Share. Discover at scixplorer.org #OpenScience #ResearchInfrastructure #SpaceScience #EarthScience #PlanetaryScience
September 29, 2025 at 4:00 PM
We have lift-off! Science Explorer, or #SciX to its friends, is excited to be your new home for open, connected, and trustworthy science. Explore. Share. Discover at scixplorer.org #OpenScience #ResearchInfrastructure #SpaceScience #EarthScience #PlanetaryScience
I decided to make a little graphic demonstrating with actual #data (the awesome Cas A supernova remnant observed by #JWST) to highlight how different data looks depending on the colormap. I chose a few that I have seen used a bit from matplotlib & cmasher. What colormaps do you often use and why?
August 22, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Another bit of sharing about my experiences as a disabled astronomer, for Disability Pride Month.
While I was studying for and taking my qualifying exams (oral), I was studying, finishing up research, and going to physical therapy and speech therapy (both once to twice a week).
While I was studying for and taking my qualifying exams (oral), I was studying, finishing up research, and going to physical therapy and speech therapy (both once to twice a week).
July 14, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Another bit of sharing about my experiences as a disabled astronomer, for Disability Pride Month.
While I was studying for and taking my qualifying exams (oral), I was studying, finishing up research, and going to physical therapy and speech therapy (both once to twice a week).
While I was studying for and taking my qualifying exams (oral), I was studying, finishing up research, and going to physical therapy and speech therapy (both once to twice a week).
For those who may not know, July is #disability pride month. Within #academia (& #astronomy), there are still many pitfalls and barriers that make things difficult for astronomers with disabilities. So, I figured throughout the month, I would share some of what I have experienced with my disability
July 4, 2025 at 7:26 PM
For those who may not know, July is #disability pride month. Within #academia (& #astronomy), there are still many pitfalls and barriers that make things difficult for astronomers with disabilities. So, I figured throughout the month, I would share some of what I have experienced with my disability
Given the looming massive budget slashes back in the US, any US early career researchers who are looking for options - Germany has several really great funding schemes! The Humboldt fellowship and Walter Benjamin (DFG) program are excellent for 2 year fellowships!
July 3, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Given the looming massive budget slashes back in the US, any US early career researchers who are looking for options - Germany has several really great funding schemes! The Humboldt fellowship and Walter Benjamin (DFG) program are excellent for 2 year fellowships!
The huge European Astronomical Society conference, #EAS2025, starts soon! Looking forward to seeing so many people! Hopefully this year it is a bit more disability friendly though...
June 20, 2025 at 1:07 PM
The huge European Astronomical Society conference, #EAS2025, starts soon! Looking forward to seeing so many people! Hopefully this year it is a bit more disability friendly though...
A couple of weeks ago in Vienna, I took an expedited trip down some stairs and hurt my ankle. Back home, in one morning, I saw my GP, an orthopedic surgeon, and got an Aircast.
Total cost: 13€
I truly wish my fellow Americans could have this back home! Great affordable healthcare IS possible!
Total cost: 13€
I truly wish my fellow Americans could have this back home! Great affordable healthcare IS possible!
June 8, 2025 at 11:20 AM
A couple of weeks ago in Vienna, I took an expedited trip down some stairs and hurt my ankle. Back home, in one morning, I saw my GP, an orthopedic surgeon, and got an Aircast.
Total cost: 13€
I truly wish my fellow Americans could have this back home! Great affordable healthcare IS possible!
Total cost: 13€
I truly wish my fellow Americans could have this back home! Great affordable healthcare IS possible!
I recently decided to try dipping my toe into the observational astronomer pool and proposed for my own observations for the first time (as PI), and jumped right into an interferometer (NOEMA). The proposal was accepted! Maybe time for more? (or will that lead down a dangerous, dark path...)
May 16, 2025 at 12:36 PM
I recently decided to try dipping my toe into the observational astronomer pool and proposed for my own observations for the first time (as PI), and jumped right into an interferometer (NOEMA). The proposal was accepted! Maybe time for more? (or will that lead down a dangerous, dark path...)
I highly recommend this program for early career researchers wanting to come to Germany and fund their own project!
I hear that Duisburg would be a great place to host one 😉
I hear that Duisburg would be a great place to host one 😉
#ECR attention! Just finishing your #PhD and wondering if the DFG’s Walter Benjamin Programme might be a funding option for you? Come and find out in our info talk in our research career series #Prospects (in English). The link to the meeting will be published here:
➡️ www.dfg.de/en/research-...
➡️ www.dfg.de/en/research-...
May 8, 2025 at 9:50 AM
I highly recommend this program for early career researchers wanting to come to Germany and fund their own project!
I hear that Duisburg would be a great place to host one 😉
I hear that Duisburg would be a great place to host one 😉
Reposted by Brandt Gaches
He arrives with €1.5 million in his luggage: Dr @brandt-gaches.space, astrochemist and expert in star formation, has been invited by our Faculty of Physics to set up his #EmmyNoetherGroup at the #UDE. www.uni-due.de/2025-04-23-e...
April 24, 2025 at 11:07 AM
He arrives with €1.5 million in his luggage: Dr @brandt-gaches.space, astrochemist and expert in star formation, has been invited by our Faculty of Physics to set up his #EmmyNoetherGroup at the #UDE. www.uni-due.de/2025-04-23-e...
Submitted my first radio interferometer observing proposal as a PI! Time to see what all my observer colleagues keep talking excitedly about....
March 13, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Submitted my first radio interferometer observing proposal as a PI! Time to see what all my observer colleagues keep talking excitedly about....
"I'm bad at vacationing" Part 2. I decided to try to make an #astronomy #infographic on what determines the temperature of molecular clouds. Here's the result - let me know what you think! It shows the different physical mechanisms in the balance between heating and cooling in these clouds.
February 12, 2025 at 4:27 PM
"I'm bad at vacationing" Part 2. I decided to try to make an #astronomy #infographic on what determines the temperature of molecular clouds. Here's the result - let me know what you think! It shows the different physical mechanisms in the balance between heating and cooling in these clouds.
The deadline for my advertised #PhD position is in one week! If you know any excellent Master's students looking for a PhD in #astrochemical modeling, please feel free to share my job ad with them. Deadline is Feb 19th!
Ad: www.uni-due.de/karriere/ste...
Ad: www.uni-due.de/karriere/ste...
Stellenausschreibung
www.uni-due.de
February 12, 2025 at 3:03 PM
The deadline for my advertised #PhD position is in one week! If you know any excellent Master's students looking for a PhD in #astrochemical modeling, please feel free to share my job ad with them. Deadline is Feb 19th!
Ad: www.uni-due.de/karriere/ste...
Ad: www.uni-due.de/karriere/ste...
I'm bad at vacationing. I get bored, and make plots like this, which puts into context timescales #astronomers often call "rapid". This shows a chemical model for dense gas in an energetic environment, highlighting the "rapid" freeze-out of CO gas onto ices and converting to methanol ice "rapidly"
February 6, 2025 at 2:29 PM
I'm bad at vacationing. I get bored, and make plots like this, which puts into context timescales #astronomers often call "rapid". This shows a chemical model for dense gas in an energetic environment, highlighting the "rapid" freeze-out of CO gas onto ices and converting to methanol ice "rapidly"
Cheesy advertisement: We're hosting a really cool special session at this year's #EAS2025 conference in Cork! The session is planned to include talks on #astrochemistry across scales - from galaxies to disks to stars to planetary bodies. Abstract deadline is March 3rd: eas.unige.ch/EAS2025/sess...
February 4, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Cheesy advertisement: We're hosting a really cool special session at this year's #EAS2025 conference in Cork! The session is planned to include talks on #astrochemistry across scales - from galaxies to disks to stars to planetary bodies. Abstract deadline is March 3rd: eas.unige.ch/EAS2025/sess...
Also, people don't often realize how much #grant spending is overseen. I've filled a lot of forms for reimbursement for travel, spending, etc. Money usually can't be easily moved in grants between funded categories: the PI asks for funds for specific things, and approval is often needed to shift it.
I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service.
“Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.
“Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.
White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion
The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 28, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Also, people don't often realize how much #grant spending is overseen. I've filled a lot of forms for reimbursement for travel, spending, etc. Money usually can't be easily moved in grants between funded categories: the PI asks for funds for specific things, and approval is often needed to shift it.
Calling #astronomy and #astrochemistry colleagues colleagues! I am now #hiring a #PhD student for my new Emmy Noether Junior Group. The project aims to create 3D time-dependent full chemical models of star-forming regions. Here's the ad: www.uni-due.de/karriere/ste...
Due date is Feb 19th!
Due date is Feb 19th!
Stellenausschreibung
www.uni-due.de
January 23, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Calling #astronomy and #astrochemistry colleagues colleagues! I am now #hiring a #PhD student for my new Emmy Noether Junior Group. The project aims to create 3D time-dependent full chemical models of star-forming regions. Here's the ad: www.uni-due.de/karriere/ste...
Due date is Feb 19th!
Due date is Feb 19th!
As my time in Sweden is ending, and my home country, the USA, is about to enter a new and increasingly oligarchic era today, I wanted to highlight some of the wonderful benefits I've experienced as an American citizen, but living in Sweden. I truly wish all my fellow Americans could have these!
January 20, 2025 at 4:25 PM
As my time in Sweden is ending, and my home country, the USA, is about to enter a new and increasingly oligarchic era today, I wanted to highlight some of the wonderful benefits I've experienced as an American citizen, but living in Sweden. I truly wish all my fellow Americans could have these!
My amazing press colleagues in my department put together this fantastic news article about my recent simulation results on protostar accretion. It was a really fun process to see this article come together! www.chalmers.se/en/current/n...
Rocking the magnetic cradle of stellar birth
Stars are born in clouds of gas and dust, making it difficult to observe their early development. But researchers at Chalmers have now succeeded in simulating…
www.chalmers.se
January 9, 2025 at 9:31 AM
My amazing press colleagues in my department put together this fantastic news article about my recent simulation results on protostar accretion. It was a really fun process to see this article come together! www.chalmers.se/en/current/n...
The CASSUM program for summer astronomy research is now open for applications! Open for all nationalities, with the research happening at Chalmers in Sweden. There are amazing projects from planets to galaxies to black holes! Applications are due Feb 10th. cosmicorigins.space/cassum
CASSUM
cosmicorigins.space
January 7, 2025 at 11:00 PM
The CASSUM program for summer astronomy research is now open for applications! Open for all nationalities, with the research happening at Chalmers in Sweden. There are amazing projects from planets to galaxies to black holes! Applications are due Feb 10th. cosmicorigins.space/cassum
The best representation I could find of the GOP House trying to govern
January 3, 2025 at 6:54 PM
The best representation I could find of the GOP House trying to govern
Many of my colleagues have been using AI to uncover the mysteries of the universe and do amazing science. I took a different approach. As a theorist, I wanted to investigate a vital question: what if Jar-Jar Binks was secretly a genius? The results?
December 6, 2024 at 3:00 PM
Many of my colleagues have been using AI to uncover the mysteries of the universe and do amazing science. I took a different approach. As a theorist, I wanted to investigate a vital question: what if Jar-Jar Binks was secretly a genius? The results?
Astrochemistry friends and colleagues - the ALeCS database is here for you! We have electron-impact ionization cross sections for over 200 molecules of astrochemical interest for modeling or lab studies. If we're missing a molecule, just ask - we can maybe compute it! github.com/AstroBrandt/...
GitHub - AstroBrandt/ALeCS: This is the data repository for the Astrochemistry Low-energy electron Cross-Section (ALeCS) database. This database presents electron-impact cross sections and molecular d...
This is the data repository for the Astrochemistry Low-energy electron Cross-Section (ALeCS) database. This database presents electron-impact cross sections and molecular data relevant for electron...
github.com
October 22, 2024 at 10:52 AM
Astrochemistry friends and colleagues - the ALeCS database is here for you! We have electron-impact ionization cross sections for over 200 molecules of astrochemical interest for modeling or lab studies. If we're missing a molecule, just ask - we can maybe compute it! github.com/AstroBrandt/...