Marshall
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captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Marshall
@captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
410 followers 420 following 130 posts
Astronomer, birder, TTRPG player and gluten-free cook. he/him.
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captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
By the time he retired in 1990, Walter was serving as an early advisor to the Human Genome Project, and had been named a Fellow of the American Physical Society, AAAS, and LANL. He spent time every summer sailing in British Columbia. It was during this time that he was a big part of my life (13/n)
A picture of a poster advertising a scientific conference. Text at the top and one side reads "theoretical & computational biology: in honor of George Bell and Walter Goad and their establishment of the Theoretical Biology and Biophysics Group at Los Alamos twenty years ago." This is followed by a list of the names and affiliations of the invited speakers, and contact info of the organizers. The meeting was held 12-13 September 1994 at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The other half of the poster shows twelve small pictures. Two of these are portraits of elderly white men with white hair. The other ten are a collection of scientific images, including illustrations of molecules, genetic code, equations, and graphs.
September 6, 2025 at 12:27 AM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
On November 1, 1952, my grandfather was one of only two members of the design team present for Ivy Mike, the first detonation of a hydrogen bomb. (7/n)
A photograph of a nuclear explosion, a red-orange fireball framed by clouds and reflected in water in the foreground. Image credit: US Atomic Energy Commission, via Wikipedia.
September 5, 2025 at 9:50 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Today would have been the 100th birthday of my grandfather, physicist and bioinformatician Walter Goad, who was born #otd in 1925. A 🧵 on his life and work... He was born in Marlow, GA, but by the time he was in high school his family had settled in Kinston, NC. (1/n) 🧪
A black and white photograph of a clean-shaven older white man with white hair. He is facing away from the viewer, and his face is reflected in a computer screen. The computer is a model from the early 1980s, and its screen displays text including genetic sequences. The man's hand rests on one corner of the monitor, and his hand holds a pair of reading glasses.
September 5, 2025 at 7:00 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
A day late and from a different airport in a different state than intended, but on my way to #eprv6 !
A photograph of a large white airliner with the red and blue tail of Delta Airlines sitting at an airport gate.
June 29, 2025 at 9:26 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Hard to pick just one, but I'll go with our wedding cake, which was shaped like a stack of books titled as the D&D campaigns we'd played in together. (Photo by our wonderful photographer, Arlene Brito).
A photo of a cake decorated to look like a stack of six books. The spines of the books are labeled: Land of Enchantment; Excalibur; Tales of Runeterra; [REDACTED]; Descent into Avernus; and Exile to the Red Sea.
May 9, 2025 at 11:17 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
As an astronomer I had to pick a terrible acronym for the project, and I took inspiration from my hobby of birding. May I present the PEPSI Investigation, Retrieval, and Atlas of Numerous Giant Atmospheres, or PIRANGA. This is the name of a genus of songbirds, tanagers, depicted in our logo. (2/n)
A logo depicting two stylized songbirds, bill to bill. The one on the left is bright red with a black wing, and the one on the right is yellow with a red face and a black wing with two yellow bars. Below is text reading "PIRANGA" colored with a blue to red gradient.
March 12, 2025 at 9:13 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Year-end #birding roundup: 333 species observed (including 67 lifers), my highest yearly total to date. Highlights included the pictured vermilion flycatcher, hitting 500 on my life list, and visiting Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge for the first time since I started birding.
A photo of a small red and black songbird perched in the top of a tree. A photo of the sun rising behind clouds, reflected in a large pond in the foreground.
December 31, 2024 at 11:36 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Successful Saturday morning outing to Gramercy Books and Cherbourg Bakery for treats written and gluten free. (I guess the book is technically gluten free too but will take longer to digest).
A photo of a book, plate, and mug sitting on a table. The book is a thick hardcover, "Wind and Truth" by Brandon Sanderson. The plate holds a slice of quiche and a cinnamon roll. The mug says "Bird Nerd" on it and is full of hot chocolate.
December 7, 2024 at 4:34 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
McDonald Observatory, where I have spent by far the most time observing (more than 3 months in total). It's very pretty and peaceful out there.
A view from a mountaintop of scattered clouds lit orange and red by the setting sun. Rolling mountains covered with scrubby forest stretch into the distance. In the foreground is a white telescope dome and two white water tanks.
November 30, 2024 at 1:04 AM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
With a bunch of new followers (hello!), this seems like a good time to reintroduce myself. I'm an astronomer working on all things high resolution spectroscopy for exoplanets. I spend much of my free time birding and playing D&D with my friends, plus hanging out with our cats.
A photo of a smiling white man with dark hair and a beard leaning against a window. Behind the window is a huge cleanroom holding pieces of spaceflight hardware. A large sticker on the window reads "Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope."
November 20, 2024 at 6:14 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
We voted! 💙 Please, please go vote blue, for a liveable planet, for our democracy, for everything and everyone that Trump is threatening.
A picture of a white man and woman smiling at the camera. The man is tall and has dark hair and a beard. He is wearing a blue shirt showing an image of a nebula from the James Webb Space Telescope. The woman has dyed blue and purple hair and is wearing a red T-shirt and blue hoodie. Both are wearing glasses and stickers reading "Ohio Voted", with the letter I in "Ohio" highlighted. Behind them is a brick building and a cloudy sky.
November 1, 2024 at 2:08 AM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Finished writing 200 postcards to voters to urge them to vote blue in the upcoming election. Definitely helps with my mental health to feel like I'm doing something.
A photo of a white person's hand holding a thick stack of postcards. The postcards depict a hand holding an American flag. The hand is made up of dozens of cartoon faces of many different colors and designs.
October 28, 2024 at 2:48 AM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
I had the great pleasure today to visit the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and see several pieces of the Roman Space Telescope (instruments in the foreground, spacecraft bus in the background). It was SO COOL. 🔭🪐 Plus, you know, the reason I was actually there, talking science and IR detectors.
A photo of a smiling, bearded white man leaning against a railing. He is wearing glasses, a dark plaid shirt, and a security badge. Behind him are large windows opening into a huge cleanroom containing various pieces of satellites. Signs read "NASA Goddard Space Flight Center" and "Nancy Grace Roman" (Space Telescope).
October 22, 2024 at 11:40 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Aurora in Columbus, OH!
A red streamer of aurora reaches across the sky, framed by dark trees in the foreground.
October 11, 2024 at 2:35 AM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Ran my first 5k in 8 years today, and, at the age of 35, set a personal best of 28:48! (Which, admittedly, was helped by the perfectly flat course on an airport grounds).
A selfie of a smiling white man with dark hair and beard and glasses. He is wearing a red athletic shirt with a race number bib pinned to it. Around his neck is a race finish medal on a red ribbon with the words "remove before flight" in white. Behind him is an airport tarmac with several small airplanes and a race finish archway.
August 25, 2024 at 1:39 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Didn't expect to see @philplait.bsky.social in an ad on an Italian high speed train
A picture of a TV mounted to the ceiling of a railway carriage, showing a picture of a galaxy with an inset of a white man being interviewed on TV. Italian text asking the bottom gives the expected arrival time in Florence.
July 22, 2024 at 5:07 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
#twohorses conference 🪐🔭 starting off strong with the swag game
A picture of a straw cowboy hat with a ribbon reading "Two HORSEs: High Resolution Spectroscopy of Exoplanets and the Characterization of their Host Stars."
July 15, 2024 at 6:58 AM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
...And, me being me, I spent my free day in Berlin #birding 🪶 the city parks. Observed 24 species, including two lifers (Eurasian kestrel and Eurasian skylark, both at Tempelhofer Feld, pictured). Logged 17,500 steps in the course of the day.
A photograph of a wide open space of a disused airport, with pavement in the foreground and tall grass in the background. Clouds fill the sky overhead.
July 14, 2024 at 7:33 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Excited to be on my way to Berlin for the "Two HoRSEs" conference on high resolution spectroscopy of exoplanets 🪐 and stars 🔭 next week!
A photo of a series of airplane tails lined up at gates, showing the light blue globe on dark blue livery of United Airlines. In the background fluffy white clouds float in a blue sky.
July 13, 2024 at 7:35 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Huge congrats to my brother @warandcoffee.bsky.social for successfully defending his Ph.D. thesis! So proud of you, Dr. Johnson!
A photo of two bearded, dark-haired white men, one wearing glasses, and bearing a distinct resemblance to one another. They have their arms around each other and are smiling at the camera. They are standing in a large room with old fashioned architecture, in front of two large windows looking out over a city. A book with a white cover, emblazoned with the text, "Ph.D. Thesis. Gendered Dynamics of Child Protection in UN Peacekeeping. Dustin Johnson. School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg." The text is accompanied by a small photo depicting stacks of bulletproof vests and a combat helmet in sky blue with the letters "UN" emblazoned on them.
May 17, 2024 at 9:09 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
HOLY CRAP THE AURORA
A purple and green aurora behind dark trees White, green, and purple aurorae framed by dark trees
May 11, 2024 at 3:21 AM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Nothing like pulling up to a new birding 🪶 location and spotting a vermilion flycatcher in the parking lot! (Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale, CA on Sunday).
A fuzzy photo of a bird with neon red chest and head, and black wings and eye bar, perched on top of a bare tree.
March 7, 2024 at 4:52 AM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Don't talk to me or my son or my son's son ever again.
A picture of three Lego space shuttle orbiters, one large, one medium, and one small, sitting next to each other on top of a white bookshelf.
January 6, 2024 at 11:37 PM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
Many of these stories are told in the book, along with more I hadn't heard. The book itself is gorgeous, with end papers from Max's passport and many photos from my family. Unfortunately, this was a limited print run and I don't know when (or even if) the book will be offered for general sale. (6/n)
The end papers of a book showing the old American passport of Max Steineke, with a black and white portrait on the left of a white man in a suit starting into the camera. Stamps on the right read "cancelled" and "this passport is not valid for travel to any country in Europe."
November 9, 2023 at 12:32 AM
captain-exoplanet.bsky.social
I was thrilled today to receive my copy of the recently published biography of my great-grandfather, Max Steineke. The authors and my family put a lot of work into this book and I'm happy to see it in print and get Max's story out there. A short thread on Max's life and work... (1/n)
A hand holding a hardcover book. The book is entitled "The Strength of a Giant: The Life and Times of Max Steineke and the Discovery of Oil in Saudi Arabia," written by Douglas R. Pricer and Robert E. Ransom. The cover depicts a black and white photo of a smiling, bearded, middle-aged white man wearing a keffiyeh sitting in front of a hanging embroidery. On the right side of the cover is the image of an oil derrick and the words "A true American legend." A photo of the back cover of a hardback book resting on a blue tablecloth. The cover shows six black and white photos: oil spewing from a derrick; a bearded white man, Max Steineke, wearing a keffiyeh squatting and looking intently at a rock in his hands; five white men posing in front of a hut on the tundra; several men and two sled dogs with a small boat in an ice-filled ocean; a young, clean-shaven Max sitting on a cot; and Max again wearing a keffiyeh sitting on the back of a camel. The text on the cover reads, "Born in humble circumstances in rural Oregon in 1898, Max Steineke left home when he was 12 years old. After working his way through high school and Stanford University he became a geologist. As a young man his profession took him to the frozen tundra of Alaska, the hot and fetid jungles of South America, the golden valleys of California and the green and verdant islands of New Zealand in search of oil. But..." (I'm out of characters so I can't transcribe the rest)
November 8, 2023 at 11:16 PM