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SETI Institute
@setiinstitute.bsky.social
16K followers 370 following 1.7K posts
Our mission is to lead humanity’s quest to understand the origins and prevalence of life and intelligence in the universe and share that knowledge.
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setiinstitute.bsky.social
The sun is the largest nuclear reactor we know. We now have momentum, harnessing its power at scale. From Texas to Pakistan to China, hear how cheap solar is toppling fossil fuel with author @billmckibben.bsky.social on @bipisci.bsky.social 🧪

Listen here: bigpicturescience.org/episodes/sol...
A bright sunny day over a field with rows of solar panels stretching back to the edge of the clearing.
November 15, 2025 at 12:00 AM
setiinstitute.bsky.social
Proposal Writing Workshop: Using NASA ROSES as an Example

For those attending the winter American Astronomical Society (#AAS247) Meeting, an all-day proposal writing workshop will be sponsored by the NASA Science Mission Directorate and hosted by Dr. Christina Richey. 🧪 👩‍🔬
SETI Institute logo. Text: Proposal Writing Workshop using NASA ROSES as an Example. 3 January 2026, 09:00 - 16:00 MST, Phoenix Convention Center. Speaker Christina Richey, Director of Partnerships and Business Development. Separate Registration Fee Required. Inset: Photo of Dr. Christina Richey with short, aqua hair, long star earrings, a gray cardigan, and a blue draped blouse. Also includes the AAS logo.
November 14, 2025 at 8:01 PM
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#PPOD: This new JWST picture features a cosmic creepy-crawly called NGC 6537 — the Red Spider Nebula. Using its Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam), JWST has revealed never-before-seen details in this picturesque planetary nebula with a rich backdrop of thousands of stars. 🧪 🔭
A planetary nebula. The nebula’s central star is hidden by a blotchy pinkish cloud of dust. A strong red light radiates from this area, illuminating the nearby dust. Two large loops extend laterally away from the centre, formed of thin ridges of blue dust. A huge number of bright, whitish stars cover the background, also easily visible through the thin dust layers.
November 14, 2025 at 4:02 PM
setiinstitute.bsky.social
Next #SETILive: Where Water Boils the Sky
TODAY, 13 November, 2:30 pm PST

Today, @planetarypan.bsky.social talks with Artem Aguichine (UCSC) about his new research modeling the interiors and atmospheres of steam worlds—a class of water-rich sub-Neptunes that could dominate our galaxy. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬
SETI Live record button logo. Text: Where Water Boils the Sky with Beth Johnson and Artem Aguichine. Background: Artist's depiction of a steam world with hot swirls of gas in the clouds and its star in the background. Inset: Photos of Beth Johnson and Artem Aguichine.
November 13, 2025 at 8:00 PM
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PRESS RELEASE: buff.ly/BKWD0nN

The SETI Institute announced the appointment of Dr. Christina (Chrissy) Richey as Director of Partnerships and Business Development, effective October 16, 2025. Richey joins the SETI Institute from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬
SETI Institute logo. Text: SETI Institute welcomes Dr. Christina (Chrissy) Richey as Director of Partnerships & Business Development. Background: Photo of Dr. Richey with short, aqua hair, long star earrings, a gray cardigan, and a blue draped top.
November 13, 2025 at 6:15 PM
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#PPOD: When a meteoroid shook the edge of Apollinaris Mons on Mars, it triggered streaks that carved a hundred new scratches on the surface. The European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter captured these dust avalanches on the slopes the night before Christmas in 2023. Credit: ESA/TGO/CaSSIS 🧪
Photo taken from space of a cliff on Mars that runs from the upper left to the lower right. All along the cliff are perpendicular dark streaks of fine dust that were shaken loose by a meteroid impact. At the base of the slope can also be seen some small impact craters.
November 13, 2025 at 4:02 PM
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Dr. Matt Tiscareno studies how things move in the solar system. He led the discovery of small moons embedded in Saturn’s rings, seen indirectly by the propeller-shaped disturbances they create in the surrounding ring material. 🧪 🔭

#NotJustAliens
Text: #notjustaliens. Matthew Tiscareno, Solar System Dynamics. Background: Starry night sky. Inset: Photo of Matthew Tiscareno. Text: Dr. Matt Tiscareno studies how things move in the solar system. He led the discovery of small moons embedded in Saturn’s rings, seen indirectly by the propeller-shaped disturbances they create in the surrounding ring material. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets in front of it. Text: Dr. Tiscareno is also interested in how moons rotate. He was part of a team that used a tiny wobble in the rotation of Saturn’s moon Enceladus to prove that the moon’s subsurface water extends globally as a subsurface ocean. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets. SETI Institute logo. Graphics: (top) Black hole. (bottom) radio telescope dishes at the Allen Telescope Array. Background: Starry night sky.
November 13, 2025 at 12:00 AM
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Proposal Writing Workshop: Using NASA ROSES as an Example (Session @ SCIWS2)

For those attending the Fall American Geophysical Union (#AGU25) Meeting, an all-day proposal writing workshop will be sponsored by the NASA Science Mission Directorate and hosted by Dr. Christina Richey. 🧪 👩‍🔬
SETI Institute logo. Text: Proposal writing workshop using NASA ROSES as an example, Session SCIWS2, 15 December 2025, 08:30 - 17:00 CST, New Orleans Convention Center. Speaker Christina Richey, Director of Parnterships and Business Development. Separate Registration Fee Required. AGU25 logo. Inset: Photograph of Dr. Richey with short, aqua hair, long starry earrings, a gray cardigan, and blue draped top.
November 12, 2025 at 12:00 AM
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#PPOD: NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera system to shoot video of Phobos, one of Mars’ two moons, eclipsing the Sun. It’s the most zoomed-in, highest-frame-rate observation of a Phobos solar eclipse ever taken from the Martian surface. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI 🧪 🔭
Still image pulled from a video showing the irregular, small moon Phobos passing in front of the Sun. Phobos is covering a portion of the lower right. There are some sunspots to the left of Phobos.
November 11, 2025 at 4:04 PM
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Want good news on the climate front? The world is making immense strides in harnessing solar energy. Some of the leaders might surprise you (we see you, Texas!) This week, author @billmckibben.bsky.social on our sunnier future on @bipisci.bsky.social. 🧪

Listen bigpicturescience.org/episodes/sol...
A bright sunny day over a field with rows of solar panels stretching back to the edge of the clearing.
November 10, 2025 at 8:42 PM
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#PPOD: Astronomers from the @icrar.bsky.social have created the largest low-frequency radio colour image of the Milky Way ever assembled. This spectacular new image captures the Southern Hemisphere view of our galaxy... 🧪 🔭

Credit: S. Mantovanini & the GLEAM-X team
November 10, 2025 at 4:01 PM
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Dr. Rachel Morgan is an Optical Scientist at NASA Ames Research Center. She completed her undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering and Physics at MIT. She then continued at MIT for graduate school as a NASA Space Technology and Research Fellow and an Amelia Earhart Fellow. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬 #NotJustAliens
Text: #notjustaliens. Rachel Morgan, Integrated Photonics. Background: Starry night sky. Inset: Photo of person. Text: Dr. Rachel Morgan is an Optical Scientist at NASA Ames Research Center. She completed her undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering and Physics at MIT. She then continued at MIT for graduate school as a NASA Space Technology and Research Fellow and Amelia Earhart Fellow. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets in front of it. Text: Dr. Morgan currently studies the application of programmable integrated photonics technology to coronographic instruments for the characterization of exo-Earths with the Habitable Worlds Observatory. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets. SETI Institute logo. Graphics: (top) Black hole. (bottom) radio telescope dishes at the Allen Telescope Array. Background: Starry night sky.
November 8, 2025 at 4:00 PM
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Climate change may be outpacing our ability to deal with it using engineering. The third episode of @bipisci.bsky.social, tied to the 20th anniversary of the devastating hurricane, “Katrina and the River,” looks at efforts to tame the mighty Mississippi.

Listen here: bit.ly/4lzfJmh

#podcast 🧪
An aeriel view of a small portion of the Mississippi River, seen at twilight.
November 8, 2025 at 12:01 AM
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#PPOD: A beautiful picture of Jupiter taken by JunoCam onboard NASA's Juno spacecraft and processed by a citizen scientist. Numerous swirling storms are visible among the cloud tops, appearing in shades of white, tan, and blue. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Giulio Macrì 🧪 🔭
A view of one half of Jupiter, lit from the left, revealing alternating bands of white and tan full of swirling storms. The polar end of the planet is seen in shades of blue with more clouds swirling.
November 7, 2025 at 4:02 PM
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Next #SETILive: TRAPPIST‑1 e Revealed
TODAY, 6 November, 10 am PST

Join @goastromo.bsky.social, Néstor Espinoza (STScI), and @ana-glidden.bsky.social for a deep dive into the latest JWST observations of TRAPPIST‑1 e, a tantalizing Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a nearby star. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬
SETI Live record button logo. Text: TRAPPIST-1 e Revealed with Moiya McTier, Néstor Espinoza, and Ana Glidden. Background: Artist's impression of TRAPPIST-1 e and its star. Inset: Photos of Néstor Espinoza and Ana Glidden.
November 6, 2025 at 4:03 PM
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#PPOD: The first anniversary image from NASA’s JWST displays star birth like it’s never been seen before, full of detailed, impressionistic texture. The subject is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬
A view of a colorful nebula, the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, captured by JWST. The image shows a colorful nebula with a detailed, impressionistic texture and jets of molecular hydrogen (red) bursting from young stars. The star S1, the most massive one in the image, is carving out a glowing golden cave in the gas and dust with its stellar winds.
November 6, 2025 at 1:02 PM
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Dr. Ian Weaver earned his PhD in Astrophysics from Harvard University, where he studied the atmospheres of planets around other stars. He currently serves as the Education Lead for Unistellar, which provides community outreach support for the NASA Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) mission. 🧪
Text: #notjustaliens. Ian Weaver, Education and Public Outreach. Background: Starry night sky. Inset: Photo of Ian Weaver. Text: Dr. Ian Weaver earned his PhD in Astrophysics from Harvard University, where he studied the atmospheres of planets around other stars. He currently serves as the Education Lead for Unistellar, which provides community outreach support for the NASA Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) mission. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets in front of it. Text: Additionally, Ian helps support the NASA Community College Network (NCCN), which provides online resources and connections to subject matter experts for community college instructors. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets. SETI Institute logo. Graphics: (top) Black hole. (bottom) radio telescope dishes at the Allen Telescope Array. Background: Starry night sky.
November 6, 2025 at 12:00 AM
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#PPOD: Dust devils are whirlwinds of dust that are blown across Mars’s surface. They are one way that dust gets lifted into the Red Planet’s thin atmosphere and transported from one place to another. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin 🧪 🔭
November 5, 2025 at 4:02 PM
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Thursday night plans? We’re going to Europa. 🚀

Join us for a free screening of Europa Report and a conversation with SETI Institute astronomer James De Buizer!

🗓 Nov 6 | 6:30PM PT
📍 SETI Institute (Mountain View, CA) & Zoom
🎟️ Sign up: tinyurl.com/europa-report 🧪 🎥
Text: This Thursday! Movie Night. Europa Report with special guest James de Buizer. Thursday, November 6, 2025, 6:30 pm PT. Join us in person or virtually. SETI Institute logo. Movie camera line graphic with SETI question mark, projecting from on top of an icy world and showing a still image of tall ice cliffs in the movie.
November 5, 2025 at 12:01 AM
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#PPOD: This unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Crater features a bright central core, where a supermassive black hole lies, surrounded by a disk of hot, young stars and spiral arms laced with streams of dust and more young stars. 🧪 🔭
An unbarred spiral galaxy seen almost edge-on, the sweeping arms closest to the foreground appear to be reaching down to the bottom of the image. Several bright foreground stars can be seen. The background is full of stars and distant galaxies.
November 4, 2025 at 4:02 PM
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The future of the Big Easy depends on controlling a river that wants to be wild. Can engineering keep pace with climate change? The last in the @bipisci.bsky.social series tied to the storm’s 20th anniversary: “Katrina and the River,” looks at the mighty Mississippi. 🧪

Listen: bit.ly/4lzfJmh
The image is an aerial view of a portion of the Mississippi River, taken at twilight.
November 4, 2025 at 12:00 AM
setiinstitute.bsky.social
Next #SETILive: Welcome, Moiya!
TODAY, 3 November, 2:30 pm PST

@goastromo.bsky.social is an astrophysicist, folklorist, and science communicator in New York City who loves planets, galaxy evolution, her cat named Cosmo, and old stories about space. She is also the latest addition... 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬
SETI Live record button logo. Text: Welcome Moiya! with Beth Johnson and Moiya McTier. Background: Graphic of a blue curtain covered in stars. Inset: Photos of Beth Johnson and Moiya McTier.
November 3, 2025 at 8:00 PM
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#PPOD: This global view of Jupiter's moon, Io, was obtained during the tenth orbit of Jupiter by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. Io, which is slightly larger than Earth's moon, is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. 🧪 🔭

Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
View of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io as seen by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. The moon is 3/4 lit from the left-hand side. The surface is mottled in yellow, green, gray, and orange due to the constantly erupting volcanoes.
November 3, 2025 at 4:01 PM
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#ICYMI: Environmental historian Dagomar Degroot explains that we can solve a climate issue if we work together... we have done it before! Watch the full #SETILive interview: youtube.com/live/iw7Irsc... 🧪 #podcast #climatechange
November 1, 2025 at 9:01 PM
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Dr. Matija Ćuk specializes in the orbital and rotational dynamics of the Solar System bodies and has worked on the origin and dynamics of binary asteroids, the Earth-Moon system, and Saturn's moons and rings. 🧪 🔭

#PlanetaryScience #SpaceScience #SETI #NotJustAliens
Text: #notjustaliens. Matija Ćuk, Solar System Dynamics. Background: Starry night sky. Inset: Photo of Matija Ćuk. Text: Dr. Matija Ćuk specializes in the orbital and rotational dynamics of the Solar System bodies and has worked on the origin and dynamics of binary asteroids, the Earth-Moon system, and Saturn's moons and rings. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets in front of it. Text: Dr. Ćuk’s current research involves determining where and when the moons of Mars - Phobos and Deimos - formed and whether Saturn's large moon Titan formed in a merger of two smaller moons. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets. SETI Institute logo. Graphics: (top) Black hole. (bottom) radio telescope dishes at the Allen Telescope Array. Background: Starry night sky.
November 1, 2025 at 3:00 PM