Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Caleb Scharf

@calebscharf.bsky.social

200 followers 43 following 73 posts

Thinker, writer, sometimes both at the same time. Senior Scientist for Astrobiology at NASA Ames. Personal account, anything expressed here is my fault alone.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 27d

New book! New book! My space exploration extravaganza The Giant Leap hits shelves Oct 21st but you can get 20% off with a pre-order direct from the publisher (use code LEAP25) 🙂 www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/caleb...

The Giant Leap

A leading astrobiologist argues that space travel is an evolutionary event at least as important as life’s first journey from sea to land The story of...

www.hachettebookgroup.com

2 4

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 1d

Excited to share our new paper on Foundation Models for Astrobiology - this was the result of an extraordinary team and workshop laying the groundwork for the future of the search for life #Astrobiology #AI arxiv.org/abs/2510.08636

Foundation Models for Astrobiology: Paper I -- Workshop and Overview

Advances in machine learning over the past decade have resulted in a proliferation of algorithmic applications for encoding, characterizing, and acting on complex data that may contain many high dimen...

arxiv.org

2 3

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 7d

Solar storms in 1972 triggered the explosion of US magnetic naval mines near North Vietnam. In The Giant Leap I examine the greater implications of the Sun's outbursts for space exploration amazon.com/Giant-Leap-S...

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 7d

What if there's a different way to handle Mars exploration than all the options usually discussed? I dig deep into this in The Giant Leap, available Oct 21st amazon.com/Giant-Leap-S...

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 9d

Countdown to launch...

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 13d

Among many tales in The Giant Leap is the often forgotten story of the Apollo 15 and 16 subsatellites left in orbit when the astronauts departed lunar space - and what these revealed about the Moon (Apollo 15 crew poses with subsat here) amazon.com/Giant-Leap-S...

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 21d

Here we go! It’s hatching time!

Reposted by Caleb Scharf

Tim Lichtenberg @timlichtenberg.bsky.social · 22d

Very exciting paper on arXiv today: arxiv.org/abs/2509.17231. The best evidence yet for a secondary atmosphere on an ultra-hot super-Earth. 🔭🌋 Very surprising given the theoretical predictions of rapid atmospheric escape ("cosmic shoreline") on these planets; [...]

A Thick Volatile Atmosphere on the Ultra-Hot Super-Earth TOI-561 b

Ultra-short period (USP) exoplanets -- with $R_p \leq 2~$R$_{\oplus}$ and periods $\leq$1 day -- are expected to be stripped of volatile atmospheres by intense host star irradiation, which is corrobor...

arxiv.org

2 3 20

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 27d

The Giant Leap

A leading astrobiologist argues that space travel is an evolutionary event at least as important as life’s first journey from sea to land The story of...

www.hachettebookgroup.com

2 4

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Sep 3

This is great! Thanks for sharing 👍👍

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · Sep 3

As a coding dinosaur (mother tongue fortran) my "suck-it-and-see" approach to python isn't as strong as it should be. @joezuntz.bsky.social spat his tea out when reviewing a recent commit, kindly pointing me to PEP8 & "black". It's pure magic! Now my code is so pretty 💃
ℹ️: pypi.org/project/black/

A screenshot of a command line response that reads
All done! (star emoji, cake emoji, star emoji)
1 file reformatted.

Reposted by Caleb Scharf

Michael Wong @miquai.bsky.social · Aug 26

A new 5-year mission begins!

I'm so grateful to everyone at NASA Astrobiology for this opportunity to advance our search for life in the universe with @calebscharf.bsky.social and our team of amazing colleagues at @carnegiescience.bsky.social, NASA Ames, and beyond!

Carnegie Science @carnegiescience.bsky.social · Aug 26

"We're at the edge of a new era in astrobiology. We've never had more data or more computing power. Now is the moment to bring it all together and finally ask—and maybe answer—the biggest question of all: Are we alone?"
-Michael Wong (@miquai.bsky.social)

More👇
carnegiescience.edu/news/can-we-...

Can We Teach A.I. to Detect Life? Carnegie Scientist Co-Leads NASA-Funded Effort

Are we alone in the universe? A new $5 million NASA-funded project co-led by Carnegie’s Michael Wong and NASA’s Caleb Scharf will train A.I. on a vast planetary dataset to recognize signs of life and…

carnegiescience.edu

5 3 15

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Aug 11

My new paper on lightweight deep learning for planetary imaging data is now available in its final published form at the journal Icarus as a freebie for the next 50 days! authors.elsevier.com/a/1lahj_Rp9u...

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Aug 9

Seldom has a takedown sparkled so gloriously

Steve Desch @deschscoveries.bsky.social · Aug 8

I have a complaint about Avi Loeb's latest work and I want to speak to management.

medium.com/@steve.desch...

This is not the quality of pseudoscience infotainment to which I have grown accustomed

Teasing the public with fraudulent or self-deluded promises of aliens used to mean something. It took work. It meant slapping together…

medium.com

Reposted by Caleb Scharf

Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social · Jul 19

The largest volcano in the Solar System, Olympus Mons.

And crossing in front of it, one of the smallest moons, Phobos.

Photographed from Mars orbit.

Credit: Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/Andrea Luck (@andrealuck.bsky.social) CC BY

31 190 1.3K

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Jul 16

I've been exploring 'lightweight' deep learning for image reconstruction in planetary science and astrobiology: "The model is the message" arxiv.org/abs/2507.11400

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Jul 16

New paper dropped on some of my work on deep learning and planetary science (and astrobiology): excited that this will be published in Icarus. www.arxiv.org/abs/2507.11400

The model is the message: Lightweight convolutional autoencoders applied to noisy imaging data for planetary science and astrobiology

The application of convolutional autoencoder deep learning to imaging data for planetary science and astrobiological use is briefly reviewed and explored with a focus on the need to understand algorit...

www.arxiv.org

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Jul 15

In 1971 Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet when it arrived at Mars. But a global duststorm meant the mission had to wait until early 1972 before it could properly examine the martian surface #TheGiantLeap tinyurl.com/29j6bktf

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Jul 15

In 1918 Emmy Noether published what would come to be known as Noether's Theorem, cementing the universal basis of conservation laws of momentum and energy that are also key for determining how rockets and orbits behave #TheGiantLeap tinyurl.com/29j6bktf

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Jul 15

In 1985 Japan became the 3rd nation to launch a deep space probe. The Sakigake probe (and its near-twin Suisei launched months later) were part of the Halley Comet Armada in 1986 #TheGiantLeap tinyurl.com/29j6bktf

2 6

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Jul 9

In 1962 the Ranger 3 spacecraft missed the Moon and instead placed a half-meter diameter wooden sphere into orbit around the Sun, where it likely is to this day. #TheGiantLeap tinyurl.com/29j6bktf

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Jul 8

Definitely reading this!

Michael Wong @miquai.bsky.social · Jul 8

For the past two years, I've been working with a truly fantastic group of philosophers and scientists on pondering ethical issues in astrobiology and space exploration.

Our first publication is now out in @nature.com! I'd be so honored if you gave it a read!

How to chart a moral future for space exploration

Expanding human influence in outer space will require an ethical compass that is more expansive than the one conventionally used.

www.nature.com

1 3

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Jul 8

Today in shameless self-promotion: if you're interested in #TheGiantLeap you can pre-order now and get 25% off—July 8–11 only. Use the code PREORDER25 at checkout (print, ebook, or audiobook). Must be a B&N Rewards Member—FREE to join. #BNPreorder @BNBuzz @basicbooks

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Jul 7

Really excited to have this wonderful early review of The Giant Leap! Countdown to launch is kicking into the fueling stage! www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

THE GIANT LEAP | Kirkus Reviews

Life launches into the unknown.

www.kirkusreviews.com

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Jun 29

Sagan would have been incredibly excited that someone with your creativity and talent held one of these fellowships! Keep on innovating Mike!

Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · Jun 27

Updated my banner, because....

1 1

Reposted by Caleb Scharf

Marcus Chown @marcuschown.bsky.social · Jun 12

“When I consider the small span of my life absorbed in the eternity of all time, or the small part of space which I can touch or see engulfed by the infinite immensity of spaces that I know not, I am frightened and astonished to see myself here instead of there … now instead of then”
- Blaise Pascal

1 4 13