Bruce Macintosh
@bmacastro.bsky.social
Astronomer working on imaging extrasolar planets, instrumentation, and science policy. Spare time involves hiking with a golden retriever, and not playing enough boardgames.
Director, University of California Observatories, but opinions are my own. He/him
Director, University of California Observatories, but opinions are my own. He/him
Pinned
Prompted by this and a need for distraction I Did Some Math. Turns out most extrasolar planets are quite cauliflower-compatible. A thread, with citations. And laboratory astrophysics. And footnotes.
Reposted by Bruce Macintosh
Hey @nature.com, have you got an explanation for how the hell THIS happened? & especially why you accepted a paper with such a bizarre piece of genAI slop in it?!
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 27, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Hey @nature.com, have you got an explanation for how the hell THIS happened? & especially why you accepted a paper with such a bizarre piece of genAI slop in it?!
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Bruce Macintosh
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That yours truly played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The pontifex composing Hallelujah
That yours truly played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The pontifex composing Hallelujah
November 22, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That yours truly played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The pontifex composing Hallelujah
That yours truly played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The pontifex composing Hallelujah
We should never, ever be assuming that just because our friends and colleagues are strong that they should have to take crap like is described in this thread, and it's our job to try and build a world where they don't have to.
I know a lot of astronomers and physicists tell themselves that I seem like a strong person/ality who can handle anything and I just need everyone to know how fucking sexist and racist it is to simply put it down to “well she can take it”
I’m a person and even if I can why should I have to
I’m a person and even if I can why should I have to
November 16, 2025 at 8:32 PM
We should never, ever be assuming that just because our friends and colleagues are strong that they should have to take crap like is described in this thread, and it's our job to try and build a world where they don't have to.
Reposted by Bruce Macintosh
Larry Summers needs to resign or be pushed out of Harvard. This is absolutely unacceptable.
The emails have Summers reporting to Epstein about his attempts to date a Harvard economics student & to hit on her during a seminar she was giving.
November 16, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Larry Summers needs to resign or be pushed out of Harvard. This is absolutely unacceptable.
Reposted by Bruce Macintosh
I’m an economics professor and I approve this message.
We have a deep bench of economists that are better qualified for this role.
We have a deep bench of economists that are better qualified for this role.
I refuse to believe that Larry Summers' expertise and skills are indispensable in any way. Please find another economist and policy expert, @americanprogress.bsky.social. There are loads out there.
November 16, 2025 at 4:01 PM
I’m an economics professor and I approve this message.
We have a deep bench of economists that are better qualified for this role.
We have a deep bench of economists that are better qualified for this role.
Reposted by Bruce Macintosh
Those were beautiful #aurorae in the past days. A solar storm brought a lot of protons to Earth. Not only to Earth but also to #ESAEuclid – but does #Euclid notice? Oh yes.
www.euclid-ec.org/here-comes-t...
#ESA #Sun #SpaceWeather #space
www.euclid-ec.org/here-comes-t...
#ESA #Sun #SpaceWeather #space
November 15, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Those were beautiful #aurorae in the past days. A solar storm brought a lot of protons to Earth. Not only to Earth but also to #ESAEuclid – but does #Euclid notice? Oh yes.
www.euclid-ec.org/here-comes-t...
#ESA #Sun #SpaceWeather #space
www.euclid-ec.org/here-comes-t...
#ESA #Sun #SpaceWeather #space
Reposted by Bruce Macintosh
Astro PhD applications for Edinburgh are open! Deadlines are:
* 24 Nov: Career Development Scholarship (for students of Black heritage)
* 5 Dec: Bell Burnell Scholarship (for all URM students)
* 5 Jan: all applications
Come to beautiful Scotland! 🏴
Applying is free! 🔭🧪
ifa.roe.ac.uk/phds-jobs-fe...
* 24 Nov: Career Development Scholarship (for students of Black heritage)
* 5 Dec: Bell Burnell Scholarship (for all URM students)
* 5 Jan: all applications
Come to beautiful Scotland! 🏴
Applying is free! 🔭🧪
ifa.roe.ac.uk/phds-jobs-fe...
November 13, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Astro PhD applications for Edinburgh are open! Deadlines are:
* 24 Nov: Career Development Scholarship (for students of Black heritage)
* 5 Dec: Bell Burnell Scholarship (for all URM students)
* 5 Jan: all applications
Come to beautiful Scotland! 🏴
Applying is free! 🔭🧪
ifa.roe.ac.uk/phds-jobs-fe...
* 24 Nov: Career Development Scholarship (for students of Black heritage)
* 5 Dec: Bell Burnell Scholarship (for all URM students)
* 5 Jan: all applications
Come to beautiful Scotland! 🏴
Applying is free! 🔭🧪
ifa.roe.ac.uk/phds-jobs-fe...
This is a pretty darn important election here in California for an odd-numbered year. Get out there!
November 4, 2025 at 3:08 AM
This is a pretty darn important election here in California for an odd-numbered year. Get out there!
Reposted by Bruce Macintosh
My #AO4ELT talk summarised the results from the new DM at @keckobservatory.bsky.social , and one of my favorite results is a video of applying a waffle on the DM. So here's my latest fun activities with the HAKA DM!
HAKA: High Order Keck Adaptive Optics
#astronomy #adaptiveoptics
HAKA: High Order Keck Adaptive Optics
#astronomy #adaptiveoptics
October 30, 2025 at 1:52 PM
My #AO4ELT talk summarised the results from the new DM at @keckobservatory.bsky.social , and one of my favorite results is a video of applying a waffle on the DM. So here's my latest fun activities with the HAKA DM!
HAKA: High Order Keck Adaptive Optics
#astronomy #adaptiveoptics
HAKA: High Order Keck Adaptive Optics
#astronomy #adaptiveoptics
Or in other units, this "donation" is $3 per service member per day. In addition to the illegality, presenting it as if it makes any difference whatsoever is nonsense.
For context, annual military compensation is about $600 billion. So $130 million is about $100 per service member or 0.02% of total annual costs. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/u...
Once the precedent of not paying the troops according to the rules is created, bad things follow. $130 million is not a large portion of military salary, but sends the message to troops that Trump and his buddies are personally paying them.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-risks-...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-risks-...
October 25, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Or in other units, this "donation" is $3 per service member per day. In addition to the illegality, presenting it as if it makes any difference whatsoever is nonsense.
Reposted by Bruce Macintosh
For context, annual military compensation is about $600 billion. So $130 million is about $100 per service member or 0.02% of total annual costs. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/u...
Once the precedent of not paying the troops according to the rules is created, bad things follow. $130 million is not a large portion of military salary, but sends the message to troops that Trump and his buddies are personally paying them.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-risks-...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-risks-...
October 25, 2025 at 3:02 PM
For context, annual military compensation is about $600 billion. So $130 million is about $100 per service member or 0.02% of total annual costs. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/u...
I had my first real visit to @ucmerced.bsky.social to meet students and leaders and give a public talk, and had a wonderful time - hoping to come back some time soon.
The public is invited to an evening of cosmic discovery on Thurs., Oct. 23, featuring a lecture by Bruce Macintosh, director of the University of California Observatories followed by telescope viewing with the campus Astronomy Club. 🔗 ucm.edu/e49fvk
October 24, 2025 at 7:50 PM
I had my first real visit to @ucmerced.bsky.social to meet students and leaders and give a public talk, and had a wonderful time - hoping to come back some time soon.
Now with proper link! Inspiring people with science is a major part of UC Observatories' mission. We have an opening for a support astronomer at Lick Observatory to both support science and also to lead our amazing mountain-top public programming.
aas.org/jobregister/...
aas.org/jobregister/...
Support Astronomer for Lick Observatory | American Astronomical Society
The University of California Observatories (UCO) at UC Santa Cruz seeks a Support Astronomer for Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton. UCO operates Lick and partners with Keck and TMT; this role ensures w...
aas.org
October 20, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Now with proper link! Inspiring people with science is a major part of UC Observatories' mission. We have an opening for a support astronomer at Lick Observatory to both support science and also to lead our amazing mountain-top public programming.
aas.org/jobregister/...
aas.org/jobregister/...
Who robbed the Louvre? Right answers only.
October 20, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Who robbed the Louvre? Right answers only.
Reposted by Bruce Macintosh
SCIENCE POLICY NEWS:
During Yom Kippur, all the members of the High Energy Physics Advisory Committee (HEPAP), myself included, received a letter thanking us for our service and telling us essentially that the almost 40 yo standing federal advisory committee was no more. ⚛️🧪🔭
Why that matters 🧵
During Yom Kippur, all the members of the High Energy Physics Advisory Committee (HEPAP), myself included, received a letter thanking us for our service and telling us essentially that the almost 40 yo standing federal advisory committee was no more. ⚛️🧪🔭
Why that matters 🧵
DOE Consolidates Office of Science Advisory Committees
Six long-standing committees advising the Department of Energy’s Office of Science have been rolled into one.
www.aip.org
October 15, 2025 at 4:56 PM
SCIENCE POLICY NEWS:
During Yom Kippur, all the members of the High Energy Physics Advisory Committee (HEPAP), myself included, received a letter thanking us for our service and telling us essentially that the almost 40 yo standing federal advisory committee was no more. ⚛️🧪🔭
Why that matters 🧵
During Yom Kippur, all the members of the High Energy Physics Advisory Committee (HEPAP), myself included, received a letter thanking us for our service and telling us essentially that the almost 40 yo standing federal advisory committee was no more. ⚛️🧪🔭
Why that matters 🧵
Loeb says: “Not aliens.”
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand
I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.
I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.
October 12, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Loeb says: “Not aliens.”
Reposted by Bruce Macintosh
My hotel room in Brussels is quite something.
October 12, 2025 at 3:59 PM
My hotel room in Brussels is quite something.
I'm running a Blades In the Dark RPG session tomorrow for @debbieohi.com @wjrucklidge.bsky.social @aiabx.bsky.social @drbrake.bsky.social and after a long week with limited brain space for creativity I'm just going to set the damn thing at an American Astronomical Society meeting.
September 26, 2025 at 11:54 PM
I'm running a Blades In the Dark RPG session tomorrow for @debbieohi.com @wjrucklidge.bsky.social @aiabx.bsky.social @drbrake.bsky.social and after a long week with limited brain space for creativity I'm just going to set the damn thing at an American Astronomical Society meeting.
Reposted by Bruce Macintosh
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin ✨ figured out what stars are made of ✨ when she was just 25. 🔭🧪
Her PhD thesis basically established the Harvard astro department — at a time when Harvard didn't officially allow woman students.
I wrote this little profile to mark the 100th anniversary of her thesis:
Her PhD thesis basically established the Harvard astro department — at a time when Harvard didn't officially allow woman students.
I wrote this little profile to mark the 100th anniversary of her thesis:
September 24, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin ✨ figured out what stars are made of ✨ when she was just 25. 🔭🧪
Her PhD thesis basically established the Harvard astro department — at a time when Harvard didn't officially allow woman students.
I wrote this little profile to mark the 100th anniversary of her thesis:
Her PhD thesis basically established the Harvard astro department — at a time when Harvard didn't officially allow woman students.
I wrote this little profile to mark the 100th anniversary of her thesis:
"Many of the LG employees arrested were on business trips with various visas or under a visa waiver programme"
This seems worrying for scientific collaboration. Will ICE decide that people coming to give colloquia, or use a telescope, on visa-waiver are "working"?
www.bbc.com/news/article...
This seems worrying for scientific collaboration. Will ICE decide that people coming to give colloquia, or use a telescope, on visa-waiver are "working"?
www.bbc.com/news/article...
US Hyundai raid: South Korea vows support for citizens detained by ICE
US immigration officials detained 475 workers on Thursday - most of them South Korean nationals - saying they were working illegally.
www.bbc.com
September 6, 2025 at 9:32 PM
"Many of the LG employees arrested were on business trips with various visas or under a visa waiver programme"
This seems worrying for scientific collaboration. Will ICE decide that people coming to give colloquia, or use a telescope, on visa-waiver are "working"?
www.bbc.com/news/article...
This seems worrying for scientific collaboration. Will ICE decide that people coming to give colloquia, or use a telescope, on visa-waiver are "working"?
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Today I did Actual Math and solved a problem with nonlinear least-squares.
To be fair, it was an accounting problem and the optimization was in Excel but I'm still going to call this a win.
To be fair, it was an accounting problem and the optimization was in Excel but I'm still going to call this a win.
September 6, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Today I did Actual Math and solved a problem with nonlinear least-squares.
To be fair, it was an accounting problem and the optimization was in Excel but I'm still going to call this a win.
To be fair, it was an accounting problem and the optimization was in Excel but I'm still going to call this a win.
"Like Monarez, O’Neill is not a physician" is a fascinating sentence. It seems like it might be relevant that Susan Monarez has a PhD (dissertation: "Macrophage regulation by trypanosome GIP-SVSG during trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense infection ") while Jim O'Neill is a venture capitalist with an MA.
Breaking news: The White House selected Jim O’Neill, a top deputy to RFK Jr., to serve as acting head of the CDC after a clash over vaccine policy ended in the departure of several agency leaders.
White House taps top RFK Jr. deputy as acting CDC director
The decision comes a day after Trump fired Susan Monarez, the Senate-confirmed CDC director, prompting a series of resignations of other top officials there.
wapo.st
August 28, 2025 at 10:29 PM
"Like Monarez, O’Neill is not a physician" is a fascinating sentence. It seems like it might be relevant that Susan Monarez has a PhD (dissertation: "Macrophage regulation by trypanosome GIP-SVSG during trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense infection ") while Jim O'Neill is a venture capitalist with an MA.
Reposted by Bruce Macintosh
Full resignation letter from Demetre C. Daskalakis, a CDC leader, does not hold back.
"The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud."
"The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud."
August 28, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Full resignation letter from Demetre C. Daskalakis, a CDC leader, does not hold back.
"The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud."
"The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud."
Very nice result, and I'd also like to highlight Ryan Foley's excellent quote at the end - "Foley said the funding situation and outlook for continued support is very uncertain, forcing the collaboration to take fewer risks, resulting in decreased science output overall. "
The explosion of a massive star locked in a deadly orbit with a black hole has been discovered with the help of AI used by an astronomy collaboration led by UC Santa Cruz. https://bit.ly/4oRHqtx
UC Santa Cruz-based survey uses AI to spot explosive stellar death by black hole
Machine learning enables real-time detection of fleeting anomalies before they fade away.
www.universityofcalifornia.edu
August 27, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Very nice result, and I'd also like to highlight Ryan Foley's excellent quote at the end - "Foley said the funding situation and outlook for continued support is very uncertain, forcing the collaboration to take fewer risks, resulting in decreased science output overall. "
Reposted by Bruce Macintosh
Today our team released findings on the nature of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, based on our first round of JWST observations. The data are incredible: Not only did we detect and map gas and dust in the coma, but we found that 3I is one of the most CO2 rich comets ever seen! Check it out:
JWST detection of a carbon dioxide dominated gas coma surrounding interstellar object 3I/ATLAS
3I/ATLAS is the third confirmed interstellar object to visit our Solar System, and only the second to display a clear coma. Infrared spectroscopy with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) provides th...
arxiv.org
August 26, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Today our team released findings on the nature of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, based on our first round of JWST observations. The data are incredible: Not only did we detect and map gas and dust in the coma, but we found that 3I is one of the most CO2 rich comets ever seen! Check it out: