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Markus Pössel

@mpoessel.de

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Markus Pössel @mpoessel.de · Oct 17

Welcome new followers! I’m interested in astronomy education and outreach, and count myself lucky to have a job managing @hausderastronomie.bsky.social and @astro4edu.bsky.social that allows me to follow that passion! I also post about politics, mostly related to climate change. 1/

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Yan Matusevich @ymatusik.bsky.social · 6h

A Tajik citizen married to a German gets denied asylum in Germany and is forced by immigration authorities to return to Tajikistan to apply for a family reunification visa. A few months after his return, he was abducted, tortured and killed by Tajik security services

freedomforeurasia.org/2729-2/

Return from Germany Ends in Tajik Man's Torture and Death - Freedom For Eurasia

Freedom For Eurasia condemns the decision of German authorities to force the 29-year-old Tajik citizen Rahmonov Saidazam to return to Tajikistan whiсh resulted in his violent death at the hands of the...

freedomforeurasia.org

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Florian Aigner @florianaigner.at · 6h

Dass gerade jetzt, in einer Zeit, in der überall die Moral flöten geht, in der Tabubrüche begangen wären, in der die Grenzen des Sagbaren täglich überschritten werden, tatsächlich Leute eine "Übermoralisierung", eine moralische "Überempfindlichkeit" diagnostizieren, ist erschreckend und gefährlich.

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Bijan Moini @bijanmoini.de · 7h

Wie BMI und @diplo.de mit diesen Menschen umgehen, die sich auf uns verlassen haben, der Aufwand, den sie dafür betreiben, 2.000 Menschen von unseren Grenzen fernzuhalten, die unwürdigen rechtlichen „Tricks“, die sie sich dafür ausdenken — ekelhaft.

Ich schäme mich wahnsinnig für mein Land.

Afghanische Gefährdete: Dobrindt in der Kritik – Berliner Anwältin zeigt Innenminister an

Afghanische Gefährdete warten trotz Aufnahmezusage auf eine Ausreise nach Deutschland. Grund ist die Verzögerung des Innenministeriums um Dobrindt.

www.fr.de

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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 17h

Y’all think romance scams are scary now? Just wait until your AI “girlfriend” starts blackmailing you…

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Norman Aselmeyer @aselmeyer.bsky.social · 17h

Die Rückgabe nach Namibia war "eine bequeme Möglichkeit für die Stadt und den Senat, diese Sammlung endlich loszuwerden." Zum Ende des Bremer Afrika Archivs berichtet heute der Weser-Kurier. www.weser-kurier.de/bremen/breme...

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Republik Magazin @republik.ch · 1d

Der ermordete Charlie Kirk dient US-Präsident Trump und seiner Entourage als Instrument, um Rache zu legitimieren. Eine Analyse von @ardenthistorian.bsky.social.

Charlie Kirk: Der «Märtyrer», der die Rache befeuert

In den USA wird der christliche Nationalismus zu einem Kampfmittel gegen die Opposition.

www.republik.ch

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Jay Kuo @nycjayjay.bsky.social · 21h

This is how they’re treating U.S. citizens. Imagine how they’re treating everyone else.

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Markus Pössel @mpoessel.de · 21h

I’ve heard something similar about international collaborations with NASA. By now, NASA has reputation of being somewhat unreliable, having backed out of a number of agreements in the past. Still an attractive cooperation partner of course (at least so far), but known to be a risk.

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 22h

Immigrants Make Up More Than 30 Percent of Nobel Science Winners Since 2000 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

More than 30% of this century’s science Nobel prizewinners immigrated: see their journeys

The most common destination for eventual Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and medicine since 2000 is the United States, Nature has found.

www.nature.com

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Markus Pössel @mpoessel.de · 1d

Yeah, my initial reply was not 100% clear on that. Sorry! I meant how the star distribution in the Star Wars galaxy itself would create a hazy band in the sky (and hence in many shots of star fields), analogous to our home galaxy, the Milky Way, appearing as such a band in our own night sky.

Markus Pössel @mpoessel.de · 1d

dim smudge that the Andromeda galaxy looks like from Earth). But just to make sure there is no misunderstanding: I was talking about the Star Wars galaxy itself, and how one would see *that* as a hazy structure in certain Star Wars star fields, if the modeling were realistic in that respect. 2/2

Markus Pössel @mpoessel.de · 1d

I use that particular screenshot in one of my galaxy lectures, since it can be used to understand surface brightness, and to introduce the distance-independence if surface brightness (which is the reason while even from that outside perspective, a galaxy would in reality only look like the same 1/

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

If you make "controversial statements" outside of classroom, that the President of the university dislikes, you can be summarily fired even if you are tenured.

Julie Greene @greeneland.bsky.social · 1d

I just learned, Thomas Alter, tenured professor, has been terminated effective immediately. Shame on Texas State! We mst build support for Tom. spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-tex...

Texas State upholds the firing of associate history professor Thomas Alter

Alter’s termination occurred on Sept. 10, stemming from his remarks at the Revolutionary Socialism Conference on Sept. 7.

spectrumlocalnews.com

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Celeste Labedz @celestelabedz.bsky.social · 1d

A lot of comments on Mars rovers or Moon landings, but it's important to remember that the planet NASA studies most is Earth. This is less about cutting flashy things like moonwalks and more about keeping communities in the dark on climate, weather, agriculture, pollution, natural hazards, and more.

Reuters @reuters.com · 1d

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to lay off about 550 workers reut.rs/4302N2L

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to lay off about 550 workers

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Monday it will cut nearly 550 jobs as part of a restructuring, not related to the current U.S. government shutdown.

reut.rs

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Nicole Holliday @mixedlinguist.bsky.social · 1d

One surprisingly heartbreaking thing about living in these times is seeing young people who finally made it to college/graduated/got a job/achieved the thing they’ve worked so hard for… just watch their opportunities disappear. And it’s even worse because absolutely none of this had to be happening.

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Markus Pössel @mpoessel.de · 1d

Cool! Question for @tvaziri.com - does the new star field tool model something like the Milky Way's on-sky appearance as well? May be I'm misremembering, but I don't recall that for any of the movies. Bit of a contradiction if all of that is supposed to happen "in a galaxy" (even if far, far away).

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Wolfgang Blau @wblau.bsky.social · 1d

file under: the subtle humour of a homepage editor.

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 1d

How W. E. B. Du Bois responded to government policing of "anti-American" sentiment during the 1910s:

"I took great satisfaction in being able to sit back in my chair and answer blandly, 'We are seeking to have the Constitution of the United States thoroughly and completely enforced.' ”

Federal agents invaded even the offices of The Crisis and the National Association for the advancement of colored people and asked searching questions: " just what, after all, were our objects and activities?” I took great satisfaction in being able to sit back in my chair and answer blandly, “We are seeking to have the constitution of the United states thoroughly and completely enforced.” It took some ingenuity, even for Southerners, to make treason out of that.

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Grudgie the Whale @grudgie.bsky.social · 1d

Holy shit the AG ordered an arrest of a mayor independent of his actions

emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 1d

"She wants to grab him," Ricky Patel said before he had had any exchange w/Ras Baraka. Even after Baraka left the facility, Patel said, "I’m going to place the Mayor in handcuffs. We are arresting the Mayor, per the Deputy Attorney General of the United States."

www.emptywheel.net/2025/09/29/s...

"She Wants to Grab Him:" The Premeditated Detention of Ras Baraka - emptywheel

Even before anyone had spoken with Ras Baraka on May 9 at Delaney Hall, someone had decided "she" wanted to "grab" Newark's Mayor.

www.emptywheel.net

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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: There’s a disaster unfolding in Alaska right now. And no major network is covering it.

The remnants of Typhoon Halong battered western Alaska overnight. Homes, with people in them, have literally been swept into the Bering Strait.

At least 20 are missing. No comment from any federal agency.

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Markus Pössel @mpoessel.de · 1d

Admittedly only until the 1920s or so :-)

You tell the operator the name of the exchange and the subscriber number.

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Markus Pössel @mpoessel.de · 1d

Es ist halt auch ein Signal. In Zeiten wo Klimaschutz zum Nebenthema wird, und man wenn man den Regiererenden zuhört den Eindruck gewinnt, denen ginge es vor allem ums hinauszögern.

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Alt US Coast Guard @altcoast.altgov.info · 1d

There are no press releases during the shutdown, making it difficult to find this kind of news.
But the AK Air/Army National Guards, and the USCG, are conducting SAR operations. The flooding is in remote areas, and affecting primarily small villages, it appears.

taskandpurpose.com/news/alaska-...

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

America is imperfect, but foreign leaders did not use to assume that the President's family was a key means of leveraging their shared interest in corruption.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump's conversation with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is caught on a hot mic. Hard to tell exactly what they are talking about, but Subianto asks Trump about meeting Eric Trump and Don Jr, who supposedly have nothing to do with government while they run the family business.

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Markus Pössel @mpoessel.de · 1d

Of course, phone numbers back then were like „Operator, give me Glenville 421 please“.

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