CosmoQuest
LightNews LightNews
banner
cosmoquest.org
CosmoQuest
@cosmoquest.org
450 followers 60 following 280 posts
Explore our universe. Map other worlds. Put science in your brain. Home to Escape Velocity Space News, AstronomyCast, 365 Days of Astronomy, Vision Cosmica. Support indie science journalism at patreon.com/cosmoquestx.
Posts Replies Media Videos
cosmoquest.org
We're grateful #GivingTuesday draws attention to how much content & how many services rely on donations to exist.

But our needs don't end at midnight.

Join us this weekend for our Hangout-a-thon & learn about our programs & cheer on our fundraising.

CosmoQuest.org/Donate
December 2, 2025 at 9:59 PM
cosmoquest.org
This time next week, we'll be about halfway through our Hangout-a-thon. Our main goal is to get our Patreon up to $2000/month. Join before Dec 1 to see/hear your name as a donor during the month of December!

Join: Patreon.com/CosmoQuestX
Learn More: cosmoquest.org/donate
November 30, 2025 at 3:45 AM
cosmoquest.org
The Memory of Water is both the spectacular name of a play by Shelagh Stephenson and a real thing chased after by Earth scientists who pry out ancient ice cores, including a 6 million yo sample from Alan Hills Antarctica. https://cosmoquest.org/x/evsn/2025/11/26/water-holds-six-million-year-history/
November 30, 2025 at 3:10 AM
cosmoquest.org
We're live and mapping lunar melt. Come check our sister citizen science projects (all programmed by our own @starstryder.space )

Map: mappers.psi.edu
Watch: twitch.tv/CosmoQuestX
November 19, 2025 at 9:49 PM
cosmoquest.org
We are still live, but now we're looking for scientifically interesting places to go explore.
Map: Mappers.psi.edu
Watch: Twitch.tv/CosmoQuestX
November 19, 2025 at 9:30 PM
cosmoquest.org
NEW IMAGES ALERT!

With the gov't reopened, NASA can release their images they've captured of intersteller comet 3I/ATLAS (it's not aliens). Come watch with us!

The stream is live and counting down.

Twitch.tv/CosmoQuestX
November 19, 2025 at 7:50 PM
cosmoquest.org
Climate change has entered the chat! This week, we follow the water to see how warming temperatures can change our planet.

This new EVSN is live & ad free for $1/month & up Patrons on Patreon.com/CosmoQuestX Join us Wed at 9pm for our YouTube Premier.

#ClimateChange 🧪🔭
November 18, 2025 at 8:20 PM
cosmoquest.org
We're super excited about today's After Hours (UTC+0 edition). We're going to be joined by Alex White to talk about leaning on science facts to build better fictions. Starts 2pm Eastern!
https://youtube.com/live/Z427Ly_fOow?feature=share
November 14, 2025 at 6:24 PM
cosmoquest.org
Got Rocket? New Glenn is take flight for only the 2nd time after every possible abort / hold reason over the past couple days.
Boat? ✅
Solar Storm? ✅
Weather? ✅✅✅

Come watch on Twitch.tv/CosmoQuestX
November 13, 2025 at 8:23 PM
cosmoquest.org
This is a script writing/recording week for Escape Velocity Space News, & the pile of news waiting to be written had one hell of a moisture problem. Our world is a planet, planets are space science, and this makes Climate Change our beat.

Are you ready to watch the world melt?
November 11, 2025 at 9:27 PM
cosmoquest.org
We're super pleased to share that we are now orbiting among the amazing creatives in the Patreon Creator Ambassadors program! If you haven't checked out our page lately, you're missing out on a ton of free content. Visit patreon.com/CosmoQuestX. Like what you see? Join as a patron as you are able.
In the lower left of a black square there is a large yellow disk with the words "Patreon Creator Ambassador" circling Patreon's logo P. Above and to the right is CosmoQuest's logo, which is a white moon with grey craters and a bright yellow X in the style of the X on a pirate map. It's meant to look like a world orbiting a star.
November 5, 2025 at 1:28 AM
cosmoquest.org
We're getting ready to go live mapping the Moon (as one does). Watch Pamela and team scientist Kirby Runyon map Lunar Melt on twtich.tv/CosmoQuestX and then do your own mapping at mappers.psi.edu
November 4, 2025 at 8:03 PM
cosmoquest.org
Tomorrow is a double feature! First up, Dr Jenny Larson to talk joins us to talk about using science fiction to teach science fact, then @starstryder.space & @inaneenglish.bsky.social are calling out 9-1-1 for its science that looks so bad it's not even wrong (because it's not even science).
October 9, 2025 at 9:25 PM
cosmoquest.org
It's stream time! Join Pamela for the Daily Grind: Twitch.tv/CosmoQuestX
October 7, 2025 at 7:22 PM
cosmoquest.org
All our planes to celebrate 100 Hours of Astronomy and International Observe the Moon night got delayed along with Pamela's Saturday afternoon plane.

But the science must go on! Join us for this belated stream, and learn about our new Lunar Melt project.
October 6, 2025 at 7:44 PM
cosmoquest.org
Swinging over to competitor number 2, #Thortveitite, we find a mouthful of letters & a story that made us smile.

Per mindat.org, Thortveitite was "Named in 1911 by Jakob Grubbe Cock Schetelig in honour of Gunder Olaus Olsen Thortveit, a feldspar and mineral exporter from Iveland, Norway.
A scan of an old amber and white photo of Thortveit. He is in a suit and tie with a vest. A balding man, he has a magnificent mustache that tries to hide an unsmiling mouth.
September 11, 2025 at 9:32 PM
cosmoquest.org
BTW @starstryder.space would like you to know that geologists use way more unique words than astronomers. The paragraph in this screen capture from the USGS page on Thortveitite had us googling all the terms. All. The. Terms.

How is melagabbro a real word?

www.usgs.gov/publications...
Quoter from USGS page: The rare Sc mineral thortveitite, (Sc,Y)2Si2O7, occurs as ??m- to mm-sized crystals in fluorite-bearing granitic pegmatites and the host melagabbro within the Crystal Mountain fluorite deposit, Ravalli County, Montana. Thortveitite is found as colorless and clear to smoky and translucent, subhedral to euhedral prisms up to 3 mm in length in the massive fluroite, as mm-sized anhedra to subhedra in diopside and edenite, and as ??m-sized droplet-like crystals in actinolite. Micrometric textures suggest that some thortveitite exsolved from actinolite, which contains between 1.2 and 2.9 wt.% Sc2O3. The source of the Sc is believed to be magmatic. The physical, optical and crystallographic properties of thortveitite are described. -from Authors
September 11, 2025 at 9:32 PM
cosmoquest.org
#Tugtupite is another messy molecule: Na4AlBeSi4O12Cl. While it is a crystal, it is also not one to grow into gemstones on a regular basis. Instead, it forms amazing pink mottled minerals that are hard enough to be cut and used in jewelry. This mineral isn't just a pretty face. It's also a show off.
Image credit: Jessa and Mark Anderson, Flickr, CC-BY-SA-2.0. Atop a black background sit a stunning gold and Tugtupite necklace. The Tugtupire appears as a large mottled pink rectangle with gold seen at the top and bottom. To the right is a slice of a Tugtupite rock with a white vein and brownish outer layer.
September 8, 2025 at 4:50 PM
cosmoquest.org
(In all fairness, Pollucite can _rarely_ form perfect crystals)

Image from gemrockauctions.com
A round cut Pollucite crystal. This is a multi-faceted 8.4 Carat gem. Credit gemrockauctions.com/learn/a-z-of-gemstones/pollucite
September 8, 2025 at 4:50 PM
cosmoquest.org
Pollucite is named after Pollux (from myth not astro) due to its habit of forming near petalite, which is deadnamed Castorite. While its name no longer makes as much sense, we appreciate its origin story. This is a really complex mineral, (Cs,Na)2Al2Si4O12·2H2O, that can crystallize (badly).
Image credit Rob Lavinsky. This is a whiteish, lumpy, imperfect, crystal that looks a lot like a badly cast rocket capsule. It has a weird orange inclusion along a facet that runs up the middle of the front. Honestly, this looks like someone tried to cast Orion in resin and had a bad day.
September 8, 2025 at 4:50 PM
cosmoquest.org
In about 10 minutes, @starstryder.space is going live with the first Full Moon Science Discord, hosted on the Starfront Observatory Discord. Catch it all in 10...9...8...

discord.gg/3ut6a7pfsY
A blue background with a black box on top. Over the top left corner is a water color moon. Inside is text that reads "Full Moon Science Discord. Hosted by Dr Pamela L Gay. Presented by Starfront Observatories. September. Let's Meet After the Blood Red Moon"
September 7, 2025 at 11:53 PM
cosmoquest.org
Let's dig in on #Carpathite. With it's planer structure, it looks like the frosting in a poorly constructed layer cake when viewed in sliced rocks. Hit it with UV light, & it will fluoresce back with blue light. Made of C24H12, Carpathite is pure coronene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH).
Image by Rob Lavinsky shows yellow planes of Carpathite radiating out from the bottom center of a cut rock. The background rock is white with a brownish shell, and the carpathite radiates our like sun beams drawn by a child.
September 7, 2025 at 5:45 PM
cosmoquest.org
There are office hours today with @starstryder.space . Link is at Patreon.com/CosmoQuestX and in the Discord. Starts in about 50min.
Text on an image of a bunch of science stuff written on a chalk board. The text reads: "Any Questions? $5 and up Patreons: Join us for office hours first Sundays. Details at patreon.com/CosmoQuestX Patreon x CosmoQuestX
May 4, 2025 at 6:09 PM
cosmoquest.org
Join us to watch another Commercial Moon Lander Launch.
Intuitive Machines IM2 goes live in 15min. Join our Watch Party on twitch.tv/CosmoQuestX
Picture of lander on the left, and then in big green letters, Launch Coverage Starts 6:30pm EST. Next to that is Date: Feb 26, Launch: 7:17pm, Taking Flight: Falcon 9 with IM2
February 26, 2025 at 11:17 PM
cosmoquest.org
It's GivingTuesday

Currently, we're on track with our minimum funding goal and we can keep our part-time team paid if we hit $112,000 for the year.

But we'd all like to be full-time. To do that we need to raise $400,000

A team can dream.

Give if you're able: Bit.ly/CQX-FY24part-time
December 3, 2024 at 10:15 PM