Kevin Hainline
@kevinhainline.bsky.social
Enthusiastic Astronomer. Professor at the University of Arizona. I use telescopes to find things. (He/him)
I want to fit this cocoa price chart and determine the effective temperature of this obvious Y dwarf, I might see phosphine absorption halfway through 2024
November 11, 2025 at 12:56 AM
I want to fit this cocoa price chart and determine the effective temperature of this obvious Y dwarf, I might see phosphine absorption halfway through 2024
My most common questions from the public:
- has JWST discovered aliens / why haven’t we discovered aliens
- what happened before the Big Bang
- what’s inside a black hole
(also TikToks they saw about the earth being flat/the moon landing being fake, or sensationalized media attention to articles)
- has JWST discovered aliens / why haven’t we discovered aliens
- what happened before the Big Bang
- what’s inside a black hole
(also TikToks they saw about the earth being flat/the moon landing being fake, or sensationalized media attention to articles)
yes darth but it is not the #1 question. the top three questions are:
are aliens real
did the big bang really happen
isn’t that stuff all just unknowable
are aliens real
did the big bang really happen
isn’t that stuff all just unknowable
October 31, 2025 at 2:34 PM
My most common questions from the public:
- has JWST discovered aliens / why haven’t we discovered aliens
- what happened before the Big Bang
- what’s inside a black hole
(also TikToks they saw about the earth being flat/the moon landing being fake, or sensationalized media attention to articles)
- has JWST discovered aliens / why haven’t we discovered aliens
- what happened before the Big Bang
- what’s inside a black hole
(also TikToks they saw about the earth being flat/the moon landing being fake, or sensationalized media attention to articles)
My talk is today at 1 PM Pacific, and if you're interested, you can watch live online, too, you just have to register at the link!
I spent my evening doing a deep research dive into Star Trek, because I'm giving a talk on Tuesday here in Tucson about the cultural impact of the series. These shows, and these stories, are so important to me as they helped me understand our responsibility to each other, and to our curiosity.
Curious Conversation - Star Trek
Read More...
foxtucson.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:15 PM
My talk is today at 1 PM Pacific, and if you're interested, you can watch live online, too, you just have to register at the link!
there’s this weird edit of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck where they edit out every other beat and I’ve used it in softball and it sounds insane and I would love to hear a crowd try to sing along to Brian Johnson’s unintelligible half syllables
since we're doing baseball here, let's revive that favorite post prompt: what would your walk on music be if you were a relief pitcher. for a long time mine was "how soon is now" but lately i've been convinced you could stitch together a long enuff family-friendly sequence from "fuck the pain away"
October 28, 2025 at 4:36 AM
there’s this weird edit of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck where they edit out every other beat and I’ve used it in softball and it sounds insane and I would love to hear a crowd try to sing along to Brian Johnson’s unintelligible half syllables
I spent my evening doing a deep research dive into Star Trek, because I'm giving a talk on Tuesday here in Tucson about the cultural impact of the series. These shows, and these stories, are so important to me as they helped me understand our responsibility to each other, and to our curiosity.
Curious Conversation - Star Trek
Read More...
foxtucson.com
October 27, 2025 at 4:41 AM
I spent my evening doing a deep research dive into Star Trek, because I'm giving a talk on Tuesday here in Tucson about the cultural impact of the series. These shows, and these stories, are so important to me as they helped me understand our responsibility to each other, and to our curiosity.
we have steely dan at home
October 13, 2025 at 3:25 AM
we have steely dan at home
talking at carnegie today with an astronomer about infrared selection of AGNs and she said "ah, so, [the technique] is reliable but not complete" and I think I want that as a t-shirt
RELIABLE
BUT NOT
COMPLETE
RELIABLE
BUT NOT
COMPLETE
October 6, 2025 at 11:27 PM
talking at carnegie today with an astronomer about infrared selection of AGNs and she said "ah, so, [the technique] is reliable but not complete" and I think I want that as a t-shirt
RELIABLE
BUT NOT
COMPLETE
RELIABLE
BUT NOT
COMPLETE
Oh also I owe a lot to the help of my co-authors @bemiles.bsky.social, @markmarley.bsky.social and @jarron.bsky.social because I’m ostensibly an extragalactic scientist. It’s so great to meet people who know a lot more than you do about anything (it’s a great reason for universities to exist)
October 2, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Oh also I owe a lot to the help of my co-authors @bemiles.bsky.social, @markmarley.bsky.social and @jarron.bsky.social because I’m ostensibly an extragalactic scientist. It’s so great to meet people who know a lot more than you do about anything (it’s a great reason for universities to exist)
Ok, so, I should correct myself: Tucson doesn't get to 120, but Phoenix has gotten up there. So imagine an object the size of Jupiter with an atmosphere the temperature of Arizona desert in the height of summer; *in JADES we could see this object even if it was 4000-5000 light years away.*
We find these cold brown dwarfs all over the place in the survey. Some of them are so cold that their surface is about the same as what Tucson can get to in the summer. This object, JADES-GS-BD-5, which we observe with NIRCam and MIRI, has a temperature of 322 K, or only 120° Fahrenheit (49° C)!
October 2, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Ok, so, I should correct myself: Tucson doesn't get to 120, but Phoenix has gotten up there. So imagine an object the size of Jupiter with an atmosphere the temperature of Arizona desert in the height of summer; *in JADES we could see this object even if it was 4000-5000 light years away.*
I wrote another paper! And yes it's about brown dwarfs wait don't go anywhere they're really neat
arxiv.org/abs/2510.00111
arxiv.org/abs/2510.00111
JADES: An Abundance of Ultra-Distant T- and Y-Dwarfs in Deep Extragalactic Data
Ultra-cool T- (T$_{\mathrm{eff}} \approx$ 500 - 1200 K) and Y-dwarfs (T$_{\mathrm{eff}}$ $\lessapprox 500$ K) have historically been found only a few hundred parsecs from the Sun. The sensitivity and ...
arxiv.org
October 2, 2025 at 2:59 AM
I wrote another paper! And yes it's about brown dwarfs wait don't go anywhere they're really neat
arxiv.org/abs/2510.00111
arxiv.org/abs/2510.00111
Today is my birthday, *and* it's a Pythagorean triple, 9 / 16 / 25. This sort of thing really got a lot of Greek mathematicians excited, until they had to reckon with what would happen to the length (c) if (a) and (b) were 1, that awful irrational square root of two.
September 16, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Today is my birthday, *and* it's a Pythagorean triple, 9 / 16 / 25. This sort of thing really got a lot of Greek mathematicians excited, until they had to reckon with what would happen to the length (c) if (a) and (b) were 1, that awful irrational square root of two.
I own a pair of these deep field socks, and they're what I've worn to so many public JWST talks and they always get a great reaction from folks who notice. I might have to pick up a second pair, not because mine have worn out, but just because I love them so much.
Let's restock your favorite ScienceSocks! 😎
We need 100 pairs pre-ordered to bring back 5 sold-out designs!
The #JWST #MarsRover #Eclipse and #Lucy socks have been sold out since last year 😢
Pre-order a pair here and please spread the word 🙏
🔗 sciencesocks.co/prod...
🔭🐡🧪🎨
We need 100 pairs pre-ordered to bring back 5 sold-out designs!
The #JWST #MarsRover #Eclipse and #Lucy socks have been sold out since last year 😢
Pre-order a pair here and please spread the word 🙏
🔗 sciencesocks.co/prod...
🔭🐡🧪🎨
September 11, 2025 at 6:16 PM
I own a pair of these deep field socks, and they're what I've worn to so many public JWST talks and they always get a great reaction from folks who notice. I might have to pick up a second pair, not because mine have worn out, but just because I love them so much.
@jparish.bsky.social A number of years ago I stumbled on the story behind A Link to the Past's Chris Houlihan Room, including the letter sent to Chris from Nintendo Power. I finally decided to make a video about it all, in case you're interested.
youtu.be/SY00ri_a9y4?...
youtu.be/SY00ri_a9y4?...
Chris Houlihan Is Real
YouTube video by Kevin Hainline
youtu.be
September 10, 2025 at 8:33 PM
@jparish.bsky.social A number of years ago I stumbled on the story behind A Link to the Past's Chris Houlihan Room, including the letter sent to Chris from Nintendo Power. I finally decided to make a video about it all, in case you're interested.
youtu.be/SY00ri_a9y4?...
youtu.be/SY00ri_a9y4?...
Last night, the Steward Observatory summer softball team (The "StrOHs") won the league championship game, 12-2. I've been playing summer softball through some good and a *lot* of bad years. It felt pretty damn great to win last night, capping a fun season. This was the StrOH's *first* championship!
August 6, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Last night, the Steward Observatory summer softball team (The "StrOHs") won the league championship game, 12-2. I've been playing summer softball through some good and a *lot* of bad years. It felt pretty damn great to win last night, capping a fun season. This was the StrOH's *first* championship!
A few months ago Flandrau Planetarium asked if I wanted to do a show, so I said yes and then my wife and I wrote something and performed it tonight, some of it was me talking about astronomy and some of it was her playing music and it was good.
Sometimes you get through this all by loving.
Sometimes you get through this all by loving.
July 25, 2025 at 5:01 AM
A few months ago Flandrau Planetarium asked if I wanted to do a show, so I said yes and then my wife and I wrote something and performed it tonight, some of it was me talking about astronomy and some of it was her playing music and it was good.
Sometimes you get through this all by loving.
Sometimes you get through this all by loving.
hey I really recommend getting to know your nice retired neighbor and inviting him over for dinner and cooking a pretty good shrimp creole and just talking with him about his recent trip to Chicago to see the Cubs at Wrigley for the first time in his life
It’s a great way to spend an evening
It’s a great way to spend an evening
July 21, 2025 at 3:50 AM
hey I really recommend getting to know your nice retired neighbor and inviting him over for dinner and cooking a pretty good shrimp creole and just talking with him about his recent trip to Chicago to see the Cubs at Wrigley for the first time in his life
It’s a great way to spend an evening
It’s a great way to spend an evening
The poet Andrea Gibson passed away. They were an incredible writer, live performer, and their work had a huge impact on people around the world. I do a lot of these astronomy shows, and often I think about how I can soften the science, how I can make it something more like what I saw from Andrea.
July 14, 2025 at 5:17 PM
The poet Andrea Gibson passed away. They were an incredible writer, live performer, and their work had a huge impact on people around the world. I do a lot of these astronomy shows, and often I think about how I can soften the science, how I can make it something more like what I saw from Andrea.
My grad student Jake Helton defended his PhD successfully today. I'm so excited for him to head on to Penn State for a postdoctoral appointment in the fall. At UofA, grad students are awarded crowns and capes for their PhD, and here's the elaborate History of the Universe cape I painted for him.
June 30, 2025 at 11:36 PM
My grad student Jake Helton defended his PhD successfully today. I'm so excited for him to head on to Penn State for a postdoctoral appointment in the fall. At UofA, grad students are awarded crowns and capes for their PhD, and here's the elaborate History of the Universe cape I painted for him.
June 26, 2025 at 10:57 PM
THIS EVENING, I'm talking about those mysterious "Little Red Dot" galaxies seen with JWST in a public "Deep Space Dialogue" facilitated by the Space Telescope Science Institute. Little Red Dots are super weird!
4:00 PM Pacific / 7:00 PM Eastern, live on Youtube!
www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...
4:00 PM Pacific / 7:00 PM Eastern, live on Youtube!
www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...
JWST’s Tiny Red Sources and the Big Questions They Raise
www.stsci.edu
June 26, 2025 at 3:10 PM
THIS EVENING, I'm talking about those mysterious "Little Red Dot" galaxies seen with JWST in a public "Deep Space Dialogue" facilitated by the Space Telescope Science Institute. Little Red Dots are super weird!
4:00 PM Pacific / 7:00 PM Eastern, live on Youtube!
www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...
4:00 PM Pacific / 7:00 PM Eastern, live on Youtube!
www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...
I was asked to give the keynote for the Arizona Science Teachers Association last night, and I spoke about the origin of the elements and what JWST can tell us about how atoms are put together. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHih...
(...but also I talked about science education in this country!)
(...but also I talked about science education in this country!)
The Entire Universe is Made of Small Particles with Dr. Kevin Hainline
YouTube video by Arizona Science Teachers Association
www.youtube.com
June 17, 2025 at 3:57 PM
I was asked to give the keynote for the Arizona Science Teachers Association last night, and I spoke about the origin of the elements and what JWST can tell us about how atoms are put together. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHih...
(...but also I talked about science education in this country!)
(...but also I talked about science education in this country!)
This is a screen grab from yesterday’s University of Arizona College of Science Commencement, where I hooded my graduate student Jake Helton. I’m very proud and I urged the crowd to get louder because getting a PhD is intensely difficult and I wanted him to hear the ~10k people cheering for him
May 17, 2025 at 3:28 PM
This is a screen grab from yesterday’s University of Arizona College of Science Commencement, where I hooded my graduate student Jake Helton. I’m very proud and I urged the crowd to get louder because getting a PhD is intensely difficult and I wanted him to hear the ~10k people cheering for him
People often ask if JWST has "replaced" Hubble, and I like to say they're siblings, working together to give us unique views of the Universe. My friend and former grad school compatriot Kathy Kornei wrote a great article about HST on it's 35th anniversary.
www.sciencenews.org/article/hubb...
www.sciencenews.org/article/hubb...
See how the Hubble Space Telescope is still revolutionizing astronomy
Hubble is still going strong 35 years after it was launched into space. Celebrate its anniversary with some out-of-this-world images.
www.sciencenews.org
April 24, 2025 at 5:14 PM
People often ask if JWST has "replaced" Hubble, and I like to say they're siblings, working together to give us unique views of the Universe. My friend and former grad school compatriot Kathy Kornei wrote a great article about HST on it's 35th anniversary.
www.sciencenews.org/article/hubb...
www.sciencenews.org/article/hubb...
I *love* Jurassic Park. I know that there are a lot more important things going on, but I just posted a 45 minute deep dive into the paleontology, biology, and math that inspired the book and the movie, in honor of @blankcheck.bsky.social's upcoming Jurassic Park episode.
youtu.be/XpnbqcZg7VE?...
youtu.be/XpnbqcZg7VE?...
The Pre-History of Jurassic Park
YouTube video by Kevin Hainline
youtu.be
April 7, 2025 at 3:30 PM
I *love* Jurassic Park. I know that there are a lot more important things going on, but I just posted a 45 minute deep dive into the paleontology, biology, and math that inspired the book and the movie, in honor of @blankcheck.bsky.social's upcoming Jurassic Park episode.
youtu.be/XpnbqcZg7VE?...
youtu.be/XpnbqcZg7VE?...
So, I've spent the last few months doing a deep dive into Jurassic Park because, well, Blank Check (@blankcheck.bsky.social) is about to cover the film. I'm making a series of videos/essays about the film for next week, here's a little sneak peek from my video on the "Pre-History of Jurassic Park."
March 31, 2025 at 6:57 PM
So, I've spent the last few months doing a deep dive into Jurassic Park because, well, Blank Check (@blankcheck.bsky.social) is about to cover the film. I'm making a series of videos/essays about the film for next week, here's a little sneak peek from my video on the "Pre-History of Jurassic Park."