Meredith Rawls
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merrdiff.bsky.social
Meredith Rawls
@merrdiff.bsky.social
3.9K followers 780 following 1.1K posts
Astronomer at UW, data pipeline wrangler for Rubin Observatory, satellite mitigation leader via IAU CPS SatHub, mom, violist, Ballardite (Seattle), family cargo e-bike evangelist, Episcopalian, etc. Opinions all mine
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merrdiff.bsky.social
That cloud is pink ... but it is also a cloud 😭
It's mostly clouds and light pollution but darn it the sky has pink and green in it too
November 12, 2025 at 3:25 AM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Seattle Aurora 🙄 ... squint for colors that are only visible to cameras and increasingly hidden by clouds! (but it's real, you are not making it up!)
Cloudy light polluted sky with tantalizing pink, purple, and green behind the clouds. Tree that has lost most leaves in foreground. Same as before but more green and less pink
November 12, 2025 at 2:24 AM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Hey look it's a @vrubinobs.bsky.social difference imaging zooniverse game! Help us classify real vs bogus detections with REAL RUBIN DATA! www.zooniverse.org/projects/ebe...
Screenshot from website reads, help us identify changing objects across the universe with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, from explosive astrophysical transients to moving objects and more! Then there are 2 buttons, Learn more and Get started, and at the bottom are three example triptych images with template, science, and difference images
November 11, 2025 at 7:09 PM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Just stumbled across an astophotographer's timelapse reel of Comet Lemmon, and it clearly shows what we've done to the sky in the last 5 years

A screenshot does not do it justice; the reel is on both fb and insta www.instagram.com/reel/DQcijH0...

Credit: Lars Leber Photography, larsleber.com/info
Screenshot from Instagram of a comet in a dusky sky that's mostly dark blue with hints of green and pink, sand dunes beneath, and oodles of satellites zipping across. The video also shows some planes low on the horizon that look a lot like meteors due to how the time lapse was made.
October 31, 2025 at 3:30 PM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Some days you take your kid to gymnastics and the next thing you know someone says your name and it turns out to be YOUR HIGH SCHOOL MATH TEACHERS

(They're married, now retired, one taught me AP Calc and the other Pre-Calc & AP Stats)

They planned this Seattle visit to watch grandkids for the week
Selfie with Mr. and Mrs. Kelly, who I probably last saw IRL in 2004, we are all wearing blue waterproof jackets and you can't tell but we're sitting on bleachers watching gymnastics classes
October 29, 2025 at 6:19 AM
merrdiff.bsky.social
We left curriculum night at 6:30pm on a Tuesday. By 8:45am the next day, guess what the curb looked like???

The moral of the story is, if you want the city DOT to come out and paint something instantaneously overnight, just paint it blue first

The end (for reals, for now)
The ADA curb is now white, and the two squares with wheelchair symbols on the roadway near the curb are now covered up with gray paint Same curb viewed from opposite direction, everyone really did an outstanding quality paint job, next time could we do it once and save everyone some time and money please?
October 10, 2025 at 2:16 AM
merrdiff.bsky.social
I did notice, however, several district work vans were present an awful lot, usually respecting the loading zone timings, but clearly doing various maintenance projects at the school. One day, my husband went to pick our kid up early for an appointment, and he saw this
Part of the same stretch of street that has been painted yellow is coned off with little orange cones and there are two workers doing some kind of professional curb painting. The closer one has a little paint cart on wheels in the yellow area, and the further one is harder to see, but they are applying blue and white accessible parking stickers to the street and have painted the ADA portion blue. Also the work vans are parked on the grass?! Come on Zoomed version of the first photo showing a stretch of blue curb
October 10, 2025 at 1:59 AM
merrdiff.bsky.social
I dutifully did so, and miraculously — within a DAY — the city not only repainted our errant blue curb white, but also installed long-promised new loading zone signs along the whole block! I was amazed, as I thought this might not happen for months, like the all way stops we are still waiting for!
New 5 min school load only sign, with yellow and red curbs in the distance. You can't see the white ADA curb portion, but trust me it's further down along the same block.
October 10, 2025 at 1:51 AM
merrdiff.bsky.social
When it became clear nobody else was going to paint any curbs, we looked under the PTO garden committee couch cushions and scrounged up paint in various appropriate colors, like red for intersection/no parking, and yellow for loading/also no parking. A few awesome volunteers helped paint in August
Myself and my elementary schooler with paint rollers and red paint, painting a curb bulb in a roundabout intersection red
October 10, 2025 at 1:42 AM
merrdiff.bsky.social
For one thing, someone needs to scoot the barriers into a less ignorable location. I adjust Salmon Bay's School Street barriers every week or two, because some folks love to nudge them more out of the way, and sometimes cars just mow them down.
Type 3 barrier for a school street that is placed so more than 1/3 of the width of the street is effectively not drive down able School street type 3 barrier that has been hit by a car and is upside down, half in the sidewalk and half in the road
October 9, 2025 at 6:54 AM
merrdiff.bsky.social
We do this almost every weekend because the kids DEVOUR freezer pancakes during the week! We have our recipe dialed in and the almost-8yo can almost make them solo

This stash should last 1.5 weeks or so
Two gallon freezer bags full of pancakes. One is labeled fluffy circles and one is labeled DIY breakfast disks. They are not individually wrapped in wax paper because that's a great idea but I don't have time and this mostly works
September 21, 2025 at 4:40 PM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Today we biked to the soccer game, biked to the light rail, took the train to the birthday party, and will light rail + bike home

Putting a cargo bike on the light rail is the best life hack and all transit should be built for this

All parking garages need bike cages that work for cargo bikes too…
Kids running on a grassy field in orange and purple jerseys playing soccer A cargo bike and a kiddo on a light rail train Kid in purple soccer jersey sits half backwards to look wistfully out the window of a light rail train A Tern GSD cargo bike is vertically parked and locked in the corner of a concrete room in a parking garage bike cage, because that's the only way to reach the racks that are designed for bikes to be hoisted up on end. No other bikes in sight
September 20, 2025 at 9:45 PM
merrdiff.bsky.social
We pulled off a Play Street on the School Street by Salmon Bay K-8 on Thursday! Huge thanks to all who helped make it possible, and came by, especially @sngreenways.bsky.social @seattledot.bsky.social

Love to hear "we should do this more often!" but also I am tired & behind on everything not this 😅
A-frame no parking sign repurposed as a play street (street closed) sign. In the background, lovely large trees, and out of focus kids and adults gather on a neighborhood street near a shade canopy and folding tables Glamour shot of my almost 8yo's Woom bike, in front of a group of kids drawing with chalk on a street while their grown-ups chat Outdoor table with flyers about a circulation plan, reflector keychain swag, and a laminated map of a neighborhood with whiteboard markers Neighborhood street has "play street" written in chalk with other bits of art surrounding the large letters. Also pictured are bikes, kids, adults, trees, a blue shade canopy with tables, and a chain link fence that usually encloses a playground but is open, allowing folks to freely walk between the street and the playground
September 13, 2025 at 7:48 PM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Do you know what I did get for my birthday, though?

Loading signs at my kid's school freshly installed by @seattledot.bsky.social!

They said they couldn't do 8-10a / 2-4p and it would have to be 7a-4p, so I am both pleasantly surprised AND have some website updates to implement 😂
Small yellow sign with black letters on a newly installed pole reads, 5 minute school load only 8-10am 2-4pm except sat sun hol. The curb is recently painted red on the other side of the sign which is marked no parking because it's in an intersection. There's a custom sandwich board no parking sign too that says pick-up/drop-off zone only. Same as before but further down the block. Curb in the vicinity here is yellow and there's a cargo bike too. Another sign further down the block. In front is a freshly painted white ADA curb with corresponding signage for 2 parking stalls. A tree is partially obscuring the loading sign. One more further down the block, this time the new loading sign is installed on a telephone pole. The curb is painted yellow and you can see a crosswalk at the end of the block.
September 6, 2025 at 5:29 PM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Yeah biking to school!!

Also check out the lovely new yellow curb paint 💅 and our custom loading zone signs 🚫
Kid bikes to school up a sidewalk
September 4, 2025 at 5:04 PM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Also max 2 bikes per sailing and you have to pay extra 😒 someday I really do want to do a bike based Van Isle trip but we + infrastructure aren't quite ready yet

Kids had a blast in Nanaimo on our way home from further north last week… and then we drove the boring route to Duke Point to sit in line
Nanaimo block letter sign with two kids sitting cutely for a photo in the colorful O
September 4, 2025 at 4:47 PM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Except ... 😭
What types of bikes are allowed? Guests can bring standard, non-electric pedal bicycles for adults and children, up to a maximum of 80 inches in length, and 50lbs in weight. E-Bikes and e-scooters are not permitted at this time.
September 4, 2025 at 4:43 PM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Anyway Worldcon was great 10/10 would empty out I-5 and meet up with nerdy friends again
View from the massive convention center summit window wall over I-5, the northbound portion of which is completely empty for a weekend closure Two smiling kiddos, one cheesy smiling and one regular smiling with a mask half on, at the convention center entry area Toddler intently focuses on stacking colorful large foam dice at an outdoor restaurant table A man with two kids FINALLY on a bus heading home
August 17, 2025 at 12:29 AM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Good(?) news Seattle, the smoke is indeed aloft and not at ground level. Empirically confirmed.

Also for some reason we are flying up to, like, Shoreline before landing at SEA
Aerial view of NW Seattle, with golden gardens and the ship canal and green lake all visible, blue sky and cumulus clouds plus a nasty layer of smoke aloft Similar to before but now we are up by Shoreline turning east and back south so you can see downtown in the distance West facing view of NW Seattle with woodland park in the foreground and magnolia in the distance, there's still smoke high up but it's more to the south
August 14, 2025 at 12:01 AM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Thanks Davis, it's been warm & bus-tastic!

Quite something to spend 2.5 days workshopping new recommendations for mitigating satellite impacts on astronomy. A report should be available in the next ~month

Homebound for Worldcon, Solstice Symphony concert, and all the family shenanigans I've missed
It's a Unitrans public transit red and white bus, and the info screen on front says "Beep beep I'm a bus". On multiple sides, bikes locked to bike racks, and shady tree lined pedestrian friendly areas. Really everything transit center should be, except it's missing a train.
August 13, 2025 at 10:22 PM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Good day from the Sacramento airport, where I am waiting for the YOLOBUS (really!) in a highly inequitable shade environment!

The nice shade overhang ends where the parking and rental car buses go, and they run constantly.

The buses that take you into the city? Wait 30 min. In much hotter shade.
A largely empty airport curb zone on a hot summer day. A bus is in the distance. A large shade structure overhangs the entire curb plus a bit of the loading lane. Closer to where I'm sitting, where the public transit picks up, the shade is much shorter, and most of the curb is in direct sun.
August 10, 2025 at 8:22 PM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Sometimes instead of going to bed at a reasonable hour you take pictures with your astronomer mom in matching @startorialist.com shirts featuring the @vrubinobs.bsky.social Lagoon Nebula "first look" image she helped make happen 🔭
A woman (me) kneels with two kids in front, all wearing matching pink space nebula print t-shirts. The younger one has her mouth open in an excited expression and the older one is smiling (as am I). The kids have different dinosaur print pants. They're in a kid bedroom with bunk beds, stuffed animals, a framed Totoro painting, and the corner of a JWST carina nebula wall mural in the background. It's basically nebulae all the way down and it's also 9pm and the kids really need to go to bed already.
August 7, 2025 at 5:22 AM
merrdiff.bsky.social
People will really just pick up their kids, strap them in their car, idle their engine, and take a phone call for 15+ min while parked in a loading zone

Whyyy is this normal??
My kid is enjoying a snack in a tie dye shirt next to my GSD bike, in perfect weather, and a blue BMW is idling in the background, producing air and noise pollution
August 7, 2025 at 12:44 AM
merrdiff.bsky.social
Done!
Screenshot of my As to the Qs from the survey 1. We love the environmental learning center programs, like their family getaways, and wish it were more accessible. 2. Continue and deepen the cultural history connections to the area, and center the priorities of Indigenous folks in these conversations. 3. It is necessary to drive to access the entire area, and parking is limited near popular sites. Regular bus service would be amazing, and would tie in directly to the environmental learning center's sustainability goals. Consider converting some roads into hike/bike/bus only. Don't just add loads more car parking!! Cars are the biggest source of environmental pollution in the region. Provide viable alternatives so the default access mode is not driving, so folks that actually do need to drive (and are willing to pay a premium for the privilege) aren't overcrowding. 4. Booking a family weekend, Skagit boat tour, tent camp site, or similar program should come with the expectation that you will select a bus stop and time window for at least the last part of your journey to the site. The bus will need to be equipped to carry large quantities of luggage, including oversized items like coolers and camping gear as well as strollers and large bicycles. The option to pay extra to drive and park onsite could be offered in exceptional circumstances - this should be priced similar to airport parking. 5. Thank you for working on a big picture plan for access to the region! Please consider incorporating AQI evacuation facilities for when the region is inundated with wildfire smoke and outdoor excursions need an alternative indoor refuge with top notch air filtration. Such a facility should also be readily accessible on a bus or shuttle loop, and could be used for other educational or facility support purposes when the AQI is green.
August 2, 2025 at 5:14 PM
merrdiff.bsky.social
The Montlake bike bridge makes the ride from Ballard➡️UW➡️Lake Washington Blvd very nice!

We rode down to Genesee Park➡️Columbia City for dinner, & up to UW via light rail for an easier loop.

If the northern part of LWB wasn't actively hostile to anyone not in a car, I'd recommend this route to all!
Toddler in tie dye on a purple Woom bike glides sans pedals at a fast clip along Lake Washington Blvd on a perfect summer day.
July 28, 2025 at 4:43 AM