owlice
LightNews LightNews
banner
owlice.bsky.social
owlice
@owlice.bsky.social
170 followers 60 following 290 posts
Trained in med sciences, worked in IT, retired into astronomy, now faculty at R1 uni and still astonished at that.
Dark skies, travel, music, wildlife, research software & transparency.
Sometimes I take pictures.
Posts Replies Media Videos
owlice.bsky.social
Wow! Big news!
aas.org American Astronomical Society (AAS) @aas.org · 13d
The American Astronomical Society announced that Dr. Kevin B. Marvel, the Society’s Chief Executive Officer, will step down from his position effective 9 January 2026. aas.org/press/aas-an... 🔭
November 5, 2025 at 4:41 PM
owlice.bsky.social
🔭
Though the main NASA #APOD page isn't being updated due to the US Govt shutdown, APOD continues on; you can catch your daily dose of #astro goodness at a mirror site, such as www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/a...

See the About APOD page for others: apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/abo...

#astro
APOD: 2025 October 4 – The Rotating Moon
A different astronomy and space science related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.
www.star.ucl.ac.uk
October 4, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by owlice
scixcommunity.bsky.social
What is #SciX? Think of it as your one-stop platform for exploring #research across #EarthScience, #EnvironmentalScience, and #SpaceScience, including #PlanetaryScience, #Heliophysics, #Geology, #Geophysics, #AtmosphericScience, and #Oceanography. Watch our new video! bit.ly/WelcomeToSciX
Welcome to SciX - Powering Discovery Across Earth and Space Sciences
YouTube video by Science Explorer (SciX)
youtu.be
September 29, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by owlice
scixcommunity.bsky.social
#SciX is created by the #ADS team & operates out of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under a NASA Cooperative Agreement. Created and developed by scientists, for scientists, SciX builds on decades of open research infrastructure and collaboration: https://bit.ly/CfASciXNews
September 29, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by owlice
50501movement.bsky.social
Anti-fascists (Antifa) storming the beaches of Normandy.
a black and white photo of a group of soldiers getting off a boat in the ocean .
Alt: Allied forces landing on Normandy beaches in WW2.
media.tenor.com
September 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by owlice
danielskatz.org
From me, @mhmdhsini.bsky.social, and @scedmunds.bsky.social

Code Plagiarism and AI Create New Challenges for Publishing Integrity
August 28, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by owlice
smith.senate.gov
“Do not offer thoughts and prayers as you systemically enable such tragedies. Do not claim prayers are sufficient when children die as they pray. Do not pretend you do not understand.”

— Lydia, 16, Minneapolis
August 28, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by owlice
owlice.bsky.social
This Wed, Aug 20, 11:00 EDT/15:00 UTC
Virtual Astronomy Software Talks seminar: Teaching Computational Astrophysics in an AI World
Panelists are:
Dr. Stella Offner
Dr. John Wallin
Dr. Michael Zingale

Info: vast-seminars.github.io
Join mailing list: groups.google.com/g/virtual-as...

#astronomy

🔭
Virtual Astronomy Software Talks
vast-seminars.github.io
August 18, 2025 at 5:37 PM
owlice.bsky.social
This Wed, Aug 20, 11:00 EDT/15:00 UTC
Virtual Astronomy Software Talks seminar: Teaching Computational Astrophysics in an AI World
Panelists are:
Dr. Stella Offner
Dr. John Wallin
Dr. Michael Zingale

Info: vast-seminars.github.io
Join mailing list: groups.google.com/g/virtual-as...

#astronomy

🔭
Virtual Astronomy Software Talks
vast-seminars.github.io
August 18, 2025 at 5:37 PM
owlice.bsky.social
🦉🪶 #birds

Not the first time a bird has looked at me this way...

Cedar Waxwing
Houghton, MI
This Cedar Waxwing is perched on a small vertical tree branch; it is turned toward the photograph with its head cocked to one side, seeming to indicate disapproval or disbelief. Its feathers are floofed. Its crested head, face, and bib are a buffy light brown; its tummy is a light lemon yellow, as is its vent. The bird has a black mask and grey wings; the tips of its secondary flight feathers look as though they have been carefully dipped in red wax. The legs and feet are dark grey/blackish, and its tail, only a tiny bit of which is visible, has a yellow terminal band.
July 9, 2025 at 4:22 PM
owlice.bsky.social
🔭
Please help this EAS registration find a good home!!

I have an in-person registration for next week's European Astronomical Society (EAS) meeting in Cork, Ireland, already paid for, but now am unable to go.

Rather than cancel the registration, I would prefer to transfer it to someone -- free
eas.unige.ch
June 18, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Reposted by owlice
climateages.bsky.social
I’m 39. 3 years ago I left academia.

My biggest regret?
Not building a network outside it.

I thought great science would be enough.
It wasn’t.

Visibility builds trust

Visibility opens doors — especially when you leave the lab.

Start showing up. Share your Science.

Start now.

🧪 #SciComm
Hand-drawn infographic showing two network diagrams. The first diagram is labeled “With Academic Networks” and shows a central circle labeled “You” connected to a few surrounding circles, each linked to a single star. The rest of the stars (representing opportunities) float disconnected in the background. The second diagram is labeled “With Academic + Non-Academic Networks” and shows the same central “You” circle connected to many surrounding circles, each linked to one or more stars, representing a higher number of opportunities. Below the diagrams, a key indicates that each star symbolizes an opportunity.
June 15, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by owlice
mclintock163.bsky.social
I’d be getting a new phone now if I were you.

If you are an iPhone user, this video has some steps to prevent downloading.

youtu.be/fDm5e_-600I?...
How to Stop Phone Searches When Traveling
YouTube video by Naomi Brockwell TV
youtu.be
June 15, 2025 at 1:06 PM
owlice.bsky.social
Bitterns be bitterns where'er they be
No matter what kind, never easy to see

#birds 🦉🪶
American Bittern Bombay Hook, Delaware, US November, 2013 Bittern standing in a marsh, neck outstretched and beak raised; he is facing to the left in this image, so we see only his left side. American Bittern Padre Island, Texas, US February 2022 This bittern is standing in a body of water, in a marshy area with reeds, in the same position as the previous bittern. Least Bittern Houghton, Michigan, US August 2022 This small bittern is in almost the same position as the previous two but is perched on reeds, so we can see its feet, and is angled a bit more towards the viewer.
June 15, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by owlice
apod.shinyakato.dev
🔭 Solar Eclipse

Image Credit & Copyright: Fred Espenak

apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25061...
On April 20, 2023 the shadow of a New Moon raced across planet Earth's southern hemisphere. When viewed along a narrow path that mostly avoided landfall, the Moon in silhouette created a hybrid solar eclipse. Hybrid eclipses are rare and can be seen as a total eclipse or an annular "ring of fire" eclipse depending on the observer's position. Viewers of this much anticipated hybrid event were able to witness a total solar eclipse while anchored in the Indian Ocean near the centerline of the eclipse track off the coast of western Australia. This ship-borne image from renowned eclipse chaser Fred Espenak captured the active Sun's magnificent outer atmosphere, or solar corona, streaming into space. The composite of 11 exposures ranging from 1/2000 to 1/2 second, taken during the 62 seconds of totality, records an extended range of brightness to follow alluring details of the corona not quite visible to the eye.
June 12, 2025 at 8:00 AM
owlice.bsky.social
Protesting yesterday--seeing & being with so many others who are not OK with the US's dive into fascism--was good for my soul. Small town, most of the protesting was done on a (packed!) pedestrian overpass; responses from those driving under the overpass were overwhelmingly positive. Yay!!
One side of my double-sided sign. It is handwritten black text on yellow posterboard. The sign says Dump the racist fascist indicted misogynist Tramp! Dump Trump is in large letters. The other side of my sign was a dark blue posterboard with two printed sheets of 8"x11" paper taped to it. One sheet has a black background and has No Kings in America in block text. Under the block text are drawings of six hands of different skin tones, each one holding a heart, with each heart representing a different ideal, such as peace (peace sign), support for LGBTQIA+ (rainbow flag), the US (US flag), and woman's rights (Venus glyph). The other sheet is white with black printing. The printed black text is "Every sitting Republican is complicit in the destruction of America." There is a negative space image of Trump's face in the upper right quadrant of the paper. I usually take photos of the crowds when I participate in a protest, but given that I live in a mostly minority community, I took no photos of people. I did take pictures of a few signs, however. This image is of one gentleman's sign that had four rows of white text on a blue background, and under the last line of text, an American flag. The text reads: DEC 7, 1941 SEP 11, 2001 JAN 6, 2021 NEVER FORGET This last image is of a sign that made me laugh out loud and then wish I'd thought of it! The background is white; there are two lines of black text on the sign, and a graphic between them. The first line of text reads YES QUEENS; the second line reads NO KINGS. The graphic is of a vertical clenched fist with long tapered fingernails; its color is a rainbow gradient going from red to indigo.
June 15, 2025 at 9:54 AM
owlice.bsky.social
Four #birds from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
🦉
A banded Song Sparrow is perched on a small stick. The bird is facing to the right and is backlit by the sun, making the feathers along most of the perimeter of the bird glow. There's a bit of sunlit spider web trailing from one of the bird's tail feathers. A Blue Jay sits perched on a short brown stick that is branched off from a longer stick that runs vertically from the bottom to top of the photo. The Jay's body is facing the camera and its head is turned to its right (our left), so the bird is looking directly at the camera with its left eye. The background is all blue sky, making the photo quite simple and spare: only a few sticks and the perched bird. A male American Redstart is on a thick horizontal branch partially adorned with lichen. The bird is facing to our left, so we have a side view of it, and looks slightly apprehensive. A male Cape May Warbler in breeding plumage is perched in a cherry tree in bloom. The bird's body faces to our right, but the bird's head is looking directly into the camera so we see his full face -- his black cap, yellow face, and orange cheek spots -- above his black-streaked yellow chest and tummy.
May 29, 2025 at 3:18 PM
owlice.bsky.social
This Ring-billed Gull has a question and a comment about your behavior last night...

#birds 🦉
May 29, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by owlice
asclnet.bsky.social
Join the Virtual Astronomy Software Talks (VAST) mailing list to get the Zoom link:

groups.google.com/g/virtual-as...

And please, (please!) when you ask to join, include your real name and institution if they are not part of your email address. Thanks!
March 19, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Reposted by owlice
asclnet.bsky.social
Virtual Astronomy Software Talks seminar!

Wed, 3/19
11 AM Eastern Time/15:00 UTC

Nikhil Sarin presents REDBACK, a Bayesian inference pkg for fitting electromagnetic transients

Bryna Hazelton presents pyuvdata, a pythonic interface to interferometric data sets

#Astronomy 🔭
vast-seminars.github.io
Virtual Astronomy Software Talks
vast-seminars.github.io
March 19, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Reposted by owlice
sjbastro.bsky.social
Look out for Mercury and Saturn in the dusk sky this evening. They will be tricky to spot but worth the effort. Make sure the Sun has set before searching with any optical aid. Try from around 18:00 UT. They will be below Venus and close to the horizon. #Astronomy
sjbastro.bsky.social Steve Brown - astronomy and astrophotography @sjbastro.bsky.social · Jan 29
24th and 25th: Mercury and Saturn are close together on these evenings. Look low to the west just after sunset. They will be tricky to spot in the dusk sky. Wait until the Sun has fully set before searching for them.
Stellarium graphic showing the positions of Saturn and Mercury on 24 February 2025.
February 24, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by owlice
natureintheory.bsky.social
Another short video from the series: The Quantum Atlas - published by The University of Maryland
www.olenashmahalo.com/project/quan...

Ion Trap Qubits. Info: link ↑ / ALT

🧪 ⚛️ #physics #scicomm
#SciArt #3Dart #C4D #mograph #NoAI
November 18, 2024 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by owlice
science.esa.int
Have you checked our Graduate Trainee opportunities?
👉 jobs.esa.int/

If you’re in the final year of a Master’s degree (or recently graduated) in engineering, science, IT or business, don't miss this out 👉 www.esa.int/About_Us/Car...

🧪🔭
ESA - Career opportunities
Welcome to the European Space Agency's recruiting site. Explore our vacancies and take your career to the next level. Whether you are an experienced professional, graduate or student, discover the impact you could make in one of our multi-cultural teams k
jobs.esa.int
February 21, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by owlice
michaeltremmel.bsky.social
Hey American astronomers! Did you know you can apply for European Research Council grants while in the US and, were to bring an ERC to University College Cork, you would *automatically* get a permanent position!? ERC starting grants (2-7 yrs post PhD) are €1.5M for 4 yrs with. ~10% success rate! 🔭
February 21, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by owlice
michaeltremmel.bsky.social
The European Astronomical Society 2025 Meeting is in Cork 23-27 June! There are lots of awesome sessions planned, including one chaired by myself and John Regan! If you work on massive black holes in the Early Universe, consider submitting an abstract! (Due 3 March) 🔭

eas.unige.ch/EAS_meeting/...
EAS 2025
European Astronomical Society Annual Meeting 2024
eas.unige.ch
February 21, 2025 at 4:01 PM