Peter K. G. Williams
@pkgw.bsky.social
Technical Lead of the IAU Minor Planet Center, at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. He/him. https://newton.cx/~peter/
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
wikipedia turns 25 today! the last unenshittified major website! backbone of online info! triumph of humanity! powered by urge of unpaid randos to correct each other! somehow mostly reliable! "good thing wikipedia works in practice, because it sure doesn't work in theory" - old wiki adage
January 15, 2026 at 1:47 PM
wikipedia turns 25 today! the last unenshittified major website! backbone of online info! triumph of humanity! powered by urge of unpaid randos to correct each other! somehow mostly reliable! "good thing wikipedia works in practice, because it sure doesn't work in theory" - old wiki adage
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
This profile has been in the works for a while now — they interviewed me in Nov 2024, took photos Jan 2025, bumped me back an issue or two to feature more timely pieces (e.g. wildfire experts), added updates in fall 2025, and now — as @vrubinobs.bsky.social gets going in earnest — it's finally out 🔭
The Dynamic Sky | Fall/Winter 2025–2026 | Harvey Mudd College Magazine
magazine.hmc.edu
January 14, 2026 at 1:43 AM
This profile has been in the works for a while now — they interviewed me in Nov 2024, took photos Jan 2025, bumped me back an issue or two to feature more timely pieces (e.g. wildfire experts), added updates in fall 2025, and now — as @vrubinobs.bsky.social gets going in earnest — it's finally out 🔭
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
Interested in astronomy & data science? @stsci.edu is hiring an Astronomical Data Scientist - check out details here: recruiting2.ultipro.com/SPA1004AURA/... 🔭
recruiting2.ultipro.com
January 9, 2026 at 3:34 PM
Interested in astronomy & data science? @stsci.edu is hiring an Astronomical Data Scientist - check out details here: recruiting2.ultipro.com/SPA1004AURA/... 🔭
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
I took the VLA data!!! So fun to work on this exciting event
NEW from #AAS247: NSF Radio Telescopes Uncover “Invisible” Gas Around Record-Shattering Cosmic Explosion
#VeryLargeArray and #ALMA revealed a dense cocoon of gas around AT2024wpp aka “the Whippet" - one of the brightest Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients (LFBOTs) ever. #Astronomy #RadioAstronomy
#VeryLargeArray and #ALMA revealed a dense cocoon of gas around AT2024wpp aka “the Whippet" - one of the brightest Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients (LFBOTs) ever. #Astronomy #RadioAstronomy
Radio telescopes uncover “invisible” gas around record-shattering cosmic explosion - National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Astronomers using the NSF Very Large Array and ALMA have uncovered dense, “invisible” gas surrounding AT2024wpp—the brightest known fast blue optical transient—revealing that a massive star was torn a...
public.nrao.edu
January 9, 2026 at 3:04 AM
I took the VLA data!!! So fun to work on this exciting event
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
To compete with AWS and other hyperscalers, you need more than technology. Large incumbent cloud providers are also selling comfort to corporate employees. And if you too want to rake in billions of revenues, you had best be selling that too: berthub.eu/articles/pos...
AWS and Microsoft are selling much more than cloud services - Bert Hubert
Ten, twenty years ago customers over at large corporations would often ask me what hardware they’d need to run my software. As software developers, we’d tend to be rather blasé about such questions: “...
berthub.eu
January 7, 2026 at 12:08 PM
To compete with AWS and other hyperscalers, you need more than technology. Large incumbent cloud providers are also selling comfort to corporate employees. And if you too want to rake in billions of revenues, you had best be selling that too: berthub.eu/articles/pos...
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
HAPPY NEW YEAR from the whole SciX Team! Happy new open research platform?! Join the SciX Community! Check out SciXplorer.org and if you're heading to #AAS247 don't forget to sign up for one of our three free workshops on Sun Jan 4 at either 1:15pm, 2:15pm, or 3:15pm!
January 1, 2026 at 2:07 PM
HAPPY NEW YEAR from the whole SciX Team! Happy new open research platform?! Join the SciX Community! Check out SciXplorer.org and if you're heading to #AAS247 don't forget to sign up for one of our three free workshops on Sun Jan 4 at either 1:15pm, 2:15pm, or 3:15pm!
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
LPL grad student Kayla Smith and I submitted our first paper together today on brown dwarf habitable zones. The literature on this topic is surprisingly thin and no one has really done it right yet. We move the ball forward and look forward to sharing more in the future.
December 29, 2025 at 11:11 PM
LPL grad student Kayla Smith and I submitted our first paper together today on brown dwarf habitable zones. The literature on this topic is surprisingly thin and no one has really done it right yet. We move the ball forward and look forward to sharing more in the future.
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
AAS' Congressional Visits Day is a fantastic opportunity to get started advocating for science. For me, it cemented an interest that would lead me to a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship and further service in federal science policy. I highly recommend applying! 🔭 aas.org/applications...
Applications Now Open for Congressional Visits Day 2026 | American Astronomical Society
Advocating for science comes down to effective communication. The main steps here are determining your message, developing a communication strategy, and identifying your member of Congress.
aas.org
December 29, 2025 at 3:31 PM
AAS' Congressional Visits Day is a fantastic opportunity to get started advocating for science. For me, it cemented an interest that would lead me to a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship and further service in federal science policy. I highly recommend applying! 🔭 aas.org/applications...
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
Powerful Christmas Day winds gusting up to 114 mph severely damaged UC Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, forcing the nearly 140-year-old facility to close while officials headquartered at UC Santa Cruz assess structural damage and begin repairs expected to take months.
Christmas Day winds up to 114 mph damage UC Lick Observatory
Powerful Christmas Day winds gusting up to 114 mph severely damaged UC Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, forcing the nearly 140-year-old facility to close while officials headquartered at UC Santa Cruz assess structural damage and begin repairs expected to take months.
buff.ly
December 26, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Powerful Christmas Day winds gusting up to 114 mph severely damaged UC Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, forcing the nearly 140-year-old facility to close while officials headquartered at UC Santa Cruz assess structural damage and begin repairs expected to take months.
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
youtu.be/pwhW8q8xGX8
🔭
AAS Journal Author Series: Ben Cassese on 2025PSJ.....6..252C
Ben Cassese (Columbia University, Yale University) chats about his article on a differentiable solar system ephemerides software instrument.
🔭
AAS Journal Author Series: Ben Cassese on 2025PSJ.....6..252C
Ben Cassese (Columbia University, Yale University) chats about his article on a differentiable solar system ephemerides software instrument.
AAS Journal Author Series: Ben Cassese on 2025PSJ.....6..252C
YouTube video by AAS
youtu.be
December 22, 2025 at 1:42 AM
youtu.be/pwhW8q8xGX8
🔭
AAS Journal Author Series: Ben Cassese on 2025PSJ.....6..252C
Ben Cassese (Columbia University, Yale University) chats about his article on a differentiable solar system ephemerides software instrument.
🔭
AAS Journal Author Series: Ben Cassese on 2025PSJ.....6..252C
Ben Cassese (Columbia University, Yale University) chats about his article on a differentiable solar system ephemerides software instrument.
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
Great article about NASA's next planetary defense mission. Planetary defense has a lot of interlocking parts, and all the DARTs we can build won't help if we don't have the Rubin Observatories and NEO Surveyors (and their predecessors and successors) to find problem objects before they find us.
NEW: When she worked at NASA’s JPL, Amy Mainzer used to rack up high scores on the 1979 Atari game ASTEROIDS. Very apt, now she’s in charge of a space mission that will save the world from killer asteroids.
Planet Protector, my new feature for @science.org, is live. www.science.org/content/arti...
Planet Protector, my new feature for @science.org, is live. www.science.org/content/arti...
NASA telescope will hunt down ‘city killer’ asteroids
With an infrared eye, NEO Surveyor will target dangerous space rocks glowing in the dark
www.science.org
December 12, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Great article about NASA's next planetary defense mission. Planetary defense has a lot of interlocking parts, and all the DARTs we can build won't help if we don't have the Rubin Observatories and NEO Surveyors (and their predecessors and successors) to find problem objects before they find us.
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
loath to be too precious about this stuff but I want one lesson of defector to be "you can choose to not do stuff that sucks" even if "doing stuff that sucks" is the default
December 11, 2025 at 9:27 PM
loath to be too precious about this stuff but I want one lesson of defector to be "you can choose to not do stuff that sucks" even if "doing stuff that sucks" is the default
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
⭐️✨🔭Please help us get the message out about the 7th annual international ASPIRE program at @api.uva.nl. This summer 2026 school provides astronomy research experience for talented MSc students from countries where opportunities to move into a PhD program are limited. Applications are due 17 Dec! ⭐️✨🔭
ASPIRE
aspire.science.uva.nl
December 11, 2025 at 1:21 PM
⭐️✨🔭Please help us get the message out about the 7th annual international ASPIRE program at @api.uva.nl. This summer 2026 school provides astronomy research experience for talented MSc students from countries where opportunities to move into a PhD program are limited. Applications are due 17 Dec! ⭐️✨🔭
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
The thing about AI anime dubs and AI Actor Tilly Norwood and AI music is just the fucking disrespect, this is what your industry thinks can replace you and it’s not even good. It’s not even a thing you look at with dread at how the computer has replaced Man, it just sucks ass lol it just blows
November 30, 2025 at 5:44 AM
The thing about AI anime dubs and AI Actor Tilly Norwood and AI music is just the fucking disrespect, this is what your industry thinks can replace you and it’s not even good. It’s not even a thing you look at with dread at how the computer has replaced Man, it just sucks ass lol it just blows
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
Big news: Defector is looking to hire editorial interns for the summer of 2026. That could be you! More info here: defector.com/would-you-li...
Would You Like To Be Defector’s Sixth-Ever Editorial Intern? | Defector
Big news: Defector is looking to hire editorial interns for the summer of 2026. Wow! That could be you! How could it be you? I am here to answer that question, and many more. What will a Defector…
defector.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Big news: Defector is looking to hire editorial interns for the summer of 2026. That could be you! More info here: defector.com/would-you-li...
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
Munazza Alam, Asst Astronomer at @stsci.edu is among this year's "50 under 50" alumni award winners from @cuny.edu - great work! 🔭https://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/communications-marketing/alumni-network/50under50/munazza-alam/
Munazza Alam – The City University of New York
26 Colleges. One University.
www.cuny.edu
November 21, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Munazza Alam, Asst Astronomer at @stsci.edu is among this year's "50 under 50" alumni award winners from @cuny.edu - great work! 🔭https://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/communications-marketing/alumni-network/50under50/munazza-alam/
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
Reflections on five years in worker-owned media: defector.com/reflections-...
Reflections On Five Years In Worker-Owned Media | Defector
As I finally got to work on writing Defector’s fifth Annual Report, I found myself noodling on some broader thoughts about the worker-owned media landscape. Tom said some sections would work as a…
defector.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Reflections on five years in worker-owned media: defector.com/reflections-...
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
Some folks said we were too harsh in our episodes on on John Forester and Vehicular Cycling. This amazing video from Not Just Bikes suggests we weren’t harsh enough.
I'm a longtime fan of Not Just Bikes, but his 95(!) minute video on John Forester and Vehicular Cycling is truly his magnum opus.
If you are even remotely interested in the history of bicycling in America, it is worth a watch.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRPd...
If you are even remotely interested in the history of bicycling in America, it is worth a watch.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRPd...
This is Why Cycling is Dangerous in America
YouTube video by Not Just Bikes
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Some folks said we were too harsh in our episodes on on John Forester and Vehicular Cycling. This amazing video from Not Just Bikes suggests we weren’t harsh enough.
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
Excited to attend the @astrosociety.org gala tonight & receive the Nancy Grace Roman Award! I read about her life & career on my way here. Did you know she was responsible for making NASA data archives public so that everyone could benefit, not just PIs? Such an amazing impact on our field. 🔭
November 9, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Excited to attend the @astrosociety.org gala tonight & receive the Nancy Grace Roman Award! I read about her life & career on my way here. Did you know she was responsible for making NASA data archives public so that everyone could benefit, not just PIs? Such an amazing impact on our field. 🔭
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
#Astronomers
Let #ADSabs know how they are doing
They value your feedback. However, they are making most improvements to #SciX so let them know if you have tried that as well
ADS User Survey
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
@scixcommunity.bsky.social #planetaryscience 🔭#heliophysics
Let #ADSabs know how they are doing
They value your feedback. However, they are making most improvements to #SciX so let them know if you have tried that as well
ADS User Survey
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
@scixcommunity.bsky.social #planetaryscience 🔭#heliophysics
Astrophysics Data System (ADS) User Feedback Survey
Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback on the Astrophysics Data System (ADS) digital library. Your insights will help us improve the platform and better serve the scientific community. All ...
docs.google.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:01 PM
#Astronomers
Let #ADSabs know how they are doing
They value your feedback. However, they are making most improvements to #SciX so let them know if you have tried that as well
ADS User Survey
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
@scixcommunity.bsky.social #planetaryscience 🔭#heliophysics
Let #ADSabs know how they are doing
They value your feedback. However, they are making most improvements to #SciX so let them know if you have tried that as well
ADS User Survey
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
@scixcommunity.bsky.social #planetaryscience 🔭#heliophysics
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
Warning. ⚠️ If you are writing an NSF GRFP, new this year, you need official transcripts to apply. Beware. They will not review applications without official transcripts. ‼️
November 4, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Warning. ⚠️ If you are writing an NSF GRFP, new this year, you need official transcripts to apply. Beware. They will not review applications without official transcripts. ‼️
Reposted by Peter K. G. Williams
arXiv, a preprint publication for academic research that has become particularly important for AI research, has announced it will no longer accept computer science articles and papers that haven’t been vetted by an academic journal or a conference. Why?
A tide of AI slop.
A tide of AI slop.
arXiv Changes Rules After Getting Spammed With AI-Generated 'Research' Papers
Cornell University’s academic paper repository will no longer accept Computer Science papers still under review.
www.404media.co
November 3, 2025 at 4:49 PM
arXiv, a preprint publication for academic research that has become particularly important for AI research, has announced it will no longer accept computer science articles and papers that haven’t been vetted by an academic journal or a conference. Why?
A tide of AI slop.
A tide of AI slop.