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Rebecca Oppenheimer

@roppenhe.bsky.social

Astrophysicist, Writer, Degenerate beccasubstellar.com or rebeccaoppenheimer.com

536 Followers  |  23 Following  |  40 Posts  |  Joined: 24.09.2025  |  2.0514

Latest posts by roppenhe.bsky.social on Bluesky


A lot of it involves Palomar, of course. πŸ˜‰

12.02.2026 07:54 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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I am delighted to share this announcement of my debut novel!

11.02.2026 19:31 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Well, my dear, you don't think that there is anything static in the universe, do you? Even the climate rotates. Everything moves, nothing remains the same, including your neighborhood. Let it all change and spin.

19.10.2025 09:20 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ˜‚

19.10.2025 08:34 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

And now for something completely different: For the best time call +1-303-499-7111

it's best to call at the top of the hour, but anytime works.

18.10.2025 10:30 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Bluesky Moderation Team
6:15β€―AM (8 minutes ago)
to me

Hi there,

Thank you for getting back. We appreciate your immediate response to this matter.

Recently, we applied a label to a Bluesky account you control (@roppenhe.bsky.social) for violations of our guidelines. After a thorough review, we found out that the action applied to your account was incorrect. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Consequently, we are revising our initial decision and have removed the label on your account.

Thank you for doing your part to keep Bluesky a welcoming and empowering place for all users.

Bluesky Moderation Team 6:15β€―AM (8 minutes ago) to me Hi there, Thank you for getting back. We appreciate your immediate response to this matter. Recently, we applied a label to a Bluesky account you control (@roppenhe.bsky.social) for violations of our guidelines. After a thorough review, we found out that the action applied to your account was incorrect. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Consequently, we are revising our initial decision and have removed the label on your account. Thank you for doing your part to keep Bluesky a welcoming and empowering place for all users.

They just removed it, with no explanation.

18.10.2025 10:24 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Except then they told me to post anything on twitter to validate my identity. This is either an elaborate scam or something worse.

18.10.2025 09:55 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Thanks @davidho.bsky.social. There is something clearly dysfunctional about this platform. I posted something too. They throw libel at me and I am going to sue, and sue big time.

18.10.2025 09:11 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
A stamp from 1948 depicting Palomar Observatory

A stamp from 1948 depicting Palomar Observatory

One of the best stamps ever from the USPS. Thank you, @uspostal.bsky.social and @apwu.bsky.social

08.10.2025 09:02 β€” πŸ‘ 19    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Defenestration is occasionally useful, one might suppose. I'd never conduct such behavior except in self defense.

08.10.2025 08:55 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Well, a nice manicure.

08.10.2025 08:52 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
US stamps with astrophysics theme

US stamps with astrophysics theme

US stamps with astrophysics theme

US stamps with astrophysics theme

I love stamps and the USPS. Here are two new examples of expedited or same day delivery stamps that feature astrophysics. These I got recently to move physical items swiftly through the mail, and the mail is one of the most fabulous things we have in the US.

08.10.2025 08:45 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Enormous dark storm front arriving in the city

Enormous dark storm front arriving in the city

This is a real storm. I love storms. It's the storms, not the harsh Sun, that create life.

08.10.2025 08:16 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

That's it. A poster at the conference I mentioned. πŸ™‚

28.09.2025 22:07 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

He is clean.

28.09.2025 10:27 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

This is great, thank you. It also confirms what I wrote, although in substantially more detail. Part of this I knew but thank you for providing more context. Fantastic! Thank you.

28.09.2025 09:33 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

It wasn't really a clean room. As you can see, the instrument is sealed up.

28.09.2025 08:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Dog poster about astronomical observations

Dog poster about astronomical observations

Here is the poster that Paco presented about what it is like to be an astrodog, Chapter IV. He presented it in the front of the room at a conference in Delaware some years ago.
The Brown Dwarf-Exoplanet Connection Conference (BDExoCon) at the University of Delaware, Newark, October 2019.

28.09.2025 08:41 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
Paco, the astrodog on top of Parvi, an astronomical instrument in use at Palomar

Paco, the astrodog on top of Parvi, an astronomical instrument in use at Palomar

Here is Paco, guarding PARVI, an instrument my team and I deployed and have now automated to understand what our solar system might look like from ~30 light years away. Paco is gone now, but he had true pride as our spokesdog for two projects. He had a paper published and went to Palomar 10 times.

28.09.2025 08:12 β€” πŸ‘ 63    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

The pair are so far away that they likely aren't much influenced in that manner, but we have no idea how such a complex system formed. It's wonderfully fascinating!

26.09.2025 07:15 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

These days pixels are rather ordinary, but perhaps not Ordinary.

26.09.2025 07:13 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Do you have a reference for that? I'd love to read it.

26.09.2025 07:09 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Very helpful! Thank you. @davidho.bsky.social also told me I should to this.

26.09.2025 07:08 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

So she'd be a Jarutechi?

26.09.2025 07:06 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

We certainly can. The technology now is so far superior to the imaginings of the early zoning laws.

26.09.2025 06:39 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Normalize this to population. In 1914 when the first zoning laws in the world came into effect in Manhattan, more than 2 million people lived below 14th street. These data need context. Manhattan is only about 1.6M now. It should be well over 55M as the 1914 law suggested and imagined for the future

26.09.2025 06:38 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I am an amateur urbanist and futurist, but these numbers need to be normalized to the population. 50,000 new apartments or huts in outer boroughs is about 0.5% growth per capita. In a city where the occupancy rate is well over 99.5%, hundreds of times this level of development is needed. Up not out!

26.09.2025 06:30 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Thank you. As you can tell, I'm a newbie at bluesky.

25.09.2025 21:13 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Haha, that's a great story!

25.09.2025 21:13 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Have you ever thought about the origin of the word pixel? In footnote 114 or so of my book, minor changes to come, before I get it out there, you might find something like this, well, fun! Let this post be a teaser.

25.09.2025 08:44 β€” πŸ‘ 53    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 0

@roppenhe is following 20 prominent accounts