James Tuttle Keane

A black t-shirt featuring a digital painting of Avery Brooks as Benny Russell during his breakdown scene in DS9 "Far Beyond the Stars." Overlaid with the quote "calm never got me a damn thing." Behind him is a starscape and the Bajoran Wormhole, and the station and a shuttlecraft are orbiting his head.

I'm tired of being calm.
T-shirts and stickers are available at willburrows.art/shop

HAHahahaha oh I need that this morning

ISRO successfully launched and deployed NISAR in its intended orbit with a precision of ~2km to its desired placement.

Hey #SDCC - look west tonight! Falcon 9 launch w/ Starlink out of Vandenberg at 8:55pm

Second Star to the Right: Essays on Leadership in Star Trek Discover 'Second Star to the Right,' exploring how Star Trek inspires leadership lessons for diverse academic and professional fields.

Now on sale! "Second Star to the Right: Essays on Leadership in Star Trek" explores how Star Trek inspires leadership lessons for diverse academic and professional fields.

I wrote Chapter 5—it's my mentoring philosophy told through the lens of Star Trek: Lower Decks.

In our now-published paper we model the early history of three exoplanets to specifically study the role of tidal heating on their capacity to solidify. A physically robust feedback mechanism can keep them molten, even with relatively thin atmospheres, which may extend to lots of rocky exoplanets.

We can’t even get everyone to read the syllabus 😭

A photograph of a sketch in my notebook where I summarize a talk by Alan Stern and Orkan Umurhan. on the left is a sketch of Pluto centered on Sputnik Planitia. I highlight the northern part of Sputnik Benicia, where there are some darkened streaks amongst the convective swirls of the glacier. On the right hand side of the sketch, I zoom in to a cross-section of this portion of the glacier. In the side profile, you can see a thick, nitrogen ice glacier, shown mostly in grays, overlying a water-rich icy crust, shown in red. They hypothesis that the bottom of the glacier is melting, producing effectively liquid nitrogen. Unlike basal melt in a terrestrial glacier (water) which stays confined to the bottom of the glacier, basal melt in a nitrogen ice glacier would be buoyant and rise through the glacier to the surface. I show that here with some blue coloring: I show a layer of blue at the bottom of the glacier, and then a upwelling that goes towards the surface. At the surface of the cross-section, I show the surface of Sputnik, including a convective cell that is bordered by a trough. The upwelling melt reaches the surface first at the trough, fills in the topographic low, and darken it. in a text box to the side, I explain their hypothesis. They believe that this region of Sputnik is sublimating away. As the glacier thins, it reduces stress on the ice, promoting the growth of larger grain sizes. Larger green sizes, inhibit convection, and make it harder for the glacier to lose heat. Thus the bottom of the glacier can get warmer and melt.

Alan Stern & Orkan Umurhan—there are unusual dark streaks and swirls in the northern part of Sputnik Planitia (the giant nitrogen-ice glacier that makes up part of Pluto’s heart). They propose that this is the consequence of melt (liquid nitrogen) rising from the base of the glacier! #Pluto10

A photograph of a sketch in my notebook, done for the T +10 years Pluto workshop that was held last week at APL. The sketch shows the number 10 drawn out in a very modern font. At the top of the one is the new horizon spacecraft, glistening in gold. The number one is almost a trail left behind the spacecraft, drawn in a blue gradient. Inside of the zero is a sketch of Pluto itself, centered on the encounter hemisphere, and Sputnik Planitia. Pluto is in shades of red, brown, yellow, and gray. Beneath the large number 10 is the title of the conference, “progress and understanding the Pluto system: 10 years after flyby.“ I’ve also drawn some colorful rainbow “swooshes” behind the graphics. The entire drawing is maybe 6 inches across, as you can see the pen just next to the notebook for scale.

10 years ago, the New Horizons mission flew past Pluto. That world, that mission, and the team of people that made it happen—changed my life.

Last week was the #Pluto10 workshop. It was amazing to see all of the continuing science from Pluto!

Fun night at the Alf!

An artist rendering of a dinosaur looking to the stars, with the text: MOMENTS OF TIME THE DINOSAUR ASTRONOMER & HOW THE NIGHT SKY HAS CHANGED OVER TIME FEATURING DR. JAMES TUTTLE KEANE PLANETARY SCIENTIST JET PROPULSION LABORATORY FRIDAY, JULY 18 | 7:00 PM Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology

A photo of me with the text: DR. JAMES TUTTLE KEANE Planetary Scientist Jet Propulsion Laboratory Dr. James Tuttle Keane is a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dr. Keane studies the interactions between orbital dynamics, rotational dynamics, and geologic processes on rocky and icy worlds across the solar system. Dr. Keane has extensive experience with NASA missions, including the GRAIL lunar orbiter, the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper belt, and the Juno mission to Jupiter. Dr. Keane was recently awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Asteroid (36773) Tuttlekeane is named in his honor. Dr. Keane is from Cedar Rapids, lowa, has degrees in astronomy and geology from the University of Maryland, and a doctorate from the University of Arizona.

Talking at the Alf Museum of Paleontology tonight! I’m going to talk about what dinosaurs would’ve seen in the night sky, if they had been astronomers! 🔭🦖

@alfpaleo.bsky.social

NASA Science Mission Design Schools – Explore Programs & Apply | NASA JPL Education Our mission is to provide transformational STEM education experiences and resources that empower teachers and inspire the next generation of explorers.

NASA / JPL Science Mission Design School: www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/internsh...

Sputnik Planitia as an impactor remnant indicative of an ancient rocky mascon in an oceanless Pluto - Nature Astronomy Foreign material delivered as a giant impact can dominate large portions of icy dwarf planets, according to impact simulations. This scenario may explain the peculiar shape and location of the Sputnik...

Ballantyne et al www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I haven’t been posting about it because everything is a dumpster fire but tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of humankind’s closest encounter with Pluto. The past few weeks have been full of memories as various platforms remind us of the lead up to encounter. (1/)

Fake, no. Gay, yes.

Space Exploration Pride Shirts and stickers by the community for the community, celebrating Pride in our solar system!

3 days left to get your space pride shirts/sitckers! www.kickstarter.com/projects/spa...

While normally this is one of my favorite accounts for Independence Day, this year it is causing me undue stress for
a split second every time. This government has absolutely terrorized us.

This Is How China Plans to Win the Race to Return Rocks from Mars Launching in 2028, China’s Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission could bring Red Planet rocks back to Earth as early as 2031—years ahead of competing U.S.-European efforts

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: It's looking increasingly likely that China will win the "Mars sampling" space race, as its Tianwen-3 mission approaches a 2028 launch and a more ambitious U.S.-Euro rival effort flounders. By @andrewjonesspace.bsky.social.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/chin...

be crazy if we just taxed the billionaires and made the things for people instead. imagine if the government was intent on providing for the people. wild.

we worked so hard on this, nights and weekends, trying our best to do a good job for the American people

NASA just won an Emmy for our live broadcast of the total solar eclipse last year. We produced a documentary film about the James Webb Space Telescope that's out in theaters and on Netflix. We have podcasts, we write feature stories. People wear the agency logo on t-shirts. We're still getting cut.

As record heat continues to impact communities across the nation, this is what is in that proposed budget: 🌡️

"With this termination, NOAA will no longer support the National Integrated Heat Health Information System" (aka NIHHIS or heat[dot]gov)

Page 186: www.noaa.gov/sites/defaul...

Reorientation and despinning of 4 Vesta formed the Divalia Fossae The Divalia Fossae are formed by tectonic stresses from reorientation and despinning of Vesta caused by large impacts.

Check out our new paper in Science Advances!
🧪🔭🪐
We show that Vesta’s giant equatorial troughs—Divalia Fossae—likely formed from spin axis reorientation and despinning as a long-term consequence of the two massive impacts near the south poles. 🪨⚒️

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

It’s almost as if saying and actually living leftist policies and principles of coalition building and instead behind milquetoast conservatives actually gets people excited and wins elections. Who would have thought?

US can’t do science anymore because HUD Secretary Scott Turner needs 5 parking spots bsky.app/profile/dang...

I think at least some of you follow because of NASA flavored things. And I am hearing some VERY bad things that are getting memory holed as quickly as they occur.

Not only that, but significant chunks of leadership at NASA Centers have been taking early retirement offers, leaving staff unprotected

JFC

The US was literally the envy of the world, scientifically. Read the thread to see what's being done.

A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. The image focuses on a collection of interacting galaxies connected by delicate streams of stars. At top center lies a large elliptical galaxy that is dense and smooth, like a polished stone glowing with golden light. Like delicate spider silk or stretched taffy, these stellar bridges link the large elliptical to the few larger galaxies beneath, evidence of past collisions. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.

A cosmic tapestry of glowing tan and pink gas clouds with dark dust lanes. In the upper right, the Trifid Nebula resembles a small flower in space. Its soft, pinkish gas petals are surrounded by blue gas, and streaked with dark, finger-like veins of dust that divide it into three parts. It radiates a gentle, misty glow, diffuse and soft like the warmth of breath on a cold hand. To the lower left, the much larger Lagoon Nebula stretches wide like a churning sea of magenta gas, with bright blue, knotted clumps sprinkled throughout where new stars are born. Both nebulae are embedded in a soft tan backdrop of gas that is brighter on the left than on the right, etched with dark tendrils of dust and sprinkled with the pinpricks of millions of stars.

A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. To the lower left is a region filled with the hundreds of golden glittering gems of a distant galaxy cluster. In the foreground, below and right of center, two blue spiral galaxies look like eyes beneath the entangled mass of a triple galaxy merger in the upper right. A few bright blue points of foreground stars pierce the glittering tapestry. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.

Introducing...your sneak peek at the cosmos captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory!

Can you guess these regions of sky?

This is just a small peek...join us at 11am US EDT for your full First Look at how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos! 🔭🧪

#RubinFirstLook
ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream

There is no money for research grants, universal healthcare, universal housing, free college, clean energy, or infrastructure, but there is always unlimited money for endless, pointless wars.