Riley Clarke

Also beyond excited for @vrubinobs.bsky.social dropping the First Look event next week! 🙌🔭👀

Today I defended my Ph.D dissertation, “Atmospheric Refraction as a Tool for Stellar Flare Science in the Rubin LSST Era” (You don’t get to say that everyday!) Happy to say it was successful thanks to my amazing mentors @fedhere.bsky.social and @jradavenport.com.

Thank you! I learned a lot from your work on Evryflare, it was a big source of inspiration 😄

Any graduate student will testify that science doesn’t stop just because the government has illegally kidnapped you.

So sorry to hear that, Jim.

Artist's impression of the exoplanet K2-18b. Credit: A. Smith, University of Cambridge.

𝗡𝗼, 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝟮-𝟭𝟴𝗯'𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲.

K2-18b is back in the news, now with a bold claim that biosignature molecules (DMS and/or DMDS) have been 'detected at 3σ'.

Most exoplanet astronomers are extremely sceptical about these claims, let's see why (1/n).

🔭🧪🪐 #exoplanet

Good for Harvard

Writing a dissertation as a Ph.D student in the US feels kinda weird right now. Like you’re adding a single tile to a mosaic while the entire foundation is crumbling beneath you.

"Although the budget would continue support for ongoing missions such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, it would kill the much-anticipated Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, an observatory seen as on par with those two world-class instruments that is already fully assembled and on budget for a launch in two years."

The president's budget request seeks to strangle astronomy in the US.

The president's hit job specifically seeks to murder the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope – a revolutionary facility that is fully assembled, on budget, and nearly ready to launch. 🧪🔭

arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...

Anti-Trump/Musk protest in Newark, Delaware (pop. 35,000). This is not a very political town. Might be the biggest protest I’ve seen in my six years here.

In a way, it’s a privilege to have a front row seat to watch the decline of the American empire unfold in real time. But it gets less fun when you and your friends and family are subjects of that empire. Pic related.

Lt. Barclay has been permanently banned after he made everyone uncomfortable in the last session.

Some days even spite just isn't enough to keep you carrying on.

It is incredibly, incredibly concerning to see the sudden escalation in attacks directed at judges deciding federal cases about the scope of the administration's power, and the framing of federal judges as "unelected adversaries". These are urgent alarm bells for preserving the rule of law.

Oh damn other countries are intolerant of marginalized people? Good thing we don't do that!

Vera Rubin Was a Pioneering Female Astronomer. Her Federal Bio Now Doesn’t Mention Efforts to Diversify Science. The edits to the webpage offer a glimpse into how far the Trump administration will go in refusing to acknowledge today’s inequalities as it purges federal initiatives promoting diversity, equity and…

NEW: Vera Rubin was a pioneering female astronomer. The federal webpage for an observatory named for her now excludes mention of efforts to diversify science.

“I’m sure Vera would be absolutely furious,” said a co-author of a biography of Rubin.

By @lisalsong.bsky.social

Why some astronomers are excited about the search for alien life : Short Wave Around the turn of the century, 3.8 million people banded together in a real-time search for aliens — with screensavers. It was a big moment in a century-long concerted search for extraterrestrial int...

I listen to @npr.org every day (s/o @kuow.org). Today I'm lucky & proud to be part of a piece talking about SETI and the amazing future of 🔭🧪🎧⭐ with @vrubinobs.bsky.social. Thank you to my friend Regina & the Short Wave team for having me on!

www.npr.org/2025/01/22/1...

This thread is something.

Not only is it just really bad digital practice (like someone with complete inexperience in these things), even looks like actively making #accessibility challenging.

Think about the state of mind one has to be in to go in and make *these* types of changes. So messed up.

YouTube video by James Davenport Automatic wavelength calibration using Dynamic Time Warping: Full Talk

I always try to film and share my conference talks... here is my short talk from #AAS245 about using Dynamic Time Warping to solve wavelength calibrations in astronomical spectra. Paper coming soon!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkQ5... 🔭

Returning home after 6 full days of conferencing, networking, and sciencing - Still one of the best feelings ever.

Just gave my dissertation talk at #aas245! Many thanks to everyone who came and supported me and my mentors @fedhere.bsky.social, and @jradavenport.com. Awesome to see the excitement for early science with @vrubinobs.bsky.social!

And big thanks to @startorialist.com for assisting with the fit!

Today at #aas245, @vrubinobs.bsky.social gave the world the first glimpse of their data.
Tomorrow the Gaia survey will end.

We are watching astronomical history unfold in real time!

TIL the name of Jupyter Notebooks comes from the three core supported languages: Julia, Python, and R.

AAS245 Day -1: Learning Julia for the first time!

#AAS245

An M dwarf star with the text: "I am not a toy. I am not a Christmas present. I am a 10 trillion year commitment"

Think twice before gifting someone an M dwarf this holiday season

Grim topic but very recommended. Knowing the details of how fascist movements took root and gained power is so important if we want to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Feeling like I'm in a spy thriller as I say the secret passphrase that the customer service technician gave me to bypass their own automated system and be directed to a real agent after being connected to a different department.

"It has promulgated an ever-shifting array of rebarbative neologisms [...]"

One of the most eye-rolling sentences I've ever read.

"Is this a pigeon" meme with character labeled "astronomer" asking "is this a professional network?" to the bluesky logo

I will be shamelessly reposting my old tweets. 🔭