Heidi B. Hammel

I’ll be at #EPSC-DPS the latter part of the week

Just saw the blooming Corpse Flower at the US Botanic Garden in Washington DC - the smell had mostly dissipated (thank goodness)

what a week for our future✨ #HWO25
🧵coming soon🔭🧪☄️
@mmacgreg.bsky.social @hbhammel.bsky.social @bmacastro.bsky.social @dawngelino.bsky.social
@aussiastronomer.bsky.social @stsci.edu @aura-astronomy.bsky.social @justtheletteru.bsky.social @vividreams.bsky.social @leefeinberg.bsky.social +500 others

Click-thru page screen capped Image of iridescent eye on peacock feather with article title "Peacock feathers can emit laser beams" which sounds really fun tbh

Good news, everyone

Next we have Taro Matsuo speaking about the green sea hypothesis - the coevolution of Earth and life. The colour of the Earth is driven by the atmosphere but also the ocean. Cyanobacteria, the first organisms to use oxygen photosynthesis, used a range of pigments rather than chlorophyll. Why? #HWO25

For the record, I am confident that if we imagined that your car had enough onboard delta-v capability, we could calculate a trajectory for it to intercept 3I/ATLAS.

That does not mean that it's worth writing a non-peer-reviewed paper about it, though, let alone hyping that paper.

Now we have John Noonan talking about small body science with HWO. In the solar system we hypothesise that Jupiter’s formation divided the inner and outer solar system asteroid populations, but some observations seem to contradict this. Can HWO test hypotheses? #HWO25

Holler: moving target tracking is a key need for TNO characterization with HWO. #HWO25

Now we have Bryan Holler on characterizing physical properties and binarity of trans-Neptunian objects with HWO. These small bodies orbit beyond Neptune, currently over 5000 known. They are made of rock and ice. #HWO25

Now we have Richard Cartwright talking about assessing ocean world habitability (eg Enceladus) with HWO. These are subsurface ocean worlds - global saline oceans at depth are sustained by tidal heating or radiogenic heat. #HWO25

UK gets first female Astronomer Royal in 350 years Prof Michele Dougherty is the first woman to be appointed to the influential post.

Big day for the matriarchy! 🥳 Huge congrats to the awesome Prof. Doughtery, lead on the Jupiter-bound ESA JUICE mission & STFC Exec Chair.

If anyone's confused on the astro royal hierarchy: Michele and I are the astro equivalents of 🇬🇧Westminster and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Holyrood 🤗

ℹ️: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 👩‍🔬🔭🧪

Be safe all who are threatened with tsunamis all around the globe, from Japan to the western coast of the US

Be careful my friends in Hawaii!!!

Solar system panel time - panelists Laura Mayorga, Geronimo Villanueva, Shingo Kameda, Cristina Thomas and Kurt Retherford, chaired by Heidi Hammel. First question: why do we need to use space telescopes to look at the solar system? Monitoring of objects is key, e.g. following up flybys. #HWO25

Lee Feinberg - principal architect for the Habitable Worlds Observatory - discusses various options for the telescope 🔭 and the possible rockets 🚀 that will launch it at #HWO25

Jessie Christiansen provides historical and scientific context for exoplanet studies “the ‘Neptunes’ are the primary test bed for testing algorithms and tools for exoplanet research” 🔭

Dr. Giada Arney kicks off the Habitable Worlds Observatory science and technology conference in Washington DC 🔭 with a great talk about habitability writ large

LOL no

Skymind: ever seen the Nazca lines in Peru? If so, any specific personal recommendations on how to best experience them?

I feel like if the Epstein stuff continues the US will end up releasing alien videos from Area 51 as a distraction

Decoy laptop

No cheating. Post the last pic of your pet. Image shows a ginger cat, relaxing in a green-edged basket that has cat-ear trim, on a hardwood floor. The cat’s name is Metatron.

No cheating. Post the last pic of your pet.

Dr. Gammel has done many things that I've never done, like worked at the "Institute for Space Studies" and "member of the team responsible for sending the Galileo spacecraft into space". 🤯 I really need to up my game if I am going to ever surpass her.

that's amazing! maybe some day I will meet her and ask for an autograph or something 🤪

Women Astronomers Day / August 1, 2025 Women Astronomers Day is observed on August 1 to highlight the contributions of women to the science of astronomy

Well, I *almost* made it onto the list of "women who made significant contributions to astronomy" in this description of "Women Astronomers Day" (1 August) - but was apparently overlooked in favor of the famed astronomer Heidi Gammel . . . 😂 anydayguide.com/calendar/5518 🔭

The Hubble telescope zooms in on the galaxy next door. Explore it like never before. A decade of observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has produced the sharpest and most detailed images of the Andromeda galaxy. Zoom in and explore.

Lovely interactive using the Hubble Space Telescope to explore the Andromeda Galaxy ❤🚀🔭 www.washingtonpost.com/science/inte...

UH Researchers Help Solve Uranus Heat Mystery A new study led by University of Houston researchers, in collaboration with planetary scientists worldwide, suggests Uranus does have its own internal heat. This advance that not only informs NASA’s f...

Uranus is hot. And I'm not just saying that because it is one of my fave planets despite its unfortunate name. uh.edu/news-events/...

A ginger cat sits in a green-edged basket, near a green-patterned rug, on hardwood flooring. The cat is clearly fed up with the photographer's misplaced priorities, and just wants her to get on with preparing said cat's dinner.

Metatron last night: "YES, I like my new basket. Now stop taking pix and go rustle me up some supper."

Our Sun continues to rage

Deadline for this workshop is Friday - hope that my fellow Solar System explorers are getting a piece of this action! Maven wrote the book on this for Mars; the Voyagers, Galileo, and Cassini surely learned about this for outer planets; and so much more. 🚀 🔭 🪐 www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...