Austin

What an extraordinarily beautiful photo.

A partial view of the Detroit Observatory in Ann Arbor Michigan at dusk. The observatory is in the early shade of the earth, while the sky remains a brighter blue. Wispy, illuminated clouds stretch across the lower frame of sky and reflect pink violet and orange with the last sunlight. A few lights seen through the observatory windows. Observing is afoot.

Dusk over the observatory

Beto O'Rourke went on PBS and said the US has to stop being complicit in the bombing of Palestine

It's really that simple, folks

Early visions of Mars: Meet the 19th-century astronomer who used science fiction to imagine the red planet In the 19th century, astronomers could see Mars through telescopes, but not clearly. Some used their imaginations to fill in what the blurry images couldn’t convey.

"[I]magining a future on #Mars is as much about understanding ourselves & our societal aspirations as it is about developing the technologies to take us there."

Today's #histSTM read-@mattshindell.bsky.social's @us.theconversation.com essay on Camille Flammarion's views of the Red Planet #astronomy

Sometimes I start at the end of the album so I get that right off the bat. Love that album so deeply.

What would this look like for UMich?

Overall, UM gets very little of its budget from the State, but the College of LSA, gets ~30% of our budget from the state & our students are ~40% in-state.

Maintaining standards with these cuts would mean huge in-state tuition hikes or far lower in-state admits

Absolutely fantastic news

Honestly the whole “white men need coddling” thing is deeply insulting and demeaning to white men. Like they’re saying you guys can’t hack it on your own. You guys should be pissed at the insinuation

A page from Dürer's maths book showing the construction of polygons in a circle

Dürer's star map of the Northern Hemisphere

The Renaissance artist, Albrecht Dürer authored a maths book & illustrated the first printed star maps in the west, was born 21 May 1571 #histsci
thonyc.wordpress.com/2011/05/21/a...
thonyc.wordpress.com/2015/09/23/r...

Person in graduation gown and cap looking up at dome of observatory.

Very proud of our graduating student staff at the observatory (this term and all before). A couple students very kindly asked me to photograph them. I got quite a few good ones that I’m very proud of! Some will show up on the Bentley IG, but here’s one of my favorites that’s somewhat anonymous.

But it's not genocide, right?

Policy Notice: Implementation of Standard 15% Indirect Cost Rate

In addition to the funding freeze, NSF just announced that, as of May 5, all grants to Universities will have a uniform indirect cost rate of 15%, following similar moves by NIH and DOE that are now being litigated in court and subject to TROs (I believe).

www.nsf.gov/policies/doc...

These photos were taken approximately 12:07 CEST so pretty close to local noon! This was in early October, so not far after equinox. Of all the things I carefully planned and timed throughout this trip, this was actually the most happenstance so we were quite lucky!

Visited this site during a conference trip for the Alliance of Historic Observatories at the Vatican Observatory. Weather was nice and we got to see the Sun’s image cross the meridian. It was somewhat obscured by restoration work, but was wonderful to see.

Future of Herstmonceux Observatory looks secure after 'agreement' The owners of Herstmonceux Observatory say they have agreed to extend its lease beyond 2026.

Looks like pressure on Queen's University about the future of the historic telescopes and domes at Herstmonceux (former site of the Royal Greenwich Observatory) may have paid off 🤞 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #histsci

In defense of our institutional independence This University is a proud public university that belongs to all of us and generations to follow. It is a place to test ideas, shape futures and pursue, not prescribe, truth.

This could be a great statement except that two of these regents threatened to defund DEI in the press even before Trump took office and this op-Ed doesn’t answer:

Are you reinstating the staff who were fired?
Are you signing the Mutual Defense Compact?
Are you dropping charges against students?

It is not a “DEI” rollback it is the resegregation of American universities. Headline writers could at least be honest about this.

Join members of the University of Michigan community to march in support of reinstating DEI work on Tuesday, April 22nd, at 5 pm at the U-M Diag.

Hope to see you there!
#WeareDEI

The Human Resources department abruptly fired a woman who worked in LSA’s International Institute as a much-valued full-time Program Specialist. HR did not consult with anybody in the International Institute or at LSA on the matter.

On May 3rd, 2024 University police forcibly cleared student protesters who had sought to speak with the Regents. At the time, the young woman was enrolled as a student here at the University of Michigan, graduating in May 2024. The International Institute hired her on October 14, 2025. While the state prosecutor declined to press any charges against any of the students involved, the University charged the staff member and five current students with violating the SPG regarding Violence on Campus on April 7, 2025—more than 11 months after the event in question, and after she graduated!

The International Institute reports that the Program Specialist position had been very difficult to fill, and that the staff member who was hired had been an outstanding employee. The Institute anticipates that they will not be able to continue their normal functions given HR’s unilateral decision.

We urge you to please join faculty this Tuesday, April 15, at 12pm at the LSA Building Atrium for a work-in to show that we refuse to accept workplace retaliation and to demand that this full-time staff member be reinstated. Bring your work (whether you are faculty, staff, student, or community member) and reach out to your circles to demonstrate our solidarity.

another politically motivated firing at @umich.edu

my kingdom for politicians who play where the ball is going to be instead of where it is or was last cycle

I’m sorry for your loss, Sean.

ACLU-Michigan.

yup

Losers and worst.

What an embarrassing display of cowardice.

NEW: The University of Michigan will end its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives campus wide, the president said in an email

“Watch how they’re voting”

—MI Senator Elissa Slotkin

And also how they’re not voting. Like Slotkin no-showing on a vote to protect trans rights yesterday.

GRZF 2025 will be on August 16th at Fountain Street Church from 12-6!

I’m so sorry, Danny. This all incredibly sucks so bad.

I’ll be honest, there is some slight manipulation on my part to bring out some of the stars and I’m not confident I found all of them to be accurate of what was there. I was using a cheap manual lens and did not take an exposure that was in focus for the background. But I like the image.

The Fitz refractor just barely visible through the dome slit of the small observatory dome made 170 years ago. Incandescent yellow orange light illuminating the inside of the building. The western night sky of fall is slightly detailed by a few stars.

The Detroit Observatory in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2023. I want to say that we were calibrating the clock drive that guides the telescope along sidereal.