#PlanSci
LightNews LightNews
beamjockey.bsky.social
Oops, should I have tagged this send-your-name-to-Titan post #PlanetSci rather than #PlanSci?
beamjockey.bsky.social Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 5d
Just announced: "Journey to Titan"

Submit your name, and NASA will engrave it, in tiny print, on a chip—then send it to Titan with the #Dragonfly whirlybird!

Hat tip to @planetdr.bsky.social for letting us know.

🐉🪰🚁🟠
#NASASolarSystem #PlanSci 🔭
NASA Events
my.nasa.gov
October 29, 2026 at 8:16 PM
beamjockey.bsky.social
Just announced: "Journey to Titan"

Submit your name, and NASA will engrave it, in tiny print, on a chip—then send it to Titan with the #Dragonfly whirlybird!

Hat tip to @planetdr.bsky.social for letting us know.

🐉🪰🚁🟠
#NASASolarSystem #PlanSci 🔭
NASA Events
my.nasa.gov
October 29, 2026 at 7:15 PM
abioticstress.bsky.social
Publishing new work on #AbioticStress in plants?🌱

Tag us in your posts and we may repost your work to help it reach the #PlantScience community

#PlanSci @jipb.bsky.social @jxbotany.bsky.social @plant-sci.bsky.social @planteditors.bsky.social @annbot.bsky.social @jcb.org @plantbiotechj.bsky.social
Publishing new work on #AbioticStress in plants?🌱 Tag us in your posts, and we may repost your work to help it reach the #PlantScience community
July 29, 2026 at 11:32 AM
beamjockey.bsky.social
Soon to hit the Moon:
A Falcoon,
Launched by that tycoon,
You know—Eloon.

Will the ejecta plume from the coming Falcon 9 upper stage impact, on 5 August, be visible to telescopes on Earth?

Read this.

And stay tuned!

🚀+🌛=💥!

🔭🧪 #PlanSci
krxiv-astro-ph.bsky.social arXiv bot (astro-ph) @krxiv-astro-ph.bsky.social · Jul 28
Predicted Ejecta Dynamics and Observability of the 2026 Falcon 9 Upper Stage Lunar Impact
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.23904
William Jo, David B. Goldstein, Philip L. Varghese, Laurence M. Trafton, Jordan K. Steckloff, Arnaud Mahieux.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.23904
arXiv abstract link
arxiv.org
July 28, 2026 at 6:43 PM
beamjockey.bsky.social
#Chicago area folks interested in #PlanetaryScience, #spacecraft, or a very exotic #helicopter may consider attending my talk next Saturday on the #Dragonfly mission to #Titan.

🔭 #plansci #Chicagoland
beamjockey.bsky.social Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · Jul 20
I'm giving a talk Saturday—

A Whirlybird for Titan: NASA's Dragonfly Mission

The Chicago Astronomical Society has invited me Sat, 25 July, 6 PM, at the Cernan Earth & Space Center, 2000 5th Ave, River Grove IL.

NASA plans to send an octocopter drone to explore Saturn's largest moon in 2028.
Artist's conception of Titan, a scene resembling a desert with dunes in the distance. A strange rotorcraft is taking off to explore a new location. It has eight rotors, mounted in pairs on four arms extended from its rectangular fuselage. Its landing gear are skids. This is Dragonfly, an octocopter now being built for NASA by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. Image from NASA & JHUAPL.
July 23, 2026 at 7:32 PM
beamjockey.bsky.social
I’d like to say “This joke never gets old,“ but I admit that anyone who’s heard it more than once might not agree.

#PlanSci
February 13, 2026 at 3:22 AM
beamjockey.bsky.social
It always makes me think of a certain tune;
I begin singing to myself
“I’m out with the Oort Cloud…”

(But, sadly, I have never been able to expand this line into a complete filksong.)

#plansci 🔭
Dobie Gray - The In Crowd (Shindig)
YouTube video by John1948FourA
youtu.be
August 28, 2025 at 6:08 PM
beamjockey.bsky.social
Asteroid encounter!

Lucy is 27,000 km from Donaldjohanson, which is currently between 25 & 42 pixels across in it’s camera’s field of vew as I quote-tweet this.

#plansci 🔭
spacemarschall.net Dr. Raphael Marschall @spacemarschall.net · Apr 20
ONE hour to the closest approach of Lucy with #asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson [DJ].

↔️ current distance to DJ: 48 thousand km
☀️ current phase angle: 13.41°
🪨 estimated size of DJ on L'LORRI camera: 12-21 pixels

▶️ www.whereIsLucy.space
The image presents a dark background dominated by a series of concentric circles representing distances in thousands of kilometers (km). These circles are subtly colored in shades of teal/blue. A bright white line cuts across these circles diagonally, representing the path or trajectory of the Lucy spacecraft. A small green dot marks the "point of closest approach" of the Lucy with asteroid Donaldjohanson. At the top right, a light gray line shows the trajectory of asteroid Donaldjohanson (DJ). At the top left, text indicates the "Encounter Mode" with a small red dot possibly showing "live updates." Further text displays the name of the asteroid (Donaldjohanson), data about the encounter, including the date and time, the distance, and the phase angle. A rectangular box in the lower right contains additional information about the observation, specifically the field of view of the L'LORRI instrument and the apparent size of the object in pixels. The box also clarifies that the object's shape and exact size are not precisely known, providing an estimated diameter of 3-5 km, citing a source ("Masiero et al. 2011").
April 20, 2025 at 5:23 PM