Post - Phil Plait (@philplait)

background image
PP

Phil Plait

@philplait

Astronomer, etc

Colorado

I like the Universe

87 Posts

  1. I’m leaving Substack, An incredible photo of a comet and the Horsehead

    January 25, 2024 Issue #674 About this newsletter Ooo, meta If all goes well today and tomorrow, this will be the last Bad Astronomy Newsletter issue I’ll be sending via Substack. < tl;dr : No action is required on your part; just sit back and relax and the BANs will continue to be s
  2. Brown dwarfs: How do they form, and how far away can we see them?

    January 22, 2024 Issue #672 About this newsletter Ooo, meta As y’all may know, after Substack went all-in on keeping Nazis on the platform , I have been considering my options. I’m in the process of moving this newsletter now, and hopefully will have it done in a few days. I want t
  3. The color of Uranus. Fine, and Neptune, too

    January 15, 2024 Issue #669 Pic o’ the Letter A cool or lovely or mind-bending astronomical image/video with a description so you can grok it Colors can tell you a lot about an astronomical object. Turns out, they can tell us about ourselves, too. For example, Uranus is well known
  4. Well, that’s everything

    January 8, 2024 Issue #666 About this newsletter Ooo, meta Wow, Issue 666! Quite a kilometerstone. You know what this means, right? When you’re 2/3rds of the way through reading this, you’ll be 2/3rds of the way to reading 1,000 issues! Assuming you’ve read the previous 665. Get t
  5. Happy 2024! A bit of resolve, and a meatier shower

    January 1, 2024 Issue #663 Subscribers complete my orbit Personal Stuff Because I’m a person Happy New Year! So 2023 kinda sucked in a lot of ways, what with politics and Nazis and global warming setting records and an ongoing pandemic being ignored and and and. But there were good
  6. Talking climate with relatives, the December solstice, and a pretty galaxy

    December 25, 2023 Issue #660 Is it hot in here, or is it just anthropogenic global warming? Climate change is real, y’all This season means getting together with family and friends, and for a lot of us that means arguing over politics. I know, it’s a cliché, but it does happen, an
  7. Why are some planets shrinking?

    December 21, 2023 Issue #659 Astro Tidbit A brief synopsis of some interesting astronomy/science news Happy December solstice! Well, in a few hours. At 10:27 p.m. Eastern (US) time tonight (03:27 UTC technically on the 22nd) the Sun will reach its southernmost declination in the sk
  8. A deeper look at Uranus (with JWST)

    December 19, 2023 Issue #658 Pic o’ the Letter A cool or lovely or mind-bending astronomical image/video with a description so you can grok it In April 2023 astronomers released a nifty image of Uranus taken with JWST . Now, a new version of it has been released adding in some new
  9. Under Italian Skies, The Comet and the Galaxy Trio

    December 18, 2023 Issue #657 Subscribers mi rendono felice (I think; I used Google translate) My book This is about Under Alien Skies , isn’t it? Yes. Yes it is. I am very pleased to announce my book, Under Alien Skies , is now available in Italian! Sotto Cieli Alieni is through Boll
  10. Substackers Against Nazis

    December 14, 2023 Issue #656 I was an early adopter of Substack, and have been writing this newsletter since April, 2018, or over 5.5 years. Over that time there has been controversy with Substack. Some of it was minor, some much more weighty, and I’ve had to take time to work o
  11. JWST spies an exploding star again, a Trek book for very young readers

    December 12, 2023 Issue #655 Pic o’ the Letter A cool or lovely or mind-bending astronomical image/video with a description so you can grok it I have an incredible JWST image to show you, but the circumstances behind it are little weird. First, though, the ridiculously mind-fizzlin
  12. Big Body Briefly Blocks Betelgeuse

    December 11, 2023 Issue #654 Subscribers never block the stars Astro Tidbit A brief synopsis of some interesting astronomy/science news On the evening of December 11/12 — tonight! — an extremely rare astronomical event will unfold: the occultation of Betelgeuse by an asteroid. An o
  13. The closest pair of doomed supermassive black holes to Earth

    December 7, 2023 Issue #653 Pic o’ the Letter A cool or lovely or mind-bending astronomical image/video with a description so you can grok it One of my favorite kinds of astronomical objects (and I have a lot of favorites) is a galaxy collision and merger. They’re pretty common, b
  14. Mars Odyssey looks to the edge

    December 5, 2023 Issue #652 Shameless Self-Promotion Where I’ll be doing things you can watch and listen to or read about I am very pleased and honored that Science News , a magazine which has been delivering science to folks for over a century, picked my book Under Alien Skies as
  15. A giant black hole a long, long way away

    December 4, 2023 Issue #651 Subscribers glow brightly at high energies Astro Tidbit A brief synopsis of some interesting astronomy/science news We know that big black holes form early on in the Universe, and their galaxies grow around them at the same time. Their growths are relate
  16. Will the Andromedid meteor shower pack a punch this weekend?

    November 30, 2023 Issue #650 Shameless Self-Promotion Where I’ll be doing things you can watch and listen to or read about I am very chuffed to let y’all know I was interviewed by world-renowned tourism expert Rick Steves about my book Under Alien Skies ! If that seems like a non s
  17. Medical debt relief, SciAm articles, and an image of Earth with a very, very tiny camera

    November 28, 2023 Issue #649 Do gooding Doing some good In this weird time between major US holidays, companies and other organizations vie for your attention for donations. There are a lot of good groups out there making the world a better place, and it can be hard to choose. I do
  18. JWST spies on the galactic downtown

    November 27, 2023 Issue #648 Subscribers light up my sky like half a million stars Pic o’ the Letter A cool or lovely or mind-bending astronomical image/video with a description so you can grok it The center of the Milky Way is a busy place. Our galaxy is huge, and like any grand c
  19. A little bit of thanks, and a math coincidence

    November 23, 2023 Issue #648 Personal Stuff Because I’m a person When I decided to start writing a newsletter, I chose to write two issues a week; a free one on Monday and one for paid subscribes on Thursday. It didn’t occur to me at the time (it being early spring) that this mean
  20. “Let the Orcs come as thick as summer-moths round a candle!”

    November 21, 2023 Issue #647 Astro Tidbit A brief synopsis of some interesting astronomy/science news If you’re a Tolkien fan, you probably don’t want to find an orc anywhere nearby. If you’re an astronomer and Tolkien fan then you kinda do. If that orc is actually an ORC: an Odd R

You are viewing a robot-friendly page.Click hereto reload in standard format.