Mark Zastrow

Sometimes you stumble over to a packed breakout session at your big annual academic conference and learn that some billionaires have decided to build not one, but FOUR, complementary new telescope facilities, and build them fast

Well OK then! Happy new year! From their pockets to our skies! 🔭

Eric and Wendy Schmidt to fund space telescope, three ground-based observatories The Schmidts' philanthropic research organization will build a 3-meter space telescope and fund three ground-based facilities.

Eric and Wendy Schmidt are funding a 3-meter space telescope with a coronagraph, and three ground-based observatories: the Deep Synoptic Array, the Argus Array, and LFAST. Funds have been committed and officials say they hope to be operational by 2029. #aas247 www.astronomy.com/science/eric...

China's Adaspace orbits first 12 AI-cloud satellites of 2,800-strong constellation Start-up targeting AI data centers in space

E.g.

Jeff Bezos says orbital data centers will be the ‘next step’ for space ventures that make Earth better What's the next killer app for the final frontier? According to Jeff Bezos, it's a future fleet of orbital data centers.

Are there any studies yet on what happens to infrared astronomy when we have thousands of solar-powered data centers in space flying across the sky dumping their waste heat as IR radiation? www.geekwire.com/2025/jeff-be...

The paper I reference in here about how studying Earth helped me understand Mars's dust storms is my Nature Astronomy paper about how Mars (and Titan) have a Baroclinic Annular Mode.

Earth science's future at NASA hangs in the balance The future of NASA Earth Science is in question. With a proposed shift to exploration, scientists argue that abandoning Earth cripples NASA.

“An agency that seeks to lead the world in planetary science but ignores Earth would be missing out on studying the most unique planet yet known in the universe — our own.” www.astronomy.com/science/eart...

Congratulations!!

Astronomers race to learn more about third interstellar object Newfound interstellar object 3I/ATLAS may be carrying pristine material from early in the Milky Way’s star-forming history.

Thanks so much! I only realized later asset in the post wasn’t actually a GIF file, so we embedded the Bluesky post. :) www.astronomy.com/science/astr...

Hello! We’d love to use this GIF in a story for @astronomymag.bsky.social. Might we be able to get permission?

Speak as you might to a young child or a golden retriever YouTube video by Jamey Jacob

This is my go-to line. m.youtube.com/watch?v=qDXJ...

Trying to piece this together: The paper was distributed under embargo, apparently to invited media? Not through EurekAlert? And a press conference was held April 15, again under embargo? And for ~8 hours, the paper that was being reported as published in ApJ Let was not yet published in ApJ Let

New Constraints on DMS and DMDS in the Atmosphere of K2-18 b from JWST MIRI - IOPscienceSearchopens in new tab New Constraints on DMS and DMDS in the Atmosphere of K2-18 b from JWST MIRI, Madhusudhan, Nikku, Constantinou, Savvas, Holmberg, Måns, Sarkar, Subhajit, Piette, Anjali A. A., Moses, Julianne I.

So the K2-18 b paper is finally on ApJ Let, with a publication date of April 17. But the press release was on EurekAlert yesterday, dated April 16, as the first news stories posted… iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...