Lee Billings

China and the U.S. are both targeting the south pole region, but China seems to be planning for its first crewed landing to be somewhere else on the moon that’s easier and safer. Whereas NASA’s current official plan is for the first Artemis landing to be somewhere in the south-polar vicinity.

Is this where China’s astronauts will land on the moon? An obscure lunar region called Rimae Bode is emerging as a high-priority landing site for China’s first crewed moon mission

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: China has yet to officially select a lunar landing site for its first moonwalking astronauts, but a new study makes the case for targeting Rimae Bode, a near-equatorial region on the moon's near side.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/chin...

The American Astronomical Society has a page with more info and how you can submit comments to the FCC to stop this travesty. Hurry though; submissions end today.

aas.org/action-alert...

Don’t let mega-constellation-building billionaires steal your night sky Satellites are wonders of modern technology that have improved all of our lives. But having more than a million of them in orbit could destroy our view of the heavens and seriously damage our planet

Satellites are wonders of modern technology that have improved all of our lives. But having more than a million of them in orbit could destroy our view of the heavens and seriously damage our planet

Don’t let mega-constellation-building billionaires steal your night sky Satellites are wonders of modern technology that have improved all of our lives. But having more than a million of them in orbit could destroy our view of the heavens and seriously damage our planet

Elon Musk has already started plans to launch a million satellites.

Yes. A MILLION.

This is a colossally bad idea, and it's not too late to make your voice heard. I explain everything:

www.scientificamerican.com/article/ramp...

🔭 🧪

Notorious asteroid 2024 YR4 won't crash into the moon after all Earthlings aren't the only ones safe from a city-wrecking-size asteroid. Future lunar inhabitants won't have to worry about a strike in 2032 either

NEW: Sad news for those wanting the Moon to be hit by a sizeable asteroid: it ain’t happening, at least not in 2032.

But at least we now that JWST is a surprisingly good asset for tracking dangerous space rocks! :)

Me @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/noto...

Notorious asteroid 2024 YR4 won't crash into the moon after all Earthlings aren't the only ones safe from a city-wrecking-size asteroid. Future lunar inhabitants won't have to worry about a strike in 2032 either

Earthlings aren't the only ones safe from a city-wrecking-size asteroid. Future lunar inhabitants won't have to worry about a strike in 2032 either

Blast off! Martian microbes might travel between worlds on asteroid-impact debris New insights into a tiny, tough microbe have huge implications for the search for life beyond Earth

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: Could ‘Conan the Bacterium’ conquer the solar system? According to a wild new study, the extremophile D. radiodurans can survive shocks and stresses similar to an asteroid impact, bolstering the case for lithopanspermia. 🧪

www.scientificamerican.com/article/life...

Protecting Planet Earth’s Skies: A4E's Statement on Proposed Large Satellite Constellations - a4e.org Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E) is an international grassroots movement of astronomy students, educators, amateurs and scientists, working to address the climate crisis from an astronomical perspec...

Astronomers for Planet Earth are submitting a statement about some of the proposed megaconstellations that would ruin ground-based astronomy to the FCC.

You can read the statement below: 🔭☄️

The Habitable Worlds Observatory in Historical Context We summarize the past four decades of astrophysics and exoplanet direct imaging mission concept studies, technology developments, and scientific progress that have led to the initiation of the Habitab...

Karl Stapelfeldt (JPL/Caltech) and I summarize the historical context that has led us to the Habitable Worlds Observatory. We always build upon the work of many. HWO is no exception. We hope you find this short paper enlightening.
arxiv.org/abs/2602.14823

In war-torn Ukraine, astronomers are still fighting for their future Russia’s war has left many of Ukraine’s world-class observatories in ruins—but the besieged nation’s astronomers already have plans to rebuild and recover

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: Four years on, Russia’s ruinous war has darkened every aspect of life in Ukraine—even the country’s world-class astronomy. But Ukrainian researchers are still planning—and fighting—for a brighter post-war future.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/war-...

On moonshots and Minneapolis Space exploration can bring people together and reflect deep societal divisions.

I've been really struggling to write about space while living through the ICE occupation in Minneapolis this winter. I was shocked to find myself thinking, "Who cares about sending people to the moon?"

That feeling is more historically resonant than I thought. 🧪🔭
www.sciencenews.org/article/moon...

"Fundamental science is a long game, and government departments and agencies can sponsor long-term projects, whether the goal is mapping the entire U.S. coastline or the entire human genome." Or building an advanced space telescope 🔭 to find out if humanity is truly alone in the cosmos.

Thread: imagine you're a historian surveying 16th century copies of the world's most famous ancient astronomy book, and you see one where somebody with handwriting VERY similar to GALILEO (!?) has transcribed... a psalm.

"Galileo, a prayer? That's something that doesn't work," Ivan Malara thought.

Hyperion author Dan Simmons dies from stroke at 77 I went into Hyperion blind, decades ago, knowing almost nothing about it. I was never the same.

rip dan simmons arstechnica.com/culture/2026...

We have a hidden column on the NASA Exoplanet Archive called 'Number of exomoons' and I AM SO READY TO BUST IT OUT WHEN NEEDED.

NASA shakes up its Artemis program to speed up lunar return Launching SLS every three and a half years or so is not a recipe for success."

NASA just made huge changes to the Artemis Program.

arstechnica.com/staff/2026/0...

The more I think about this, the more it shifts from “lol that’s hilarious” to “if the space phone rings, for god’s sake you must not answer.” Mind-melting “what goes ‘bump’ in the Great Beyond?” eldritch cosmic horror vibes.

“Bro its me Rubin hit me back y u no answer my texts im seein some crezzy shiz out here mang”

x800k

🤣

Rubin Observatory has started paging astronomers 800,000 times a night Asteroids, exploding stars, and feasting black holes swarm in the first-ever batch of nightly alerts from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: Wake up, astronomers—the sky is calling.

@vrubinobs.bsky.social has unleashed its first rapid-fire alerts of new celestial activity. 800k of 'em—a nightly number that will soon rise to a million+!

By @meghanbartels.bsky.social

www.scientificamerican.com/article/rubi...

SpaceX's 1 million satellites could avoid environmental checks The environmental impact of SpaceX's planned gargantuan mega-constellation is still being grappled with, but the FCC isn’t required to study it

SpaceX's 1 million AI satellites could cause "massive ozone depletion" and change the night sky forever - but the FCC has no requirement to check before approving them.

Astronomers are now scrambling to submit their concerns.

Story by me in New Scientist

www.newscientist.com/article/2516...

The surprising new physics of squeaky basketball shoes A new study explains why basketball shoes make a high-pitched squeaking noise when they rub against the hardwood. The ridges on the sole hold the key

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: Why do basketball sneakers squeak so much?

Come for the surprising explanation based on a new study; stay for the demo showing how, in principle, shoes could be made to squeak out Darth Vader's "Imperial March" on the court!

www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

Trump’s order to release evidence for aliens obscures the scientific search for extraterrestrial life The president on Thursday ordered the release of federal files related to UFOs and aliens, although no evidence of extraterrestrials visiting Earth is known to exist

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: What’s behind Trump’s order to declassify U.S. government documents about aliens and UFOs? How are scientists actually searching for ET? What happens next?

Here’s what some real experts have to say.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...

Could aliens in another galaxy see dinosaurs on Earth? How big would a telescope need to be to see Earth’s dinosaurs from 66 million light-years away? Think big—and then think bigger

Here’s a fun thought experiment, via @sciam.bsky.social: How big of a telescope would aliens need to see dinosaurs on Earth, from 66 million light-years away? @philplait.bsky.social’s back-of-the-envelope answer might surprise you.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/coul...

Not Earth-like Yet Temperate? More Generic Climate Feedback Configurations Still Allow Temperate Climates in Habitable Zone Exo-Earth Candidates Earth's climate is influenced by over a dozen feedbacks, but only three dominate its long-term climate behavior. Models of the exoplanet habitable zone (HZ) assume that this is similar for other Earth...

What if Earth-sized HZ worlds don’t have exactly Earth-like climate feedbacks? Climate Chaos, Snowballs, run-aways - but also many temperate yet not-Earth-like worlds! Congrats to Chaucer Langbert on this cool study!
arxiv.org/abs/2602.10369 @uarizonalpl.bsky.social @stewardobservatory.bsky.social

me: i hate myself

my therapist: why are you being so mean to yourself?

me: no you don't understand I'm just quoting Charles Darwin

Let me repeat what Katie says: YOU. CAN'T. REPEAL. A. SCIENTIFIC.FINDING. That's not how it works.

How did an entire star vanish in the galaxy next door? A black hole may be to blame A “disappearing” star in the Andromeda galaxy is the closest and best candidate for a newborn black hole that astronomers have ever seen

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: “I got goosebumps when I saw it disappearing into darkness.”

Based on studies of a mysterious vanishing star in the galaxy of Andromeda, astronomers have found what may be the closest and best candidate for a newborn black hole.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-...

This Comet Stopped Spinning. Then It Started Rotating Backward.

Back in 2017, astronomers watched as a comet drastically slowed its rotation from 26 to 40 hours.

Newly unearthed Hubble observations show it didn’t just slow, but stopped - then started going backwards.

Super fun study this. Story by me in the NYT.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/s...

Why do we do astrophysics? At time of writing, large language models (LLMs) are beginning to obtain the ability to design, execute, write up, and referee scientific projects on the data-science side of astrophysics. What implic...

David Hogg has written a white paper on doing astrophysics in the age of LLMs. It looks to be thought-provoking. My initial reaction is that either LLMs will destroy the field or they will force a reckoning with and re-imagining of the current system that often prioritizes output over quality. 🧪