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karenlmasters.bsky.social
Prof. of Astronomy and Physics, Haverford College. PI of Galaxy Zoo. Radio astronomer. Check out my latest book “The Astronomers Library” about books, libraries and astronomy - three of my favourite things. Brit/US.
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Under the stars and planets, the Bodleian Library has been beautifully captured (and painstakingly labelled for easy identification) by student and budding astronomer Shubham If you're planning to stargaze in Oxford, save this post for future reference! #PlanetaryParade #RadcliffeCamera

Incisive and accessible, @mlwisdom.bsky.social's How to Mentor Anyone in Academia is a practical guide to the art of mentorship in higher education. Out March 11. Learn more and preorder yours: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

This morning I am working on finalizing our "DR4" (fourth data release) for HI-MaNGA, which is our large 21cm line followup program for the MaNGA survey (greenbankobservatory.org/science/gbt-...). 🔭👩‍🔬🧪

Goodreads is giving away forty free copies of my forthcoming book *Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea*, to be published in May by Viking Books (@vikingbooks.bsky.social). More info here: www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

This administration is literally destroying US science. The NSF REU program is a foundational pathway for building the next generation science workforce. I say as an REU alum.

Here are the three goals of the March 7th #standupforscience as information is altered & removed, funding changed in ways that penalize scientists, & needed expansion in participation replaced with opportunities for less.

For those who celebrate, may discipline & devotion during this holy month bring peace & blessings. Ramadan Mubarak! #Ramadan begins w/ 1st sighting of waxing crescent #moon. Purely lunar Islamic #calendar shifts w/ respect to civil (lunisolar) calendar & #seasons. #astrophysics #timekeeping 🍎

Colourful pairing of a blue star and red spiral. :) 🔭👩‍🔬

Musk is firing exactly the people he wants you to think he’s bringing in: skilled, mission driven tech workers.

I worked with a narcissistic bully once and the thing is… you can try to appease them for a while and be friendly and nice to try to get them to come along… But it will never be enough for them. It’s always better to just do what’s right despite them.

I'm starting a new quote post thing, please join in... Quote post a photo of something you have made in yellow and blue to show your support for Ukraine. #YellowAndBlue #Ukraine

Reminder: we are being trained not to care about other people. It underlines the attacks on migrants, on DEI, on trans youth, on so-called "wokeness." Sure there are legitimate critiques but this is not about critiques. It's about supercharging capitalism's culture of uncare.

Second birthday cake (that I baked for one of my kids’ birthdays) of this spring - Victoria sponge with fresh cream and raspberries. 🎂

First flowers in the garden this morning. Alas not daffodils for St David’s Day but still pretty. 🌼🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

A spiral galaxy, observed with the Hubble Space Telescope in the COSMOS survey. It is at redshift unknown (lookback time unknown) with coordinates (149.97679, 2.00484). 26 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo: Hubble.

I am pretty tired of this argument. Journal articles and books are sometimes not widely accessible (although some are), but academics speak much more often to the public now, through the media, op eds, trade books, and public lectures, than in the past and anti-intellectualism has grown.

This is going to be a rough summer for undergraduate research opportunities. We’re lucky at Haverford to have independent funds to support some of our students. But we count on some going elsewhere because our group of majors is so large we can’t support them all.

"There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen"--Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

🔊It's gravity assist day! Today Mars will bend the #EuropaClipper trajectory towards Jupiter. At 17:57(UK)/12:57(EST) 🛰️Clipper will be just 550 miles above Mars’ surface, testing its thermal imager & radar. So #DoLookUp to Mars and give Clipper a little wave 👋🥳 ℹ️ www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-e... 🔭🧪

This is what we mean when we say the regime is censuring science. “CDC staff should not be co-authors on manuscripts/abstracts with WHO staff,” nor publish papers on work "funded by WHO.” www.huffingtonpost.c...

Looking for more science and/or craft girlies to follow, especially from the UK. Where you all at? #science #craft #womeninstem #womeninscience #UK 🧶🌌🔭👩‍🔬

Another planetarium training event at Haverford, not feeling confident the public observing team can run our inflatable planetarium independently, and great pictures by Deep Patel '25. 🔭👩‍🔬

Well, I must say my first experience with requesting ApJ publication charges support for an undergraduate led project with no external funding was remarkably easy. 🎢👩‍🔬🔭 (this paper now in press: ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025arXi...)

This morning I'm having fun inspecting ALMA data from the KILOGAS program (kilogas.space) for some team crowdsourced quality inspection. :) 🔭

Related research on this: "advantaged group members misperceive having greater inequality and fewer resources available to their group as more advantageous than having greater overall resources that were shared more equally." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

“But Accu-Weather!!” They get their data from NWS. “But my local TV station has their own radar on a truck!” Sure, and they use it to fill small geographic gaps in the broader radar coverage that’s provided by NWS. “My weather app!” It’s getting its data from NWS.

This is a disaster, and will be particularly bad after a weather disaster. People will die and there will be vast economic costs from this. It's not about saving taxpayers' money. It's about disassembling the government.

Some people were pretty incredulous when we published this before the election www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

Please enjoy my last ever post at Climate.gov/ENSO Blog. This afternoon I was fired by the Trump Administration 15 days before my 2yr probationary period ended on March 13. I have worked at NOAA since 2010, and I'm so incredibly proud of the work I did. If anyone wants a quote, let me know.

Very sad to see that #RareDiseaseDay event at FDA-NIH has been cancelled. Cuts that limit rare disease research and cures (1) leave patients behind, and (2) forfeit precious opportunity to learn more about common human diseases. udnf.org/udnf-stateme...

Today is #WorldRareDiseaseDay Big Pharma won't fund many rare disease clinical trials because it will not make them a profit, so these patients are left wanting. The NIH is where the majority of #RareDisease funding comes from. Now that is being taken away. Support your researchers and clinicians ❤️

Happy to see a headline which includes that it’s hard to see all of them. But looking up and seeing any is a great way to connect with the Universe. 🔭👩‍🔬

TOMORROW A movement is a group of people moving. We can all do something; none of us should do nothing; every action matters. This is an anti-fascist action ⬇️ #EconomicBlackout

Forget-me-not is a spring flower, which appears in frothy clouds at the front of borders and at the edges of paths. Here they are with ladybirds! theweeowlart.etsy.com/listing/1876... #bugsky #flower #OriginalArt #Drawing #bsnm #GiftIdeas #ArtShop #MothersDay