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STEM Princesses with Power Tools calendar is live!

Friends! I got to be part of a really cool STEM Princesses with Power Tools calendar for 2022, and it is now live! There are 12 Princesses in STEM to learn about in here!! I chose Wonder Woman (Princess Diana) because she’s a powerful force to be reckoned with. It’s really cool because each princess ties their story to the princess of their choice, so really fun to read and learn about, and help…

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Update: TikTok and my new Patreon!

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InSight's first photo after landing on Mars

#InSight just landed on Mars and took its first photo. Through the dusty lens cover, there's not much you can see. So, I decided to edit out the specks, and here's what it looks like.

It’s been early 7 months since InSight was launched on May 5, 2018. Everyone waited in anticipation for its landing on Mars today. At 11:52:59 AM PST today, InSight touched down on Mars, and everyone across the globe cheered! And then, we saw its first photo:

InSight’s first photo taken of the surface of Mars, through its dust cover. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Wow. Through that dusty cover, InSight…

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12 Monkeys, Hartle-Hawking state, and the Fate of the Universe

12 Monkeys, Hartle-Hawking state, and the Fate of the Universe!

Picture on set of the 12 Monkeys, with my work written on the board. (My work was transcribed onto the board by one of the show’s artists)

It’s been quite some time since I wrote a blog post (turns out grad school is really time demanding), so I thought I’d get back to it by first telling you about some cool science advising I got to do, and combine it with explaining some of the science I…

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Tonight I got introduced to something I'd only ever seen in movies and TV shows before: live #muaythai fighting. My brother started boxing recently and people from his gym were fighting tonight. I never thought I'd have loved it as much as I did! The respect these athletes show each other, regardless who wins, is beautiful to watch, almost better than seeing the team you're rooting for win (I'm team #Primal all the way, because of my brother 💪). It was an amazing experience. Thanks so much for showing it to me, @dylanramsey! (at Burbank Marriott Convention Center)

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#NighttimeReading 📚📖 #quantumfieldtheory (at Los Angeles, California)

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When days are good days

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This is the first time I've gotten to read in *months*! So good to get back to #WheelOfTime 📖 (at Irvine, California)

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It's #NationalSiblingsDay, so naturally, I'm sharing a video of the #darkmattersisters shenanigans 🐹 that's their sand bath, no idea how they brought some of their bedding up there 🤣 #Sterlini #Axini #dwarfhamster #robodwarf #hamstersisters (at Irvine, California)

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Hey look everyone IT'S ME, and that's a pic of #Jupiter taken by the #JunoCam I processed! 😀 #citizenscience

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Spent my Saturday night partying with my brother and a bunch of his cool friends. How did you spend yours? 🙂 (betcha at least half of you were at Yuri's night, I take it? I 😉) (at Los Angeles, California)

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Hi all! Meet Axini (right), the tinisymmetric partner of the axion, and Sterlini (left), the tinisymmetric partner of the sterile neutrino! They're both dark matter candidates, which makes them the dark matter sisters! Sometimes they squabble over who's the real dark matter candidate, until I come in and remind them about Self-Interacting Dark Matter and that dark matter might be a few different particles, and then they make up and are friends again 😊 These cuties are new, about 2 months old, so getting to know them will take some time. But, I have a bit of that now! Also, HI EVERYONE I'M BACK! 😀 #hamster #Axini #Sterlini #roborovskihamster #hamstersisters #hamstersofinstagram #robosofinstagram (at Irvine, California)

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Note that the JWST launch has been pushed back till 2020 at the earliest. But still, EXOPLANETS!

Solar System: 10 Things to Know This Week

Planets Outside Our Solar System

Let the planet-hunting begin!

Our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which will scan the skies to look for planets beyond our solar system—known as exoplanets—is now in Florida to begin preparations for launch in April. Below, 10 Things to know about the many, many unknown planets out there awaiting our discovery.

1—Exo-what?

We call planets in our solar system, well, planets, but the many planets we’re starting to discover outside of our solar system are called exoplanets. Basically, they’re planets that orbit another star.

2—All eyes on TRAPPIST-1.

Remember the major 2016 announcement that we had discovered seven planets 40 light-years away, orbiting a star called TRAPPIST-1? Those are all exoplanets. (Here’s a refresher.)

3—Add 95 new ones to that.

Just last month, our Kepler telescope discovered 95 new exoplanets beyond our solar system (on top of the thousands of exoplanets Kepler has discovered so far). The total known planet count beyond our solar system is now more than 3,700. The planets range in size from mostly rocky super-Earths and fluffy mini-Neptunes, to Jupiter-like giants. They include a new planet orbiting a very bright star—the brightest star ever discovered by Kepler to have a transiting planet.

4—Here comes TESS.

How many more exoplanets are out there waiting to be discovered? TESS will monitor more than 200,000 of the nearest and brightest stars in search of transit events—periodic dips in a star’s brightness caused by planets passing in front—and is expected to find thousands of exoplanets.

5—With a sidekick, too.

Our upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, will provide important follow-up observations of some of the most promising TESS-discovered exoplanets. It will also allow scientists to study their atmospheres and, in some special cases, search for signs that these planets could support life.

6—Prepped for launch.

TESS is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station nearby our Kennedy Space Center in Florida, no earlier than April 16, pending range approval.

7—A groundbreaking find.

In 1995, 51 Pegasi b (also called “Dimidium”) was the first exoplanet discovered orbiting a star like our Sun. This find confirmed that planets like the ones in our solar system could exist elsewhere in the universe.

8—Trillions await.

A recent statistical estimate places, on average, at least one planet around every star in the galaxy. That means there could be a trillion planets in our galaxy alone, many of them in the range of Earth’s size.

9—Signs of life.

Of course, our ultimate science goal is to find unmistakable signs of current life. How soon can that happen? It depends on two unknowns: the prevalence of life in the galaxy and a bit of luck. Read more about the search for life.

10—Want to explore the galaxy?

No need to be an astronaut. Take a trip outside our solar system with help from our Exoplanet Travel Bureau.

Read the full version of this week’s ‘10 Things to Know’ article HERE. 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

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#WonderCon #art was brilliant!! I didn't leave without getting me some. These #DragonballZ are by @kris_dubbayoo, and he does a whole bunch of cool stuff! Check him out and #supportartists. Can't wait to frame these 😍😍😍

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Blowing off some steam after finals week at #WonderCon with these awesome people! Thanks so much to my brother for getting me a badge! 😀

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#WonderCon!