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Astro Stud

@the_astro_stud

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🌌 Cosmology PhD student • Writer
📩 Inquiries: [email protected]
✨ Stay stellar, homies ✌🏾

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Here’s the post! I just attended what @lintottchris pithily dubbed “Mack Fest”: three days of thought-provoking summer camp with the coolest people I’ve ever met, all brilliantly organized by @astrokatiemack. How I convinced her to be on my dissertation committee, I will never know, but she is the best.
Very select highlights include: having our minds blown by @physicsfun; organizing a session with @astro.kshitij and Charlie Blue of @nasa and fandom fame, where I accidentally made “the priestly voice” a meme; seeing Tatiana of @tamu teach by example how to be the best in-person scicommer; gossiping for a full hour at rapid speaking pace with Charlie Wood of @quantamag about our favourite quantum computing drama; seeing Randall Munroe essentially draw an @xkcd right in front of our eyes (not to mention all the great convos); chatting with @lintottchris about ska music over a pint after he gave one of the best public lectures I’ve ever seen; and terrifying @patchenbarss, @drcarpineti, and @analuserio in the coal mine in ESC. Not pictured: brilliant conversations with @the_astro_stud about social justice and books; talking about our iconic hair with @evanthorizon and Matt Strassler; nerding out about eclipses with @cosmicrami; bonding over fashion with @mleembruggen and @emilylurice; embracing our cynicism with @jdvoyek and Angela Collier (we used to be a country!); and finding a new grad house buddy in @spaceaccordingtoskylar. And I know I’m missing so much!

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What a fantastic time at the @perimeterinstitute for the #SciCommCollider conference!

Truly an incredibly opportunity spending time talking about science communication, with such an incredible group of brilliant people!

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And that’s a wrap!

#SciCommCollider3 is done!

This was such a great meeting — so much excellent SciComm knowledge gained.

Huge thanks to @astrokatiemack & all @perimeterinstitute staff (shout out to Hilary and Bistro staff!) for making this such an easy, fun and valuable week for us!

So many other really cool folks who I didn’t get a chance to get pics with too: @mleembruggen @scifiona @parisaastro, Ana Luiza Serio, Angela Collier, Kelly Weinersmith, Don Lincoln, Patchen Barss, Daniel Whiteson, JD Vogel, Roan Haggar, Ray Hall, Frank Wang, Matthew Strassler and more!

Heading home and feeling very lucky to have shared such a great week with old friends, make new friends and be enriched with new knowledge and ideas.

🇨🇦 ✈️ 🇦🇺

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Tag your favorite astrophysicist/ cosmologist, @the_astro_stud I’m looking at you because I have questions and clearly I need answers!
___
#spacescience #astrophysicist #cosmologist #generalrelativity #threebodyproblem

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Wish I never had to leave summer ‘26 behind, but I’m so grateful for all the memories and all the incredible beings who bring light and love into my life 💕🌈🌻✨

I might be grieving last summer now, but I know the fall always carries lessons of growth within the dying leaves and I am ready 🍂🍎🍁🐦‍🔥

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Excited for tonight’s author event with @maryrobinettekowal and @the_astro_stud hosted by @clarionwest. If you are in Seattle I hope you will join us! 📖🚀

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This is my pitch to space professionals who feel stuck on Earth: signup for Spacekind #personaldevelopment #spaceeducation #astronaut #readytolaunch #tothemoon

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We’re honored and enormously grateful to announce that we are among 102 literary organizations in the U.S. to receive a 2026 Amazon Literary Partnership grant. Since 2009, the program has given millions of dollars to organizations that empower writers through publishing, educational programming, residencies, festivals, and other kinds of support.

This grant money will support Deep Dives, an annual conversation series that puts speculative fiction writers in conversation with scientists and other subject matter experts. This fall, we’re hosting talks on space, mycology, A.I., medicine, our shared reality, and the many ways speculative fiction responds to and informs it.

Giving writers and readers the opportunity to think deeply about topics that matter in the world today is inspiring work. Thanks to the Amazon Literary Partnership for helping us do more of it!

Learn more about 2026 Deep Dives at our website (the link is in our bio).

#clarionwest #clarionwestdeepdives #authorconversations #authortalk #amazonliterarypartnership

Description of image carousel:

1: Clarion West is delighted to announce receipt of a 2026 award from the Amazon Literary Partnership!

2: The $5000 grant will support Deep Dives: our fall author conversation series which brings guest authors and scientists to Seattle this year to discuss craft, space, mycology, A.I., and medicine in speculative fiction and in our shared reality.

3: Funding opportunities for inclusive literary nonprofits are unfortunately increasingly rare and highly competitive. We are grateful for this renewed support from Amazon Literary Partnership and the exciting programming it is helping us produce for writers, readers, and supporters of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror this fall.

4: Clarion West is a hub of community and craft development centering emerging and underrepresented writers of speculative fiction. Our work engages writers and readers both locally and internationally through instruction, mentorship, and meaningful connection. A group of writers enjoying lunch around a round table in a pleasantly lit workshop space during a strategic planning meeting. The Clarion West and Amazon Literary Partnership logos are featured above the image, along with the words "Clarion West is delighted to announce receipt of a 2026 award from the Amazon Literary Partnership!"

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Join our ongoing Deep Dives conversation series that puts speculative fiction writers in dialogue with scientific experts. First up this year: @maryrobinettekowal and astronaut @drsianproctor!

In their conversation “Post-Dystopia Space Exploration” the two talk space travel with imagination, scientific rigor, and heart. Will the next generation of humans live on Mars? Will commercial space travel actually take off? And what is speculative fiction’s role in defining these possible futures?

They’ll cover all that and more on September 12 for the first installment in this year’s Deep Dives series, where every conversation centers on the theme “Futures Less Dystopian.”

Snag your seat via the link in our bio.

#clarionwest #clarionwestdeepdives #authorconversationseries #maryrobinettekowal #sianproctor

Image description: Deep Dives: Author Conversation Series, a program of Clarion West. Under photos of the speakers, the title, "Post-Dystopia Space Exploration: A conversation with Mary Robinette Kowal and Dr. Sian Proctor, moderated by K Wilson (The Astro Kid)." September 12, 2026, VIP Reception 6:00 PM, Conversation + Signing 7:00 - 8:30 PM, Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Avenue Seattle, WA 98101. Hosted in partnership with 4 Culture and The Elliott Bay Book Company. Get tickets at clarionwest.org. Deep Dives: Author Conversation Series, a program of Clarion West. Under photos of the speakers, the title, "Post-Dystopia Space Exploration: A conversation with Mary Robinette Kowal and Dr. Sian Proctor, moderated by K Wilson (The Astro Kid)." September 12, 2026, VIP Reception 6:00 PM, Conversation + Signing 7:00 - 8:30 PM, Town Hall Seattle. Hosted in partnership with 4 Culture and The Elliott Bay Book Company.

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I thought stewardship was a relationship concept.
I was wrong.
The more I look at it, the more I think it's a systems concept.
Parenting is stewardship.
Teaching is stewardship.
Libraries are stewardship.
Communities are stewardship.
Even fire departments are stewardship.
And then it hit me.
The opposite of stewardship isn't control.
It isn't freedom.
It isn't submission.
The opposite of stewardship is neglect.
Relationships fail from neglect.
Communities fail from neglect.
Institutions fail from neglect.
People fail from neglect.
Only, stewardship isn't JUST the prevention of neglect.
That's only part of it.
Stewardship begins with the self.
Before we can steward a relationship, a community, a family, or a society, we must learn to steward our own wounds, needs, growth, and responsibilities.
Stewardship is also the cultivation of growth.
Neglect is its opposite because neglected things stop growing.
And once I saw that, I started seeing stewardship everywhere.
Which means stewardship isn't one pillar.
It's the foundation.

#KinkWithIntention #KinkEducation #dominanceandsubmission #systemsthinking #stewardship

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Last night’s Cosmos & Coffee event at @columbiaspace 🌌☕️

Huge thanks to @the_astro_stud for an excellent talk and to @angelescoffeecart for keeping the coffee flowing 🙌🏽

Grateful for this community. More to come.

#cosmosandcoffee #science #community #downey #astronomy

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You could say today was eventful 🚀👩‍🚀🌕

#artemisii #artemis2 #integrity #nasa #artemisiilanding

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