Kelly Lepo

@kellylepo.bsky.social

3486 Followers 354 Following

Astronomer | Science communicator | Adult Lisa Simpson Freelance writer and editor. Former Education and Outreach Scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute (@stsci.edu) supporting JWST. Also on Mastodon: @KellyLepo@scicomm.xyz

A wide-angle view of the SNO detector interior, showing an acrilic sphere filled with water surrounded by a geodesic sphere filled with photomultiplier tubes, which appear as silver circles.
Still from the Simpsons. A cute puppy holds an electrical plug, appearing to have pulled it from an outlet. Text: Technical difficulties please stand by.
XKCD comic featuring two stick figures. Ponytail and Cueball are talking. Ponytail has her hand raised, palm up, towards Cueball. Ponytail: Silicate chemistry is second nature to us geochemists, so it's easy to forget that the average person probably only knows the formulas for olivine and one or two feldspars. Cueball: And quartz, of course. Ponytail: Of course. Caption below the panel: Even when they're trying to compensate for it, experts in anything wildly overestimate the average person's familiarity with their field.
The comic is a drawing of a star, with the diffraction spikes that usually happen when taking pictures with telescopes. An exoplanet orbits that star, and its trajectory crosses one of the spikes. At the intersection point, the onomatopoeia "SLICE" is written, and the trajectory splits in two. Not far after, two half-planets continue their course. Caption below panel: Bad news for exoplanets: it turns out those diffraction spikes are real.
Screenshot of a gif, text reads: Merriam-Webster Your 2026 Word yeasty
An all-sky image, projected into an oval shape, centered on our Milky Way galaxy. A bright white band made of tiny white points of light runs horizontally across the image, this is the disk of the Milky Way. In the center of the image is the bulge of the Milky Way, seen as a fuzzy white sphere that extends slightly above and below the plane of the disk. Dust, seen as an irregular, translucent yellow-orange band, obscures some of the Milky Way's disk. Above and below the plane of the disk, there are numerous white dots, which are stars and background galaxies. To the bottom right, below the disk of the galaxy are the Milky Way's two tiny companion galaxies, the Small Magellanic Cloud and the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Small Magellanic Cloud appears a a fuzzy circular shape. The Large Magellanic Cloudis an oval shape, with a denser bar at its center.
Sped up, POV overhead shot of me in a sparkly gold Santa hat and an astronaut jumpsuit. I am handing out lithographs with Hubble images as I walk down the street during a parade. Some people are very happy to get one. There is a small amount of snow on the ground, and everyone is bundled up in their winter coats and hats because it is cold.
A vertically oriented poster with an image of Pismis 24 against a black background. A dark blue sky filled with white and yellow stars of different sizes covers about two thirds of the image. Across the bottom third of the scene are orange, mountain-like clouds with spire-like peaks that point toward a wispy white cloud which stretches horizontally across the scene. Dense clouds of a similar color are spread about the top right corner of the image. Along the bottom is a series of thin vertical bars ranging from purple at left to blue, green, yellow, orange, and red at right. Bars are separated slightly, with black in between. Bar colors are brightest at the bottom, fading up to black. Brightness varies from bar to bar, giving the array an undulating feel. At upper right is text that reads, “National Aeronautics and Space Administration” and NASA’s blue, white, and red meatball insignia. Title text appears at lower left that says, “James Webb Space Telescope: Pismis 24.”
Four translucent dust shells expand away from three central stars that appear as a single pinpoint of light. Bright, arcing ridges partially outline the shells. The innermost shell is smallest, like the size of a thumbprint, and brightest. It is yellow and forms a backward lowercase e. A line at 3 o’clock swoops to the bottom-left in an arc that ends at 8 o’clock. A second line at 9 o’clock dips down to start, but then goes straight up, angling around the top. The second shell, about the size of a fist, is orange and has looser arcs. One appears from 4 to 7 o’clock. A brighter orange triangle appears from 10 to 12 o’clock. Its outer edges overlap, forming a rough circle. The third shell extends almost to the edges and is semi-translucent red, with similar arcs and a darker red line that also forms a faint triangle at top left. The widest shell is faintest and at the edges. A semi-transparent blue appears across the scene. A larger foreground star with spikes is at bottom left, and more distant stars and galaxies are strewn across the black expanse of space.
A night scene showing the sky with faint red aurora. In the bottom quarter of the frame are some trees and a row of houses in the distance. Above is the night sky. Near the horizon is a faint red glow, the aurora, which almost looks like a thin, red cloud. Dotted across the sky are stars, which appear as points of light.
Looping video of a night scene of the sky lit up with red and green auroras. The lower half of the frame is filled with trees that have lost thier leaves for the winter. Leaves from a bush are out of focus in the foreground near the left edge of the frame. The upper third shows the night sky. Near the horizon, the sky glows green. Above this is a wide, red band with smaller red streaks. Above this are thin, white clouds. A few stars appear as points of white. As the video progresses, clouds move from left to right and the red auroras fade in and out.
A night scene showing the sky lit up with red and green auroras. The lower half of the frame is filled with silhouetted trees. The upper half shows the night sky. Near the horizon, the sky glows green. Above this is a wide, faint red band with smaller red streaks. A few stars appear as points of white.
Five solar system objects and 9 exoplanets plotted on a graph titled, “Balance Between Starlight and Gravity: Which Rocky Planets Have an Atmosphere?” Vertical axis labeled, “Amount of High-Energy Light that Reaches the Planet,” with “more” at the top and “less” at the bottom. Horizontal axis labeled, “How Hard It Is for Atmosphere to Escape the Planet’s Gravity” with “needs less energy to escape” at left and “needs more energy to escape” at right. Background grades from black at top left to light blue at bottom right. Label pointing toward top left reads, “Atmosphere less likely.” Label pointing toward bottom right corner reads, “Atmosphere more likely." Key above graph shows that objects plotted as solid blue circles (Mars, Venus, Earth) have atmosphere. Solid gray circles (the Moon, Mercury) have no atmosphere. Open white circles (all nine exoplanets) are not yet determined. Solar system planets fall on the bottom left half of the graph. Exoplanets fall in the top right.
Illustration showing a distant star, with two rocky planets in the foreground. The star is deep orange and appears to be very active, with dark and light spots and large flares. The planets appear to be the same distance from the star. The planet on the left is significantly smaller than the one on the right. Text beside the planet at left reads, “Smaller planet. Weaker gravity. Lower escape velocity. Atmosphere less likely.” Text for the planet at right reads, “Larger planet. Stronger gravity. Higher escape velocity. Atmosphere more likely.” The small planet at left is gray. The right quarter of the hemisphere is lit by the star. The boundary between the lit and dark sides is sharp. The larger planet at right is blueish white with swirling clouds. The left quarter is lit by the star. The boundary between the lit and dark sides is fuzzy.
Me standing under a giant Sequoia tree. It almost looks like a normal tree, until you realize that I am tiny in comparison. It's at least twice as wide as I am tall, and you can only see the base of the tree. It continues up out of the frame. The bottom has a large fire scar, where the bark was burned in a previous fire.
View walking down the aisle in an old, ornate theater. The central section is full of people, but is not completely packed. On stage is a large screen displaying JWST images, including galaxies, the Cosmic Cliffs star-forming region, and the dust spiral around Wolf-Rayet 140.
The Fox theater in Visalia, CA at night. Above the theater the name "Fox" and a clock are lit up in neon lights. It is 8:00. The marquee reads "Free Movie Cosmic Dawn, Sponsored by Sequoia Parks Conservatory, 9/11 6pm."
A 21-year-old Kelly in a blue Star Trek Enterprise jumpsuit looking surprised at a life-sized Borg Queen.
An illustration of an ominous, green bat that emerges from the cosmos, pushing objects like galaxies and stars further apart into the void of outer space.
Me recreating a famous image from the movie Contact. I'm standing below one of the radio dishes from the Very Large Array. I'm wearing a straw hat, holding large over-the-ear headphones to my ears, and staring off into the distance, as if I'm thinking about signals from alien civilizations. My long hair is in two braids.
This ray diagram, which traces the path that light takes, illustrates how light from a distant galaxy or star can be bent by the gravity of an intervening galaxy cluster. Light from a galaxy in the top left corner of the diagram is shown moving toward Earth at the bottom right corner. Between the distant galaxy and Earth, in the center of the diagram, is a depiction of a massive galaxy cluster: A series of gold dots representing galaxies of various sizes scattered across the center of the scene. Solid white lines that end in arrows show the actual paths of the light from the distant galaxy as it travels to Earth. Dashed white lines with arrows show the paths the light would have taken had it not been bent by the gravity of the intervening cluster. The solid white lines start out straight in the beginning, but when they reach the intervening central galaxy cluster, two of the three light paths (the left and right) are bent by the cluster’s gravity and redirected toward Earth. The third solid white line (middle) travels straight from the distant galaxy through the galaxy cluster to Earth. The dashed white lines begin at the middle of the cluster, at left and right, and continue on a straight path.
And I know Loeb can do the work — making “Harvard astronomer” the scientific equivalent of “Florida man” didn’t just happen; it took long-term dedication. I want to believe Loeb and collaborators can delve once more into literature they aren’t familiar with, boldly ignore key papers and misquote others, tear down the barriers between science and sloppy statistics, and once again find bold and inspiring ways for aliens to be hiding under every asteroid, meteor and comet, all in the fashion to which we’ve all grown accustomed.
Screenshot of the handle for the Space Telescope Science Institute, @stsci.edu. It has a blue check after it.
This animated movie shows how the MAST archive has built up over time, based on the observation date of each observation in MAST. On the top are dates which range from 1990 to 2025. On the bottom is a map of the sky, plotted as Right Ascension vs Declination. As the video steps forward in time, telescope data in the archive from that date is plotted on the screen. It remains on screen, and new data is plotted on top, gradually filling in the map. Hubble launched in 1990. During the 90s, only small points of the sky were observed and start to build up over time. Around 2000, data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) comes into play and starts to cover larger areas of the sky, tracking out large arcs. Kelper launched in 2009 and fills in one field on the sky. More and more points fill in from 2010 to 2020. TESS launched in 2019. Over the next few years, TESS fills the sky with rectangle-shaped sectors.
Cosmic Canvas: Exoplanets Program Guide Exploring the Universe through Art and Astronomy Above: This scientific illustration shows the seven Earth-sized planets of TRAPPIST-1, an exoplanet system about 40 light-years away from Earth, based on data as of February 2018. Credit: NASA/JPL- Caltech/R. Hurt, T. Pyle (IPAC) Astronomy and the Arts: How are they connected? In astronomy, the process of scientific inquiry mirrors the creative journey of artmaking in many ways. Just as artists observe, interpret, and reflect the world through music, painting, sculpture, and writing, scientists observe the cosmos, interpret data, and create models to understand its many mysteries. Artistic expression, scientific illustration, and modeling play pivotal roles in exploring the universe and conveying ideas, particularly when faced with the unknowns of the vast and challenging-to-observe universe. In this program guide, participants will practice skills used in both science and artmaking while learning about exoplanets. NASA's Universe of Learning
Cosmic Canvas: Stellar Evolution Program Guide Exploring the Universe through Art and Astronomy Above: This artist’s concept shows two stars known as HM Sagittae, where a white dwarf star is pulling material from its red giant star companion. Credit: NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI) Astronomy and the Arts: How are they connected? In astronomy, the process of scientific inquiry mirrors the creative journey of artmaking in many ways. Just as artists observe, interpret, and reflect the world through music, painting, sculpture, and writing, scientists observe the cosmos, interpret data, and create models to understand its many mysteries. Artistic expression, scientific illustration, and modeling play pivotal roles in exploring the universe and conveying ideas, particularly when faced with the unknowns of the vast and challenging-to-observe universe. In this program guide, participants will practice skills used in both science and artmaking while learning about the life cycles of stars, known as stellar evolution. NASA's Universe of Learning.
A somewhat low-resolution colorized image of a group of five galaxies that appear close to each other in the sky: two in the middle, one toward the top, one to the bottom left, and one toward the bottom right. The galaxies are all relatively small and appear on a field of stars. Fade to a much higher resolution JWST image: The galaxy toward the top of the image has nearly circular shape and a bright core surrounded by a cloud-like aura of white. At the center are two bright galaxy cores with orange wisps surrounded by a cloud-like aura of white. The top galaxy two spiral arms and the other is more elliptical in shape. The galaxy toward the bottom left of the image has a bright central core, surrounded by orange wisps and tendrils. The core is surrounded by a thin cloud-like aura of white that forms a diffuse tail that trails off toward the lower right. The galaxy toward the lower right has a fuzzy oval shape, with more distinct points of light than the other four galaxies.
Three dark, finger-like pillars rise from the bottom to the top of the frame, ending in three points. The edges of the pillars are backlit and have streamers of gas, which look like mist rising from the landscape. The background is opaque, set off in shades of green, dotted with a few pink stars. In the upper right corner is a stair-step-shaped black area where there is no data, typical of images produced by Hubble's WFPC2 camera.
A shot of a pumpkin with the iconic Pillars of Creation carved into it. The pumpkin is lit from within, so the pillars are glowing. A leopard slug sits above the top pillar, happily munching away at the carving.
A projector screen showing slides: We have a working Rubin Observatory system! Images are embargoed until First Look press conference in D.C. on June 23rd. First look images are shown, mostly blocked with a translucent yellow square so you can't see anything.
Sunset on a clear day. The city is in shadow in the foreground. In the background is the Cook Inlet and distant mountains.
Timeline for Fiscal Year 2026 funding decisions June-July: Details of President's Budget Request for FY26 continue to be released July 7-10: House Energy and Water Appropriations Bill markup July 14-17: House Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Bill markup TBD: Senate Appropriations Bill markup Fall: House and Senate conference to decide final appropriations bill By October 1: Either appropriations bills are passed, a continuing resolution is adopted, or the government shuts down.
Public Policy Timeline Jan. 20: Inauguration of Trump. Executive Order 14151 Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing. Jan. 27 NSF freezes grant review and payment Feb. 26: OMB Memo released about agency RIF and reorganization plans. Jan. 28: AAS releases a "share your story" form. Feb. 18: NSF lays off 168 employees. Feb. 20: AAS releases first Action Alert of the year in support of NASA, NSF, and DOE. Jan - Feb: AAS Policy Team meets with dozens of offices to discuss the impacts on the community. Feb. 26: OMB Memo released about agency RIF and reorganization plans. Feb 28: 30% of Office of Space Commerce is laid off. Some employees were re-hired. Mar. 5: AAS releases Action Alert about submitting constituent request forms over 100 form requests made! Mar. 7: First reports of deep cuts. to NASA SMD. Mar. 7: AAS releases statement in support of NASA SMD. DPS committee Hill visits. Stand Up For Science marches around the country.
The Current Landscape for Public Policy and how YOU can make a difference Dara Norman and the AAS Public Policy Team (Colin Hamill, Roohi Dalal, Joel Parriott) 6/12/2025 American Astronomical Society
Nicole Drakos stands at a podium. Above here is a large screen showing slides: Vera Rubin's rotation curve measurements gave us the first clear evidence that galaxies are embedded in massive, invisible dark matter halos. Image of Vera Rubin. Plot of rotational velocity vs. distance from center for a spiral galaxy. Kimberly Arcand, Nicole Drakos, Maddie Lucey, and Amruta Jaodand sit on stage.
Advice Wear sunscreen Work with kind people; be kind Control what you can control Work sustainably • Do research • And community building • Have hobbies • Have a plan B
Let's model that! Monte carlo For AGN Channel Testing & Simulations Saavik Ford AMNH, BMCC, CCA, CUNY GC Barry McKenan AMINH, BMCC CCA, CUNY GC Harrison Cook NMSU Vera Deltavero NASA Goddard Emily McPike AMNH, CUNY GC Kaila Nathaniel RIT Shawn Ray AMNH, CUNY GC Richard O'Shaughnessy RIT Jake Postiglione AMNH, CUNY GC
Logical consequences Masses in the Stellar Graveyard Ligo observed black holes and neutron stars showing their mass before and after a merger. The most massive pre-merger black holes are over 100 solar masses.
Logical consequences. A diagram showing black holes in the disk around a supermassive black hole. In the center is the SMBH. Processes illustrated include: Dynamical binary formation Gas-capture binary formation Binary-single interaction Migration Disk capture Binary disruption Binary-circumbinary disk interaction
Any other disks like that? ALMA images of protoplanetary disks, seen as a series of disks with concentric gaps, at various oreintations.
Active galactic nucleus. In a Hubble image, it just looks like a bright point of light. A model shows a black hole surrounded by an accretion disk, a dusty torus and a broad line region. Above and below the black hole is a synchrotron jet.
Our nearest galactic nucleus Visible: Stars Not visible: dead stars Image of stars and their orbits in the area immediately around Sgr A*. It looks like a swarm of bees.
Saavik Ford stands on stage behind a podium. Behind her is a giant screen with slides: Things in Disks: Towards a New Understanding of Galactic Nuclei, K.E. Saavik Ford.
Thank You. A medieval map with hand-drawn images of buildings, waterways, and text. Image of the book cover: The Light Ages, by Seb Falk.
Gerard Mercator, Nova et aucta orbis terrae descriptio ad usum navigantium emendate accommodata (1569) "A new and full representation of the terrestrial globe perfectly adapted for use in navigation" Map of the Earth using the Mercator projection. Europe and Africa are shown in great detail. Asia is also detailed, alhtough it gets less accurate to the North. North and South America are kind of blobby, although the east coast of North America and the caribbean are more detailed and accurate. In the south Antartica is too big. In the North, there is a land mass around the north pole.
Portuguese portolan chart of African coast (c. 1471) Outline of the coast of West Africa with many locations labeled too small to read all along its edge. A series of lines extending compass roses criss-cross the map.
Mariner's astrolabe, c. 1588 National Maritime Museum, Greenwich Ø 170 mm A metal instrument, made of a circle, divided into four quadrants. Two arms form a line and are connected at a pivot at the center of the circle. Use of a mariner's astrolabe Pedro de Medina, Arte del Navegar (1545) Woodcut illustration of a person holding an astrolabe with a stylized sun in the sky.
"Since the very noble science of astronomy cannot be well understood without the appropriate instruments, it was necessary to construct instruments in this field." Jean of Lignières (fl. c. 1320) Image of the front and back of an astrolabe. Lesson 5-modelling matters Jean Fusoris Paris, c. 1410 History of Science Museum, Oxford. Ø 102 mm
Kamal used in Indian Ocean navigation Replica kamal (1977) Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA A rectangular piece of wood, maybe, has a piece of rope with various knots that extend out the back. Kamal in use on a replica Arab dhow, Jewel of Muscat Two people stand near each other. One holds a Kamal in one hand while extending a rope to their nose.
Traditional Polynesian navigation, made famous by Disney's Moana Hawaiian star compass Charles Nainoa Thompson from archive.hokulea.com A series of points are arranged in a circle, with Akau (North), Hikina (East), Hema (South), and Komohana (West) marked. Along the outer edges are names of stars and locations where the sun rises and sets. Hökūpa'a (North Star) is at the top of the circle and the upright Southern Cross (Hänaiakamalama) points south at the bottom of the circle.
Pages from three copies of the Sphere: 1) Sacrobosco, The Sphere (c. 1220) Copy made in Northern France c. 1300 2)Christoph Clavius, Commentary on the Sphere Rome, 1570 3) Manuel Dias, Tian wen lue / 天問略/ Summary of Astronomy, 1615
General theory of ascensions on the sphere Diagram showing equator lines marking the equator, ecliptic, and horizon. Line segemnts between these lines mark celestial longitude, right ascension, and declination. Illustration of an instrument to convert between equatorial, ecliptic and horizontal coordinates Richard of Wallingford's Rectangulus. Diagram by John Westwyk, c. 1380 Oxford, Corpus Christi College MS 144, f. 80r
Seb Falk stands on stage. Behind him is a giant screen with a medieval illustration of the spheres of the heavens, with the Earth at the center, and a series of concentric rings for the Sun, Moon, Earth, planets, and the fixed stars.
Operations is coming, we will be ready! Rubin Observatory is operational. Follow commissioning progress each week as we approach operations. Current best night for regular data taking: 550+ images
LSST Camera Installation Filter Installation Images of the Rubin Obervaroty mirror, camera, and filters. There are so many reflections its hard to tell exactly what is going on.
We have a working Rubin Observatory system! Images are embargoed until First Look press conference in D.C. on June 23rd First look images are shown, mostly blocked with a translucent yellow square so you can't see anything.
A person stands on stage behind a podium. Above them is a large screen with slides. Rubin Observatory Wednesday 11 June, 2025 AAS 245 Town Hall Anchorage
Key KPIC Takeaways 30+ detections and counting Exoplanet and BD companion spins on an industrial basis and constraints on formation & angular momentum Atmospheric Composition & Insights into formation pathways First Exomoon Survey HJ and UHJ thermal inversion and photodissociation EXTREMELY LARGE TELESCOPE PROGAM Pathfinder for future projects: KPIC -> HISPEC -> MODHIS
HR 8799 Planet Rotations Illustrations of a gas giant exoplanet. In one illustration, the planet is surrounded by a disk. The planet's magnetic field couples to the surrounding disk, torquing the planet, & slowing down the planet's spin.
KPIC was designed to optimize HRS characterization of directly imaged exoplanets R=35,000 near-IR spectroscopy Diffraction limited using single mode-fibers Commissioned in 2020 as a tech pathfinder Diagram shows light path from Keck II to TT to DM. The light is split and visable goes ot Facility WFS and infrared light continues. KLM + JH bands go to FIU. A fiber bundle connects K and L to NIRSPEC. JH bands go to PyWFS.