Ned Wright
@mapping3k
UCLA astronomer working on space CMB and IR. On the COBE, WMAP, SIRTF and WISE missions. Asteroid (241527). See my cosmology tutorial at
Shipping news: the Lynx, a topsail schooner that is a replica of a privateer from 1812, is tied up at Smith Dock. In the summer she sails daily with tourists out of Nantucket but maybe today’s weather is a bit too much, or she’ll be open during the Science Stroll
Shipping news: the R/V Hugh R. Sharp is back in Woods Hole, this time on the other side of Smith Dock so it’s closer to the Corwith Cramer.
The Eel Pond population of striped bass seems to be flourishing. These big guys were hoping I’d throw some dead squid culled from the MBL specimen holding tanks in the building behind me into the pond.
Ship news in Woods Hole: The Corwith Cramer is provisioning probablyto go out to sea.
Yesterday 7/29/26 the visiting R/V Hugh R. Sharp from Delaware departed leaving the WHOI Smith Dock with just the small R/V Tioga. MBL’s R/V Discovery is tied up to the MBL dock.
The Smith Dock at WHOI now hosts a visitor: the University of Delaware’s R/V Hugh R. Sharp. It’s a good bit smaller than the Atlantis.
The Atlantis went out this morning so Smith Dock looks empty. You can still see the masts of the Corwith Cramer behind though.
The Corwith Cramer, a 134 foot steel brigantine, is back in port after a week out. It is run by the Sea Education Association.
The R/V Atlantis came in to Smith Dock at WHOI today presumably carrying the DSV Alvin.
In Woods Hole thru August. Enjoying the Shining Sea bike path and the scale model Solar System. But the Earth sign was destroyed for a hyperspace bypass and the Saturn sign is way overgrown.
It's Asteroid Day! 118 years ago to the day an object banged into Tunguska in Russia knocking down trees over 2000 sq. km Probably close to a 10 Megaton blast, 20x bigger than Chelyabinsk in 2013. I'm working with an undergrad on applying the NEATM to rotating ellipsoids. First we visualize!
Sunrise is very early In LA June 12th was earliest sunrise but also very foggy so here’s a picture from today The Sun is behind the big hill on the left In Pasadena for the AAS meeting next week the sunrise will be a minute earlier since it’s farther East
What's going wrong with @nytimes.com home delivery in LA? Got this message on Sunday and again today.
Another election checked off - voted early in the CA jungle primary Ballot was 8 pages!
This AM I walked past this stub of Dellwood which is a staircase serving 2 houses off Quito.
Odd sight at UCLA: 6 Coco food delivery robots lined up by the chemistry building at 4:45 PM on the Friday before the Memorial Day weekend. Why?
Me in front of the Metro D line station at Wilshire/Fairfax and the Petersen Museum
Went on a bird walk at the Ventura settling ponds this AM. Did see birds like this mama duck with 6 ducklings.
Beautiful “smile” of a crescent Moon hanging over Westwood Village tonight so I took a shot with my iPhone 16+pro at 5x. Night mode engaged so a stack of exposures about 10 sec total. Way deeper than my eye so I edited it down. IRL could not see the Earthshine at all.
Saw this big bug walking on the outside of my window. Luckily it’s a lot closer than the tree in the background.
Made a big pot of honey-spiced tofu chili for the UU Santa Monica Green Living potluck but it got canceled due to a forecast of rain. Two weeks of chili for us I guess.
Walking around the neighborhood this morning I saw LA Sanitation’s giant vacuum cleaner.
Page 3 of the Science Times in the 7 April 2026 dead tree edition of the @nytimes.com is a full page ad of the equations of some guy’s cosmology theory. Looks like he presented this at the March meeting of the APS. I haven’t followed the links in the image below.
Dear @nytimes.com fix your sports stories on both the website and the iOS app.