Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷

@astroprofhoff

Astronomer, professor, birder, singer, cat communer (she/her) University of Denver, @chamberlin-obs.bsky.social Past Grand Canyon Astronomer in Residence

2104 Siguiendo4897 Seguidores1442 Publicaciones

Bluesky

¿Es tu perfil?Reclámalo y astroprofhoff.dirty.social es tuyo.Reclamar perfil

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· 10d

Nothing from here either. Oh well, it was a nice sight anyway 🤩

An image of a waning Moon on a black background, taken with a Seestar S50 from Denver, CO, USA. Many craters and bright spots are visible. The color is orangey, and the limb is wavy due to Earth's atmosphere.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· 10d

Oh well, it was still a pretty target! (A bit rusty-colored from here due to wildfire smoke)

An image of the Moon’s illuminated limb against a black background, taken with a Seestar S50 smart scope from Denver, CO, USA. The color is orangey and many craters and bright spots are visible. The very edge is a little wavy due to the Earth’s atmosphere.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· 15d

Adorable! Here’s my good boy:

A grey and white cat with a white chest and nose blaze snoozes on the back of a white couch in a late- afternoon sunbeam. His tail is beautifully fuzzy and patterned with gray rings shading from light to dark at the tip. His nose is pink and heart-shaped.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· 27d

Best shot of the night, the lovely Dumbbell Nebula 🤩

A colorful nebula (M27, the Dumbbell Nebula) on a black starry background. It is elongated left to right, bluish green in the middle with red borders on either side. Some orangey interior filaments are visible. Taken with a Seestar S50 telescope in Denver, 2 minute exposure.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Jul 12

I'm delighted to be singing in this gorgeous and poignant concert tomorrow night. It's a meditation on conflict and reconciliation spanning 6 centuries and 5 languages. 6pm MDT, in person at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Denver or live-streamed on their website! www.facebook.com/events/44043...

Image of Picasso's "Guernica" with text: "Tomorrow at 6pm, Out of the Narrow Place: A Journey from Conflict to Possibility, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Denver"

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Jul 7

This VERY VERY GOOD BOY has been eating more on his new meds and even pooped 2 days in a row! (These are the things that make caretakers of a senior kitty happy, lol)

A grey and white cat snoozes peacefully on a blanket patterned with red berries and green leaves. He has an adorable white nose stripe.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Jul 7

Perfect relaxing morning: cat, coffee, and an excellent book (h/t @chanda.blacksky.app!)

A grey and white cat loafs on a blanket patterned with red berries and green leaves. In the foreground is the colorful cover of the book “The Edge of Space-Time,” by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Jun 30

And did you see the moon last night?!

Nighttime shot of a nearly full Moon over some dark trees. It is very deep coppery red.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Jun 27

There was one at an artificial pond on my campus today!

A slim black cormorant stands on the edge of a small pool, surrounded by green grass and university buildings. Its reflection is clear in the smooth water.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Jun 17

Sister goddesses: today’s lunar occultation of Venus!

Before: Venus approaching the dark limb. Bright spot above a faint crescent on a blue background. iPhone camera (with lens flare) through 4.5” Dobsonian eyepiece.

After: Venus emerging from the bright limb. Bright spot below a white crescent on a blue background. iPhone camera (with lens flare) through 4.5” Dobsonian eyepiece.

After: Venus hovers above the Moon’s edge (image vertically flipped from the others). Bright semicircle just above a dim crescent on a dark blue background. Some dark craters are visible on the Moon’s surface.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· May 25

post your instructions

Small yellow and black sticker reading “REMEMBER: Turn your computer off before midnight on 12/31/99.”

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· May 24

We got to see the ISS fly over @chamberlin-obs.bsky.social tonight — and hear it too, thanks to a @denverastro.bsky.social member with a ham radio! 🤩

A night sky view of an observatory dome that is open to reveal the telescope inside. The ISS is visible as a bright spot in the sky amid patchy clouds.

A night sky view of an observatory dome that is open to reveal the telescope inside. Because the image is a long (3-second) exposure, the sky appears light blue-gray and the ISS is visible as a bright streak.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· May 23

Hey #Denver, come stargaze with me and @denverastro.bsky.social TONIGHT at @chamberlin-obs.bsky.social! The weather looks beautiful, and we will be pointing our telescopes at Venus, Jupiter, the Moon, and the stars of early summer. ✨ FREE, no reservations needed, drop by any time after sunset! 🔭

A nighttime time-lapse photo showing a red brick observatory with a silver dome, surrounded by trees. The dome is open to reveal a long white telescope inside. Above, many star trails trace circular patterns around a center not visible above the photo. Credit: University of Denver

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· May 10

post your warning sign

An LED billboard in front of a blue sky. It reads "Solar eclipse Monday, expect delays"

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· May 4

Here’s Badminton sending soft and cuddly vibes. Hope things ease up soon!

A grey and white cat is curled up asleep on a black and red flower-patterned blanket. His eyes are tightly closed and his nose is hidden by a front paw. Pink toe beans are visible on the other front paw, and his tail is subtlely ring-patterned.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Apr 28

As predicted by the ancient texts

Homer Simpson, looking annoyed, to Mr. Burns: "Or what? You'll release the dogs, or the bees, or dogs with bees in their mouths, and when they bark, they shoot bees at you?"

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Apr 20

Badminton peed on the couch last night but is Unrepentant

A grey and white cat sleeps curled up on a black and red flower-patterned blanket. One front paw shows pink toe beans and the other covers his nose. He appears to be smiling.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Apr 1

I love this poem by Sara Teasdale. My choir sang a lovely setting of it a few years back.

The New Moon
by Sara Teasdale

Day, you have bruised and beaten me,
As rain beats down the bright, proud sea,
Beaten my body, bruised my soul,
Left me nothing lovely or whole,

Yet I have wrested a gift from you,
Day that dies in dusky blue:
For suddenly over the factories
I saw a moon in the cloudy seas,

A wisp of beauty all alone
In a world as hard and gray as stone,
Oh who could be bitter and want to die
When a maiden moon wakes up in the sky?

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Mar 27

Badminton has purrfected his napping technique

A grey and white cat sleeps on his side with his front paws curled up, showing off his white feet and pink toe beans. He is lying on a black blanket patterned with red berries and green leaves. He appears to be smiling in his sleep.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Mar 21

So happy vernal equinox, first day of spring/fall, First Point of Aries (Pisces) Day, and origin of right ascension day! 🤓 Whatever you call this time of year, take a moment to appreciate this cosmic alignment and how it affects us here on Earth. (8/8) ☀️🌎⏳ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap26032...

A composite time-lapse view showing the daily motion of the sky on the equinox. It features many elliptical star trails and a bright line marking the Sun's daily motion when it is located on the celestial equator. Image credit: Juan Carlos Casado (Starry Earth, TWAN)

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Mar 21

Things you might notice around this time of year: ☀️ The Sun is rising due east and setting due west. If you have a N/S street grid, it'll be in your eyes while driving or biking! ☀️ The day length is changing rapidly even aside from Daylight Saving Time. (7/8)

Photo showing a very long shadow of a person extending straight down a residential street with bare trees and snow on the grass. The sky is blue and the distance is still sunlit. Photo taken at sunset in Denver on March 17, 2021.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Mar 21

The point on the sky called the vernal equinox is also the zero point for the coordinate on the celestial sphere that corresponds to longitude. This coordinate is called, for obscure historical reasons, "right ascension." (6/8) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_a...

The Earth is shown at the center of a spherical coordinate grid, with the right ascension and declination coordinates labeled. By Tfr000 (talk) 15:34, 15 June 2012 (UTC) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19907447

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Mar 21

Oddly enough, the vernal equinox is also called the First Point of Aries, even though it's in Pisces. That's because the Earth's spin axis is slowly wobbling, so the celestial coordinate system gradually shifts through the constellations over millennia. (5/8) www.britannica.com/science/prec...

Graphic showing how Earth's axis wobbles over time while keeping the same angle with respect to its orbit. Via britannica.com

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Mar 21

So as we move around the Sun, the Sun appears to travel slowly along the ecliptic. On the vernal equinox, the Sun is located at the point in the sky where the ecliptic and equator cross in the constellation Pisces. It's moving northward, which means more light for the northern hemisphere. (4/8)

Two annual equinoxes, in spring and in autumn, mark intersections of plane of ecliptic (red) with celestial equator (light blue/white); spring equinox (upper right) occurs with sun in front of Pisces the Fishes constellation: Tau’olunga, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecliptic_path.jpg
From https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/03/first-point-of-aries-for-spring-equinox.html .

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Mar 21

The celestial equator is a circle on the celestial sphere that mimics Earth's equator (in fact it sits right above it). The ecliptic is the path the Sun appears to take around the celestial sphere over the course of a year. The two circles meet at two points on the sky: the equinoxes. (3/8)

Graphic showing that the Earth’s celestial equator is inclined at 23.5 degrees from the ecliptic.
©Vito Technology, Inc., via https://starwalk.space/en/news/what-is-the-ecliptic

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Mar 21

It was one of my first perspective-shifting moments as an astronomy student to learn that in addition to being a day, the vernal equinox is a point on the celestial sphere. That's the imaginary "globe" that surrounds the Earth and gives us a coordinate system for the sky. (2/8)

Illustration of the components of the celestial sphere. The Earth is shown in the center of a sphere of stars, with various reference points labeled. Image from the Lunar and Planetary Institute, https://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/skytellers/constellations/

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Mar 21

Happy vernal equinox! You may know this as one of 2 dates when the day and night are roughly equal length, or as the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and fall in the southern. But to astronomers, the vernal equinox has an additional fun significance... 🧪🔭 (1/8)

A full disk view of the earth taken by NASA's GOES 16 satellite on the vernal Equinox, showing a shadow dividing the disk into two. The right side of the Earth, including South America and the Atlantic Ocean, is sunlit, while the left side including North America is in shadow. Credit: NOAA/NASA, https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/night-sky-network/embracing-the-equinox/

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Mar 19

Cats are such graceful, majestic creatures

A grey and white cat lolls on his back with his feet in the air. All white paws are curled up and the pink pads and heels of his back legs are visible. He’s also showing off his børthole to great advantage. His tail is pointing back towards his head, which is upside down with flattened ears and a crazed expression in his yellow eyes. One tiny fang peeks out of his mouth.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Jan 28

Our shrimps are cousins!

A grey and white cat lounges on a green blanket in front of a couch arm. One white front paw hides his right eye, while the other stares at the camera.

Jennifer L. Hoffman ✨😷@astroprofhoff· Jan 21

Our only issue is dosing, because this grumpy old man is hard to pill. But we muddle along, because it does make vet visits easier for all of us.