Mike Brown

@plutokiller

Astronomer, planet hunter, Pluto killer, bear whisperer, finger-wrapped dad. Dangerous secularist. Foot soldier in the War on Cars. He/him. mikebrown.caltech.edu

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Mike Brown@plutokiller· 17d

You must bring me… a shrubbery! (With a baby bobcat inside)

A baby bobcat sits watch on top of a potted shrubbery that my wife has left outside all summer in hopes that it will magically plant itself. It has not planted itself, but the bobcat does not mind as it provides a better perch from which to stalk butterflies, which has been his main activity today that I have watched.

Mike Brown@plutokiller· 21d

Here is a bear to lower my heart rate

Mike Brown@plutokiller· 24d

Mike Brown@plutokiller· 25d

Utterly adorable tiny bob cat kittens in our back yard being watched very closely by indoor cats who are Not Pleased By The Visitors

Two tiny bob cats sit on a rock by a bowl looking about as adorable as should be allowed

Same bob cats and bowl.
More adorable as one cat steps up on the edge of the bowl to peer in

Three house cats staring out the window longingly

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Jul 7

That was such and amazing trip to just walk and laugh and be silly together for 2 weeks across the Dolomites. I can't recommend it enough. But it's still no excuse for her to turn 21.

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Jul 7

One of my favorite pictures of the two of us (and now lives as my computer background), resting after a long climb in the dolomites before we head on to our rifugio and another week of hiking

two people sitting int the grass staring across at some amazing dolomite peaks.

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Jul 7

Happy birthday to this little bunny who is, inexplicably, 21 years old today. It is pretty hard for me to fathom.

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Jun 27

On a bike ride on a trail above Pasadena. [Bear appears in trail.] Friends: everyone get off your bike and stand behind it and try to look large Me: [rides straight towards bear] Hey buddy, are you new? I don’t think we’ve met before. [bear ambles down the hill and mostly ignores us]

A black bear standing in the middle of a fire road with trees and a mountain in the background

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Jun 24

Virga. Rainbow. Waxing moon. Great blue heron. Sunset clouds. A beautiful evening display in Pasadena.

An orange cloud split by a rainbow with a tiny dot of a heron and a distant dot of a moon

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Jun 23

I found an old camera SD full of pictures. They were mostly this mom and her cubs hanging out in our back yard. She just wanted a nap. They just wanted to play.

Black bears (who are brown): Mom naps in a green yard while two cubs box over the top of her body.

The cubs wrestling, one with very sharp murder claws prominently visible.

One cub resting his entire lower body (how does it even fit?) into a large bowl that used to be full of water but is now full of bear.

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Jun 12

I don’t buy gas much but next time I have to I am definitely going here

A sign at a Mobil station where all of the gas is apparently free. This, I believe, is below market rate, but I haven’t bought gas this year so I don’t really know for sure. Maybe I am wrong though and this is what Trump meant when he said that gas was cheap. What do I know?

Mike Brown@plutokiller· May 24

We have lived here 20 years and I don’t ever remember seeing a fox in the backyard. Cute little buggers.

A quick brown fox looking alert in a back yard. Looking for a lazy dog over which to jump, no doubt.

Mike Brown@plutokiller· May 22

Nap time

Patch the bear is sprawled out for an evening nap

Mike Brown@plutokiller· May 15

Weird new pool bears. Can’t quite figure these ones out.

Mike Brown@plutokiller· May 12

We are talking about dwarf planets in class today so this seemed like the right shirt to wear for the occasion

A dude (me, I am the dude) wearing a t shirt saying “I had a marvelous time ruining everything.” And, well, I did.

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Apr 10

Ready for Artemis return! We’re dressing up right? I even have my iron meteorite cuff links!

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Apr 6

I just signed 190 books in 26 minutes, which I think is a new PR

190 books laid out on 3 tables all turned to the same page

A close up of the book “how I killed Pluto and how it had it coming” some now signed

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Apr 3

This is from a year or two ago but I just came across it and had to share again. This is Frank, our recently irradiated cat, meeting a few of his neighbors. He remains a good cat. They are all good cats (Frank is doing well!).

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Apr 1

I just do love the cameras on the rocket so we can watch as it goes to space

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Apr 1

Today’s socks

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Mar 26

Not a planet

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Mar 2

Frank is a little sleepy post irradiation, but otherwise seems in good kitty spirits.

Frank, looking a little dazed, inside his cat carrier. He gets to go home now!

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Mar 2

This is Frank (Franklin C. Roosevelt, where C is for cat [obvs D was for dog]). He’s going on a trip today. He’s about to get radiation therapy for his just-discovered nasal lymphoma. Wish Frank luck and sweet anesthetized dreams. Wish me the ability to keep it together. Frank is a good boy.

Frank, a brown stripy cat approaching chonk size, is exploring the top of his red carrier.

Frank is posing on the fireplace mantle that he is strictly forbidden from visiting. He looks elegant next to an orchid and a print of an octopus.

Frank trolls for food in the kitchen with the other two cats, Rosie (the riveter) and Hedy (Lamar). Rosie and Hedy are litter mates who look nothing alike (and don’t like each other). Can litter mates have separate fathers? I am guessing yes. Rosie is about to reach down and swat Frank because it is import that everyone remembers that she is in charge.

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Jan 30

New paper just out from my soon-to-graduate Ph.D. student Matthew Belyakov. He got JWST to look at 3I/Atlas in the mid-infrared. And there is water! and CO2! and CH4! and Ni! It's just a beautiful spectrum (and I love a beautiful spectrum). arxiv.org/abs/2601.22034 🔭

Three plots, one showing emission lines of water, one of CO2, and one of methane (which also has a single nickel line in there). The models sit on top of the data and, friends, the models are nearly perfect (thanks PSG).

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Jan 25

He is just like a big dog

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Jan 25

Patch alert! He must have made a New Year’s resolution to swim laps to lose weight. Made it across and back twice. Keep at it, bud.

A black bear (who is brown colored) swimming across a blue pool. He is headed for the floating blue pool ball we bought for him. He is also closer to my pool hoses than I am happy with, but you can (and we do) always buy new pool hoses. Can’t buy a new pool bear.

Patch, pensively looking at the camera half submerged in the pool.

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Jan 22

I have finally taken the leap and gotten rid of my car! Going to find out how hard it is to be a one-car family in sprawling LA. Trick one: e-bike (the commute and in-office parking are so much nicer than with a car). Trick two: employer-provided transit pass. Let’s see how this works.

Me sitting in my office in front of a bookshelf and an e-bike (Aventon Level 2, in fact). If you look carefully you can see the biggest piece of feldspar I have ever seen sitting on the self.

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Jan 21

What are the chances when I promise my daughter I will post more…. Patch shows up! He was clearly in the pool, based on all of puddles, but my cameras only caught him on the way to the trash cans (still locked, sorry bud)

Mike Brown@plutokiller· Dec 25

We had a midnight visitor! He was rotund and covered in fur. It was PATCH! We haven’t seen him in months since his foot injury, which looks all healed now. It is a Christmas miracle.