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Prof. Sam Lawler profile picture
Prof. Sam Lawler
@Prof. Sam Lawler

Professor of astronomy, farmer of goats. Asteroid (42910). She/her.

Living and learning on the land and under the skies of Treaty 4 (Saskatchewan, Canada).

Thanks to Saskatchewan's beautiful night sky, my research background in small body orbital dynamics, and a couple of really unfortunately placed SpaceX reentries, I spend a lot of time yelling about satellite pollution in international news media.

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[email protected]nip05
Relays (1)
  • wss://relay.ditto.pub – read & write

Recent Notes

Prof. Sam Lawler · 1d
This is hideously depressing (here come the megabright satellites, screw you AST Spacemobile). But I am delighted that these authors (none of whom I've ever worked with before) use the word "megacon...
 Prof. Sam Lawler profile picture
Prof. Sam Lawler @Prof. Sam Lawler
Does it actually help anything for me to keep saying the word "megaconstellation" at every opportunity? Probably not.

But knowing that I have absolutely no power over what these companies do, and knowing that me saying "megaconstellation" annoys some satellite operator somewhere gives me a tiny bit of joy.
Prof. Sam Lawler profile picture


This is hideously depressing (here come the megabright satellites, screw you AST Spacemobile). But I am delighted that these authors (none of whom I've ever worked with before) use the word "megaconstellation" with no qualifiers!

Did you know that satellite companies HATE the word megaconstellation and keep requesting astronomers not use that word?

Did I mention that a significant fraction of my recently published papers have the word "megaconstellation" in the title?

1
Prof. Sam Lawler · 1d
Does it actually help anything for me to keep saying the word "megaconstellation" at every opportunity? Probably not. But knowing that I have absolutely no power over what these companies do, and knowing that me saying "megaconstellation" annoys some satellite operator somewhere gives me a tiny b...
Jon Hancock · 2d
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpquw8g8f3g29gw8uxfcj5863rnc783xyk0alqm9mcsx3leut98dausvd2wxk I’m pretty sure that someone having a Wikipedia page at all would make me feel like a slacker in comparison.
Leonardo Fontenelle · 2d
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpquw8g8f3g29gw8uxfcj5863rnc783xyk0alqm9mcsx3leut98dausvd2wxk I can't stand when s movie or series portraits astronaut characters as incompetent or otherwise unfit. It doesn't make any sense!
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The book contract I signed a few days ago has a "no genAI" clause. Neither I, the author, nor the editor/publisher are allowed to use genAI. I am extremely happy about having that written officially in the document!

Lili Saintcrow @Lili Saintcrow · 2d
"...but what they should have done and what they did do are two different things, and we have to live in the now. And in the now, “AI” inputs are inherently untrustable, from a copyright perspective." https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/31/another-reason-not-to-use-ai-for-you Show more
Prof. Sam Lawler profile picture
I was trying to find a visualization or figure or something to include in yet another article I wrote about Reflect Orbital, and I honestly got so depressed that I had to stop.

This is not a plea for images. I don't want to see it. We'll all see it in our skies soon enough. Unless Reflect Orbital goes out of business. Doesn't seem likely, but I can dream.

Fuck you, Reflect Orbital.
Prof. Sam Lawler · 4d
Dang, I haven't had to run a simulation overnight for a while. Thanks for being fucking terrible and asking for a million satellites, SpaceX. You suck.
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14yo just came into my office grinning and excitedly holding a duck (yes, it's one of our ducks, no, I don't know why, and yes, she took the duck back outside). Just another work-from-home afternoon on the farm...