An external panel convened by NSF just released a report about the US Extremely Large Telescopes. This thread summarizes some key points from the document, found at 1/10 nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/ELT-Eval… Pg 18: Stating with the report's concluding statement: “The panel advises the Director to optimize the use of taxpayer funding to ensure that both projects have the opportunity to succeed in FDR [Final Design Review]” 2/10 nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/ELT-Eval…

In my opinion, this is one of the most spectacular images from the Cassini mission. It is a close-up of the edge of Saturn's B ring, and shows shadows on the rings from tall structures in the rings! solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/141/… This region of Saturn's rings may host moonlets that reach a kilometer or more in size. Such bodies could affect the ring material streaming past them, forcing the particles upward in a "splashing" manner to form the peaks in this Cassini image. solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/141/…

In the late 1990s, I was a young scientist at MIT, finishing up my Voyager 2 Neptune analysis grant. I also had just used the amazing Hubble to discover that Neptune's Great Dark Spot, discovered by Voyager 2 in 1989 (see picture), had disappeared! See science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… In the same Hubble data set from 1994, I discovered a NEW great dark spot on Neptune, but in the northern hemisphere. Heady times, trying to figure out how these massive storms could just come and go in just a few short years. hubblesite.org/contents/media…

Not gonna lie. I ugy-cried when I saw THE FIRST JWST NEPTUNE IMAGES! "O M G - LOOK AT THE RINGS" I was yelling, making my kids, my mom, even my cats look. More than 20 years in the making, and JWST delivered. nasa.gov/feature/goddar… Here is the AMAZING wide-field image showing Neptune in context with the night sky PACKED with galaxies (as all JWST images are).