Jamie L. Molaro

Burning Man was dusty, I am tired, we had a great time! And we learned a lot more about the carousel than we honestly really wanted to lol. But despite some mechanical hiccups, we had a great year giving ~3500 rides. People really enjoyed the new art and reading the new stories! #SkyhorseCarousel

Me: *has heating pads in every room of the house bc disability* House Guests: “No, just the beverage will be fine…thanks.”

HRT is now easily available and thank GOODNESS. I can’t believe women just had to live that way before. When I think back on memories of my mother at my age I see so much more context.

Michael Druker 🇨🇦@mdruker.app

Social media loves talking about how everything is getting worse. But what’s something that you’ve seen get _better_ in your lifetime?

Nice small adrenaline boost for a Friday night turning in the recording of my conference presentation 5 minutes before the deadline lol. I was just trying to get the length down but eventually had to accept, bugs me when I’m a little bit over even though I know it’ll be fine.

I heard [NOSTALGIC SONG REDACTED FOR YOUR SAFTEY] on the radio and now it’s obviously in my head and I still know every word.

UGH, got my Covid and flu shots yesterday and I am wrecked today. But all for a good cause.

Hey #sciart, get your submissions ready! Its free to participate and the theme this year is “As We Float on By: 50 Golden Years of Voyager”. Details at lpl.arizona.edu/art 🎨🪐

The Art of Planetary Science@artofptys.bsky.social

TAPS 2027 is accepting submissions through December 31st! We accept art across all art forms and all skill levels. Whether it is your first art show or not, TAPS wants to see your art!

*sigh* This is my 2nd time trying to attend DPS the last few years and, again, I'll be prevented in-person by very high covid rates. With LPSC imploding and DPS not an option in recent years, I don't have a regular conference anymore. Really bums me out! I miss my friends and it's bad for my career.

Here is a cool time lapse of part of the carousel assembly! Before the phone ran out of batteries haha. The big tent in the background of the video and lots of the photos is the Center Camp Canopy. The Center Camp Plaza where we were located is literally the center of the entire city/event.

bsky.app/profile/spac...

Jamie L. Molaro@spacejammie.bsky.social

And speaking of #SkyhorseCarousel, our 2026 Engagement Report is finally out! Have a read if you're curious about our experience at Burning Man this year, our trials and tribulations, and visitor reactions to the art. We also added tons of photos to the gallery! skyhorsecarousel.com/news-updates/

Jamie L. Molaro@spacejammie.bsky.social

newscientist.comTwo large asteroids found spinning as fast as a fairground ride | New Scientist

Important news via @lukemeister.bsky.social--indeed, if asteroid 2025 MN45 is ~700 m across and rotates once every 112 s (~20 m/s) then it's an order of magnitude faster than the #SkyhorseCarousel (~20 ft across every 10 s or ~2 m/s). Clearly it must be greater than 15 horse power then.

New Scientist@newscientist.com

Rocks in the asteroid belt rotating at ultra-fast speeds suggest our understanding of asteroid structure might be wrong

But....this honestly begs the question of what ferris wheel the article is comparing it to because that's really fast for a ferris wheel lol.

Oops, sorry @lukemeister.bsky.social I goofed up that tag.

Randomly thinking about this project today—I’d wanted to have a glass cube etched inside to keep it fully 3D though it’s kinda pricey. But I realized I could also try it with beads embedded in resin if I pour it in layers in a clear plastic cube.

Jamie L. Molaro@spacejammie.bsky.social

Cut a clean constellation cube! It’s cute! Maybe I’ll try a painted version next. #SciArt #FrameOfReference Feels so good to spend the end of my holiday crafting after the effort of cleaning out my studio and my glowforge headache. Been trying to get to this point in the project for a few weeks!

*scheming*

I am grateful that I have so many wonderful friends, but after coming out of a really intense several months being insanely busy with the carousel I would like for them to stop inviting me places lol. I would like to do nothing. By myself. At home. Maybe I’ll see you in January.

We’ve been enjoying getting back to other hobbies now that carousel stuff has wound down. Starting a new dnd campaign soon and my character is going to a beast master ranger who is a lion tamer, sword juggler, and circus performer 🦁🎪

19 Sept

Ahhh, my first weekend day off in….god I don’t know how many months. Since January? I know we did it to ourselves, but now we are really enjoying never being that busy again.

I always feel so creative and rejuvenated when I get home from the burn. Unfortunately, a thousand emails and this inane federal research security training is slowly withering my soul just a little now that I’ve returned to work 🙃

Dustiest year I've seen, this is what it looked like most of the week. We had some unexpected/new mechanical issues (surprisingly, not dust related) so we ended up having to replace bearings several times throughout the week to keep it running. But we plenty of time at home to figure out the issue.

Folks still enjoyed riding despite the dust! Out there, you make the best of what the weather throws at you--it's just part of the experience.

10 Sept

Just finished my post-burning man PT appointment which is always A LOT. Gonna lay on a heating pad all day, drink water, and keep ignoring my email. Maaaaybe I’ll do some laundry, maybe play a lil games.

8 Sept

Not a bad way to decompress from the burn, on our journey home through one of my very favorite places in the world.

This is my 17th year going to event since 2005 I think? See you on the other side! I miss Fable already, but I know the house sitter has tummy rubs covered ;)

Besides the outreach aspect, the carousel has of course also been a deep labor of love and self expression. Perhaps my artistic magnum opus, we’ll see. Even with the loose ends I’d like to do next year, it finally looks like the piece of art I’ve envision. I’m so excited to share it with people!

gofund.meDonate to Support the Skyhorse Carousel's Next Chapter, organized by Jamie MolaroThe Skyhorse Carousel is an amusement ride, art installation, and science ou… Jamie Molaro needs your support for Support the Skyhorse Carousel's Next Chapter

Headed to Burning Man with the #SkyhorseCarousel in tow! It’s really fun to do science outreach in such a playful way, in a place where people are curious, open, and eager to learn and interact. Consider supporting the project to help cover paint and materials! gofund.me/b1cf3f003 #SciArt

There’s a breakdown of our costs at our website: www.skyhorsecarousel.com

I’ll be off the grid for a couple weeks, so you won’t get a personalized thank you message till I return. But it will come!

I learned a new knot! The angler’s knot. Making new bungees for the carousel ceiling shade panels.

26 Aug

Time for my annual solo speed crafting competition in the days before leaving for burning man every year.

Seshat was the goddess of knowledge and astronomy, inventor of writing, and divine record keeper, marking the passage of time on a notched palm rib. Here, the diagram she draws invokes how the Moon's "cratering record" is used in the study of planetary chronology. #SkyhorseCarousel #SciArt

skyhorsecarousel.comSkyhorse CarouselCelebrating human culture and cosmology through art and play.

Also, for new folks just learning about the project, more info and lots of photos here! bsky.app/profile/spac...

Jamie L. Molaro@spacejammie.bsky.social

If you checkout the #SkyhorseCarousel hashtag I have lots of posts on the topic, or you can get info at our website! www.skyhorsecarousel.com

22 Aug

Oh! And I forgot to point out that the blue line of symbols below her feet are representations of constellations, planets, and deities associated with hours of the night from murals at the Dendera complex, which are famous for their astronomical maps.

This horse was painted very last minute in 2024 and never had a proper story associated with it, so we needed to find something worthy of the incredible paint job! She wears a leopard skin dress, the spots on which associate her with the stars, so here instead we reimagined the spots as craters.

Side note that, as a commenter has pointed out (not in a rude way), while the text on the saddle is real, the way I rearranged it to fit the space I knew definitely botched the symbol groupings to retain words properly. When I have time to read the books I bought on the subject I can fix it! :)

Jamie L. Molaro reposted

skyhorsecarousel.comSkyhorse CarouselCelebrating human culture and cosmology through art and play.

Replying to @barrygoldman1.bsky.social

If you checkout the #SkyhorseCarousel hashtag I have lots of posts on the topic, or you can get info at our website! www.skyhorsecarousel.com

Her epithets include Mistress of the House of Books (an archive and knowledge center in ancient Egypt), Lady of Builders, and Divine Accountant. She was also the goddess of measurement and the icon on her head is actually a surveying instrument used for laying building foundations!

19 Aug

We took the carousel back apart to prep it for transport and put all the horses onto the new scaffolding rack we designed. But I needed something to protect their hooves from knocking into each other so I bought them all leg warmers 😂😂😂 #SkyhorseCarousel

12 Aug

I’ve been reflecting a lot on the last decade of my career, with several intense and exciting years followed by a slow winding down of longterm projects and brief lull as I transition into something new. I finally feel I’m in my next waxing Moon phase with new projects, new teams, and renewed focus.

12 Aug

There is so much good art in here, folks! And I really enjoy getting exposure to other fields of science this way.

Glendon Mellow@flyingtrilobite.com

From paleoart to fine art, comics to medical illustration, bioart to space imagery, explore the rich SciArt ecosystem on Bluesky with the SciArt Starter Pack. 150 artists, plus the entire popular SciArt Feed 🐡. (And no AI!) go.bsky.app/DygrEnH

10 Aug

Had a birthday party for Ian over the weekend and everyone got to ride it for the first time since we finished painting ☺️

Jamie L. Molaro@spacejammie.bsky.social

Friends, the #SkyhorseCarousel is finally fully painted and reassembled, isn't it STUNNING?! Between the horses and scenes, the carousel celebrates the culture and cosmos of >30 different cultures worldwide! You can read all the Sky Stories and see photos here: www.skyhorsecarousel.com #SciArt

There are still some things I want to do, like add constellations to the shield panels and do something nicer with the floor. There's also a large round crown-shaped piece that sits at the top of the pyramid to hide the gears, but we haven't put it back on yet since it still needs some work.

While I actually have a braille booklet describing all the horses we bring to Burning Man with us, I haven't had time to write up full descriptions for the scenery yet. And I apologize that the website images are still lacking alt text too. I will get there eventually! Just a lot on my plate.

Kind of hard to believe we made it here after months of painting. After three years of work really! A few more shots from different sides. It's hard to capture it all in one photo!