Dr. Jürgen Knödlseder

@jknodlseder@astrodon.social
75 Followers
880 Following
9.5K Posts
I’m an astrophysicist working in the field of gamma-ray astronomy at IRAP (CNRS) in Toulouse, France.
Since a couple of years I’m also doing research on the environmental impact of scientific research (and of astrophysics in particular), and I’m engaged in @labos1point5 and @a4e.
I’m also doing local politics as city and community ​​councillor with a strong focus on environmental politics.
Born at 320 ppm.
Hashtags#astronomy #astrophysics #climate #environment #degrowth
CountryFrance
Toots inEnglish, French, German
Githubhttps://github.com/jknodlseder

After two and a half years of building this community, I've made the decision that it's time to shut down Astrodon.social.

Since 2022, around 4,000 users have registered on astrodon.social. However, fewer than 10% of those users are active each month, and fewer than 1% post regularly. Because of the way Mastodon works, the data for every one of the those users, even the inactive ones, has to be kept forever and keeps on growing. There's no way to remove posts or archive them out of the database, and running a large database gets very expensive.

Running Astrodon costs more than €300/month, which means that the costs of running the server are primarily going toward servicing fewer than 50 active users, the most active of whom are organisations. Even with donations, Astrodon has now cost me more than €5000 to run.

While I’ve considered the option of turning Astrodon into a commercial service or creating a nonprofit, I’m reluctant to go down that route. Managing a business comes with a host of overhead tasks like tax reporting and navigating different tax regimes due to our global user base, which is something I want to avoid. My goal has always been to create a free and open space, but the reality is that the free part isn't sustainable.

I'm not shutting down Astrodon immediately. I want to give everyone ample time—likely over the next two to three months—to find alternative service providers and transition smoothly. This isn't a decision I'm making lightly, and I appreciate your understanding and support as we navigate this transition. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to me directly through DMs.

@sundogplanets

To add to what you have said, maybe, this recent publication in @cnrs LeJournal :

Telescopes face down-to-earth challenges : "Astronomical observatories can yield exceptional discoveries, but they are sometimes built with little regard for the environment and local people, sparking public opposition. The sociologist and historian Pascal Marichalar takes a closer look at these issues, drawing on his research in Hawaii." https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/telescopes-face-down-to-earth-challenges

Have a nice day 🙂
Karine (for the IRAP)

Telescopes face down-to-earth challenges

Astronomical observatories can yield exceptional discoveries, but they are sometimes built with little regard for the environment and local people, sparking public opposition. The sociologist and historian Pascal Marichalar takes a closer look at these issues, drawing on his research in Hawaii.

CNRS News
Zum #tirolerFreitag geht's diesmal in die Eng, weil ja bald der Bergbus wieder fährt.
Über den Engalmen ragt die Spritzkarspitze auf.

Vous avez aimé les récents épisodes "écolo" de ce quinquennat qui le sera ou ne sera pas ?

Dites-vous que lundi commencent les débats sur la loi "fast-fashion" au Sénat.

Purée, il y aura pas une seule proposition de loi un peu écolo qu’ils ne vont pas modifier jusqu’à ce qu’elle n’ait plus aucun effet…

https://www.novethic.fr/economie-et-social/transformation-de-leconomie/loi-anti-fast-fashion-associations-denoncent-detricotage-senateurs

Loi anti fast-fashion : des associations dénoncent un détricotage

La loi anti fast-fashion a été détricotée en Commission développement durable du Sénat dénonce une coalition d’associations.

Novethic
Ces images qui permettent de saisir l'ampleur de la catastrophe de Blatten

Le retour du soleil jeudi a révélé l'ampleur des dégâts causés par l'effondrement, mercredi après-midi, du glacier du Birch sur le village de Blatten. Les comparaisons avant/après d'images satellites permettent de saisir l'immensité de la zone concernée par la catastrophe.

Radio Télévision Suisse

It took 40 seconds for this landscape to change forever.

(Source: Météo Franc-Comtoise)

#blatten #glacier

Voir LFI et le RN main dans la main se réjouir de la fin des ZFE est un gros problème.
Il y a 40000 personnes qui meurent de pollution de l'air en France chaque année. Les ZFE ont fait leur preuve partout en Europe. Vous voulez les supprimer ? Faites mieux.
https://bonpote.com/les-zfe-une-bonne-politique-de-transition-ecologique/
Les ZFE : une bonne politique de transition écologique ?

Avant de parler des ZFE, nous devrions rappeler un fait : la pollution de l’air est un problème majeur de santé publique , avec 40 000 décès

Bon Pote