Where did 2022 go?

Y'all, I am in panic mode. I realized I only have about 10 working days left in the year (I'm taking off the bulk of December for vacation with my family). But that means I need to be in heavy "can we circle back in the new year" mode and be done with new projects. Let me just tell you that is not where I'm currently at.

I'm usually very good at planning things out and using my time wisely, but there's more in flux here than usual. I've had a lot of travel, plus my entire family was sick for a week, so I'm in frantic catch-up mode. There are literally just not enough hours in the day to get through my to do list.

Next week, I'm going to sit down and prioritize what I can get done before the end of the year and what's just...not going to happen (that book proposal I was planning on having finished by January 1 so we could go on sub immediately after offices open back up? Yeah, that's not happening.) I'm prioritizing the projects I'm passionate about, but also the things I have a firm commitment to.

I hope your week is going better than mine, and you are not also in a panic about the end of the year!

Swapna

This week's space news

You may be familiar with the Stephan's Quintet photo that JWST took, one of the first images released from the observatory, but I love this version that has data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) over the JWST data (all the other colors)

Divers found a 22-foot long piece of the Space Shuttle Challenger

I got some pushback and correction on my insistence on saying Challenger broke apart and being accused of "sugar coating," so I also did a follow-up: Most people think Challenger exploded, but it didn't. It broke apart. (Precision is important to me!)

NASA successfully launched the Artemis I mission

But that's not the end of the story! There's an entire mission to do now, and here's what's next.

Also if you missed it, my tweet storm that evening while waiting for the launch got...a bit weird:

JWST imaged a star in the earliest stages of formation

This photo is just gorgeous.

Looking for holiday gifts for space lovers?

Engadget was kind enough to ask me to come back and write a holiday gift guide for space lovers. I hope you'll find something for the people on your list here!

Pentiment is the weirdest and best video game I've played in awhile

You play as an artist in 16th century Bavaria and you've been hired by an abbey to illustrate a manuscript. Oh, and you have to solve a murder. (This is the game I teased in the last newsletter, the one I couldn't talk about because I was under embargo).

Star Trek: Prodigy's episode last week was a tribute to redshirts

If you missed it, go back and watch. It's one of the best of the season.

Stuff I recommend

Playing: Pentiment, but I'm about to start Harvestella, a farming/life sim!Watching: Just finished She-Hulk (moments of brilliance, but fine overall) and am about to start Andor (really this time)Reading: Still working on Matthew Perry's memoir! The last week has been a mess, so I haven't had much downtime.