#astrodon — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #astrodon, aggregated by home.social.
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Now I'm thinking about firing micro black holes into white dwarfs for some "Dark Forest" shenanigans...
https://scitechdaily.com/invisible-black-holes-could-be-triggering-supernovae/
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Now I'm thinking about firing micro black holes into white dwarfs for some "Dark Forest" shenanigans...
https://scitechdaily.com/invisible-black-holes-could-be-triggering-supernovae/
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Neptune Rings
In Neptune outermost ring, 39,000 miles out, material mysteriously clumps into three arcs. Voyager 2 acquired this image as it encountered Neptune in August of 1989.
More: https://images.nasa.gov/details/PIA01493
Credit: NASA/JPL#neptune #voyager #astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography #astrophysics
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Neptune Rings
In Neptune outermost ring, 39,000 miles out, material mysteriously clumps into three arcs. Voyager 2 acquired this image as it encountered Neptune in August of 1989.
More: https://images.nasa.gov/details/PIA01493
Credit: NASA/JPL#neptune #voyager #astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography #astrophysics
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116997512879601070
There's every chance Betelgeuse B will be fired out of the system, on a wave of Supernova energy!
This is supernova we could see in daylight by the way, and it's due possibly within the lifetime of Humanity....that'll be something for us to freak out about I'm sure!
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116997512879601070
There's every chance Betelgeuse B will be fired out of the system, on a wave of Supernova energy!
This is supernova we could see in daylight by the way, and it's due possibly within the lifetime of Humanity....that'll be something for us to freak out about I'm sure!
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The conclusion of a century-long quest 😲
Our VLT obtained firm evidence that Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star in the Orion constellation and one of the most famous stars in the night sky, is not alone!
1/4
📷 ESO/M. Montargès et al. Background: N. Rissinger (skysurvey.org)
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The conclusion of a century-long quest 😲
Our VLT obtained firm evidence that Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star in the Orion constellation and one of the most famous stars in the night sky, is not alone!
1/4
📷 ESO/M. Montargès et al. Background: N. Rissinger (skysurvey.org)
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¿Qué fuerza es capaz de crear una burbuja de 10 años luz en el espacio?
La Nebulosa Burbuja (NGC 7635) es una cavidad de gas incandescente esculpida por el viento feroz de una estrella masiva.
A 11.000 años luz, en Casiopea, esta imagen revela la violencia oculta del cosmos. #Astrodon #Astronomía #NebulosaBurbuja #Ciencia
🛸 Fuente: NASA APOD (Dominio Publico)
🔗 Link: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html -
¿Qué fuerza es capaz de crear una burbuja de 10 años luz en el espacio?
La Nebulosa Burbuja (NGC 7635) es una cavidad de gas incandescente esculpida por el viento feroz de una estrella masiva.
A 11.000 años luz, en Casiopea, esta imagen revela la violencia oculta del cosmos. #Astrodon #Astronomía #NebulosaBurbuja #Ciencia
🛸 Fuente: NASA APOD (Dominio Publico)
🔗 Link: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html -
Watching our cosmic neighbourhood 👀
Three of the Auxiliary Telescopes at ESO’s Paranal Observatory enjoy an enviable view of the band of the Milky Way and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.
The Small Magellanic Cloud and the lowest part of the Milky Way appear here bathed in green airglow – vary faint light from oxygen atoms high up in the atmosphere.
Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2630a/
📷 ESO/N. Schafer
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Watching our cosmic neighbourhood 👀
Three of the Auxiliary Telescopes at ESO’s Paranal Observatory enjoy an enviable view of the band of the Milky Way and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.
The Small Magellanic Cloud and the lowest part of the Milky Way appear here bathed in green airglow – vary faint light from oxygen atoms high up in the atmosphere.
Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2630a/
📷 ESO/N. Schafer
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RE: https://me.ns.ci/@xkcdbot/116964429442896580
There *should* be a Nobel Prize for this! The careful calibrators of the world deserve recognition.
You can never have too many darks and biases.
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RE: https://me.ns.ci/@xkcdbot/116964429442896580
There *should* be a Nobel Prize for this! The careful calibrators of the world deserve recognition.
You can never have too many darks and biases.
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Something is going on with the big old Supermassive Black Hole that holds this galaxy together as it's kicking out antimatter and spraying our satellite galaxies with it.
It's almost certainly something natural, and probably something a lot of other galaxies do, but it's still an exciting mystery.
Why only 100 years ago we had just figured out what a Galaxy was, should Civilisation persist I wonder what wonders we'll uncover in 100 years hence?https://www.sciencealert.com/strange-gamma-rays-beyond-the-milky-way-may-reveal-antimatter-annihilation
#Astrodon #Space -
Something is going on with the big old Supermassive Black Hole that holds this galaxy together as it's kicking out antimatter and spraying our satellite galaxies with it.
It's almost certainly something natural, and probably something a lot of other galaxies do, but it's still an exciting mystery.
Why only 100 years ago we had just figured out what a Galaxy was, should Civilisation persist I wonder what wonders we'll uncover in 100 years hence?https://www.sciencealert.com/strange-gamma-rays-beyond-the-milky-way-may-reveal-antimatter-annihilation
#Astrodon #Space -
TFW you get to use a 1950s survey scope to pin azimuth for true north on an incoming Sundial.
A bit of fun, this Wild Heerbrug T3 (yes, that's its name) #canada government scope was donated to #yorkuniversity in 1980s, when the original York Sundial still existed.
Now we're getting a BIG Sundial and using a bit of the 50s from the 80s to align azimuth.
The location is awesomely aligned with @AllanICarswellObservatory for likely obvious reasons 😀 #astronomy #Astrodon #science #sundialsunday
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TFW you get to use a 1950s survey scope to pin azimuth for true north on an incoming Sundial.
A bit of fun, this Wild Heerbrug T3 (yes, that's its name) #canada government scope was donated to #yorkuniversity in 1980s, when the original York Sundial still existed.
Now we're getting a BIG Sundial and using a bit of the 50s from the 80s to align azimuth.
The location is awesomely aligned with @AllanICarswellObservatory for likely obvious reasons 😀 #astronomy #Astrodon #science #sundialsunday
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😭💔
I've known Ralph since I was visiting master student in Amsterdam in 2008... Never directly worked with him but had a ton of great conversations about all kinds of things related to work and international living...
https://www.astronomie.nl/nieuws/in-memoriam-ralph-wijers-astrofysicus-1964-2026-4834
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😭💔
I've known Ralph since I was visiting master student in Amsterdam in 2008... Never directly worked with him but had a ton of great conversations about all kinds of things related to work and international living...
https://www.astronomie.nl/nieuws/in-memoriam-ralph-wijers-astrofysicus-1964-2026-4834
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My first ever Astronomy gig let me hang around David Malin, one of the premier AstroPhotographers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Malin
When I worked on my PhD I didn't need to pour over optical plates (the Digitized Sky Survey and COSMOS meant I could do it from a computer) but some of my friends still had to.
I came out of work last night to see we were advertising the Harvard Plate Stacks https://platestacks.cfa.harvard.edu/ and it reminded me of those times and my first office (sat above them).
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My first ever Astronomy gig let me hang around David Malin, one of the premier AstroPhotographers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Malin
When I worked on my PhD I didn't need to pour over optical plates (the Digitized Sky Survey and COSMOS meant I could do it from a computer) but some of my friends still had to.
I came out of work last night to see we were advertising the Harvard Plate Stacks https://platestacks.cfa.harvard.edu/ and it reminded me of those times and my first office (sat above them).
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Saturn and 4 Icy Moons in Natural Color
This approximate natural-color image shows Saturn, its rings, and four of its icy satellites. Three satellites (Tethys, Dione, and Rhea) are visible against the darkness of space, and another smaller satellite (Mimas) is visible against Saturn's cloud tops very near the left horizon and just below the rings. The dark shadows o...
More: https://images.nasa.gov/details/PIA00400
Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS#dione #voyager #astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography #astrophysics
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Saturn and 4 Icy Moons in Natural Color
This approximate natural-color image shows Saturn, its rings, and four of its icy satellites. Three satellites (Tethys, Dione, and Rhea) are visible against the darkness of space, and another smaller satellite (Mimas) is visible against Saturn's cloud tops very near the left horizon and just below the rings. The dark shadows o...
More: https://images.nasa.gov/details/PIA00400
Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS#dione #voyager #astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography #astrophysics
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From today's email:
Today, 23 July 2026, we celebrate the 27th anniversary of the Chandra
launch. -
From today's email:
Today, 23 July 2026, we celebrate the 27th anniversary of the Chandra
launch. -
New paper led by Joe Williams, a PhD student at the University of Exeter, with our group as co-authors: "Planetesimal Formation Across the Stellar Mass Spectrum and its Influence on Exoplanet-Inherited Volatile Budgets". ❄️
Read the paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.20271
JWST keeps finding bare rock where small planets orbit M dwarfs, and the usual suspect is the star stripping it away. This points earlier. Joe simulated clouds collapsing into discs across a range of masses, and around the lightest M dwarfs the building blocks come out dry before any planet exists.
It's a question of timing. ⏳ Those discs run fast: planetesimals form within 500,000 years, inside the 700,000-year half-life of aluminium-26, so they heat from within and dry out. By 2 Myr the pebbles have drifted off, so what the planetesimals hold is what the planets inherit. Rocky worlds there would be born volatile-poor, which could be part of why JWST finds so little air. Models of TRAPPIST-1c agree.
In the schematic, top: a disc from a 0.1 solar mass cloud, one batch, all grey, all dehydrated. Bottom: clouds of 0.3 and up, an early batch and a second later, water-rich blue beside dry grey, the mix argued to sit behind our own meteorite split. 🌍
Accepted in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. With Sebastiaan Krijt, Joanna Drążkowska (Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research) and @timlichtenberg.
#Exoplanets #PlanetaryScience #Astronomy #Astrodon #OpenScience
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New paper led by Joe Williams, a PhD student at the University of Exeter, with our group as co-authors: "Planetesimal Formation Across the Stellar Mass Spectrum and its Influence on Exoplanet-Inherited Volatile Budgets". ❄️
Read the paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.20271
JWST keeps finding bare rock where small planets orbit M dwarfs, and the usual suspect is the star stripping it away. This points earlier. Joe simulated clouds collapsing into discs across a range of masses, and around the lightest M dwarfs the building blocks come out dry before any planet exists.
It's a question of timing. ⏳ Those discs run fast: planetesimals form within 500,000 years, inside the 700,000-year half-life of aluminium-26, so they heat from within and dry out. By 2 Myr the pebbles have drifted off, so what the planetesimals hold is what the planets inherit. Rocky worlds there would be born volatile-poor, which could be part of why JWST finds so little air. Models of TRAPPIST-1c agree.
In the schematic, top: a disc from a 0.1 solar mass cloud, one batch, all grey, all dehydrated. Bottom: clouds of 0.3 and up, an early batch and a second later, water-rich blue beside dry grey, the mix argued to sit behind our own meteorite split. 🌍
Accepted in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. With Sebastiaan Krijt, Joanna Drążkowska (Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research) and @timlichtenberg.
#Exoplanets #PlanetaryScience #Astronomy #Astrodon #OpenScience
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Uranus Atmosphere
Processing brings out Uranus atmosphere in this image taken by NASA Voyager 2.
More: https://images.nasa.gov/details/PIA01535
Credit: NASA/JPL#uranus #voyager #astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography #astrophysics
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Uranus Atmosphere
Processing brings out Uranus atmosphere in this image taken by NASA Voyager 2.
More: https://images.nasa.gov/details/PIA01535
Credit: NASA/JPL#uranus #voyager #astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography #astrophysics
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If we're calling Brown Dwarfs 'Failed Stars' and 'Substellar objects' then perhaps it makes more sense to call this Jupiter sized object a 'planet' rather than a 'moon'
There's every chance the Gas Giant has moons as well... -
If we're calling Brown Dwarfs 'Failed Stars' and 'Substellar objects' then perhaps it makes more sense to call this Jupiter sized object a 'planet' rather than a 'moon'
There's every chance the Gas Giant has moons as well... -
That's no moon. It's a...hang on, what should we call it? 🤔
Our VLT has revealed evidence for a moon-like object in the CD-35 2722 system. Yet this new ‘exomoon’ detection is challenging cosmic labels!
Illustration: ESO/M. Kornmesser
#astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science
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That's no moon. It's a...hang on, what should we call it? 🤔
Our VLT has revealed evidence for a moon-like object in the CD-35 2722 system. Yet this new ‘exomoon’ detection is challenging cosmic labels!
Illustration: ESO/M. Kornmesser
#astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland @astroroyalscot.bsky.social giving overview of the state of UK astronomy funding
Rising facility costs has led to a budget chasm. Huge cuts to labs. Postdocs protected, but at historically low level. To balance this, projects will be cut.
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland @astroroyalscot.bsky.social giving overview of the state of UK astronomy funding
Rising facility costs has led to a budget chasm. Huge cuts to labs. Postdocs protected, but at historically low level. To balance this, projects will be cut.
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My employer, Australian Astronomical Optics at Macquarie University in Sydney, are currently looking for a electronics engineer to join our electronics engineering group. If you're an EE and would like to apply your skills to design, build, test and deploy electronics for astronomical instrumentation for the world's observatories then check out the listing here: https://mq.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/CareersatMQ/job/Wallumattagal-Campus-Macquarie-University/Electronics-Engineer_R000023641
Please boost for reach.
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My employer, Australian Astronomical Optics at Macquarie University in Sydney, are currently looking for a electronics engineer to join our electronics engineering group. If you're an EE and would like to apply your skills to design, build, test and deploy electronics for astronomical instrumentation for the world's observatories then check out the listing here: https://mq.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/CareersatMQ/job/Wallumattagal-Campus-Macquarie-University/Electronics-Engineer_R000023641
Please boost for reach.
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🚨TWO YEARS FROM TODAY! 🚨
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OVER AUS/NZ ☀️🌑🌏
Here's the view 6M+ people in #Sydney will have.
Last one here was 1857.
Next one here is 2858.It's a once-in-a-thousand-year (totality) event!
Are you thinking of coming along to Sydney? Some info for you below 👇
So where will it be happening?
Well, everywhere in Aust. and NZ will experience the eclipse.
Where you want to be is within those two orange lines, as that is the path of totality -- where the Moon's shadow will cover the entire region.
The good thing is that this path crosses directly over Sydney -- a port that is easy to reach from anywhere in the world. Additionally, there are many Australian towns in this path too.
In NZ, Queenstown and Dunedin are also in the path of totality.
Also -- plenty of iconic tourist locations!
So the BIG question is: where should you go for the best chances of seeing the eclipse with cloud-free skies?
July in Sydney can be a wet month, but today is nice and clear!
Historically, however, we can use data.
Here is the 18-yr average cloud cover --> interior and NW look most optimal!But weather predictions are just predictions! Today is nice and clear with a bit of clouds, for example.
One thing I am keeping my eye on is the current super El Niño -- these tend to make our region drier, but it might swing back to the wet La Niña by 2028. ⛈️🌧️⛈️🌧️⛈️🌧️
The eclipse occurs about 2pm on a Saturday.
If the skies are clear across Sydney, here is a composite image of what it will look like from Farm Cove, looking west over the iconic Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Every park, every rooftop, is going to be partying!
Astronomers & other scientists - next few posts are for you!
Are you planning on visiting Sydney during this time? If so, keep in touch with me about your plans -- and if you need any help with local knowledge, please fee free to reach out. I'll be organising a meet-up event too!
I've also put my hand up to volunteer as part of the Astro. Society of Australia Eclipse Organising Committee (commencing next year, once I submit my thesis).
So I will be working with the awesome team in getting comms, media going, distributing resources, connecting people, organising events, etc.
Aussie Astronomers -- hoping we can set up a register where prospective events, orgs, etc. can list that they are hosting events, and we can match an Aussie astronomer to these events.
This way, every Aussie astronomer gets to do some SciComm for the eclipse if they like.More deets later on this.
Hope to see you in our great city!
📸 N. Eggleston, Google Maps, ASA/T. Cuttle, J. Anderson
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🚨TWO YEARS FROM TODAY! 🚨
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OVER AUS/NZ ☀️🌑🌏
Here's the view 6M+ people in #Sydney will have.
Last one here was 1857.
Next one here is 2858.It's a once-in-a-thousand-year (totality) event!
Are you thinking of coming along to Sydney? Some info for you below 👇
So where will it be happening?
Well, everywhere in Aust. and NZ will experience the eclipse.
Where you want to be is within those two orange lines, as that is the path of totality -- where the Moon's shadow will cover the entire region.
The good thing is that this path crosses directly over Sydney -- a port that is easy to reach from anywhere in the world. Additionally, there are many Australian towns in this path too.
In NZ, Queenstown and Dunedin are also in the path of totality.
Also -- plenty of iconic tourist locations!
So the BIG question is: where should you go for the best chances of seeing the eclipse with cloud-free skies?
July in Sydney can be a wet month, but today is nice and clear!
Historically, however, we can use data.
Here is the 18-yr average cloud cover --> interior and NW look most optimal!But weather predictions are just predictions! Today is nice and clear with a bit of clouds, for example.
One thing I am keeping my eye on is the current super El Niño -- these tend to make our region drier, but it might swing back to the wet La Niña by 2028. ⛈️🌧️⛈️🌧️⛈️🌧️
The eclipse occurs about 2pm on a Saturday.
If the skies are clear across Sydney, here is a composite image of what it will look like from Farm Cove, looking west over the iconic Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Every park, every rooftop, is going to be partying!
Astronomers & other scientists - next few posts are for you!
Are you planning on visiting Sydney during this time? If so, keep in touch with me about your plans -- and if you need any help with local knowledge, please fee free to reach out. I'll be organising a meet-up event too!
I've also put my hand up to volunteer as part of the Astro. Society of Australia Eclipse Organising Committee (commencing next year, once I submit my thesis).
So I will be working with the awesome team in getting comms, media going, distributing resources, connecting people, organising events, etc.
Aussie Astronomers -- hoping we can set up a register where prospective events, orgs, etc. can list that they are hosting events, and we can match an Aussie astronomer to these events.
This way, every Aussie astronomer gets to do some SciComm for the eclipse if they like.More deets later on this.
Hope to see you in our great city!
📸 N. Eggleston, Google Maps, ASA/T. Cuttle, J. Anderson
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Last week was our annual Exoplanet Summer BBQ, in Quentin Changeat's garden here in Groningen: our group and his exoplanet group together for the afternoon.
Lots to catch up on: the latest from the Exoplanets 6 conference in Porto, everyone's holiday plans, and a celebration of our recent BSc and MSc graduates, who all passed their defences. 🌞
#Exoplanets #PlanetaryScience #Astronomy #Groningen #Astrodon
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RE: https://mastodon.chrisclark.net/@rssbot/116958679254185330
All this happened way before the Solar System was born....
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RE: https://mastodon.chrisclark.net/@rssbot/116958679254185330
All this happened way before the Solar System was born....
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Rosetta Mission Selfie at 10 Miles
The Philae lander of the European Space Agency Rosetta mission took this self-portrait of the spacecraft on Sept. 7, 2014, at a distance of about 10 miles 16 kilometers from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
More: https://images.nasa.gov/details/PIA18871
Credit: Copyright: ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA#comet #rosetta #astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography #astrophysics
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Rosetta Mission Selfie at 10 Miles
The Philae lander of the European Space Agency Rosetta mission took this self-portrait of the spacecraft on Sept. 7, 2014, at a distance of about 10 miles 16 kilometers from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
More: https://images.nasa.gov/details/PIA18871
Credit: Copyright: ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA#comet #rosetta #astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography #astrophysics
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You always discover something when you have a new instrument with higher sensitivity - Mahapatra+ on Planet-wide, Concentric Density Waves in Venus’s Upper Atmosphere Revealed through Polarimetry? in which you can see a bullseye on the day-lit side of our sister planet! #exoplanets #astrodon https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.16557
