#Tag
Gregory Costa Cuautle: microlensing (a super useful, if terribly unsatisfying, technique for exoplanet detections). Measuring the center of light, not just the brightness, helps break degeneracies in planet size/distance from star and source vs. lens.
What about exomoons? Nancy Grace Roman Telescope should be able to find certain star-planet-moon configurations, but more simulations needed.
He's an undergrad! That was a great talk!
Astronomers stunned as fiery auroras blaze on a planet without a star
The James Webb Telescope has revealed fierce auroras, storms, and unchanging sand-like clouds on the rogue planet SIMP-0136. These insights are pushing the boundaries of our understanding of alien atmospheres and exoplanet weather.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/09/250929054927.htm #science
RE: https://mastodon.social/@ScienceScholar/115299393749851459
Never thought we'd see light from a rogue planet between the stars but the JWST is an amazing scientific instrument.
The gas giants enormous size gives it it's heat and light, I presume it's somewhat bigger than Jupiter but operating on the same deal.
Not even our mirrors stay clean forever! 🧽
Optical engineer Jaime González is checking for large particles on a VLT mirror. This step is part of a periodic cleaning process that keeps the mirrors ultra-precise & super-reflective.
Find out how this is done: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2539a/
And for a deeper dive: https://www.eso.org/public/blog/exploding-snow/
📷 ESO/N. Schafer
#astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science #engineering #technology
Not even our mirrors stay clean forever! 🧽
Optical engineer Jaime González is checking for large particles on a VLT mirror. This step is part of a periodic cleaning process that keeps the mirrors ultra-precise & super-reflective.
Find out how this is done: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2539a/
And for a deeper dive: https://www.eso.org/public/blog/exploding-snow/
📷 ESO/N. Schafer
#astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science #engineering #technology
Surprising New Images of Pōwehi Black Hole Unveiled
https://www.maunakeaobservatories.org/stories/surprising-new-images-of-pwehi-black-hole-unveiled
#Maunakea #Pōwehi #BlackHole #physics #blackholes #science #news #astronomy #astrophysics #astrodon
Surprising New Images of Pōwehi Black Hole Unveiled
https://www.maunakeaobservatories.org/stories/surprising-new-images-of-pwehi-black-hole-unveiled
#Maunakea #Pōwehi #BlackHole #physics #blackholes #science #news #astronomy #astrophysics #astrodon
Home hides in a quiet corner of the #MilkyWay, a vast spiral galaxy 100,000 light-years wide with arms like luminous highways. #Earth rests in the #OrionArm, a modest spur between #Sagittarius and #Perseus, marked by the #OrionNebula and the #Pleiades cluster. There, about two-thirds from the galactic center, a yellow star glows—the #Sun. One among roughly 400 billion #stars, it shelters the only world we know, the fragile speck where every human story unfolds. #Science #Physics #Astrodon #Space
Home hides in a quiet corner of the #MilkyWay, a vast spiral galaxy 100,000 light-years wide with arms like luminous highways. #Earth rests in the #OrionArm, a modest spur between #Sagittarius and #Perseus, marked by the #OrionNebula and the #Pleiades cluster. There, about two-thirds from the galactic center, a yellow star glows—the #Sun. One among roughly 400 billion #stars, it shelters the only world we know, the fragile speck where every human story unfolds. #Science #Physics #Astrodon #Space
Learn more about the Milky Way Galaxy, our vast cosmic neighborhood and the only place we call home:
• https://www.nasa.gov/universe/galaxies/milky-way/
• https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/science-field/milky-way-galaxy
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way
#MilkyWay #Galaxy #Galaxies #Science #Physics #Astrodon #Space
Home hides in a quiet corner of the #MilkyWay, a vast spiral galaxy 100,000 light-years wide with arms like luminous highways. #Earth rests in the #OrionArm, a modest spur between #Sagittarius and #Perseus, marked by the #OrionNebula and the #Pleiades cluster. There, about two-thirds from the galactic center, a yellow star glows—the #Sun. One among roughly 400 billion #stars, it shelters the only world we know, the fragile speck where every human story unfolds. #Science #Physics #Astrodon #Space
So, I finally got to read Sean Carroll's "The Big Picture - On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself".
Highly recommended to STEM and humanities people alike, and also to non-scientists (you can skip a few technical parts without it being too much of a problem to follow the broader narrative).
It's a very good book overall that does exactly what it says on the tin, both from a scientific, moral and philosophical/ontological point of view. (Of course I am biased because I too am a hardcore atheist and poetic naturalist with a keen eye for emergence theories).
It's not a book addressed at _specialists_ seeking in-depth knowledge about any topic covered in the book, and who will likely find that some parts a bit superficial/ insufficient/approximative/too much of a simplification. But that's not what the book is about (note also that it was written pre-all the bullshit AI drama, and some bits could be worthy of an update to take this into account in the discussion about consciousness and how brains work).
On the fundamental physics, complexity, astro and cosmo part, which is what I know most about, it is spot on. And I also found it quite good at explaining Bayesian reasoning and how we apply it in scientific research and perhaps less conciously in our daily lives. #science #philosophy #complexity #physics #astrodon
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