"Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact." -Carl Sagan

This fact always amazes me. How new our understanding really is, yet how far we've come to study these galaxies in such remarkable detail.

I kinda dig gravitational waves. www.cbc.ca/news/science...

T. Ocellus is an agent of chaos.

There's a NASA presser happening now in which acting admin Duffy said "This very well could be the clearest sign of life that we’ve ever found on Mars." That doesn't mean it is a sign of life. We covered this cool rock in 2024, paper in Nature is out today: 🧪🔭 www.sciencenews.org/article/nasa...

Woot! Got my advances! New title but same great content. Use it to plan for your 2026 night sky planning! @fireflybooks.bsky.social

And that’s what I saw last night! Was absolutely amazing! @billlongo.com

There were a couple of launches today, but I'd need to know what direction you saw itmand what direction it's moving. I see other posts about it here too; it was seen from South Dakota.

From Canada I think it's much more likely to be the Ariane 6 launch which was polar, rather that the Vulcan launch which was at 28 deg inclination and which is still on it way to GEO altitude.

Okay. Was looking for Perseids, but caught this instead! From Toronto. Amazing! What rocket launch is this from? It’s going the wrong way! @philplait.bsky.social @planet4589.bsky.social

I bet it's been a while since you've had your mind vaporized by a JWST image so here's one of a cluster of galaxies so immense it's visibly warping space. Bonus: I explain what you're seeing! Because that's kinda my thing! badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/an-incredi... 🔭🧪

Meow.

🚨 Interstellar news! ☄️ The unexpected comet 3I/ATLAS has been captured in the sharpest picture yet by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Discover more about this visitor from outside our Solar System 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed... 🔭 🧪

WHOA. Astronomers may have found a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, the closest sun-like star to the Sun! It's a binary system, too, so if this is confirmed it'll be an AMAZING discovery! badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/a-planet-f... 🔭🧪

☄️ Say hello to Comet 3I/ATLAS, just the third interstellar object ever seen in our Solar System! NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory didn’t discover the comet, but even during testing, it caught a glimpse. Imagine what we'll find once full science operations begin later this year! 🔭🧪

Going stir crazy and need a screen-free activity? Introducing the NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory coloring book! 🎨🌌 No screens, and no assembly required (unless you count crayons). Print one page or the whole book, and get coloring! 🖍️ 🔗: ls.st/coloring-book 🔭🧪

OMG I love this so much!

It's paper day! The first science paper with data from @vrubinobs.bsky.social's survey camera, the mighty LSSTCam, is a VERY quick turnaround of Rubin's observations thus far of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. ☄️ Chandler et al., submitted 🔭 A 🧵

From @noirlabastro.bsky.social: Astronomers using Gemini North found a hidden companion star orbiting inside Betelgeuse’s atmosphere, the first close-in companion ever seen around a supergiant star. 🔗 noirlab.edu/public/news/... 📷GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA #astronomy

Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i reveals never-before-seen companion to Betelgeuse, solving millennia-old mystery noirlab.edu/public/news/... 🧪🔭 Credit image :International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA; Image Processing: M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)

#PPOD: This video, made from images taken by Parker Solar Probe’s WISPR instrument during its record-breaking flyby of the Sun on Dec. 25, 2024, shows the solar wind racing out from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Naval Research Lab 🧪 🔭

The hardest disbelief to suspend about the show.

Honestly, I could watch these underwater videos all day. I love our oceans.

Medical physicist and radiologist Edith Quimby was born #OTD in 1891. One of the founders of nuclear medicine, she developed diagnostic applications for X-rays and radioisotopes. Her research on the penetrating power of radiation established safe levels for its use in treatments. 🧪 👩‍🔬 ⚛️B

My latest feature about how we’re losing the night sky. @darkskyintl.bsky.social www.cbc.ca/newsinteract...

We humans are not the only species that look up and use the night sky. In fact, several species do. The increase of light pollution and putting thousands of space vermin (e.g., Starlink) into orbit messes with this.

Astronomers have created a galactic masterpiece! Using our VLT, they observed the Sculptor Galaxy in thousands of colours simultaneously 🌈 The more shades of colour there are in an image of a galaxy, the more we can learn about its inner workings. Read more: www.eso.org/public/news/... 🔭 🧪 ☄️

A planetary system described as abnormal, chaotic, and strange has come into clearer view with #NASAWebb. One of two known planets surrounding the star 14 Herculis—located 60 light-years away from Earth in our own Milky Way galaxy—have been successfully imaged. (1/6) #AAS246 🧵 🔭 🧪

Spotify is down. How am I expected to work??

If you think climate change has gotten worse during your lifetime, you're right and there's a good reason. If you're Gen X like me, more than 3/4 of fossil fuel CO₂ emissions have occurred in your lifetime. Even if you're a Millennial, it's at least half. 📊: @neilrkaye.bsky.social

One of my favourite galaxies.

The videos coming out of today's pyroclastic eruption on Mt. Etna are wild. This is how people hiking volcanoes get killed.

The setting sun under smokey skies in Toronto.

i firmly believe stargazing is a form of therapy and everyone should do it every chance they get

This is our star. I love how it the plasma dances. This was taken by the Goode Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory. @nso.edu.web.brid.gy

Einstein rings occur when light from a very distant object is bent about a massive intermediate object. This is possible because spacetime, the fabric of the universe itself, is bent by mass, and therefore light traveling through space and time is bent as well. 🔭 🧪

Okay. I saw Sinners last week, and I just cannot get it out of my mind. I need to watch it again. And THAT scene.

NEW: Is frozen water around other stars? #NASAWebb provided proof for the first time: It is! Webb identified water ice around HD 181327, a Sun-like star that lies 155 light-years away. The majority is found where it’s coldest—farthest from the star: webbtelescope.pub/42Vopw0 🔭 🧪

This is the Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris), and it's just straight up a dinosaur. Like, I know *all* birds are technically avian dinosaurs, but my first thought looking at this guy is: dinosaur. (📷: Suzie McCann, eBird)

Read this: www.planetary.org/articles/bil... And then decide what action you'll take to save NASA science by visiting here: www.planetary.org/save-nasa-sc...

Heads up! Soviet-era probe to re-enter atmosphere this weekend -- and it might make it to the Earth's surface. @nebulousnikki.bsky.social has the story: www.cbc.ca/news/science...

I was totally on seagull watch.

Last month was the 2nd hottest April on record globally (2024 holds the record). As usual, there is substantial regional variability in the location of these warm and cold departures. Summary of the month at climate.copernicus.eu/surface-air-... using @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social ERA5 data.

Same

Images from Cassini like this destroy me. Look how thin the rings are! And Dione, an icy moon covered in craters, seen gibbous, the plant haunting in the background. The universe is art.

OMG. I could watch this all day.

These are real images of exoplanets. Four super-Jupiters, imaged 10 times over 12 years around a star 133 lightyears away. These are real, giant worlds, out there in the dark. And we can see them.

I am FREAKING out. When it’s spring and your cat knows there’s a centipede somewhere. #freakingout

Wow! That is just incredible.

This is very cool. I love cuttlefish.