A huge congratulations to Dr Madeline Howell and Dr Thomas Maunder on their PhD graduations! 💫 Maddy has gone onto a postdoc job in the US and Tom is doing data science in industry. We couldn’t be prouder!!

Front page news! 📰 Monash PhD researcher Christian Adamcwicz leads new LVK results revealing the mysterious 40 M☉ gap in black hole populations. Exciting clues about how the universe’s heaviest stars live and die! #BlackHoles #LVK #Astrophysics www.theaustralian.com.au/science/grav...

Monash Astrophysics was well represented at GR24 & Amaldi16 in Glasgow! 🖤🌌 Our PhD students & postdocs presented cutting-edge research on gravitational waves, black holes, and fundamental physics at this major international conference. #GR24 #Amaldi16 #GravitationalWaves

Great to see so many Monash researchers sharing their work at the ASA in Adelaide this week. Great science and great conversations all around.

Monash researchers have simulated one of the lightest neutron stars ever—just 1.192 solar masses—bringing us closer to solving a key astrophysics puzzle. A leap forward for supernova science. 🌟🧠 #NeutronStars #Astrophysics #Supernova #MonashScience

Today our first year astros did some solar observing 🌞 Lucky for them the Sun is near the peak of its 11 year cycle so we were able to spot some beautiful Sunspots. 🔭😮 Swipe to see them for yourself! ➡ #sun #telescope #space #monash

Monash University takes all three prizes at the OzGrav bingo ice breaker activity at the 2024 retreat! @ozgrav.bsky.social

Coverage in The SMH! www.smh.com.au/national/a-s...

Exciting news! Monash University’s, Rowina Nathan, has authored a groundbreaking study using the powerful MeerKAT telescope to create the most detailed map of the gravitational wave background to date: shorturl.at/KRXKj Check out an article on Rowina’s work: shorturl.at/oS3G1

Optimist: The cup is half full Pessimist: The cup is half empty Astronomer: There are Type I cups and Type II cups but clearly this is a rare transitional Type 1.5 cup.

What is the difference between gravitational-wave signals measured by LIGO and pulsar timing arrays? Well lots of things, but mainly the mass of the black holes. This infographic summarises the differences. 👀🕳️💫

How can pulsars be used to detect gravitational waves? Ripples in spacetime affect the path of light! I'll be posting some fun infographics in the lead up to my paper release on December 3! Follow along so you're ready for the release 🌟 @ozgrav.bsky.social

~Infer gamma-ray burst jet physics with this one weird trick!~ A population of neutron star-black hole mergers might let us discover new physics about GRB jets. 🔭 🧪 Check out my brand new paper with @plasky.bsky.social and Eric Thrane to find out more. arxiv.org/abs/2411.07035

Huge congratulations to Tom who submitted his PhD thesis “Multi-Dimensional Radiative Transfer Calculations for Asymmetric Stripped-Envelope Supernovae” today ✨🎉💥

Almost forgot! Oct 31 is the anniversary of Murriyang starting operations in 1961! 63 years of operation, and it’s still giving us solid science/discoveries. Iconic Aussie astronomy infrastructure. Wrote some words on this a few years back: www.spaceaustralia.com/index.php/fe... 📸 CSIRO 🔭📡

A spooky pulsar, jack-o-lantern binary carved pumpkin 🎃 Happy Halloween from Monash Astrophysics ✨ #science #space #spooky #halloween

I talk about the artificial objects you might see streaking through the skies #SpaceJunk 🧪 www.abc.net.au/news/science...

Congratulations to Monash Astrophysicist Dr Fan Liu who was awarded the Monash Faculty of Science Publication Award for their paper At Least One in a Dozen Stars Shows Evidence of Planetary Ingestion, Nature (2024).

Today we had our beyond third year event, to encourage undergraduate students to consider further study in physics and astronomy. 🪐 🧲 Students mingled with potential supervisors and we are looking forward to welcoming them next year! ✨

Fingerprints of 1M stars reveal Milky Way's history! The Aussie-led GALAH project releases data from the AAT’s 50th birthday. Monash astrophysicist Madeline Howell contributed key spectroscopic data on M4, an ancient globular cluster that holds clues to our Galaxy's formation. shorturl.at/HwXng

New research shows that unusual binary systems containing a magnetar and an unlucky companion star can explain the bumps in the light curves of certain supernovae. aasnova.org/2024/09/11/e... 🔭🧪 @monashastro.bsky.social

GRB optical catalog with contributions from S. Belkin @monashastro.bsky.social "rivals Messier catalog"; sure, but Messier objects just sit there waiting for you to observe them at your leisure, not like GRB optical counterparts which disappear in <~ 1 day! ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...

🎉 Huge congratulations to our talented Honours student, Amber Tilly, for being the Regional Winner of the 2024 Global Undergraduate Awards for her report on modelling disk kinematics in protoplanetary disk AS209! 🏆✨

New research from Monash Astrophysicists shows how next-gen gravitational-wave detectors will revolutionise our understanding of neutron stars. They could measure neutron star radii with 10x better precision than LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA! 🌌🌠 #GravitationalWaves shorturl.at/hRMxZ

On Friday Maddy and Giulia submitted their PhD theses and went on the famous walk to the graduate research office to collect their pens. We’re proud of their hard work and excited for the bright futures ahead. Congratulations Maddy and Giulia!

From 8-12 of July the ACES: Advances in Cool Evolved Stars conference ran at Monash in hybrid format. The conference was organised by Taïssa Danilovich with assistance from Amanda Karakas, Zara Osborn, Maddy Howell, Alex Wallace, Yoshi Mori, Fan Liu and Carolyn Doherty.

New research from Monash University explains the mysterious bumps in superluminous supernovae. A "magnetar-star binary engine" could be the key, where a magnetar evaporates its companion star, causing the unique light curves. More details: shorturl.at/RwguZ

Monash Physics and Astrophysics students go beyond theory—they code in various languages, simulate galaxies, and analyse data to bring the universe into the classroom. Professor Daniel Price energised a second-year coding session, making physics come alive! 🚀

I spoke at Monash Uni about my team's project to map electromagnetism’s strength across our Galaxy. We're testing fundamental physics where dark matter is most concentrated, near our Milky Way's centre. Thanks @monashastro.bsky.social for hosting & recording! 🧪🔭 youtu.be/LMsvwRilpyk

A new paper by Lewis Picker explores the role of convection as a dominant form of energy transport in massive stars. It highlights how the convective mass of stars changes throughout their evolution and the impact this can have on binary star systems.https://shorturl.at/PSI6y

Last month, our very own Rowina and Valentina embarked on an exciting trip to Hannover and Italy! Their adventure started at the Max Planck Institute in Hannover, followed by the IPTA international conference in Milano and Sexten. Check out some highlights from their trip!

Eric Thrane, Rowina Nathan, and Valentina Di Marco had an inspiring time at the International Pulsar Timing Array Annual Science Meeting in Italy. They connected with global collaborators and had the honour of meeting Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the discoverer of pulsars.

Today at Monash University, we celebrated Dr. Rosemary Mardling's remarkable career with a mini-symposium titled "Dynamical Systems - A Celebration of Dr. Rosemary Mardling's Career." Speakers reflected on her favourite research theme, Resonance and Chaos in Astrophysical Systems.

Have we finally found the elusive nHz gravitational waves? Pulsar timing arrays say yes, but could pesky noise be fooling us? A recently published article by Valentina Di Marco et al here at Monash digs into the potential errors that could bias these results. shorturl.at/sSSER

After two black holes merge they ring like a bell until perfectly spherical again 🕳Can we measure this ringing? 👂 Monash Astrophysicists @astroteagan.bsky.social, @plasky.bsky.social and Eric Thrane investigate by measuring tones in numerical relativity data. We can measure up to 3 tones at once!

How do baby planets grow? Monash Astrophysicist Dr. Rachel Harrison observes dust polarisation in protoplanetary disks, the cradles of new planets. Her survey reveals that similar disks can have different polarisation patterns due to varying dust and star properties. shorturl.at/6jXy8

In today’s seminar we were introduced to GW230529 by Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social 👋🏻 The primary object in this (likely) neutron star black hole merger is in the lower mass gap! 🕳️💥 #womeninstem #astrophysics

Does spacetime have memories? Monash Astrophysicists Shun Cheung, Paul Lasky and Eric Thane explore the third LVK gravitational-wave transient catalogue to find out.They find that we will need around 2000 events to know the answer! #gravity #astrophysics

The most recent edition of Cosmos magazine features Monash Astrophysicist Rowina Nathan. Grab a copyo read her about her work in pulsar timing and her decision to pursue research. #astrophysics #media #outreach #science #womeninstem #research

Monash Astrophysicists Christian Adamcewicz, Paul Lasky(@plasky.bsky.social) and Eric Thrane, along with Monash alumnus Shanika Galaudage (@astronerdika.bsky.social) find that mostly primary black holes have substantial spin, indicative of mass-ratio reversal.

Star-eating secrets revealed! Monash astrophysicists Fan Liu and Amanda Karakas uncover seven stars that have recently devoured rocky planets, challenging our understanding of stable solar systems. nature.com/articles/s41...

Monash Astrophysics once again takes the J-P Macquart Prize for best student talk! Congratulations to Megha. A huge thank you to the organisers for a wonderful Australian Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics conference #astrophysics

Today is the first day of the Australian National Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (ANITA) annual workshop and Monash Astrophysics is hosting ✨ Follow along here! #astrophysics

Want to buy a home telescope? Tips from a professional astronomer to help you choose shorturl.at/oqHK2

Monash Astro's Dr. Taïssa Danilovich @stellaralchemist.bsky.social leads a study of a binary system made up of a Sun-like star and a dying star shedding its outer layers. Chemical footprints in ejected material unveil a highly elliptical orbit, bringing the stars close once a millennium.

An article led by Monash’s own Michael Brown (@mjibrown.bsky.social) and Teagan Clarke (@astroteagan.bsky.social) is gaining media attention. 👀 Supermassive black holes can be found in the center of large galaxies, but do they all emit in radio, or are some of them silent?🤫

A new paper from Spencer Magnall and collaborators! → t.ly/IzJYW Check it out

t.ly/UOfsu 👉 Explore this recent publication by Christian Adamcewicz that enhances our knowledge about the formation of binary black holes.

In her recent paper, Madeline Howell measured asteroseismic oscillations to estimate the individual masses of red giant stars in the globular cluster M80, showing preliminary evidence of a mass difference between these populations. t.ly/stlT9

Valentina DiMarco (@valentinadimarco.bsky.social) recently shared insights on her recent paper Toward Robust Detections of Nanohertz Gravitational Waves in an interview with The Astrophysical Journal. 🎥🚨Watch her interview here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB_n...