We don't tell people enough that we appreciate them, that they are awesome, and that they have a real positive impact on our lives (at one point, or even years later). We should do this more often. We should just, daily, randomly select someone from our contacts and tell them they are awesome.

I do this! Remember a friend and tell them what you love about them.

A genuine compliment can have dramatic, far reaching consequences, though you typically won't get to see them.

Final scary movie night with the boys for 2025 — we finally got to watch Weapons. It’s very good!

We don't tell people enough that we appreciate them, that they are awesome, and that they have a real positive impact on our lives (at one point, or even years later). We should do this more often. We should just, daily, randomly select someone from our contacts and tell them they are awesome.

Glorious #Sydney summer day for our dog walk this arvo.

Vale Prof Emma Johnston AO FAA FTSE The Academy is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of one of our Fellows, Prof Emma Johnston AO FAA FTSE. She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2022 recognising her leadership in the field of marine ecology, 🧵 vimeo.com/762105195

I had the privilege of interviewing her for the State Library NSW's Women in STEMM oral history project a couple of years ago, and Emma was a delight. She was passionate, inspiring, humble, funny, and so down-to-earth. collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/YdmPk...

oh .... this is very sad news! Prof. Johnston was always very engaging with me in the old days of Twitter and I know was so very well respected in the Australian science community. She was a great science communicator as well. Condolences to her family + all who were close to her.

Anthem for neutron stars. You'll just be burning, doing the neutron dance. <shoulder pump>

Stories from #SpaceAustralia in 2025: This story had me all fired up earlier this year) - the unintended broadband emissions from constellation satellites (like Starlink) have been creating radio frequency interference with radio telescopes and radio astronomy. Actually ... still fired up! 🔭

Stories from #SpaceAustralia in 2025: Earlier this year, astronomers caught the radio signal from ASKAP J1832-0911 - a Long-Period Transient (which are all the buzz in #RadioAstronomy atm). But for the first time, coincident X-ray emissions were also observed with Chandra for this object. 🔭

There is some *really gross* homophobia / transphobia going on in many online spaces in reaction to the recent #StrangerThings episodes .... So stupid, honestly. Just let people enjoy the shows they like, and go about your day enjoying the shows you like. It's really not that hard!

Stories from #SpaceAustralia in 2025: This was really cool - and it was from the team at Google (with a few science friends) that did this to help improve coverage for the Android community). Smartphones and GPS signals can improve tracking of our ionosphere and solar storms!

Looking back at 2025 .... I did not write as much as I wanted to! My goal was to do at least 10 @spaceaustralia.com articles, but I got to about seven. Totally ok with this, as the PhD has been a higher priority for me this year (esp. with less than one year to go until I finish 🥲😶😵‍💫)

101. Jocelyn Bell Burnell has always been a huge supporter of poetry. In 2008, she co-edited Dark Matter, volume of poetry about space. 🧪 🔭 #PoetrySky #TabClosed2026 #WomenInSTEM

Neat! The Trans-Neptunium world 78799 Xewioso, which is about 500-600 km in diameter and orbits beyond Neptune, got in front of a star and folks in Japan using the 3.8m Seimei Telescope filmed it happening in real-time. Watch as the star blinks on-off-on as the object moves in front of it. 🔭

In this wavelength and colour scheme, the clouds of Jupiter resemble what the sky looks like in scenes from the film Constantine (2005), when Keanu Reeves' character goes into Hell.

Also watched the season finale of #Pluribus and it is also good! Any show that has radio astronomers bringing about global calamity is gonna be good! Think about it - if Aliens ever did contact us, humans first line of interaction is through radio astronomers! lololololol

Really enjoyed the next three episodes of #StrangerThings! Lots of good build up. One more episode to go. Comes out on NY Day at midday (AEDT).

There is something extremely sad (like pity them) and tragic (like losers) about online personalities who find the need to wow their audiences (for engagement-farming-dopamine-hitting-kicks) by using AI celebrities in their posts. Imagine being that much online that you would *need* to do this.

Hey Martians, did I mention we now also have a video of epic Phobos passing over a Martian dust storm near Pavonis Mons? 🌪️🌋🥔 Video & full info: flic.kr/p/2rNN8wk Credit: ESA/DLR/FUBerlin/AndreaLuck CC BY @esa.int Mars Express HRSC 300 MP Photo quoted below Easy zoom: easyzoom.com/image/674026

Next three episodes of #StrangerThings dropping in just over four hours (Midday AEDT). The final episode (ever) will air on New Year’s Day (Midday). Won’t be able to watch it until tomorrow so gonna jump offline soon, until then! The way that last episode ended though ….

For the Saint George omnipotent reigns. Hallelujah.

On this day, in 2016 — we lost an absolute icon. You just have to play Wham on Xmas day (I mean #Whamaggedon!) but also, you should go and listen to George Michael because he was the best and we celebrate his life and music! His music — the true Xmas gift for all!

Dinner time 😋😋😋

This movie is even more batshit (pun!) than I remember it being. It’s still the best one from this series. And such a big cast too.

Watching the ONLY good Xmas movie around….

Jingle Bells from this tiny void of darkness! (sound on)

On this day, in 2016 — we lost an absolute icon. You just have to play Wham on Xmas day (I mean #Whamaggedon!) but also, you should go and listen to George Michael because he was the best and we celebrate his life and music! His music — the true Xmas gift for all!

Merry Xmas to all you BSky folks! Regardless of how you celebrate it (or not) know that my dog was extremely unimpressed by me forcing him to dress up like this, just to bring the TL a little joy. Hope y’all have a nice day in whatever you end up doing! #BalmainMax

Solstice tree update: still doing the good purple thing!

Pun intended.

Awwwww this is the best. My Christmas wish is for all the dogs in the world to be happy, be loved, be fed, and have shelter. If you have a dog or there is a dog near you right now, go tell them that they are a good boy/girl and make them feel special. Our two species need each other to exist.

Oh dang that's a cool shot. Tethys is one of several Saturn moons with a whopping huge crater. If whatever hit it had been much bigger or faster the moon would've been blown apart. That's why you don't usually see bigger craters (with respect the moon diameter) on these objects.

Telescope Types xkcd.com/3182/

Trailer for 'The Odyssey' produced by the Nolans is out. Looks to be another big film from them. Score def. sounds like Hans Zimmer. Glad to see Elliot Page also is on the cast to make an appearance! More Elliot Page please! And Zendaya as the Goddess Athena!

Yes, agree — seems sudden, and am interested to see where Bruno lands. He did really well with ULA (launch success). Always found him to be very engaging and more down to Earth than other CEOs of other launch companies (not mentioning the evil one’s name!).

Actually, two, maybe three of the telescopes in this list are no longer there: Arecibo, Molongolo and potentially Mullard. 😭 All very significant instruments! 📡 Wondering what happened to Reber’s ashes from these locations? Maybe @drspacejunk.bsky.social might know?

Throughout this whole period Reber was basically the only radio astronomer in the world. Something you may not know about astronomy and physics and many other sciences is that there is always a “loneliest sub-field” with only a handful of people in it. Sometimes it’s just one person. (11/n)

Whom amongst us has not tried to build their own radio telescope in their backyard?!

Fantastic thread! Reber lived in Tasmania in the later part of his life, and passed away here. There’s even a museum dedicated to him down there! He was of such importance and pivotal to #RadioAstronomy that his ashes were sent to radio telescopes all around the world! 📡

ha! What a popular TV show can do .... the particular episode of Pluribus aired on Dec 12 ...

Really think this is an important point. When I started learning about #RadioAstronomy (pre-chatgpt) I went down random rabbit holes of knowledge. From one of those, I found out that very early radio astronomy happened right here in Sydney not far from home, so I took my dog to see the old sites!

I have reached that point in the year, when my brain has checked out and no longer has the capability to remember what day of the week it is.

A friend has recently just got into #astrophotography and spent 8 hours taking this image of the Rosetta Nebula from Sydney. It’s soooo neat! Winds from those central hot stars are carving out a cavity in this huge cloud. New stars are forming there too! Shared with permission. 📸 David Elford

Smiley. #BalmainMax

Errrrrr …. Did people forget that Nicki Minaj has always been a major crackpot? Remember in 2021 when she came out with specific disinformation about the Covid vaccine and her cousin in Trinidad? She’s always been like this. What’s worse — is her music is and has always been garbage bin juice 🤮

It now has a little pot 🪴 Because I was mesmerised by the absolutely wild purple colour of this plant and I bought it today, this little guy will now be known as “The Solstice Tree”!

1/n 2 NEW epic images of Phobos over Mars just released by @esa.int Mars Express This view is especially striking, with Phobos between the Tharsis volcanoes and Noctis Labyrinthus–Valles Marineris Full resolution 300MP(!) & info on: flic.kr/p/2rMW4so Credit: ESA/DLR/FUBerlin/AndreaLuck CC BY 🧪🔭