Did you know there's a limit to how fast a black hole can feed? And that some break that limit? Here's one that does it by a *lot*. badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/a-black-ho... [Paid subscribers only today] 🧪🔭

I feel badly for the squid but this is fascinating. Our oceans are so mysterious and cool (as long as we humans don't ruin them.)

New blog post by Luca Ighina about a black hole doing its thing in the very early Universe. Tied to latest press release from Chandra. chandra.si.edu/blog/node/934

So we asked the universe where the dark matter is, and it said, "Here. Right here." www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa... 🔭🧪

Congrats to my colleague, co-author and friend @kimberlykowal.bsky.social for winning the 2025 Klumpke-Roberts Award from the @astrosociety.org for those "who have made outstanding contributions to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy." chandra.si.edu/press/25_rel...

@barnesandnoble.com is running a pre-order sale for our book over the next few days and there's a promo code for 25% off. It's meant to both gross/scare kids out while giving them some science in the process -- maybe like an astronomy book for Wednesday Addams. ;) @kimberlykowal.bsky.social

About 26 years ago, the Chandra X-ray Observatory released its "First Light" images. The supernova remnant Cassiopeia A was the highlight. All of these years later, Chandra is still delivering discoveries about this exploded star. chandra.si.edu/press/25_rel...

How a dead star carved the “Hand of God” in space So, you've seen the new-and-improved "Hand of God" nebula in space: MSH 15-52. Now come learn why this "kicked" pulsar produces a wind nebula unlike any other in appearance. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #physics #pulsar #nebula

There’s a giant hand in space. Ok, not a real hand but instead one made out of energetic particles that glow in X-ray and radio light. chandra.si.edu/photo/2025/m... I mean, that mixes up your timeline, does it not?

Stupid on top of stupid

📣📣 BOOK NEWS 📣📣 I'm excited to share the cover and release date of Book #2, #EdgeOfSpaceTime, which is now available for PREORDER!! You can order from ANY bookstore, including your local indie! More details on preordering here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/746817... What's the book about? 🧵

Specifically the Smithsonian was only willing to share the painting in the form of "a video of people reacting to the painting and discussing transgender issues"

#ThisWeek in 1999, launch of Space Shuttle Columbia STS-93 on 23 July carrying NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory. Eileen Collins became the first female shuttle Commander on this flight. Also on board was @cnes.fr astronaut Michel Tognini and our friend Cady Coleman! 👉 www.nasa.gov/mission/sts-...

Meanwhile ... "Climate change is making severe fire weather more common around the world, raising the chances of worsened forest fire seasons, a study in the journal Nature Communications found." www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/c...

I was legitimately confused about this headline as someone who follows astronomy news. Turns out, there's a company called "Astronomer". Who knew? ;) www.yahoo.com/entertainmen...

Baby exoplanet is being hoovered up by super aggressive host star. Will go from Jupiter size planet to a barren smaller world in short order (astronomically speaking) thanks to the onslaught of X-rays. Latest news from Chandra: chandra.cfa.harvard.edu/press/25_rel...

Scientists have discovered an oddly-shaped galaxy that may contain the first newborn supermassive black hole ever spotted. This could have implications for when the biggest black holes can form. Results from JWST + Chandra + VLA.

We've sent a probe to the Sun and it sends back the best stuff.

This. Is. Brilliant.

Always of interest to those of us who live in Seattle!

What’s really at stake if NASA’s science budget gets slashed and entire science missions are canceled? We asked the scientists leading those missions, and their stories reveal what we all stand to lose. Here’s what they told us: www.planetary.org/articles/sci...

Alt text: You are cordially invited to our Anti-Prime Sale Date: July 8-11, 2025 Location: Bookshop.org Enjoy free shipping and the knowledge that your money will go toward supporting independent bookstores, not billionaires

Closer science ties across the Atlantic: the Max Planck Society has just launched its new #Transatlantic Program to boost collaboration with top U.S. institutions & open up more chances for researchers at every level - from #PhDs & #postdocs to directors!🌍🔬 www.mpg.de/25034916/max...

Nice op-ed on “Made in the USA” discoveries in space science, by Haverford Emeritus prof Bruce Partridge wapo.st/44CVsWM (with #JWST images!)

The evil that men do lives after them

American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history The largest brain drain in history was when thousands of scientists left Nazi Germany; it became known as "Hitler's gift." America's current assault on science is set to surpass that. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #science

💥💥 Double detonation!  For the first time, astronomers have obtained visual evidence that a star met its end by detonating twice. The fingerprint that points to this mechanism is represented by two separate shells of calcium.   Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2511/ 🔭 🧪 ☄️ 1/

How do we know that dark matter is real? One of the best ways is from the Bullet Cluster, where we can see where dark matter has been wrenched apart from the regular stuff. New image from JWST and Chandra. chandra.si.edu/photo/2025/b...

What would happen if a baseball-sized chunk of a neutron star hit the Earth? Great Q&A. www.spokesman.com/stories/2025...

Vera Rubin’s legacy — both how she transformed our understanding of the universe & charted a path for more women in astro — carries on in her namesake, even amid a troubled scientific landscape. the latest in our @nytimes.com Rubin Observatory package: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/s...

🔭 womenshistory.si.edu/blog/life-cu...

That we don't know what most of the Universe is made or what kind of unseen force that is pushing it apart.

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders? Water is such a weird substance. Just absolutely bizarre. It's used as a standard or reference point for so much because it's so ubiquitous, but it's very different than pretty much every other liquid and every molecule of similar size.

Please read and share this statement from Sophie and Colin Hortman, children of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. (via WCCO reporter Caroline Cummings on X)

We can see a jet pumped out a black hole just 3 million years after the Universe began because the light has been amplified by the afterglow of the Big Bang itself. chandra.si.edu/photo/2025/j...

Colors from plants tell us about their health. NASA has a satellite that can see these colors *over the whole planet*. Kind of important and mind-blowing. www.nasa.gov/earth/nasas-...

Don't think female athletes are unpaid compared to males? Know what disagrees with you? Math. Look at the numbers. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/o...

Carl Sagan in 1986 on the problems with media and science literacy.

If you burn down a forest, you don't miss out on lumber for just that season. You have to replant all the trees, nurture them, and wait for them to grow. The science and research budget cuts happening now are wanton, senseless arson. Recovery, if it ever happens, will take generations.

US climate scientists need all the help they can get. Including from foul-mouthed comedians! 🤡😱😱 Watch Emmy Award-Winning David Cross team up with Prof Michael Oppenheimer in the US launch of the hit series "Climate Science Translated". #climate #arresteddevelopment #climatescience

SAVE COSMIC SCIENCE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS! I wrote about the current astronomy/particle physics/cosmology 🔭 ⚛️🧪 funding catastrophe in context of all of the other ongoing catastrophes, including what we can do to save our science. h/t to @skylargrayson.bsky.social for posting the image.

There are so many missions and projects that will be cut. The one I work for, Chandra, isn't mentioned. However, it's zeroed out for FY26 like so many more. And, of course, this isn't just about astronomy. It's like this everywhere in science and far beyond. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/02/s...

Latest from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and radio telescopes: is it a pulsar or a magnetar or some weird white dwarf? We don't know but astronomers are trying to find out. Paper in today's Nature. chandra.si.edu/press/25_rel...

For those who think our Sun is just a boring yellow disk ...

Listen to data from black holes thanks to some of NASA's most powerful telescopes. New sonifications. chandra.si.edu/photo/2025/s...

Heads up. A Soviet spacecraft that was supposed to go to Venus 50 years ago is going to crash into Earth on the weekend. Where exactly? No one knows. Piece by @nadiadrake.bsky.social w/ quotes from @planet4589.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/s...

🚨 Cool new project alert 🚨 WE- you, me, everyone- need to work together to get important science messages out to people. 4 artists & 3 scientists collab'd on these posters. We hope YOU will put them out in your community. Each poster comes w/info about each topic. Get 'em Squidfacts.bigcartel.com

Still amazing that we can know what used the unknowable.