What babysitting a telescope the size of Australia looks like #RadioAstronomy

Apparently it’s #NeutronStarWeek, i.e the things I study for my day (and sometimes night) job! More accurately I look at pulsars, which are neutron stars that are doing interesting things. Like emitting beams of radio waves from above their magnetic poles. #Astronomy #RadioAstronomy

New repeating FRB found by ASKAP and confirmed with MeerKAT! #RadioAstronomy #Astronomy www.astronomerstelegram.org?read=17257

Why are there two LIGO observatories? LIGO has two detectors ~3000 km apart for three main reasons: 🎧 Noise discrimination ⏰ Signal timing 🗺️ Source localization Find out more www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/ligo-de... Graphic by Mayara Pacheco 🔭🧪

Incredible showing from Australians past, present and future, at #SKAO2025 in Görlitz. All very excited about getting the first data from the SKAO telescopes! Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! #RadioAstronomy

One of the more interesting conference venues! #SKAO2025 #RadioAstronomy

Been a good couple of days in Germany so far

Sneak preview of what I’ll be talking about at the upcoming SKA Science Meeting in sunny Görlitz next week!! #RadioAstronomy #DoublePulsarIsTheBestPulsar

Coffee days ☕️

Not-so fun fact: we looked *really* hard for pulses from the alleged pulsar in the Snake, and didn’t find any… BUT we did find a millisecond pulsar embedded in different filament right next door! ☄️🔭 iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

So I know folks have heard the news about an exoplanet that might be “teeming with life”? 🌱 I created a series of infographics that aims to cover the key points of the research findings + some of the area where scientists are sceptical! 🧐 Meet K2-18b! 👋 #astronomy #exoplanet #scicomm

For the first time, astronomers have measured the plasma layers of a shock wave surrounding a pulsar.

Go work at the most beautiful telescope in the world! I’d seriously consider applying myself if I hadn’t just started a fellowship…

Question to any stellar spectroscopy people on here: when you report that a star is of a particular spectral class based on a template bank, what did you actually do to figure that out?? Is it all just vibes and eyeballing things? Or is there a standard tool that nobody references? 🔭☄️

Turns out the radio emission and spin-down rates of pulsars aren’t anywhere near as stable as we like to think! And it could even explain the “weirdness” seen in the apparent gravitational-wave background signal!! Results from the Parkes Young Pulsar Timing programme: doi.org/10.1093/mnra... 🔭🧪☄️

Serious question: why would an ECR apply for a two-year “embedded fellowship” over longer (3-4 year) programs elsewhere? Especially when a good chunk of that second year will be spent hunting for the next job opportunity?

Join us as we celebrate Professor Matthew Bailes, recipient of the 2024 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science - The Role of Serendipity in Scientific Discovery! Date: 3rd April | Time: 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM Venue: AMDC301, Swinburne University Register Now: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-role-o...

We are looking for an Observatory Manager to lead the team at Parkes Observatory. Yes, come work at Murriyang, otherwise known as The Dish. #radioastronomy jobs.csiro.au/job/Parkes%2...

And the pulsar astronomer becomes a radio-imaging astronomer! First time running my own observation with ATCA and making an image from the data 😄 Can you spot the pulsar? #Astronomy #RadioAstronomy

🌌 Ever wondered how tiny particles like neutrinos & neutron stars shape the universe? Join us on 21 Feb at 5:30 pm for Tiny yet impactful clues to unlocking cosmic mysteries with PhD students Pratyasha & Nimas. Free event! www.eventbrite.com.au/e/tiny-yet-i... 🔭 #SpaceScience #OzGrav

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS as seen on Jan 18 from Bacchus Marsh, Australia! Could easily be seen unaided as a point of light at the head of a pencil-like tail. ☄️🔭

Very successful comet hunt this evening. C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) is EASILY visible to the naked eye about 50 mins after sunset!! Photos to come soon 🔭

Having been immersed in radio astronomy for so long, I’ve forgotten many of the limitations of optical telescopes. “What do you mean you can’t observe this source in September? Oh right, the Sun…” “What’s wrong with pointing the telescope this close to the horizon? Oh right, the atmosphere…”

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) still very obvious in binoculars at mag 1.5. This mornings view Jan 6 18:10 UT with a 318mm f5.8 lens and Olympus em1.2.

I am looking to hire a PhD student at Swinburne University to study the links between pulsars, magnetars and fast radio bursts! If you or anyone you know may be interested, then please feel free to reach out to me via email. #Astronomy #RadioAstronomy astronomy.swin.edu.au/study/phdpro...

2024 was peak chaos. Job applications, rejections, heartbreak… But also many exciting discoveries and amazing adventures! Here’s hoping for a much less stressful (but still fun) 2025

One of the many reasons to love magnetars

Congrats Manisha Caleb, @elenchically.bsky.social @astromelow.bsky.social and many others 🤩 Great to see this ASKAP discovery being highlighted here ! #radioastronomy #astronomy

Telescope proposals submitted! Totally didn’t leave the last one until two minutes before the deadline 😅

I’ve come to accept that my life is extremely chaotic. And that a good chunk of that is due to my own choices… Anyways, today I decided to move a queen-size mattress and a desk down several flights of stairs. On my own. It was totally fine

Here is the gravitational wave background mapping paper academic.oup.com/mnras/advanc...

1 in 100 billion! The double pulsar system, where both pulsar beams point at us, offers astronomers a unique chance to study extreme astrophysics. @cosmicrami.com chatted with @astromelow.bsky.social on his new paper. www.spaceaustralia.com/feature/unve... #SpaceAustralia 🔭📡🧪 📸M. Kramer/MPIfR

And people wonder why I refuse to apply for astro jobs in the US…

What the actual fuck Queensland?? WHY are you so insistent on voting against your own self interests after Labor has been in for a few terms? Do you not like nearly free public transport? Mining royalties? Or the big one: women’s bodily autonomy???? #Auspol

In case you were wondering why the eclipses have these funny peaks and troughs: www.jb.man.ac.uk/~bretonr/dou... I still remember when my PhD supervisor first showed me that animation. Absolute awe that such a system existed

And to top off the holiday in New Zealand, I was treated to an amazing display of the Aurora Australis while staying at Lake Taupō!

Almost feels like a dream that I spent two weeks bouncing between volcanoes dotted around the North Island of New Zealand. And that I actually managed to complete the Tongariro Alpine Crossing!! Definitely need to go back sometime soon…

Ever wondered what happens when the radio beam of a pulsar passes through the magnetic field of another pulsar? Well, wonder no more! arxiv.org/abs/2410.12510 Our observations also directly confirm that neutron star magnetic fields are filled with electrons and their anti-matter counterparts! 🔭🧪📡

What’s new in the world of pulsars and magnetars? Four recent research articles seek to characterize these ultra-dense stellar remnants with observations from radio to X-rays. aasnova.org/2024/09/27/m... 🔭🧪

I’m going on an adventure! SYD 🛫 —> 🛬 AUK

Reason behind last Friday’s celebrations: I’ve been awarded a DECRA!!! Over the next three years I’ll be testing the connections between pulsars, magnetars and the fast radio burst phenomenon!

For reasons that will be clear on Monday, I am drinking this tonight

Currently planning an upcoming holiday: “Yes, I could save a heap of money and stay at the hostel with shared accommodation and facilities and deal with people…” “OR, I could just spend money and stay at a proper hotel and avoid people!”

Today I agreed to do something, which was probably very stupid and I will undoubtedly come to regret over the next few months… On a happier note, I also submitted a paper!

This #RaiseTheStipend petition👇 has just over 2,000 signatures. It should be 20,000! If you haven't signed, please do. It's super quick & easy. And if you have, spread it to your colleagues, friends & family via email, word-of-mouth, printing out the flyers below, anything! 🙏

AH!

A new population of neutron stars, but with long spin periods, is emerging. Could astronomers be on the brink of something new? @cosmicrami.bsky.social speaks to Manisha Caleb, lead author of this exciting new paper. www.spaceaustralia.com/feature/popu...  #SpaceAustralia 🔭🧪 📸 Carl Knowx/OzGrav

Aussie astronomers have used Murriyang (Parkes radio telescope) to confirm the closest millisecond pulsar to the Galactic Centre! @cosmicrami.bsky.social spoke to @astromelow.bsky.social about this exciting new science. www.spaceaustralia.com/news/millise... #SpaceAustralia 📸 Heywood / R. Mandow