Marcel S. Pawlowski
@8minutesold.bsky.social
Astrophysicist studying cosmic choreographies of dwarf galaxies. Junior Research Group Leader at AIP, Street Photographer (he/him)
Autor des Buchs „Von tanzenden Galaxien, Dunkler Materie, und anderen kosmischen Rätseln“
Potsdam, Germany
Autor des Buchs „Von tanzenden Galaxien, Dunkler Materie, und anderen kosmischen Rätseln“
Potsdam, Germany
Pinned
Es ist soweit: heute erscheint mein Sachbuch "Von Tanzenden Galaxien, Dunkler Materie und anderen kosmischen Rätseln" ISBN: 978-3-95972-788-4
Auf 304 Seiten schreibe ich über Astronomie, Galaxien, und wie Astrophysiker*innen Herausforderungen des Dunkle-Materie-Modells begegnen. 🔭🧪
Auf 304 Seiten schreibe ich über Astronomie, Galaxien, und wie Astrophysiker*innen Herausforderungen des Dunkle-Materie-Modells begegnen. 🔭🧪
Press release by Pengfei, @aippotsdam.bsky.social's former @humboldt-foundation.de Humboldt Fellow, on our new paper about the odd primordial dark matter halo of the Milky Way.
Here is the press release.
Nanjing Univ. press release: Our Galaxy’s Primordial Dark Matter Halo is a Major Oddity
astronomy.nju.edu.cn/EN/NewsEvent...
Article by Li et al.: www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004...
astronomy.nju.edu.cn/EN/NewsEvent...
Article by Li et al.: www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004...
November 27, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Press release by Pengfei, @aippotsdam.bsky.social's former @humboldt-foundation.de Humboldt Fellow, on our new paper about the odd primordial dark matter halo of the Milky Way.
Look what finally arrived! The proceedings of our International Astronomical Union Symposium 379 „Dynamical Masses of Local Group Galaxies“. 🌌🧪🔭☄️
Which was held in early 2023, with all manuscripts submitted later that same year. So it took CUP only *checks notes* two years to publish.
Which was held in early 2023, with all manuscripts submitted later that same year. So it took CUP only *checks notes* two years to publish.
November 27, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Look what finally arrived! The proceedings of our International Astronomical Union Symposium 379 „Dynamical Masses of Local Group Galaxies“. 🌌🧪🔭☄️
Which was held in early 2023, with all manuscripts submitted later that same year. So it took CUP only *checks notes* two years to publish.
Which was held in early 2023, with all manuscripts submitted later that same year. So it took CUP only *checks notes* two years to publish.
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
Please check the great summary of our new paper, inferring the primordial dark matter halos from observations.
A (dark matter) Space Oddity:
We have an exciting new paper led by @pengfeili.bsky.social: arxiv.org/abs/2511.17705
He used the best data on the Milky Way rotation curve from Gaia to infer not the current, but the *primordial* dark-matter halo of the Galaxy.
And it is quite odd. 🧪🔭☄️
1/6
We have an exciting new paper led by @pengfeili.bsky.social: arxiv.org/abs/2511.17705
He used the best data on the Milky Way rotation curve from Gaia to infer not the current, but the *primordial* dark-matter halo of the Galaxy.
And it is quite odd. 🧪🔭☄️
1/6
The odd primordial halo of the Milky Way implied by Gaia. A shallow core, but a steep decline
Primordial dark matter halos are well understood from cold dark matter-only simulations. Since they can contract significantly as baryons settle into their centers, direct comparisons with observed ga...
arxiv.org
November 27, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Please check the great summary of our new paper, inferring the primordial dark matter halos from observations.
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
Nanjing Univ. press release: Our Galaxy’s Primordial Dark Matter Halo is a Major Oddity
astronomy.nju.edu.cn/EN/NewsEvent...
Article by Li et al.: www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004...
astronomy.nju.edu.cn/EN/NewsEvent...
Article by Li et al.: www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004...
天文与空间科学学院 News & Events
Scientists reverse-engineer our Galaxy’s primordial dark matter halo for the first time, and it is nothing like cold dark matter halos.
astronomy.nju.edu.cn
November 25, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Nanjing Univ. press release: Our Galaxy’s Primordial Dark Matter Halo is a Major Oddity
astronomy.nju.edu.cn/EN/NewsEvent...
Article by Li et al.: www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004...
astronomy.nju.edu.cn/EN/NewsEvent...
Article by Li et al.: www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004...
A (dark matter) Space Oddity:
We have an exciting new paper led by @pengfeili.bsky.social: arxiv.org/abs/2511.17705
He used the best data on the Milky Way rotation curve from Gaia to infer not the current, but the *primordial* dark-matter halo of the Galaxy.
And it is quite odd. 🧪🔭☄️
1/6
We have an exciting new paper led by @pengfeili.bsky.social: arxiv.org/abs/2511.17705
He used the best data on the Milky Way rotation curve from Gaia to infer not the current, but the *primordial* dark-matter halo of the Galaxy.
And it is quite odd. 🧪🔭☄️
1/6
The odd primordial halo of the Milky Way implied by Gaia. A shallow core, but a steep decline
Primordial dark matter halos are well understood from cold dark matter-only simulations. Since they can contract significantly as baryons settle into their centers, direct comparisons with observed ga...
arxiv.org
November 26, 2025 at 1:59 PM
A (dark matter) Space Oddity:
We have an exciting new paper led by @pengfeili.bsky.social: arxiv.org/abs/2511.17705
He used the best data on the Milky Way rotation curve from Gaia to infer not the current, but the *primordial* dark-matter halo of the Galaxy.
And it is quite odd. 🧪🔭☄️
1/6
We have an exciting new paper led by @pengfeili.bsky.social: arxiv.org/abs/2511.17705
He used the best data on the Milky Way rotation curve from Gaia to infer not the current, but the *primordial* dark-matter halo of the Galaxy.
And it is quite odd. 🧪🔭☄️
1/6
One flaw with my analogy (below) regarding the 20 GeV gamma-ray excess as a potential dark matter signal (arxiv.org/abs/2507.072...): For a well regulated lottery, I can at least be sure that the jackpot indeed exists. 🔭
November 26, 2025 at 12:52 PM
One flaw with my analogy (below) regarding the 20 GeV gamma-ray excess as a potential dark matter signal (arxiv.org/abs/2507.072...): For a well regulated lottery, I can at least be sure that the jackpot indeed exists. 🔭
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
Calling on my #science network! TeamNDF is #hiring a postdoc to start in 2026!
Are you fascinated by metabolism and the brain? Do you want to dig into life long impacts and the molecular cause?
Learn more about the team and our research here: www.dife.de/en/research/...
Please share! 🧠 🍔 💉
Are you fascinated by metabolism and the brain? Do you want to dig into life long impacts and the molecular cause?
Learn more about the team and our research here: www.dife.de/en/research/...
Please share! 🧠 🍔 💉
November 22, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Calling on my #science network! TeamNDF is #hiring a postdoc to start in 2026!
Are you fascinated by metabolism and the brain? Do you want to dig into life long impacts and the molecular cause?
Learn more about the team and our research here: www.dife.de/en/research/...
Please share! 🧠 🍔 💉
Are you fascinated by metabolism and the brain? Do you want to dig into life long impacts and the molecular cause?
Learn more about the team and our research here: www.dife.de/en/research/...
Please share! 🧠 🍔 💉
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
Today’s the day! There are still some tickets if you’re interested to join.
Wie weit sind alternative Methoden zu Tierversuchen?
Darüber diskutieren wir bei #WissenUnplugged am 4.11. in der Hörsaalruine.
👉Jetzt anmelden: wissen-unplugged.de
Gemeinsam veranstaltet mit ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS in Kooperation mit #Dlf Nova und ZEIT Campus.
@holtzbrinckberlin.bsky.social
Darüber diskutieren wir bei #WissenUnplugged am 4.11. in der Hörsaalruine.
👉Jetzt anmelden: wissen-unplugged.de
Gemeinsam veranstaltet mit ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS in Kooperation mit #Dlf Nova und ZEIT Campus.
@holtzbrinckberlin.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Today’s the day! There are still some tickets if you’re interested to join.
Happy Halloween!
October 31, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Happy Halloween!
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
This excellent press release about a paper favouring dark matter over MOND came out a few days ago. A great primer to get you excited for dark matter day and the power of tiny galaxies 🔭🧪 bsky.app/profile/8min...
New press release about our new paper led by my PhD student Mariana Pouseiro Júlio! 🔭🧪☄️
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
October 30, 2025 at 7:38 AM
This excellent press release about a paper favouring dark matter over MOND came out a few days ago. A great primer to get you excited for dark matter day and the power of tiny galaxies 🔭🧪 bsky.app/profile/8min...
Who wouldn’t vacuously stare at the back of a computer screen showing a globular cluster when doing research on dwarf galaxy dynamics?
AI slop at its finest. 🙄
(from www.cadena3.com/amp/noticia/...)
AI slop at its finest. 🙄
(from www.cadena3.com/amp/noticia/...)
Los datos de galaxias enanas favorecen la existencia de materia oscura
Un estudio internacional liderado por el Instituto Leibniz de Astrofísica de Potsdam logró resolver el debate sobre la velocidad de giro de las galaxias y su relación con la materia oscura.
www.cadena3.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Who wouldn’t vacuously stare at the back of a computer screen showing a globular cluster when doing research on dwarf galaxy dynamics?
AI slop at its finest. 🙄
(from www.cadena3.com/amp/noticia/...)
AI slop at its finest. 🙄
(from www.cadena3.com/amp/noticia/...)
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
Analysis of stellar velocities in faint dwarf galaxies indicates their internal dynamics are better explained by dark matter models than by modified gravity theories such as MOND. doi.org/g977ff
Dwarf galaxies tip the scales in favor of dark matter over modified gravity
An international team of researchers led by the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) has shed light on a decades-long debate about why galaxies spin faster than expected—and whether this behavior is caused by invisible dark matter or by a collapse of gravity on cosmic scales.
phys.org
October 27, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Analysis of stellar velocities in faint dwarf galaxies indicates their internal dynamics are better explained by dark matter models than by modified gravity theories such as MOND. doi.org/g977ff
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
New press release about our new paper led by my PhD student Mariana Pouseiro Júlio! 🔭🧪☄️
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
October 27, 2025 at 10:45 AM
New press release about our new paper led by my PhD student Mariana Pouseiro Júlio! 🔭🧪☄️
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
New press release about our new paper led by my PhD student Mariana Pouseiro Júlio! 🔭🧪☄️
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
October 27, 2025 at 10:45 AM
New press release about our new paper led by my PhD student Mariana Pouseiro Júlio! 🔭🧪☄️
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
Charon: There just isn't enough money to go around to fund free public transport for everyone.
Describe a character in Greek mythology the way someone trying to defend a politician would. I’ll start.
Oedipus: Like you’ve never had sex with someone and regretted it later
Oedipus: Like you’ve never had sex with someone and regretted it later
October 26, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Charon: There just isn't enough money to go around to fund free public transport for everyone.
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
Researchers face uncertainty like never before. Join the To Be Honest Conference 2025 to discuss careers, funding & resilience in academia.
🗓 Dec 4–5 | Online
🎓 For PhDs & academics
🔗 Register: events.zoom.us/ev/AqL7Vnz0Q...
🗓 Dec 4–5 | Online
🎓 For PhDs & academics
🔗 Register: events.zoom.us/ev/AqL7Vnz0Q...
October 22, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Researchers face uncertainty like never before. Join the To Be Honest Conference 2025 to discuss careers, funding & resilience in academia.
🗓 Dec 4–5 | Online
🎓 For PhDs & academics
🔗 Register: events.zoom.us/ev/AqL7Vnz0Q...
🗓 Dec 4–5 | Online
🎓 For PhDs & academics
🔗 Register: events.zoom.us/ev/AqL7Vnz0Q...
After my lecture we had a fun excursion to the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand yesterday afternoon. Got to see their planetarium and some workshops where they coat telescope mirrors.
October 16, 2025 at 12:40 PM
After my lecture we had a fun excursion to the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand yesterday afternoon. Got to see their planetarium and some workshops where they coat telescope mirrors.
Made it to Thailand. Already learned that you can buy vegetables at the airport, where the bathroom also had an interesting name. Now making some final edits on my lecture slides while fighting the jet lag with coffee.
October 13, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Made it to Thailand. Already learned that you can buy vegetables at the airport, where the bathroom also had an interesting name. Now making some final edits on my lecture slides while fighting the jet lag with coffee.
Neat, I have free WiFi in the plane on this leg of the trip. Though to properly work on my laptop in these tiny economy seats some T-Rex arms would come in handy. 💻🦖
October 11, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Neat, I have free WiFi in the plane on this leg of the trip. Though to properly work on my laptop in these tiny economy seats some T-Rex arms would come in handy. 💻🦖
And now on to the more demanding part of this trip, getting to Chiang Mai in Thailand to give a lecture for the WE-Heraeus and NARIT Cosmology School. First leg is a train trip to Madrid, then flights to Doha and Bangkok. If all goes according to plan, it’ll take me 31 hours door to door.
October 11, 2025 at 6:44 AM
And now on to the more demanding part of this trip, getting to Chiang Mai in Thailand to give a lecture for the WE-Heraeus and NARIT Cosmology School. First leg is a train trip to Madrid, then flights to Doha and Bangkok. If all goes according to plan, it’ll take me 31 hours door to door.
After an intense IAU Symposium on galaxy outskirts with lots of interesting talks but too little time to chat with everyone, I got a half day to enjoy beautiful Cordoba yesterday.
October 11, 2025 at 5:35 AM
After an intense IAU Symposium on galaxy outskirts with lots of interesting talks but too little time to chat with everyone, I got a half day to enjoy beautiful Cordoba yesterday.
Paper day! My PhD student Mariana Júlio, with @readdark.bsky.social, @pengfeili.bsky.social and others, studies the internal dynamics of dwarf galaxies and finds they don't agree with the Radial Acceleration Relation, challenging the dark matter alternative MOND.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.06905
🔭☄️🧪
1/7
arxiv.org/abs/2510.06905
🔭☄️🧪
1/7
The radial acceleration relation at the EDGE of galaxy formation: testing its universality in low-mass dwarf galaxies
A tight correlation between the baryonic and observed acceleration of galaxies has been reported over a wide range of mass ($10^8 < M_{\rm bar}/{\rm M}_\odot < 10^{11}$) - the Radial Acceleration Rela...
arxiv.org
October 9, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Paper day! My PhD student Mariana Júlio, with @readdark.bsky.social, @pengfeili.bsky.social and others, studies the internal dynamics of dwarf galaxies and finds they don't agree with the Radial Acceleration Relation, challenging the dark matter alternative MOND.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.06905
🔭☄️🧪
1/7
arxiv.org/abs/2510.06905
🔭☄️🧪
1/7
Congratulations to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for winning the Nobel Price in Physics … for Johns.
By my count from last year, this should now make it 12 men named John who were awarded the Nobel, versus a total of five women (of any name). 🧪
By my count from last year, this should now make it 12 men named John who were awarded the Nobel, versus a total of five women (of any name). 🧪
Congratulations, the Nobel Prize in Physics 🧪 has now been awarded to twice as many guys named John than women.
(One John even got it two times.)
(One John even got it two times.)
October 7, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Congratulations to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for winning the Nobel Price in Physics … for Johns.
By my count from last year, this should now make it 12 men named John who were awarded the Nobel, versus a total of five women (of any name). 🧪
By my count from last year, this should now make it 12 men named John who were awarded the Nobel, versus a total of five women (of any name). 🧪
And we’re stuck on the tarmac in Berlin “for at least an hour” in a fully boarded flight because some oil-related maintenance light came on.
a close up of a car dashboard with a red triangle on the bottom right
ALT: a close up of a car dashboard with a red triangle on the bottom right
media.tenor.com
October 7, 2025 at 7:53 AM
And we’re stuck on the tarmac in Berlin “for at least an hour” in a fully boarded flight because some oil-related maintenance light came on.