A/Prof Natasha Hurley-Walker
@colourfulcosmos.bsky.social
Radio astronomer, transport cyclist, board gamer, mum of two, survivor of the great Xodus 2024
Today in PASA we published a new image of our Milky Way at low radio frequencies, in unprecedented colour and detail. Here's just a tiny piece of it -- the whole thing is ten times bigger!
We're seeing high energy electrons whirl around cosmic magnetic fields from exploded stars, and more!
We're seeing high energy electrons whirl around cosmic magnetic fields from exploded stars, and more!
October 29, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Today in PASA we published a new image of our Milky Way at low radio frequencies, in unprecedented colour and detail. Here's just a tiny piece of it -- the whole thing is ten times bigger!
We're seeing high energy electrons whirl around cosmic magnetic fields from exploded stars, and more!
We're seeing high energy electrons whirl around cosmic magnetic fields from exploded stars, and more!
Congratulations @tamarastro.bsky.social on your election as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science @science.org.au ! #ShineDome25
September 1, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Congratulations @tamarastro.bsky.social on your election as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science @science.org.au ! #ShineDome25
The US budget cuts to NASA and the NSF are horrifying. Anyone in the world can sign this petition to reverse them - consider adding your name? www.congressweb.com/PlanetarySoc...
Tell Congress: Save NASA Science
The current administration's 2026 budget request includes a staggering 47% cut to NASA's science programs as part of a 25% cut to NASA overall. This is an extinction-level event for the Earth and spac...
www.congressweb.com
May 31, 2025 at 1:02 AM
The US budget cuts to NASA and the NSF are horrifying. Anyone in the world can sign this petition to reverse them - consider adding your name? www.congressweb.com/PlanetarySoc...
Reposted by A/Prof Natasha Hurley-Walker
Last night I found out that the NSF math postdoctoral fellowship I applied for is being deleted because it does not comply with Trump’s executive orders on DEI in the federal government. I’m going to answer some FAQs and share some thoughts about this ordeal in this thread 1/n
February 8, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Last night I found out that the NSF math postdoctoral fellowship I applied for is being deleted because it does not comply with Trump’s executive orders on DEI in the federal government. I’m going to answer some FAQs and share some thoughts about this ordeal in this thread 1/n
Perth folks, I will be chatting with Rachel Rayner, Science Explainer, at the FRINGE Festival! This is a huge first for me -- next year, maybe I can do the same while fire juggling?! In all seriousness come and support me and other scientists :D Tickets here: fringeworld.com.au/whats_on/aus...
January 23, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Perth folks, I will be chatting with Rachel Rayner, Science Explainer, at the FRINGE Festival! This is a huge first for me -- next year, maybe I can do the same while fire juggling?! In all seriousness come and support me and other scientists :D Tickets here: fringeworld.com.au/whats_on/aus...
Not my usual research topic, but a bit of fun for a local SFF convention :) I analysed the astrophysics of the Legend of Zelda games -- using the same techniques real astronomers use! Good fun, educational, and the audience loved it!
January 20, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Not my usual research topic, but a bit of fun for a local SFF convention :) I analysed the astrophysics of the Legend of Zelda games -- using the same techniques real astronomers use! Good fun, educational, and the audience loved it!
Fabulous to see this new long-period radio transient published! The longest period yet -- and it has interpulses, strongly implying a 'lighthouse' of radio waves passing over our line-of-sight.
🎉 Exciting News 🎉
I’m thrilled to share that PhD student Joshua Lee’s paper on the discovery of a radio transient with a 6.45-hour rotation period has been published in Nature Astronomy! 📡💥 - www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Read the Conversation article here - theconversation.com/blinking-rad...
I’m thrilled to share that PhD student Joshua Lee’s paper on the discovery of a radio transient with a 6.45-hour rotation period has been published in Nature Astronomy! 📡💥 - www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Read the Conversation article here - theconversation.com/blinking-rad...
The emission of interpulses by a 6.45-h-period coherent radio transient - Nature Astronomy
Coherent radio emission with a long (nearly 6.5 h) period has been detected from both magnetic poles of a rotating compact object, offering insights into the evolution and emission mechanism of compac...
www.nature.com
January 16, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Fabulous to see this new long-period radio transient published! The longest period yet -- and it has interpulses, strongly implying a 'lighthouse' of radio waves passing over our line-of-sight.
Reposted by A/Prof Natasha Hurley-Walker
Beautiful writing from the wonderful @aussiastronomer.bsky.social. Sort of about our Stargazing Live exoplanet hunt, but also not.
One year ago I got Some Medical News. Writing down *why* I was so scared seemed the rational thing to do at the time. It helped, a bit, and a year later I'm ready to share it with you. Part personal history, part exoplanet lesson, all me.
But you have to read it without knowing the answer.
But you have to read it without knowing the answer.
False Positives
How can you rationalize daunting medical news when you understand statistics too well? When your professional and personal worlds collide?
medium.com
December 10, 2024 at 6:17 AM
Beautiful writing from the wonderful @aussiastronomer.bsky.social. Sort of about our Stargazing Live exoplanet hunt, but also not.
I think I've worked out why the timeline in For All Mankind is divergent -- no, it's not Korolev surviving his surgery. It's that their Moon is completely different from our Moon ;)
December 10, 2024 at 8:02 AM
I think I've worked out why the timeline in For All Mankind is divergent -- no, it's not Korolev surviving his surgery. It's that their Moon is completely different from our Moon ;)
Seconded!
I nominated @arc-tracker.bsky.social for keeping the Australian Research Council accountable to researchers 😍
December 6, 2024 at 7:58 AM
Seconded!
Starter packs are such a great way of getting your BlueSky community off the ground! I am so grateful for these as I rebuild from the ashes of Twitter.
Here is a starter pack for female and other minority astonomers 🔭 put together by @kanaya-malakar.bsky.social :
bsky.app/starter-pack...
Here is a starter pack for female and other minority astonomers 🔭 put together by @kanaya-malakar.bsky.social :
bsky.app/starter-pack...
bsky.app
December 5, 2024 at 3:50 AM
Starter packs are such a great way of getting your BlueSky community off the ground! I am so grateful for these as I rebuild from the ashes of Twitter.
Here is a starter pack for female and other minority astonomers 🔭 put together by @kanaya-malakar.bsky.social :
bsky.app/starter-pack...
Here is a starter pack for female and other minority astonomers 🔭 put together by @kanaya-malakar.bsky.social :
bsky.app/starter-pack...
I was today years old when I realised that NASA/ADS have deprecated the "^" for first author, and it's not just my internet connection.
December 5, 2024 at 1:05 AM
I was today years old when I realised that NASA/ADS have deprecated the "^" for first author, and it's not just my internet connection.
Reposted by A/Prof Natasha Hurley-Walker
An emerging class of objects in #RadioAstronomy, mostly discovered in the last few years, still can't be explained.
Two new multi-wavelength studies might have answers.
www.spaceaustralia.com/feature/mult... by @cosmicrami.com
#SpaceAustralia 🔭🧪
📸 @colourfulcosmos.bsky.social /MWA/Curtin/ICRAR
Two new multi-wavelength studies might have answers.
www.spaceaustralia.com/feature/mult... by @cosmicrami.com
#SpaceAustralia 🔭🧪
📸 @colourfulcosmos.bsky.social /MWA/Curtin/ICRAR
December 3, 2024 at 9:09 PM
An emerging class of objects in #RadioAstronomy, mostly discovered in the last few years, still can't be explained.
Two new multi-wavelength studies might have answers.
www.spaceaustralia.com/feature/mult... by @cosmicrami.com
#SpaceAustralia 🔭🧪
📸 @colourfulcosmos.bsky.social /MWA/Curtin/ICRAR
Two new multi-wavelength studies might have answers.
www.spaceaustralia.com/feature/mult... by @cosmicrami.com
#SpaceAustralia 🔭🧪
📸 @colourfulcosmos.bsky.social /MWA/Curtin/ICRAR
Doing media interviews from home while looking after my sick kid... Yes, that's an outdoor trestle table from Bunnings 😂
December 4, 2024 at 1:42 AM
Doing media interviews from home while looking after my sick kid... Yes, that's an outdoor trestle table from Bunnings 😂
Out now in @theconversation.com, I write about our discovery of the first long-period radio transient with an optical counterpart -- our first clue to the progenitors of this mysterious class of objects! theconversation.com/astronomers-...
Astronomers have pinpointed the origin of mysterious repeating radio bursts from space
By searching sparsely populated regions of the galaxy, astronomers have for the first time found the source of a kind of signal that has puzzled them for years.
theconversation.com
December 2, 2024 at 7:50 AM
Out now in @theconversation.com, I write about our discovery of the first long-period radio transient with an optical counterpart -- our first clue to the progenitors of this mysterious class of objects! theconversation.com/astronomers-...
Hope he covers circumzenithal arcs. My favourite kind of rainbow 🌈
Rainbows are way more fascinating than you think www.youtube.com/watch?v=24Gf...
You’re Probably Wrong About Rainbows
YouTube video by Veritasium
www.youtube.com
December 1, 2024 at 11:55 PM
Hope he covers circumzenithal arcs. My favourite kind of rainbow 🌈
Stunning yellow halo at the moment in Perth. Must be a mix of clouds and smoke to generate both the refraction and the eerie colours. Any meteorologists in my follows who can weigh in?
November 29, 2024 at 3:15 AM
Stunning yellow halo at the moment in Perth. Must be a mix of clouds and smoke to generate both the refraction and the eerie colours. Any meteorologists in my follows who can weigh in?
Out today in ApJL! Our discovery of the first long-period radio transient with a stellar counterpart:
www.icrar.org/binarytransi...
At least *some* of these objects might be explicable as binary systems!
www.icrar.org/binarytransi...
At least *some* of these objects might be explicable as binary systems!
Astronomers find possible source for mystery radio signals - ICRAR
New data suggests mysterious 'long period transients' could be two orbiting objects, which together create a powerful repeating radio signal.
www.icrar.org
November 27, 2024 at 3:58 AM
Out today in ApJL! Our discovery of the first long-period radio transient with a stellar counterpart:
www.icrar.org/binarytransi...
At least *some* of these objects might be explicable as binary systems!
www.icrar.org/binarytransi...
At least *some* of these objects might be explicable as binary systems!
Starting the day (and my timeline here) with the fantastic news that my Discovery grant proposal with Prof Nanda Rea has been funded by the Australian Research Council! Over the next three years we'll be investigating the mysterious long-period radio transients using telescopes around the world!
November 26, 2024 at 4:06 AM
Starting the day (and my timeline here) with the fantastic news that my Discovery grant proposal with Prof Nanda Rea has been funded by the Australian Research Council! Over the next three years we'll be investigating the mysterious long-period radio transients using telescopes around the world!