Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Hinna @hinsterrr.bsky.social · 12h

What do you mean I saw PLATO with my own eyes today?? 🫢🫨 #ESAopenday #exoplanet

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Emily Hunt @emily.space · 5d

Oooh the Nobel Prize is out today, so it's time for my yearly round of ignoring that news and reading about many of the women who were snubbed of the prize in the past and who the Nobel Prize committee refuses to apologise for. 🧪🔭

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Hinna @hinsterrr.bsky.social · 16d

Congratulations Dr. Linn!! 🥳🎉❤️❤️ love the thesis cover!

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depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 20d

imagine if a family of beavers randomly showed up right now and finished whatever thing you've been putting off

In early 2025, beaver activity in the Brdy Protected Landscape Area, Czech Republic, contributed to the restoration of a wetland ecosystem. A family of beavers constructed a series of dams that coincidentally accomplished environmental goals of the Czech government, which had delayed its proposed project since 2018 for bureaucratic and financial reasons. The beaver-built dams saved the Czech government approximately US$1.2 million,

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · Sep 11

Welcome, Plato! 🤗

On 1 September, the spacecraft arrived in the Netherlands by boat from Germany via the Rhine River.

In the coming weeks, engineers will add the sunshield & solar arrays and carry out tests to confirm Plato is ready for launch 🚀
www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

🔭 #Exoplanets

A large cargo ship named VAARWEL, painted in blue and white, is sailing through a canal. The ship has a flag at its front and is passing under an open drawbridge in the background. The canal is lined with trees on both sides, and the sky above is bright blue with scattered white clouds. A few people are visible on the bridge and near the water’s edge. In the foreground, at the bottom right, a small boat with a single person inside floats near the ship.

In a cleanroom environment, two individuals wearing blue lab coats and hairnets are working around a large spacecraft. The spacecraft is covered in protective plastic sheeting and mounted on a white transport platform labelled with technical instructions.

In a cleanroom environment, a group of engineers wearing protective coats, gloves, and face masks are working on a large spacecraft component. The component is mounted on a white wheeled platform. The top of the spacecraft carries 26 cylindrical cameras. The workspace is surrounded by structural supports and white fabric walls, creating a clean and controlled environment.

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · Mar 27

Farewell, Gaia! 🥹 👏

ESA Operations @operations.esa.int · Mar 27

The final commands have been sent to Gaia. This is the last time that the spacecraft will ever hear from its team on Earth. The final commands include those to shut down the spacecraft's communication systems and central computer.

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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social · Mar 18

This is what Firefly's Blue Ghost lander saw as the Sun set on Sunday.

The Sun is the bright lightsource at the horizon.

At top is Earth (you can't quite tell it's gibbous).

And that bright star between the two is Venus. I have never seen a photo of Venus from the surface of the Moon before.

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European Space Agency @esa.int · Mar 20

🌍 Happy #Equinox! On 20 March 2025 at 09:01 GMT/10:01 CET, just a few moments ago, the Sun appeared directly above Earth's equator - with our planet neither tilting towards nor away from the Sun!

(pic: @eumetsat.int, processed by ESA/S. Proud)
See flic.kr/p/2qT1ZUu

At the equinox of 20 March 2025, our planet is neither tilted towards nor away from the Sun, creating nearly equal day/night. This stunning Meteosat-12 image taken earlier this morning showcases the boundary between day and night running straight through the poles.

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Robinson Research Institute @robsinstitute.bsky.social · Mar 11

Pure passion for the topic, fuelled by the experience of knowing what living with endometriosis feels like. Meet our endo research team – first up: Rachel Hosking, PhD candidate at IMAGENDO. #EndometriosisAwarenessMonth

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Institute for Regeneration and Repair @edinuni-irr.bsky.social · Mar 11

Continuing on with our #EndometriosisAwarenessMonth campaign, we asked three of our researchers to explain their research in 15 words or less.

Find out more about their research on the EXPPECT website: www.exppectedinburgh.co.uk/

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Reposted by Hinna

Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social · Mar 1

Open this image up fully.

Look to the top right.

That's Phobos, one of the moons of Mars.

And that bright point of light?

Earth.

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Reposted by Hinna

Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · Jan 17

Oh come ON now. This new JWST image is just ASTOUNDING.

I feel like I’m falling looking into it, and that I would fall forever, and that I would enjoy it.

NASA, ESA, CSA, K. McQuinn (STScI), J. DePasquale (STScI)

False colour JWST NIRCam image of a nearby star forming region in front of a deep back ground of colorful galaxies. NASA, ESA, CSA, K. McQuinn (STScI), J. DePasquale (STScI)

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Dr Alfredo Carpineti @drcarpineti.bsky.social · Dec 21

Look at that terminator!

We have passed the winter solstice (9:21 UTC) for the northern hemisphere, gang!

An image from the goes east satellite showing most of the americas in darkness and the terminator crossing the Atlantic

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Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · Dec 21

🔭 A Year in Sunsets

Image Credit & Copyright: Wael Omar

apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap24122...

A year in sunsets, from April 2023 to March 2024, track along the western horizon in these stacked panoramic views. The well-planed sequence is constructed of images recorded near the 21st day of the indicated month from the same location overlooking Cairo, Egypt. But for any location on planet Earth the yearly extreme northern (picture right) and southern limits of the setting Sun mark the solstice days. The word solstice is from Latin for "Sun" and "stand still". On the solstice date the seasonal drift of the Sun's daily path through the sky appears to pause and reverse direction in its annual celestial journey. Of course the Sun reaches a stand still on today's date. The 21 December 2024 solstice at 09:21 UTC is the moment of the Sun's southernmost declination, the start of astronomical winter in the north and summer in the south.

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Tim Lichtenberg @timlichtenberg.bsky.social · Dec 19

"Reliable Detections of Atmospheres on Rocky Exoplanets with Photometric JWST Phase Curves" by Hammond et al., incl. @xoplanets.bsky.social @nichollsh.bsky.social @astrochloe.bsky.social @tgmeier.bsky.social @astrojake.bsky.social @astrolisadang.bsky.social @johannateske.bsky.social today on arXiv!

Reliable Detections of Atmospheres on Rocky Exoplanets with Photometric JWST Phase Curves

The prevalence of atmospheres on rocky planets is one of the major questions in exoplanet astronomy, but there are currently no published unambiguous detections of atmospheres on any rocky exoplanets....

arxiv.org

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Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · Dec 14

WTF is it with so many movies and TV shows showing people smoking? They could just *not* do that.

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Nienke van der Marel @nienkemarel.bsky.social · Dec 11

For a talk I just made this transition plot of exoplanets with age, to show how little we know about planets in the early times. Starting with all exoplanets in the database... (1/5)

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Reposted by Hinna

Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · Dec 9

Applications are open for MPIA summer internships! this is a fully funded opportunity, open to bachelor's and master's students anywhere in the world: www.mpia.de/en/careers/i...

Summer internships

www.mpia.de

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Hinna @hinsterrr.bsky.social · Dec 8

Cannot even do plane rides without being in pain. Looks like I’ll have to carry my own meals next trip 🥲 #endometriosis

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Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · Dec 6

I got to write in Scientific American about one of my all-time favorite cosmic objects: Barnard 68! It's like a hole in space, except… it isn't.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/what...

🧪🔭

What’s Inside Our Galaxy’s Darkest Place?

Barnard 68 is often mistaken for a hole in space, but it’s actually a dense, opaque cloud of dust—for now

www.scientificamerican.com

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Ben Sutlieff @handle.invalid · Dec 6

Very excited to be at the opening of the Dirleton Solar Walk today - a scale model of our Solar System in the East Lothian countryside, placed over 1.2km of the John Muir Way walking route! 🪐🔭 This was a really fun project to support and I highly recommend it for those local, esp. for kids/families!

A sign showing a map of the Dirleton Solar Walk, with information describing its scale (1:3.6 billon) and instructions on how to access its augmented reality features for each planet.

Myself next to the marker for the planet Jupiter, which consists of a fence post with a sign on top showing an artistic representation of Jupiter and a metallic ball representing its relative size according to the scale. There is also a QR code linking to information about the planet and an AR representation.

The marker for the planet Saturn, with a view of the countryside around Dirleton.

Myself and my colleague Gergely Friss attempting to demonstrate the augmented reality visualisation of the planet Neptune. I am trying to hold the planet but my hands are in totally the wrong place.

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Joe Renaud @spacetides.bsky.social · Dec 4

I love when it's cold and I have to wear a full load of laundry to leave the house

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · Dec 2

Making my slides for the "25 Years of Science with Chandra" conference, and here's the supernova remnants imaged with Chandra in the first two years of the mission in the order they were observed! 🔭🧪 #SaveChandra

X-ray images of 29 supernova remnants observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory in the first two years of the mission, 1999-2001. Images are mostly adapted from https://chandra.harvard.edu/press/ and https://hea-www.harvard.edu/ChandraSNR/gallery_gal.html

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Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · Dec 1

Time-lapse of altocumulus undulatus clouds at 30x speed. I happened to catch the formation's edge as it passed by.

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Reposted by Hinna

Kevin M. Gill @kevinmgill.bsky.social · Dec 1

The “Tiger Stripes” of southern Enceladus are deep ravines and connect to the subsurface ocean below. These contain the cryovolcanoes producing the water ice plumes.

Enceladus with the Tiger Stripes at bottom.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill

Tiger Stripes of Enceladus.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill

High-detail image of a Tiger Stripe.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill

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