Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks! No equatorial mount, it's one of these 2" refractor "smart" telescopes that does 10s exposures with an alt-azimuth mount.

Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 1d

I would donate this image to any Star Trek episode!

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 1d

Wow! So wonderful to hear their reactions!

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Reposted by Lyndie Chiou

Robert “The Bobby Yaga” McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 1d

Not many pulsars have been identified optically, but this one has. And you can actually hear the moment when the discovery was made.

Robert “The Bobby Yaga” McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · Jan 15

Remarkably, they had a tape recorder running to help them track their data, so there is *audio* of Cocke and Disney making the first observation of an optical pulsar.

This is what a moment of discovery sounds like. Turn your sound on for this! 🧪 🔭 ⚛️ (2/n)

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Reposted by Lyndie Chiou

CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @cosmicrami.com · 1d

I think I also caught the light from the surrounding nebula generated by the pulsar too, a while back! These are 10s integrations (so, not seeing it blink on/off) but rather the accumulated light over the course of an hour from pulsar effects.

Position is consistent with professional shot below!

CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @cosmicrami.com · Jul 31

Since I've been talking about the Crab Pulsar, here's my photo of the Crab Nebula where I think I caught the pulsar's effect (I think?!).

Position relative to surrounding stars is right when I compare it to this high-time resolved image which shows pulsar flickering.

📸 NA Sharp/AURA/NOAO/NSF 🔭🧪

Two tile image. Top image is black and white and shows a diffuse and twisted nebula with several stars in it. The two central stars are annotated with two red cross hair lines. The bottom image shows the same nebula, in colour, with a small square in the centre expanding to an inset that shows multiple sequence images of two stars with one turning on and off.

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 1d

So cool!!! I think I'll try to see if I can see some sort of effect in my 10s frames too -- although I don't have much hope because my aperture is so small.

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, a dual band filter + a "smart telescope" -- I just program what I want to watch for the night and push go. I always hesitate to say which one because it's the only one I've tried. But I have a Vespera Pro. The Vespera 2 is also popular. And Seestar is another popular brand.

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 1d

Small telescope + a filter + a tad of processing!

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks! I hope to bring out those details a bit better with a longer exposure -- but there's a storm preventing it for now!

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 1d

Hidden inside the gas is a neutron star, the densest type of star in the universe. 1 sugar cube worth weighs about 1 billion tons.

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." — William Shakespeare, Hamlet

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 1d

Here are the remnants of a massive star that ignited in 1054. Ancient astronomers marveled at how they could see the supernova even during the day. All that's left today is the faint, colorful smudge called the Crab Nebula.

Image credit: my tiny telescope - only 2 hours!

#science #astronomy 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 2d

In case anyone wants to see the paper! arxiv.org/abs/2508.08666

Formation process of young stellar population in Messier 16 from a kinematic perspective

We present a kinematic study of young stars in Messier 16 (M16) using the Gaia Data Release 3 and high-resolution spectra. A total of 345 stars are selected as genuine members using the published list...

arxiv.org

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 2d

In case you would like to see my original source! arxiv.org/abs/2508.08666

Formation process of young stellar population in Messier 16 from a kinematic perspective

We present a kinematic study of young stars in Messier 16 (M16) using the Gaia Data Release 3 and high-resolution spectra. A total of 345 stars are selected as genuine members using the published list...

arxiv.org

Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 3d

The "Pillars of Creation" lie deep in the heart of the Eagle Nebula. According to a 2025 paper, these pillars have a hue of red that is off from what we'd expect, hinting that the dust inside is anything but ordinary.

Image credit: my tiny telescope (8.5 hrs of observing).

#science #astronomy 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

A spectacular red nebula spans the image with red, diffuse wings of dust and a bright core. An abstract cosmic painting of an eagle.

A crop of the heart of the Eagle Nebula seen in the previous image. Dark red pillars can can be seen against a bright background.

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Reposted by Lyndie Chiou

Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 7d

Proven: strange patterns in the prime numbers that require chaos to understand. And a way to beat a 200 year old prime-hypothesis. My latest for Scientific American!

www.scientificamerican.com/article/math...

#Science #ScienceNews #Research #stem #ScienceWriting #Math #Discovery #BigIdeas 👩🏾‍🔬🧪

Fractal Chaos Discovered in Prime Numbers

Mathematicians have found a new way to predict how prime numbers behave

www.scientificamerican.com

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 7d

Proven: strange patterns in the prime numbers that require chaos to understand. And a way to beat a 200 year old prime-hypothesis. My latest for Scientific American!

www.scientificamerican.com/article/math...

#Science #ScienceNews #Research #stem #ScienceWriting #Math #Discovery #BigIdeas 👩🏾‍🔬🧪

Fractal Chaos Discovered in Prime Numbers

Mathematicians have found a new way to predict how prime numbers behave

www.scientificamerican.com

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 9d

Thanks!

Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 9d

It's one of the "smart telescopes". There are many options, but I have a Vespera Pro.

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 9d

Thanks!

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 9d

The Ghost of Cassiopeia nebula. Cassiopeia (the bright star) is an Ethiopian queen in Greek mythology. Her star illuminates nearby dust clouds, imparting a ghostly, ethereal appearance.

Image credit: my tiny telescope (about 4 hours of light collecting).

#science #astronomy 🔭👩🏾‍🔬

A nebula with red and blue colors faintly glows in the light of a very bright star.

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 16d

Giant tulip!

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 17d

Happy observing! This is a Vaonis Vespera Pro. Looking forward to seeing your results.

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 17d

We wouldn't know -- the speed of light is the fastest that information can travel.

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 18d

It's not an unscientific thought! There are several serious conferences every year devoted to the topic of finding life outside of Earth.

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Lyndie Chiou @lyndie.bsky.social · 18d

Love Star Trek. This is the closest I'll ever get to exploring "strange new worlds"!

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