Leonardo Petrillo
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Leonardo Petrillo
@92sciencemusic.bsky.social
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Physicist (MSc in theoretical physics); scientific blogger (https://scienzaemusica.blogspot.com/); appreciator of music, especially classical-jazz. Expert and theorycrafter on some kinds of videogames, including Diablo, Hearthstone
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Leonardo Petrillo @92sciencemusic.bsky.social · Mar 12
🧪⚛️ Update: yesterday the discussion went well...110 cum laude + direct compliments from the counter-rapporteur for the quality of the thesis! 🥳
Here you can find the complete slides of the presentation: docs.google.com/presentation...
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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In case you missed it, here’s the #JWST wide-field view of the huge galaxy cluster MACS-J0417.5-1154, known for its stunning gravitational lensing effects and its wild ongoing merger dance. 🔭 🧪 ⚛️

➡️ webbtelescope.org/contents/new...

#cosmology #extragalactic #space #Astronomy #universe

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The following caption comes from this web page: https://science.nasa.gov/asset/webb/macs-j04175-1154-wide-field-nircam-image/ "A cosmic question mark appears amid a powerful gravitational lens in the James Webb Space Telescope’s wide-field view of the galaxy cluster MACS-J0417.5-1154. Gravitational lensing occurs when something is so massive, like this galaxy cluster, that it warps the fabric of space-time itself, creating a natural funhouse-mirror effect that also magnifies galaxies behind it. The rarely seen type of lensing captured here, which astronomers term hyperbolic umbilic, created five repeated images of one galaxy pair. The red, elongated member of this pair traces the familiar shape of a question mark across the sky due to the distortion, with another unrelated galaxy happening to be in just the right space-time to appear like the question mark’s dot – especially for humans who love to recognize familiar shapes and patterns."
February 16, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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Here comes a jaw-dropping discovery: the most distant confirmed protocluster ever seen with X-rays! 🔭 ⚛️

Using #JWST & #Chandra together, astronomers spotted JADES-ID1—a massive structure in the making that’s forcing us to rethink how fast the cosmos grew up. 🧪

#cosmology #space #astronomy 1/10
#JWST infrared deep field: golden-white distant galaxies on black space. Central soft blue #Chandra glow marks hot gas around a tight group of young galaxies. Brightest one has big diffraction spikes. Possibly the earliest protocluster seen—only ~1 billion years post-Big Bang.
February 14, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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This fantastic image shows NGC 3576, an emission nebula in the Sagittarius arm of our galaxy, dubbed 'The Statue of Liberty Nebula' because of the peculiar shape of the nebulous object in the center.

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap16092...

🔭 🧪 ⚛️ #astronomy #space #universe #galactic

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It's a big, colorful shot of the Statue of Liberty Nebula (NGC 3576). Right in the middle, you can actually see why they call it that – there's this bright pinkish-red patch with a shape that really does look like the statue raising her torch. The whole thing glows in warm reds and pinks from hydrogen gas. Scattered across it are several small, perfectly dark blobs – those are dust globules. A few super-bright, almost glaring blue-white stars pop out against the nebula, and there are some faint wispy loops of gas curving off to the sides. About 100 light-years wide.
February 12, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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Are we at a breakthrough in VUV laser tech?

It seems so: nuclear clocks could be way more accurate than what we have now, leading to substantial advantages.

Read the following. 1/3

⚛️ 🧪 #physics #science #laser #technology #clock
physicsmagazine.bsky.social Physics Magazine @physicsmagazine.bsky.social · 6d
The nuclear transitions that underlie nuclear clocks are difficult to drive controllably using existing laser technology. Now researchers have tested a new intense single-frequency ultraviolet laser that can achieve such driving for thorium-229 nuclei.
A Laser Built for Nuclear Timekeeping
Researchers have designed and demonstrated an ultraviolet laser that removes a major bottleneck in the development of a nuclear clock.
physics.aps.org
February 13, 2026 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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Reposting this thread on #KatherineJohnson —perfect timing for the International Day of Women & Girls in Science on #Februar11, and right in the heart of #BlackHistoryMonth.

Her story just blows me away every time, showing how one person's grit ...

#WomenInSTEM #HistSci #WomenInScience 🧪 🔭 ⚛️
drnereide.bsky.social Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · Feb 11
🧪 🔭🧵 #histsci
#February11 is International Day of Women & Girls in Science. So I would like to highlight Katherine Johnson, #NASA mathematician and computer scientist.

A biography➡️ nasa.gov/centers-and-...

She was a trailblazer in the quest for racial equality and, as a champion of STEM education,
The image shows Katherine G. Johnson smiling working at the Spacecraft Controls Branch of NASA in 1966.
February 11, 2026 at 2:18 PM
92sciencemusic.bsky.social
🧪 The physics behind extreme weather: through the Clausius–Clapeyron law, warmer air holds more water vapor (~7% per °C), intensifying rainfall and fueling stronger storms. A simple equation with powerful climate implications. 🌡️🌪️ Read my blog post here: scienzaemusica.blogspot.com/2026/02/la-f...
LA FISICA DIETRO CERTI EVENTI ESTREMI: L'EQUAZIONE DI CLAUSIUS-CLAPEYRON
Negli ultimi anni sentiamo parlare sempre più spesso di “eventi estremi”: alluvioni improvvise, uragani intensi, ecc. Immagine tratta da...
scienzaemusica.blogspot.com
February 11, 2026 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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Fascinating stuff— #JWST has spotted the oldest supernova ever confirmed.

It exploded when the #universe was just ~730 Myr old (~5% of its current age).

The whole thing began with a very bright gamma-ray burst, GRB 250314A.🔭 🧪

➡️ science.nasa.gov/missions/web...

#space #astronomy #science
James Webb Space Telescope NIRCam view of deep space showing hundreds of distant galaxies in different shapes and colors against black. A white zoom box in the center-right highlights a tiny faint red dot labeled GRB 250314A—the gamma-ray burst source and its very distant host galaxy.
February 10, 2026 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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This splendid image by Brad Goldpaint pays homage to the sky and ground, featuring some marvels of our planet and the majesty of our galaxy.🔭 🧪 ⚛️

The trees pictured here are incredibly ancient,...

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap16061...

#astrophotography #astronomy #sciart #space #universe
Stunning shot of ancient bristlecone pines in eastern California’s Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, under a sky bursting with the Milky Way. Saturn on the left and Mars look almost stuck to the branches, with the galaxy’s bright core lighting everything up. It gives you this crazy feeling of timelessness—super old stuff on Earth next to things billions of years older out there.
February 9, 2026 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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Picture a 25-year-old Italian guy who, in 1926, changed #physics ⚛️forever—paving the way for computers, smartphones, & understanding #stars. 🔭

This is #EnricoFermi & his famous “statistics.”🧪

Let’s walk through the story from Florence to “fermions,” 100 yrs later.

➡️ arxiv.org/abs/2602.04484
Portrait of a young Enrico Fermi, from the personal collection of Emilio Segrè (Morgue 1960-33). Courtesy of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory / AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives. Non-commercial use.
February 8, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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How intriguing is this view of Jupiter's rocky moon Io, the most volcanically active body in the Solar System? 🔭 🧪⚛️

This is a gift coming from Juno spacecraft that made a 2nd close flyby...

Pic by NASA/SwRI/MSSS

Mission Phase: PERIJOVE 58

➡️ missionjuno.swri.edu

#space #astronomy #science
Take a good look at this close-up of Io — the terminator slices it straight down the middle. Right side catches full sunlight and lights up in these vivid yellow-oranges. Left? Mostly blacked out, but you can still make out stuff because Jupiter's glow is bouncing off it (that's the Jupitershine doing its thing). The ground's a mess: rough everywhere, spotted with these huge volcanic sinks called paterae, plus darker smudges — sulfur gunk or silicates most likely — and patches that glow a bit brighter. Those could be fresh lava spills or just sulfur dioxide frost hanging around.
February 7, 2026 at 8:26 AM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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What is that tiny white dot, just above and to the right of the pic center?

It's about the planet Venus, imaged by the wide-angle camera from the Cassini spacecraft on 10 Nov 2012. 🔭 🧪

➡️ photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA1...

Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI

#planetsci #histsci #science

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Up close, Cassini caught Saturn’s rings glowing gold from behind, the Sun lighting them in that eerie backlight with sharp dark shadows slicing through. Right near the top-center sits this little white spark—Venus, not some distant star. Shot November 10, 2012. From Earth Venus blazes like the brightest “star” in the sky, yet out there it’s just a faint dot. Saturn’s average distance—1.4 billion km—really hits you then. We feel so small.
February 5, 2026 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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Chien-Shiung Wu shattered one of physics' core assumptions. ⚛️

In 1957, she proved that nature does distinguish between left & right in weak interactions.

Before her, physicists thought mirrors didn't matter in fundamental laws.

She flipped that on its head.🧪

#histsci #WomenInSTEM #science
physicsworld.bsky.social Physics World @physicsworld.bsky.social · 15d
Many people have wondered why the Chien-Shiung Wu never won the Nobel Prize for Physics. New findings from the Nobel archives, exclusively revealed in Physics World, show she was nominated 23 times by 18 different physicists - and yet was still left empty-handed. 🧪⚛️
physicsworld.com/a/twenty-thr...
Twenty-three nominations, yet no Nobel prize: how Chien-Shiung Wu missed out on the top award in physics – Physics World
Mats Larsson and Ramon Wyss reveal why Chien-Shiung Wu never won a Nobel prize
physicsworld.com
February 4, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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Ever heard of lenticular galaxies?

#Hubble just captured one 187 Mly away in Pegasus. 🔭🧪

It's NGC 7722: nothing like a classic spiral or a plain elliptical.

This amazing hybrid looks like a cosmic lens with dark dust rings swirling all around it.

➡️ esahubble.org/images/potm2...

#universe
Image description from the Hubble/ESA release: "A disc-shaped galaxy. It glows brightly at the centre and shines a faint white light all around it. The disc is made up of tightly-packed rings of dust, some darker and some lighter. Wide, long lanes of dark reddish dust cross the galaxy in front of its edge, blocking out some of its light; the long strands twist and break apart at each side. A couple of nearby stars and distant galaxies are also visible on the black background."
February 3, 2026 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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This amazing pic by Matteo Dunchi features the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), rising over the Italian Alps in July 2015.

Although M31 appears in the sky as a faint and fuzzy blob to the unaided eye, its light is about 2.5 Myr old, making it likely the oldest...

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap15081...

🔭 🧪 1/8
Shadowy Italian Alps peaks below a deep inky-blue sky full of sharp stars. Andromeda glows softly in the middle as a big oval patch, brighter at the center, fading into a hazy ring.
February 1, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
This thread of mine from June 2025 is about MoM-z14, the most distant galaxy spectroscopically confirmed to date, discovered by #JWST 🔭

Well: months later, NASA has just released the official press release (Jan 28, 2026)➡️ science.nasa.gov/missions/web...

And the arXiv paper ...

🧪 #cosmology 1/2
January 31, 2026 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
January 29, 1926: the great theoretical physicist Abdus Salam was born in the Punjab Province of British India (now in Pakistan).

In 1979, he shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with Steven Weinberg and Sheldon Glashow, ...

⚛️ #histsci #physics #science 🧪

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Image of Abdus Salam in his maturity, wearing a pinstriped double-breasted suit, while writing on a blackboard and pointing with the index finger of his left hand, presumably looking at the camera. He is wearing glasses and has a very subtle smile. Image source: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/about/introducing-imperial/our-people/award-winners/nobel-winners/abdus-salam/
January 29, 2026 at 11:29 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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In 2019, using data from telescopes on the ground as well as several in space including Chandra, Hubble, WISE, SDSS and NuSTAR, astronomers discovered a system of 3 supermassive black holes (SMBHs) on a collision course.

➡️ chandra.si.edu/press/19_rel...

🔭 🧪 #cosmology #science #Universe

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"The image showcases X-ray and optical data of the likely black hole triplet, SDSS J0849+1114. The main panel of the graphic is an optical image that reveals the unique layout of the merging galaxy system, almost shaped like a hummingbird in flight. A pullout from the central region contains an X-ray image with three sources in a clump of purple. In the optical image, the galaxy system is colored in soft yellows, brown and pale blue. The X-rays in the pullout are from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (purple) while the optical light image was created from data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (red, green, and blue)."
January 29, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
We must dismantle the myth that loving #physics requires a ‘tomboy look’—brilliant minds have no gender!

Together, let’s change the future of #WomenInSTEM!

⚛️ 🧪 🔭 #science #Education
January 28, 2026 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
As a teacher with a master’s in #physics and years of science communication experience, I’ve witnessed these sexist stereotypes firsthand—they actively discourage girls from pursuing #STEM.

It is a global issue.

⚛️ 🧪 🔭 #WomenInSTEM #science #Education

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astroroyalscot.bsky.social Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 20d
Fuming 😡

Teacher: "you can usually tell the girls that want to do physics, they look a bit tomboy-ish"

#WomenInSTEM #ASPIRES3 @iop.org
January 28, 2026 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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Can you believe it? 40 years since #Voyager2 nailed that crazy crescent Uranus pic. 🔭

Jan 25, 1986 – probe's already booking it out of there after the real close shave on the 24th.

Just this thin glowing slice against black space... hits different every time.

🧪 #histsci #planetsci

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Thin crescent of Uranus, illuminated against black space. Processed color composite by Emily Lakdawalla from Voyager 2 frames taken through orange, green, and violet filters on January 25, 1986; the resulting hue appears subdued grayish-blue/violet in this version.
January 25, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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Do you know the effect called cloud iridescence or irisation?🧪

When parts of clouds are thin and have similar size droplets, diffraction can make them shine with colours like a corona.🔭

In fact, the colours are essentially corona fragments. ⚛️

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap14070...

#sky #Nature

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Thamserku right there, all snowy and razor-sharp in Nepal, and above it this cloud that looks straight out of a dream. Pale pink, light green, turquoise fading into almost-nothing violet, all happening along the edges—like the light just shattered into little colored bits.It's not a full rainbow, nah, just pieces of one. Tiny tiny droplets, all the same size, scattering the sun in exactly that way. The mountain underneath stays freezing, white and icy blue, but the cloud is glowing warm, almost unreal, with that low sun hitting it from behind.
January 27, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
In the quiet surrender of expectations—when the heart has wearied itself into a fortress of self-sufficiency, no longer extending fragile bridges toward others—a single "thank you" emerges not as mere courtesy, but as an unbidden spark in the vast gray expanse of indifference.

#art #Gratitude
Charcoal drawing on cardboard: a bouquet of red and yellow flowers emerging from a base of lanceolate leaves. The bouquet is held by a low, rounded vase featuring two wide, circular handles. At the top of the drawing, written in red: "Thank you for..." Author: myself
January 26, 2026 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), photographed by Andrea Cappe on October 13, 2024 at 19:38 CEST, Roppolo, Italy.

This is one of the most evocative captures of that comet I have seen.

Image: Via Wikimedia Commons

License: CC BY-SA 4.0

🔭 🧪 #sciart #science #nature #comet

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Magical autumn sunset scene at Lake Viverone, Piedmont, Italy: warm village lights glow in the foreground, the calm lake reflects the sky, and distant mountains fade into soft focus. Pastel pink and light orange clouds at sunset contrast beautifully with the twilight sky, while the faint comet resembles a translucent whitish dragonfly gently descending into the rosy clouds. Via: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Comet_C-2023_A3_Tsuchinshan-ATLAS_over_Viverone_Lake,_ITALY.jpg
January 24, 2026 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
When the universe decides to put on a show this close to home... breathtaking.

Grateful beyond words for this glowing marvel.

🔭 🧪 #sciart #science #aurora
esa.int European Space Agency @esa.int · 25d
📷 The solar event earlier this week resulted in a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm, producing one of the most widely seen auroral displays across Europe for several years, visible from as far south as France across to Poland. Thanks for your pics! 🧪🔭👇

@esaspaceweather.esa.int @science.esa.int
Maastricht, The Netherlands (pic: L. Lemmens) The Dutch coast at Noordwijk (pic: www.noordwijk.info) View from Noordwijk, the Netherlands (Pic: ESA/R. Moorkens O'Reilly) View from Noordwijk, the Netherlands (pic: ESA/R. Moorkens O'Reilly)
January 23, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Leonardo Petrillo
drnereide.bsky.social
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Using Hubble’s WFC3 astronomers captured an amazing image of IRAS 05506+2414, an enigmatic stellar object surrounded by a shroud of thick gas and dust, over 9,000 ly away in Taurus. 🔭

➡️ science.nasa.gov/missions/hub...

Pic by ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Sahai

🧪 #science #galactic #Universe

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Hubble took this shot of something pretty wild out there. There's a young star dead center, way too bright, buried in all this thick gas and dust that's glowing orange—mostly that warm orange with some redder bits bleeding in. From the middle a lopsided fan thing blasts out, wide and uneven, like half a spray of stuff got thrown one way and forgot the other side. The outer parts pick up a touch of blue-ish glow where it hits the dark. Random tiny stars poke through the dark background, just little dots adding some extra light. Messy as hell, violent-looking, but you can't look away—star birth up close and personal, total chaos.
January 22, 2026 at 4:34 PM