Dr Adam McMaster
@adammc.space
I’m an astronomer at the University of Southampton. Finding black holes with the help of citizen scientists at https://black-hole-hunters.org
I write about astronomy at https://three-alpha.space
I write about astronomy at https://three-alpha.space
Pinned
First light for the 4MOST spectrograph
But what will it actually see?
three-alpha.space
One amazing type of observations can tell astronomers a huge amount. So how does it work? three-alpha.space/p/first-ligh... 🔭🧪
TIL we can use the waste brine from desalination plants to generate electricity, offsetting some of the power used by the plant www.earth.com/news/japan-a... 🧪
Asia's first 'osmotic power plant' generates electricity using only water, 24 hours a day
Japan launches Asia's first and only osmotic power plant, which generates energy 24 hours a day using salt water.
www.earth.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:16 PM
TIL we can use the waste brine from desalination plants to generate electricity, offsetting some of the power used by the plant www.earth.com/news/japan-a... 🧪
How do they know it’s because Batman is unexpected and not because he’s seen as a moral authority (albeit fictional)? What happens if you send in the Riddler? 🧪
The Batman Effect, just published in NATURE:
When an experimenter dressed as Batman boarded a train, passengers were significantly more likely to offer their seats to another “pregnant” experimenter than if Batman wasn’t present (67.21% vs. 37.66%) #SciComm 1/2
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
When an experimenter dressed as Batman boarded a train, passengers were significantly more likely to offer their seats to another “pregnant” experimenter than if Batman wasn’t present (67.21% vs. 37.66%) #SciComm 1/2
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Unexpected events and prosocial behavior: the Batman effect - npj Mental Health Research
npj Mental Health Research - Unexpected events and prosocial behavior: the Batman effect
www.nature.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:17 PM
How do they know it’s because Batman is unexpected and not because he’s seen as a moral authority (albeit fictional)? What happens if you send in the Riddler? 🧪
It annoys me because it gives a false impression. To the casual reader it must seem like “AI” is a single, new technology that came out nowhere and is suddenly being used for loads of different research. None of which is true.
Researchers who use machine learning need to stop calling it AI in their press releases. It makes it sound like they’re using ChatGPT or something.
November 22, 2025 at 7:57 AM
It annoys me because it gives a false impression. To the casual reader it must seem like “AI” is a single, new technology that came out nowhere and is suddenly being used for loads of different research. None of which is true.
It's me! Read below to find out about my research and how that involves citizen science 🔭🧪
Who’s who in the Zoo – Adam McMaster
In this edition of Who's who in the Zoo, meet Adam McMaster, a Research Fellow working at the University of Southampton on Black Hole Hunters and SuperWASP Variable Stars.
In this edition of Who's who in the Zoo, meet Adam McMaster, a Research Fellow working at the University of Southampton on Black Hole Hunters and SuperWASP Variable Stars.
Who’s who in the Zoo – Adam McMaster
In this edition of Who's who in the Zoo, meet Adam McMaster, a Research Fellow working at the University of Southampton on Black Hole Hunters and SuperWASP Variable Stars.
blog.zooniverse.org
November 21, 2025 at 12:30 PM
It's me! Read below to find out about my research and how that involves citizen science 🔭🧪
It's fascinating to read all these different interpretations of aurorae. People have been trying to make sense of the night sky for a long, long time www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic... 🔭🧪
'The fate of nations and the fall of kingdoms': History's epic theories of what causes aurora
From creation myths to political omens, different cultures have had vastly different interpretations of the dramatic natural phenomenon.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 3:17 PM
It's fascinating to read all these different interpretations of aurorae. People have been trying to make sense of the night sky for a long, long time www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic... 🔭🧪
Researchers who use machine learning need to stop calling it AI in their press releases. It makes it sound like they’re using ChatGPT or something.
November 19, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Researchers who use machine learning need to stop calling it AI in their press releases. It makes it sound like they’re using ChatGPT or something.
I know I'm biased, but astronomy is so cool. Imagine detecting a burst of radio waves from space and being able to to figure out it was caused by a bunch of material exploding off of a star orbitaltoday.com/2025/11/14/a... 🧪🔭
Astronomers Confirm First Ever CME From Another Star - Orbital Today
Astronomers confirm the first coronal mass ejection from another star, revealing a blast that could strip planets of their atmospheres.
orbitaltoday.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:04 PM
I know I'm biased, but astronomy is so cool. Imagine detecting a burst of radio waves from space and being able to to figure out it was caused by a bunch of material exploding off of a star orbitaltoday.com/2025/11/14/a... 🧪🔭
One amazing type of observations can tell astronomers a huge amount. So how does it work? three-alpha.space/p/first-ligh... 🔭🧪
First light for the 4MOST spectrograph
But what will it actually see?
three-alpha.space
November 15, 2025 at 1:20 PM
One amazing type of observations can tell astronomers a huge amount. So how does it work? three-alpha.space/p/first-ligh... 🔭🧪
You know you’re emailing an academic when you get an out of office message saying they can’t reply, followed three minutes later by a detailed reply
November 12, 2025 at 2:40 PM
You know you’re emailing an academic when you get an out of office message saying they can’t reply, followed three minutes later by a detailed reply
Happy “my neighbours won’t let me get my kids to sleep” night to all who celebrate
November 5, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Happy “my neighbours won’t let me get my kids to sleep” night to all who celebrate
This black hole has one bright jet and one that’s too faint to see. The reason is relativity and the weird things that happen near the speed of light 🧪🔭 three-alpha.space/p/a-black-ho...
A black hole with just one bright jet
Thanks to relativity we can't see the other one.
three-alpha.space
October 5, 2025 at 12:25 PM
This black hole has one bright jet and one that’s too faint to see. The reason is relativity and the weird things that happen near the speed of light 🧪🔭 three-alpha.space/p/a-black-ho...
Reposted by Dr Adam McMaster
3. this is not the moment for an incredibly expensive increase in state surveillance infrastructure to be run for profit by private tech firms just before Labour ushers in an (even more) authoritarian right wing government.
FIX THE GODDAMN COST OF LIVING INSTEAD YOU FREAKS.
FIX THE GODDAMN COST OF LIVING INSTEAD YOU FREAKS.
September 26, 2025 at 8:28 AM
3. this is not the moment for an incredibly expensive increase in state surveillance infrastructure to be run for profit by private tech firms just before Labour ushers in an (even more) authoritarian right wing government.
FIX THE GODDAMN COST OF LIVING INSTEAD YOU FREAKS.
FIX THE GODDAMN COST OF LIVING INSTEAD YOU FREAKS.
Our supposedly left wing government torching civil liberties because they’re incapable of stopping the far right from setting the agenda apple.news/Af2BhztikQ3u...
'BritCard' digital ID will be made law for all adults in bid to tackle small boats — The i Paper
No 10 believes a mandatory ID card system will help stop illegal immigrants working
apple.news
September 25, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Our supposedly left wing government torching civil liberties because they’re incapable of stopping the far right from setting the agenda apple.news/Af2BhztikQ3u...
Exciting news guys! I just got followed by someone who is only following 74k other people
September 20, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Exciting news guys! I just got followed by someone who is only following 74k other people
There were recently new images of two similar sounding but very different objects, the Butterfly Star and the Butterfly Nebula. I explain the difference 🧪🔭 three-alpha.space/p/butterflie...
Butterflies in space
Two very different objects that sound remarkably similar. So what's the difference?
three-alpha.space
September 20, 2025 at 12:40 PM
There were recently new images of two similar sounding but very different objects, the Butterfly Star and the Butterfly Nebula. I explain the difference 🧪🔭 three-alpha.space/p/butterflie...
History is full of powerful dictators, all remembered as villains. Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon, Caesar. Imagine what would have to be wrong with you to want to add yourself to that list
September 19, 2025 at 8:35 AM
History is full of powerful dictators, all remembered as villains. Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon, Caesar. Imagine what would have to be wrong with you to want to add yourself to that list
"If we are quiet enough, they are sure to forget we are here. They’re not just looking for pretexts at this point, to do what they were always going to do." www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
A Beautiful Day for Saying Nothing
That chill in the air isn’t Jimmy Kimmel’s show being suspended. It’s just autumn!
www.theatlantic.com
September 18, 2025 at 9:47 PM
"If we are quiet enough, they are sure to forget we are here. They’re not just looking for pretexts at this point, to do what they were always going to do." www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
Love this. LIGO is more likely to detect gravitational waves at night and during weekends. It's also less likely to detect things on Tuesdays. All because the detectors are more likely to be running at certain times/days. 🔭🧪 arxiv.org/abs/2509.11849
Can LIGO Detect Daylight Savings Time?
Yes, it can.
Catalogs produced by networks of Gravitational-wave interferometers are subject to complicated selection effects, and the gold-standard remains direct measurements of the detection prob...
arxiv.org
September 17, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Love this. LIGO is more likely to detect gravitational waves at night and during weekends. It's also less likely to detect things on Tuesdays. All because the detectors are more likely to be running at certain times/days. 🔭🧪 arxiv.org/abs/2509.11849
Sorry, can't work today, too busy screaming at the state of the world
September 16, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Sorry, can't work today, too busy screaming at the state of the world
Out for a nighttime dog walk and caught the eclipse through the clouds 🔭
September 7, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Out for a nighttime dog walk and caught the eclipse through the clouds 🔭
Objectively harder to read with Liquid Glass
September 7, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Objectively harder to read with Liquid Glass
A 36 billion solar mass black hole was recently discovered. That’s hard to imagine, so I’ve worked out how wide it would be compared to the Solar System. It’s, um, rather large 🧪🔭 three-alpha.space/p/the-bigges...
The biggest black hole ever discovered
But just how big is it, exactly?
three-alpha.space
September 6, 2025 at 10:53 AM
A 36 billion solar mass black hole was recently discovered. That’s hard to imagine, so I’ve worked out how wide it would be compared to the Solar System. It’s, um, rather large 🧪🔭 three-alpha.space/p/the-bigges...
Pretty sure this "vulnerability" in python-future is nonsense. Supposedly vulnerable because it imports "test" and an attacker could create a file named "test.py" in sys.path. But if the attacker can do that they could spoof literally any imported module github.com/advisories/G...
CVE-2025-50817 - GitHub Advisory Database
Python-Future Module Arbitrary Code Execution via Unintended Import of test.py
github.com
August 14, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Pretty sure this "vulnerability" in python-future is nonsense. Supposedly vulnerable because it imports "test" and an attacker could create a file named "test.py" in sys.path. But if the attacker can do that they could spoof literally any imported module github.com/advisories/G...
In a growing number of slack channels I no longer need, for no reason other than I only think of them when someone says something and it would look passive aggressive to leave right after
August 11, 2025 at 7:31 PM
In a growing number of slack channels I no longer need, for no reason other than I only think of them when someone says something and it would look passive aggressive to leave right after
We learned last month that Betelgeuse probably has a small, hard to see companion. But how do stars end up in binaries, anyway? The answer is all in how stars form in the first place 🔭🧪 three-alpha.space/p/a-companio...
A companion on Orion's shoulder?
The red giant Betelgeuse might have a tiny companion, but how did it get there?
three-alpha.space
August 9, 2025 at 6:08 PM
We learned last month that Betelgeuse probably has a small, hard to see companion. But how do stars end up in binaries, anyway? The answer is all in how stars form in the first place 🔭🧪 three-alpha.space/p/a-companio...