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drnereide.bsky.social
Nereide
@drnereide.bsky.social
4.9K followers 65 following 3.1K posts
Physicist interested in Astrophysics and Particle Physics| Research in Math and Science Edu| Math and Science Writer| Teacher and Teacher Trainer| WomenInSTEM

My science blog: https://www.tutto-scienze.org/

More about me: https://x.com/settings/bio
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drnereide.bsky.social
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This breathtaking composite was obtained with data from Chandra, Hubble, Spitzer, to mark the 22nd anniversary in orbit of Hubble.

The pic shows 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula.

➡️ www.nasa.gov/image-articl...

Credits: NASA/CXC/PSU/STScI/JPL/L.Townsley et al.

🔭 🧪 #Hubble

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Picture a vast, glowing spider made of light in deep space. Its body is a tight knot of hot young stars. Long, soft green threads of gas stretch out as legs, curling gently at the ends. Bright blue fire races along those threads where the stars’ winds crash and heat everything to millions of degrees. All around, dark red dust forms thick clouds with huge round hollows carved out, like someone scooped giant spoonfuls from the nebula. The whole scene shimmers with power and motion, a living cradle of new suns.
November 20, 2025 at 12:00 AM
drnereide.bsky.social
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I was browsing through NASA’s Photojournal archive when I found this historic image of Saturn, taken by Voyager 2 on Aug. 11, 1981.

The spacecraft was about 14.7 million kilometres away when the picture was captured.

Image credit: NASA/JPL

➡️ science.nasa.gov/photojournal...

🔭 🧪 #histsci

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Admire this historic picture of Saturn, captured by Voyager 2 in 1981. The giant planet fills nearly the whole view, with north tipped toward the top-right corner. A pale band crosses the middle; along its bottom edge there’s a greenish oval (it would look brown in ordinary light). Just above and left of it is a brighter yellowish patch, and between them some small clouds stand out. Higher up, against the black sky, you can see two moons: bigger Dione on the right and smaller, icy Enceladus on the left.
November 18, 2025 at 6:15 PM
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Admire the extraordinary view of Pluto's nightside!

It stares back at us from the outer reaches of the Kuiper Belt in a view we’ll never forget.

Credits: NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ./APL, Southwest Research Institute

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap24111...

🔭 🧪 #planetsci #histsci #science

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Black disk of Pluto edged by a thin, glowing halo—sunlight sneaking through its wispy, layered air from 4.9 billion km away. A slim crescent at the top catches Sputnik Planitia’s flat nitrogen ice and the sharp, icy ridges of Tenzing Montes. By New Horizons, 2015.
November 16, 2025 at 4:45 PM
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See them in this labeled pic by Maurice Toet (2015).

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1...

The Shark nebula spans some 15 light years and lies in Cepheus approximately 650 light years away.

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The image features an annotated view of the Shark Nebula in false-color. A brown dust cloud shaped like a shark with mouth agape fills most of the frame; white labels mark key parts. “LDN 1235” sits top-left over the dark upper snout. Below it, “vdB 149” tags a round blue glow at the lower part; “vdB 150” labels a smaller blue patch above. Bright stars carry labels like “PGC 67671” . The field is 1000 pixels wide, showing the 15-light-year complex in Cepheus against a dense starfield, where bright blue stars stand out.
November 15, 2025 at 4:08 PM
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This intriguing picture by Stephen Kennedy shows a vast nebula complex recalling a shark, and so commonly referred to as the Shark Nebula.

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap23061...

It includes smaller dust nebulae such as LDN (Lynds Dark Nebula) 1235 and Van den Bergh 149 & 150.

🔭 🧪 #science

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The image features the view of a vast nebula complex recalling a shark, and so commonly referred to as the Shark Nebula. The bluish-gray silhouette dominates the frame. A darker patch of interstellar dust sits (top-left) over the upper snout. Two reflection nebulae appear like soft blue patches.
November 15, 2025 at 4:08 PM
drnereide.bsky.social
I discovered this photo while scrolling through #APOD, and it stopped me cold.

Rodrigo Guerra’s extraordinary image captures 3 rare phenomena together:

- Venus at its maximum splendor
- intense zodiacal light
- a perfectly centered galactic bulge.

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap21100...

🔭 🧪 #sciart 1/7
Admire this picture of a pitch-black sky over a far hill. Bottom edge: soft orange town glow, black tree outlines. Low left, one razor-sharp white spark (Venus) floats an inch above the line. From it, a faint pale smear stretches up like a quiet fan, fading as it climbs the middle—that’s zodiacal light. Up near the center, a fat glowing blob crammed with pinprick stars: Milky Way’s heart. The galaxy’s streak bends down right, ending in a snug golden dot (Alpha Centauri). Far right, lower, a big milky-white blob (Jupiter) hangs close to the ground. All crisp, quiet, endless.
November 13, 2025 at 6:18 PM
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Here is the Nebra sky disk, considered by some the oldest known illustration of the night sky.

The artifact was discovered near Nebra alongside several Bronze Age weapons and is linked to the Unetice culture, which thrived in parts of Europe...

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap18031...

🔭 🧪 #histsci

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A circular bronze disk, about 30 cm across, with a dark green patina from age. Gold leaf inlays form a night sky: scattered round dots represent stars, a tight cluster of seven marks the Pleiades, a full circle near the center is the Sun, and a thin crescent below it is the Moon. Two gold arcs curve along opposite edges, possibly horizons or solstice markers; a third arc at the bottom may indicate a boat or river. The surface shows faint hammer marks and corrosion.
November 11, 2025 at 8:44 PM
drnereide.bsky.social
#WorldScienceDay for Peace and Development.

Science lets us understand the wonderful universe we live in.

It allow us to find answers to emerging challenges so we can create a more just and fair global society.

🔭 🧪 ⚛️ #ScienceDay #Science

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The image shows a diffuse blue reflection nebula in Monoceros. Filament-like wisps of gas and dust glow ethereally against deep black space. Bright white-blue stars sparkle, casting faint halos. A larger bluish knot sits lower left, in addition to other two knots above, where dark dust lanes absorbing light stand out. Cool blue, indigo and black tones dominate, punctuated by distant red and yellow star points, evoking a serene cosmic birthplace.
November 10, 2025 at 4:12 PM
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"Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives."

― Carl Sagan, born 9 November 1934

Video Credit: @planetarysociety.bsky.social

#PaleBlueDot 🔭 🧪 #CarlSagan
November 9, 2025 at 6:21 PM
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In this splendid photo from Valerio Minato three wonders were captured in a single shot:

- the Basilica of Superga, located near Turin (Italy)
- the Monviso, the highest mountain of the Cottian Alps
- the setting Moon, captured in a crescent phase

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap23122...

🔭 🧪 #sciart

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Look at this night, it seems hand-painted. In front of everything is Superga, illuminated as if someone had turned on only the hottest bulbs: the dome and the golden columns; the lights outline arches and balconies as if the church were breathing softly. Thirty kilometers away, Monviso appears like a giant of gray-blue rock like the sky. And right towards the summit, there's a thin, ivory-colored crescent moon. It's so bright you can see the entire circle: the dark part is illuminated by that terrestrial reflection called "da Vinci light." The photo is a long, 30-second expanse: the silence is palpable. Imagine the cold stone, the Alpine wind, the scent of distant snow.
November 6, 2025 at 2:10 PM
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This stunning image shows NGC 2185 and NGC 2183, two reflection nebulae in southeastern Monoceros.

Image: Adam Block /Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

Image source➡️ adamblockphotos.com/ngc-2185.html

Via Wikimedia Commons

🔭 🧪 #science

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The image shows NGC 2185 and NGC 2183, two reflection nebulae in southeastern Monoceros. The area around them is full of Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) and Herbig-Haro objects. Their color glows blue. They stand in the center of the image against a background of a dark, starry sky.
November 5, 2025 at 7:58 PM
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In mid-Dec. 2020, a Great Conjunction occured: Saturn & Jupiter appeared only 0.1 degrees apart.

Here, Saturn & Jupiter (right) are pictured above the Three Peaks of Lavaredo in the Italian Alps, about two weeks before the Conjunction.

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap20102...

🔭 🧪 #Science #planetsci

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The image shows the Three Peaks of Lavaredo, which rise sharp against a sunset sky fading from deep blue to peach . Saturn glows high on the left, while Jupiter shines brighter to the right. The gap between the two planets is one-fifth the width of the full Moon. Below, jagged mountain silhouettes cut the horizon. Crisp, cold air. Two tiny human figures stand bottom-right: one in a knit cap, the other hooded, gazing upward.
November 3, 2025 at 4:14 PM
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Illuminated by the blazing blue star Rigel (just beyond the frame at upper left), a cosmic cloud looms ominously, as an eerie ghoul, in this interstellar scene to announce that #Halloween is here. 🎃

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap20102...

Image Credit: Casey Good/Steve Timmons

🔭 🧪 #science

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Look up at Orion with a telescope and spot this weird, faint glow about 800 light-years away: it's IC 2118, the Witch Head Nebula. It's a little disturbing how the dust shapes a dark, stretched-out figure, lit in pale blue by Rigel (that bright star's just outside the top-left corner). Two pointy stars sit right where eyes would be, staring back, and a thin cloudy arm trails off like it's grabbing at something. Everything else is inky black with scattered star specks. Gives me chills every time: pure Halloween in space!
October 31, 2025 at 8:03 PM
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In this spooky landscape, captured by JWST's mid-infrared instrument (MIRI), the iconic Pillars of Creation look like a giant cosmic hand, ready to grasp, in perfect #Halloween style!

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; J. DePasquale (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI)

➡️ science.nasa.gov/missions/web...

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Picture running your hands through cool, thick fog made of cosmic gas and dust. The Pillars of Creation are three giant columns rising gently from bottom to top. The largest sits left, broad and sturdy; the other two taper upward, their tips rounded like reaching fingers. Everything is draped in semi-see-through layers of blue-grey. Only a few red dots glow – baby stars still warm in their dusty cocoons. Farther out, older white-blue stars shine faintly. It’s a quiet, immense place; our entire Solar System could fit inside just one pillar.
October 31, 2025 at 2:39 PM
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On 17 May 1902, Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais sifted through some artifacts from a shipwreck at Antikythera.

A 2,000-year-old corroded chunk of metal turned out to be part of the Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient analog astronomical computer.

Image by Logg Tand

🔭 🧪 #HistSci #Science

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Antikythera mechanism fragment (fragment A). The mechanism consists of a complex system of 30 wheels and plates with inscriptions relating to signs of the zodiac, months, eclipses and pan-Hellenic games.
October 30, 2025 at 2:24 PM
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This spectacular pic by Cari Letelier captured an incredible aurora-filled sky over Arctic Henge (in Raufarhöfn, northern Iceland), a monumental structure still under construction that is like a huge sundial, aiming to capture the sunrays, ...

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap23032...

🔭 🧪 #science

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What an insane photo! There’s this modern stone monument, the Arctic Henge, standing tall and proud under a mind-blowing aurora in an Icelandic night that looks hand-painted.Greens, pinks, yellows, and reds swirling like living curtains, twisting, weaving, totally hypnotizing. Up top, Polaris shines straight like a beacon. Left side, Ursa Major hanging out; bottom right, Orion peeking in.Seven hours waiting in the freezing cold, nose running, feet numb… and then, bam! This magical explosion of colors. It’s kinda like Stonehenge, but Nordic edition: basically a giant sundial built to snag the sun’s rays, drop shadows exactly where they’re supposed to, and trap the light between these perfectly aligned arches.It’s not just rocks. It’s a place that makes you feel tiny… and alive.
October 28, 2025 at 5:05 PM
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Two telescopes, one cosmic masterpiece: Hubble & Webb unveil a star cluster duo!

Imagine zooming into a 527-megapixel cosmic tapestry — that’s what NASA released in July 2025.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, C. Lindberg (JHU); G. Kober (NASA/CUA)

➡️ science.nasa.gov/missions/hub...

🔭 🧪 #science

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Check out this photo: it's a 527-megapixel mosaic blending Hubble and Webb views of two open clusters, NGC 460 and NGC 456, in the Small Magellanic Cloud.Hubble shows glowing blue bubbles, like fluffy clouds carved by stellar winds—ionized gas that looks like colored cotton.Then Webb comes in with the red: warm dust weaving through delicate filaments, like velvet caverns in the dark.All around, an endless web of gas, dust, and twinkling star points shining in the deep black.It's like peering into a universe of cosmic lace. Stunning.
October 26, 2025 at 3:41 PM
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In a 2024 study, a research team reports an exciting discovery.

It is about LID-568, a low-mass supermassive black hole (SMBH) that appears to be consuming matter at a rate of over 40 times its Eddington limit.

➡️ noirlab.edu/public/news/...

🔭 🧪 #science #cosmology

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This artist’s illustration shows a red, early-Universe dwarf galaxy that hosts a rapidly feeding black hole at its center.
October 24, 2025 at 1:35 PM
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This is a colossal roll cloud (Cloud Atlas name "volutus", which is a Latin term for rolled) over Lake Michigan.

Video seen here➡️ youtube.com/watch?v=b_G7...

(Turn on the sound)

🧪 #science #clouds #nature

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October 22, 2025 at 6:45 PM
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Green flash on the Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus.

It's about an atmospheric optical phenomenon, seen at sunrise and sunset, above the upper rim of Sun's disk (but also of the Moon and planets, though harder to see), when the conditions are favorable.

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap20053...

🔭 🧪 #science 1/5
The image shows four panels capturing, on different dates from Sicily, the green flash phenomenon, an optical effect seen at sunrise or sunset. The top two panels display the Sun and the Moon, respectively, near the horizon. The Sun has a bright, slightly flattened disk with a thin green rim or flash at its upper edge, indicating the moment the green light is visible. The Moon shows a similar faint green tint at its upper edge. The bottom two panels feature Venus and Mercury, photographed during twilight, appearing as small, bright dots near the western horizon with subtle green hues at their edges.
October 21, 2025 at 7:32 PM
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So great achievement!

A research team has recently proposed a new way to detect gravitational waves (GWs) in the elusive milli-Hertz frequency range (mid-band).

➡️ birmingham.ac.uk/news/2025/ne...

Image: Pair of black holes merging and generating gravitational waves.

🔭 🧪 #science

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This illustration shows a pair of black holes merging and generating gravitational waves.
October 20, 2025 at 8:49 PM
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Magnificent supermoon, rising up from behind the majestic Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile.

Source➡️ www.eso.org/public/unite...

Credit: G.Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com) /ESO

🔭 🧪 #science #Moon #NaturePhotography

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The fantastic image shows a bright, large full supermoon that rises behind Chile’s Cerro Armazones mountain, casting a silvery glow. The zigzagging road seems to lead to the Moon. Captured in the Atacama Desert, the image shows a dark mountain against the sky, with the Moon dominating.
October 19, 2025 at 5:41 PM
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Admire this fascinating view of Jupiter and its volcanic moon Io, obtained thanks to a refined montage of images taken by New Horizons during its flyby in early 2007.

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

Image credit: NASA/JHU-APL/SwRI/GSFC

🔭 🧪 #science #planetsci

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The image is a montage of New Horizons' 2007 photos of Jupiter and Io. Jupiter, in infrared, shows high clouds (blue) and low clouds (red), with the Great Red Spot prominent. Io, in true color, displays an eruption at Tvashtar volcano, with red lava and a 330-km blue plume lit by sunlight.
October 18, 2025 at 4:32 PM
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Have you ever heard of analemma and tutulemma?

Analemma is a particular eight-shaped geometric curve describing the position of the Sun on the different days of a year, at the same time and in the same place.

Image source➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap16082...

🔭 🧪 #science

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The image depicts a tutulemma, a solar analemma with a total eclipse. It’s a composite of photos taken daily at the same time from Side, Turkey, starting in 2005. The Sun’s path forms a figure-8. At the center, the March 29, 2006, solar eclipse shows the Sun obscured, with Venus visible at lower right. The sky is dark during the eclipse, with blue hues and faint stars visible.
October 17, 2025 at 4:54 PM
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This amazing image by Don Goldman shows the central region of the open cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50), in the heart of the Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49).

The cluster and nebula lie some 5,000 ly away in Monoceros.

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap14031...

🔭 🧪 #science

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The image depicts the heart of the Rosette Nebula, a vigorous star-forming region. A bright open cluster, NGC 2244, glows at the center, surrounded by intricate gas and dust filaments. Colors highlight specific elements: red for sulfur, green for hydrogen, and blue for oxygen.
October 16, 2025 at 2:57 PM