Robert Cumming

A new space race could turn our atmosphere into a ‘crematorium for satellites’ Planned ‘megaconstellations’ of satellites could cause unforeseen harm to the ozone layer and climate systems. Global regulation is needed before it’s too late.

Excellent piece from @astrokiwi.bsky.social @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy & Laura Revell.

This one sentence is the crux of it all 👇

"There is no public mandate for a single company in one country to make changes on that scale to the planet’s atmosphere."

Highly recommended.

🔭🧪

Sent 80tal läste jag tidningen Astronomy rätt mycket och lärde mig att folk var upprörda över honom (fast jag förstod då inte varför). Så ja lite astronom ja.

Vilka var det innan? Spöken, demoner eller annat?

Why we don’t really know what the public thinks about science Measuring trust isn’t enough. Furthering knowledge about the institutions and norms of science is the best way to build credibility.

Gordon Gauchat: Why we don’t really know what the public thinks about science. Measuring trust isn’t enough. Furthering knowledge about the institutions and norms of science is the best way to build credibility. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Science-artikel räcker som nyhetsvärde helt klart. Ville man vara jobbig så skulle man klaga över första mellanrubriken, i övrigt inget. Sålänge den mest kända medförfattaren inte gått och uttalat sig om andra alternativa teorier vill säga.

Graphic titled “A Growing Heart in the Cosmos” showing a purple, heart-shaped cloud of gas surrounding a central star against a dark, starry background, labeled “2017,” with a swipe icon indicating more images

Graphic showing a purple, heart-shaped cloud of gas surrounding a central star against a dark, starry background, labeled “2022,” with a swipe icon indicating more images

Side-by-side comparison of a heart-shaped cloud of gas around a star in 2017 and 2022, showing how the purple structure has expanded and changed shape over time

A growing heart! 💖

Just in time for #ValentineDay and using our VLT & ALMA, astronomers led by Chalmers University uncovered two expanding heart-shaped clouds. Swipe through the images to see this cosmic heart grow!

https://www.chalmers.se/en/current/news/see-heart-shaped-cosmic-lighthouse/

🔭 🧪

Front cover of the ASPIRES3 Physics report. A simple atom-style logo. Text: Young People's STEM trajectories Age 10-22

The new #ASPIRES3 Physics report is difficult reading.
Physics:
* remains male-dominated (24% fem) & privileged
* aspirations decline from the start to end of school 😔
* is considered the least interesting, most difficult science 😭
* is for brainy "geeks" 😮‍💨
Lots of useful recommendations though🎢🧪👩‍🔬⚛️

Stardust study resets how life’s atoms spread through space Starlight and stardust are not enough to drive the powerful winds of giant stars, transporting the building blocks of life through our galaxy. That’s the…

Starlight versus stardust: actually not how your holiday carbon and oxygen got delivered to Earth. New research from Chalmers, @eso.org:s VLT and sparkly red AGB star #RDoradus www.chalmers.se/en/current/n...

A note on learning physics ⚛️ for starting PhD students:
At the risk of saying something completely useless because everyone has it worked out

There is no magic trick, your classmates *may* be faster than you, but they are still studying as long as they need to and you are quite capable of the same

Also, #astronautselfieart! And #legendaryspacemissionswithoutcameras

MOMENT 10: Översiktseffekten: Jorden, rymden och helheten Med inspiration från det ikoniska Hasselbladfotografiet Earthrise, fotograferat från Apollo 8 år 1968, riktar Moment 10 fokus både mot rymden och jorden; astronomin och miljörörelsen, naturvetenskapen...

Context: symposium coordinated by University of Gothenburg's GPS400 & the Hasselblad Foundation MOMENT 10: Översiktseffekten: Jorden, rymden och helheten | Göteborgs universitet share.google/PmyBxi64EPi2...

Är det en översättningfel som spökar? Något med det där effectively och så tatsächlich som inte står helt rätt och som sen fortplantat sig till rubriksättaren.

We did! Btw [Sweden's] Day and Night of Astronomy is still the official translation www.astronominsdag.se/om-astronomi...

Finns det astronomikunniga som är med i #nattvandring rörelsen? Här kan finnas win-win möjligheter både för vetenskapligt kapital och trygghetsskapande. Gräv för @popularastronomi.se kanske? (Tack för inspiration @vetenskapoallm.bsky.social och deras rapporten från Folk och forsking)

Also there lots where I work.

Promising hints of life found on distant planet K2-18b Scientists find new but tentative evidence that a faraway world orbiting another star may be home to life.

An astonishing headline reporting on new observations from a team led to Nikku Madhusudhan claims they’ve found ‘hints of life’ on a planet orbiting a dwarf star some 124 light years away. What’s going on? (1/n) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 🔭 🧪

Ser helt klart ut som lingon men röda vinbär - tänker såklart på Muminmamman - kanske inte helt kan uteslutas?

Invisible matter, invisible brains? Cosmology finds itself in a paradoxical situation. We know everything and nothing. After years of accumulating evidence and debate, there is a consensus model about the makeup of the cosmos, known as ...

A nice summary by @e-astronomer.bsky.social on the state of cosmology 🔭🧪. My take-aways:

1. Maybe the Universe isn’t designed to make all its secrets accessible to astronomers.

2. We always underestimate systematic errors, so shouldn’t get hung up on discrepancies.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Science diplomacy can help to heal global rifts — if research is respected The universal language of science allows nations to reach a mutual understanding of shared problems. But that requires politicians not to meddle in how science is done.

Science diplomacy is needed more now than at any time in history, given the scale of challenges the world faces. Research is often described as a form of ‘soft power’ diplomacy… The first step towards protecting science diplomacy must be to protect science itself.
🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

☄️ 🔭 The impact probability of asteroid 2024 YR4 has dropped from 2.8% to 0.16%.

Thanks to new observations, Earth is now at the edge of our shrinking ‘uncertainty window.’

If this trend continues, the risk may soon reach 0%.

🧪🔭📡 #RadioAstronomy

Image of a disco ball outside in the daytime projecting images of the partially eclipsed Sun.

Here's a blog post (yes, I am still occasionally blogging) on viewing the recent solar eclipse and why you should use a disco ball for your next eclipse outreach event. visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2023/10/sola...

That's me here now!