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Thank you to everyone who came out and protested today.

The image attached is a drone photo of today’s protest on the Boston Common!

#HandsOffMassachusetts #HandsOffBoston

A Strong Geomagnetic Storm Watch (Kp=7, G3) is in effect for 31 December due to anticipated CME effects.

Observing with a telescope is much more dangerous than people realize. You know astronomer isn’t even my job, and it is NOT astronaut, which is a common misconception. Yeah ‘cause, actually, my job… is just space

cartoon image of a woman wearing reading glasses and looking out into the distance. The caption reads 'Pulsars were discovered by (then PhD student) Dame Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell in 1967.

Just been reminded that 6 August is the anniversary of the first detection of pulsar signals by Dame Prof. Jocelyn Bell Burnell in 1967.

Wrote about this discovery on @spaceausdotcom.bsky.social last year for the 55th anniversary: https://www.spaceaustralia.com/feature/55-years-pulsar-science

🧪🔭

oh man, now i'm thinking about what pulsar scintillation would sound like

But listening to the data isn't too far-fetched. Sonification is a thing! Mostly for the visually impaired, but there's no reason others couldn't use it if they wanted (besides the extra work needed to include the sonification step).

We don't normally watch the data live as it comes in, and I know many people are disappointed to find that out. It would make observations much more exciting though, so I can see why they added that. I just feel bad for visitors that want to "see" what the telescope is seeing.

I was honestly surprised by how plausible it was (before the detection, anyway)! It wasn't Hollywooded nearly as much as I thought it would be. I didn't realize they actually used the word "SETI".

I can't speak to what happened after the detection.

This is very cool!

Full paper here:
https://pubs.aip.org/aip/acp/article/983/1/642/620966/An-Independent-1967-Discovery-of-Pulsars

After 5 years of doing radio astronomy and 2 months working for SETI, only now can I call myself a real radio astronomer.

I have finally watched Contact (1997)

listen i may not be the brightest bulb on the tree or the hardest working bulb on the tree or the most efficient bulb on the tree but by god i am a bulb on that tree

Searching for Space Vampires with TEvSS It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single human in possession of a good space telescope, must be in search of a space vampire. Here, we showcase our search for transit signatures of...

This has been studied: https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.14345

I need to read all April Fools papers immediately

Fireflies xkcd.com/2802

AstroFest 2023 offers four evenings of astronomy activities and stargazing | Penn State University Penn State’s popular AstroFest program will welcome visitors to Davey Lab from Wednesday, July 12, through Saturday, July 15, from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. each night during the 2023 Central Pennsylvania ...

Looking forward to Astrofest this Wednesday - Saturday 8:30-11:30 pm at Penn State!

they're observing ME?!