Prof. Abel Méndez

ALMA Detects Extremely Abundant Alcohol in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS - National Radio Astronomy Observatory The latest news from the NSF's National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

ALMA Detects Extremely Abundant Alcohol in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

New research reveals that 3I/ATLAS is packed with an unusually large amount of the organic molecule methanol – more than almost all known comets in our own solar system.

#Astronomy #RadioAstronomy #3iatlas #ALMA

Screenshot of the new, AladinLite-based and radio-focussed ATNF SkyViewer. The main inset showd the RACS-low 887 MHz image of the head-tail Corkscrew Galaxy and the neighbouring wide-angle tail (WAT) radio galaxy in the cluster Abell 3627.

Welcome to the ATNF SkyViewer: www.atnf.csiro.au/research/sky... * Enjoy 🤩 #radioastronomy #astronomy #AstroSci

This artist's concept shows exoplanet Kepler-1649c orbiting around its host red dwarf star.

This exoplanet is in its star's habitable zone and is the closest to Earth in size and temperature found yet in Kepler's data.

image via @nasajpl.bsky.social
#space #astronomy #exoplanets #nasa

Giant (900K) catalog of TESS rotation periods dropping on Monday. Email me for a preview. 🧪🔭⭐#exoplanets

Yesterday I participated in a wonderful event organized by the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Valencia. High school students prepared different messages to send to the potentially habitable exoplanet GJ 1002 b, whose discovery I led a few years ago. 🔭#exoplanets

Why SETI Might Have Been Missing Alien Signals Turbulent plasma near distant stars could blur ultra-narrow signals before they leave their home star systems, making them difficult to detect.

Why SETI Might Have Been Missing Alien Signals www.seti.org/news/why-set...

“Radical mundanity” could explain why we haven’t met aliens – Sciworthy An astronomer recently argued that if aliens are similar to humans, they may face logistical limitations that prevent them from contacting Earth.

“Radical mundanity” could explain why we haven’t met aliens – Sciworthy sciworthy.com/radical-mund...

Trying to explain the #WowSignal in one slide. 🧠🧵📡🤯 #AreciboWow

Zoom into a cosmic eye 👁️

This video takes you on a journey through space to one of the most visually intricate remnants of a dying star: the Cat’s Eye Nebula 🐈‍⬛ also known as NGC 6543. 🔭 🧪

Trying to explain the #WowSignal in one slide. 🧠🧵📡🤯 #AreciboWow

Are aliens receiving radio signals from Earth? – Sciworthy Scientists calculated the maximum distance at which extraterrestrials could detect radio signals from Earth.

Are aliens receiving radio signals from Earth? – Sciworthy sciworthy.com/are-aliens-r...

These gases could signify intelligent life beyond Earth – Sciworthy Astronomers proposed new industrial gases that could provide measurable signs of advanced technology on distant exoplanets.

These gases could signify intelligent life beyond Earth – Sciworthy sciworthy.com/these-gases-...

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it.

Latest talk at IAU404:Technosignatures - a fascinating talk on the reanalysis and true natural origin of the Wow signal by @profabelmendez.bsky.social 🧪🔭 The level of technoarchaeology necessary here is awesome!

The #WowSignal is the most famous and credible SETI candidate signal to date. For decades, eight different telescopes have searched for it. We’ll present new results on Monday, March 2, at IAUS 404: Advancing the Search for Technosignatures. iaus404.bmsis.org #AreciboWow

YouTube video by BOWIE+ Seminars Head in the Silicate Clouds - Sarah Moran and Elijah Mullens

There are lots of aspects of silicate clouds in substellar objects that we don't often think about. Luckily, Sarah Moran (@offallingstars.bsky.social) and Elijah Mullens are here to fill us in on the interesting details. #exoplanets #astronomy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYWZ...

The ESO studentship was probably one of the best experiences of my academic career so far; recommend it 100%!

Please spread into your networks. Happy to answer questions or even host a student with one of my fellow #exoplanets people. Just get in touch!💙

TESS Planet Occurrence Rates Reveal the Disappearance of the Radius Valley Around Mid-to-Late M Dwarfs We present the deepest systematic search for planets around mid-to-late M dwarfs to date. We have surveyed 8134 mid-to-late M dwarfs observed by TESS with a custom built pipeline and recover 77 vetted...

Very exciting paper on the arxiv today! No radius valley around M-stars! It's been great seeing the different models of the formation of the valley around FGK stars get whittled down over the last decade and this is another piece in that puzzle

arxiv.org/abs/2602.23364
🔭 #exoplanets

TESS Planet Occurrence Rates Reveal the Disappearance of the Radius Valley Around Mid-to-Late M Dwarfs We present the deepest systematic search for planets around mid-to-late M dwarfs to date. We have surveyed 8134 mid-to-late M dwarfs observed by TESS with a custom built pipeline and recover 77 vetted...

Interesting new M dwarf #exoplanet occurrence rates paper! I'm glad to see that the new TESS result (with much lower uncertainties) is consistent with our Kepler result!

arxiv.org/abs/2602.23364

Astronomical image of double boomerang galaxy PKS 2014-55. The image shows jets emanating from both sides of the black hole, each shaped like a boomerang and indicated in blue.

Radio #ImageoftheWeek

Meet 'Double Boomerang' Galaxy PKS 2014-55, located 800 million light years from Earth.

Two powerful jets of radio waves (🔵blue) originate from a massive black hole at the center of the galaxy.

📸 Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello & W. Cotton; SARAO; DES

#RadioAstronomy

The #WowSignal is the most famous and credible SETI candidate signal to date. For decades, eight different telescopes have searched for it. We’ll present new results on Monday, March 2, at IAUS 404: Advancing the Search for Technosignatures. iaus404.bmsis.org #AreciboWow

Arecibo Telescope Upgrade Initiative — Now Featuring 4,000 Years of Backward Compatibility. 😜 #AreciboWow

Reposting in #RadioAstronomy!

ALMA Creates Largest-Ever Image of the Milky Way’s Core - National Radio Astronomy Observatory Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), of which the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory...

NEW: ALMA Creates Largest-Ever Image of the Milky Way’s Core

Astronomers using ALMA have produced the largest and most detailed image ever made of the Milky Way’s Central Molecular Zone.

#Astronomy #RadioAstronomy #MilkyWay #ALMA

It took a lot of work at both JPL and HQ to make it happen this year.

For relevant, interested folks, please apply! I’m one of the science mentors. Feel free to ask questions!

Because it's been a while, here is an update of my plot on the altitude of the Hubble Space Telescope versus time

Beautiful work! I really love the paper calculators that were produced before mechanical computers. The number of nomograms produced was also amazing.

Are we alone in the universe? Five times we thought we found extraterrestrial life Though scientists failed to confirm the presence of extraterrestrial life in these instances, these misconceptions provide valuable lessons for future searches.

Are we alone in the universe? Five times we thought we found extraterrestrial life www.sequencermag.com/are-we-alone...

Spending my last week as IAC* researcher in Vienna for the WALTzER team meeting, an ESA F-class mission concept to study the atmospheres of giant exoplanets (*next week i'll move to the University of La Laguna, "almost" the same) 🔭#exoplanets

Yes, clouds, dust and hazes are considered which ussualy obscure the interesting things. 🙁