Sumeet Kulkarni

Some more frames...

Yesterday's full moonrise.

#astrophotography #moonhour #moonphotography

Despite the existence of countless fat textbooks on electrodynamics, we know remarkably little about the phenomenon that introduces electricity to schoolkids, viz. rubbing balloons and cat fur.

The full ruling explaining why NIH grant cuts are illegal came out today.

It's just as blistering as the judge's oral remarks. And it uncovers fresh details in DOGE's role orchestrating the cuts — and on the cuts at Columbia.

Here are my top highlights from the 103-page ruling. 🧵

Long exposure of a forest field dotted with yellow synchronous firefly glows

Witnessed the magical display of synchronous fireflies right in our backyard of Oxford, Mississippi's whirlpool trails. A whole swarm blinking on and off in unison! While common fireflies give small yellow swooshes in long exposures like this, "snappy syncs" give off dotted trails.

Trump wants to put humans on Mars — here’s what scientists think Nature explores the massive costs and challenges of sending astronauts to the red planet.

Is NASA really going to send humans to Mars? Its budget plans released last week suggest it may be serious. So I wrote about why that’s hard.

🧪

Trump threatens to eviscerate NASA The Presidential budget proposal is a death sentence for the space agency

I am furiously, flamingly, incandescently, *supernova-levels* of angry right now.

Trump is trying to kill NASA science. And hoo boy, do I have something to say about it.

badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/trump-thre...

🔭 🧪

Don't forget we beat Leverkusen 4-1 in a preseason friendly :)

The "Paschal" full moon which signals the advent of Easter, rising over a busy saturday evening University Avenue in Oxford MS.

One year since...

🚨 Are you a researcher who's been asked by your institution not to talk to the public/media about certain topics - esp after Jan 20?

Are you a PIO who's had to tell scientists not to talk to the media?

Reach out on Signal at mkozlov.01 for a @nature.com story. Your identity will be kept private.

I may be biased but this is the best scientific announcement of all time.

YouTube video by Veritasium What if all the world's biggest problems have the same solution?

What if all the world's biggest problems have the same invisible solution?

Great snap, this is amazing!

Lunar occultation of Mars 13 January 2025: The Moon will pass in front of Mars, creating a lunar occultation visible from Africa, the Americas, Portugal, the Portuguese Azores, Madeira, the Savage Islands and the Canary Island...

The rest of the world will see the two bodies extremely close to one another. Check out the view from your location here: in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=...
The above gif was an occultation of the red giant Antares popping behind the Moon's shadow. In January, the Moon will be in its full phase (2/2)

The Moon is a master of the dark arts. The first astro event to look forward to in 2025 is a lunar occultation of Mars, when the Moon will gobble up the planet, and spit it out on the other side a few hours later. Visible from most of N.America and east Africa (1/2)

My top space pictures of the year.

#1: Undoubtedly the astro-event of the year, the April 2024 total solar eclipse mesmerized folks across North America with up to 4 surreal minutes of totality where time both stood still and flashed by.

My top space pictures of the year.

#2: A surprise visit by a comet brighter and fuzzier than 2020's Neowise, which was the first one I ever saw. Tsuchinshan-ATLAS stole the show in the Fall skies this year.

My top space pictures of the year. It's been a less busy year for astrophotography having spent half of it in light-polluted DC. The city did give me plenty of urban vistas to chase the rising Moon, one of which is my pick for...

#3: one of the supermoons rises over the Jefferson Memorial.

She feels every tiny impact; she wears scars, big and small; but still, we look in wonder and yearn to explore.
Forever, she reigns over us, the moon that we adore.

#Moon #Moony #Astro

One month since I spotted comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas. The once-in-a-lifetime cosmic visitor is now more than 15 light-minutes away from us. #comet #astrophotography

It's still weirdly green here down south in Mississippi!

YouTube video by Veritasium How do QR codes work? (I built one myself to find out)

QR codes are everywhere. Ever wondered how they work? Find out in my first video as a new writer/director with the brilliant Veritasium team here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5eb...

Apply to Write for Astrobites 2024! Love astronomy, astrophysics, and science communication? Come join the Astrobites team! Applications due November 27th.

@astrobites.bsky.social is accepting applications for a new cohort of writers! Being part of the collaboration was an amazing experience; if you're a graduate student interested in writing about astronomy, I can't recommend it enough.

(Deadline is November 27!)

astrobites.org/2024/10/27/a...

Comet Tsuchanshin-ATLAS, our cosmic visitor, has begun its millenia-long journey back to the cold outer reaches of the solar system. It's getting dimmer, but looks just as grand through a pair of binoculars, or this 30 s camera exposure. #comet #comettsuchanshin

The Milky Way is ‘less weird’ than we thought The Galaxy’s core isn't as densely packed with stars as models suggested, a study finds, aligning it more closely with similar spiral galaxies. The Galaxy’s core isn't as densely packed with stars as ...

In my latest for Nature, read about how our Galaxy might be larger - and less weird - than we thought: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I referred to Google and scheduled an interview with a source in Australia once... at 2:30 am my time. Did manage to reschedule, and I've been going to timeanddate.com ever since.

The science of 3 Body Problem: what’s fact and what’s fiction? Nature spoke to the sci-fi program’s adviser and two other researchers about the portrayal of PhD scientists and their technologies. Nature spoke to the sci-fi program’s adviser and two other research...

I'm a fan of the 3 body sci-fi series, and I enjoyed dissecting the science from fiction in my latest story:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

#3bodyproblem #threebody #sciencefiction #scifi #netflix

#science bluesky: any cicada researchers traveling to Illinois to study the emergence of broods XIX and XIII? I'd love to hear what you're excited about for a Nature story #cicadas #cicada

I'm an extrovert except when I'm not alone...