Brandon Specktor

"I cooked. I served. I ate." -Julius Caesar (attributed)

17.07.2025 17:14 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Inspired by @jtuttlekeane.bsky.social and @ohdearz.bsky.social, here's what the White House proposed budget cuts to NASA would do to the entirety of the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

Bloodbath is right.

31.05.2025 02:59 — 👍 712    🔁 321    💬 28    📌 41

Catquistadors: Oldest known domestic cats in the US died off Florida coast in a 1559 Spanish shipwreck The 466-year-old remains of an adult and a juvenile cat are the oldest known in the modern-day United States, a new study finds.

"The Spanish expeditions in Florida were really the first opportunities for domestic cats to reach what is today the U.S."

30.04.2025 13:00 — 👍 27    🔁 8    💬 0    📌 1

Scientists spot a 'dark nebula' being torn apart by rowdy infant stars — offering clues about our own solar system's past The National Science Foundation's Dark Energy Camera reveals a stunning glimpse into the 'dark nebula' known as the Circinus West molecular cloud, a region of space that's so dense with gas that light...

Black holes don't hold the monopoly on darkness.

'Dark nebulae', like the nearby Circinus molecular cloud, are regions of space so dense with gas & dust that light rarely escapes them.

NSF's Dark Energy Camera just took one of the best-ever images of one.
www.livescience.com/space/astron...

30.04.2025 14:07 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Congrats to the Mars HiRISE team (@uahirise.bsky.social) for having the best 404 error message on the internet

29.04.2025 16:23 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

A black and white image shows, from the side, the wall of a high jagged cliff. At the bottom of the cliff is a smooth landing dotted with rocks. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

🔭 A Kilometer High Cliff on Comet Churyumov - Gerasimenko

Image Credit & Licence (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO): ESA, Rosetta spacecraft, NAVCAM; Additional Processing: Stuart Atkinson

apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap24121...

16.12.2024 08:00 — 👍 253    🔁 68    💬 4    📌 8

James Webb Space Telescope smashes its own record to find the earliest galaxies that ever existed The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted five galaxy candidates dating to just 200 million years after the Big Bang, making them the earliest ever detected. And there could be many more.

The James Webb telescope may have just smashed its own record -- again.

New observations reveal 5 candidate galaxies dating to just 200 million years after the Big Bang -- possibly some of the earliest to ever exist.

Ben Turner has the story for Live Science:

www.livescience.com/space/cosmol...

03.12.2024 18:01 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Submission guidelines: How to pitch to Live Science Live Science welcomes news, analysis, explainer and feature pitches from freelancers. Here's everything you need to know about submitting a story idea to Live Science.

Thanks for the tag! Here are Live Science's submission guidelines, for those interested:

www.livescience.com/how-to-pitch...

29.11.2024 21:51 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0

The shape of light: Scientists reveal image of an individual photon for 1st time ever Using a groundbreaking new technique, researchers have unveiled the first detailed image of a photon — a single particle of light — ever taken.

Photons are like snowflakes.

Each one has unique characteristics, determined by an endless interplay of environmental factors.

Now, one team has managed to simplify that glut of uncertainty to bring us this: The first image of an individual photon ever taken ❄️

www.livescience.com/physics-math...

29.11.2024 18:08 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Hi, BlueSky, I'm Brandon -- I edit the Space and Physics sections of LiveScience.com.

I'm always looking for fascinating stories about our planet, our universe, and (just covering my bases) anything that lies beyond.

Scientists and science writers, feel free to pitch me anytime (email in bio). 💜✨

29.11.2024 17:27 — 👍 28    🔁 7    💬 5    📌 0