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Nicole Mortillaro

@nebulousnikki.bsky.social

Senior science reporter at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC News)/Editor for the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada/amateur astronomer. Deeply concerned about climate change.

5,478 Followers  |  736 Following  |  143 Posts  |  Joined: 17.05.2023  |  2.1965

Latest posts by nebulousnikki.bsky.social on Bluesky

It reminds me of a chestburster pre-burst.

20.11.2025 17:00 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ”­

17.11.2025 19:56 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

That's C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) that's fragmented. So many comets whizzing around!

13.11.2025 21:30 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

"In 1921, when the steamship Rotterdam arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey, with Einstein on board, it was met by some 5,000 cheering New Yorkers. Reporters in small boats pulled alongside the ship even before it had docked." God, how I wish the public still had that kind of passion for science.

06.11.2025 18:40 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

"In 1921, when the steamship Rotterdam arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey, with Einstein on board, it was met by some 5,000 cheering New Yorkers. Reporters in small boats pulled alongside the ship even before it had docked." God, how I wish the public still had that kind of passion for science.

06.11.2025 18:40 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Carnivorous β€˜death ball’ sponge among new species found in depths of Southern Ocean Researchers previously took first confirmed footage of a juvenile colossal squid in scarcely explored habitat

Carnivorous β€˜death ball’ sponge among new species found in depths of Southern Ocean

29.10.2025 20:16 β€” πŸ‘ 117    πŸ” 28    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 17
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A Super-Earth Candidate Less Than 20 Light-Years Away Astronomers have discovered a ready-to-image super-Earth candidate, named GJ 251c, less than 20 light-years away.

Astronomers have discovered a ready-to-image super-Earth candidate less than 20 light-years away.
skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
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#astronomy #exoplanet #superearth

29.10.2025 18:10 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I've been looking forward to this film because, yeah, the threat of nuclear war terrifies me and that fear never left me after I watched The Day After as a child.

16.10.2025 17:05 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I vividly remember sitting at the kitchen table reading about the first exoplanet discovery in 1992. Will never forget it. And look at us now!

02.10.2025 20:47 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Article, please.

29.09.2025 17:13 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
A galaxy seen face-on, with a slightly elliptical disk that appears to have a hole in the center like a doughnut. In the hole, the core is a brightly glowing point that shines light out beyond the edge of the disk. Around the hole is an inner ring of dust, and at the galaxy’s edge is a thicker outer ring of dust, with a swirling web of dust strands in between. Blue stars and red nebulae are visible behind the dust.

A galaxy seen face-on, with a slightly elliptical disk that appears to have a hole in the center like a doughnut. In the hole, the core is a brightly glowing point that shines light out beyond the edge of the disk. Around the hole is an inner ring of dust, and at the galaxy’s edge is a thicker outer ring of dust, with a swirling web of dust strands in between. Blue stars and red nebulae are visible behind the dust.

THIS NEW HUBBLE IMAGE LOOKS LIKE A GALACTIC PORTAL!!! 🌌

26.09.2025 15:51 β€” πŸ‘ 512    πŸ” 81    πŸ’¬ 17    πŸ“Œ 3

"Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact."
-Carl Sagan

26.09.2025 00:45 β€” πŸ‘ 791    πŸ” 171    πŸ’¬ 12    πŸ“Œ 5

This fact always amazes me. How new our understanding really is, yet how far we've come to study these galaxies in such remarkable detail.

18.09.2025 19:17 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Colliding black holes 'ringing' across space and time prove Hawking, Einstein theories right | CBC News Two black holes collided 1.3 billion light years from Earth, creating a 'ringing,' which in turn allowed astrophysicists to test some theories. And it turns out, they were all correct.

I kinda dig gravitational waves.

www.cbc.ca/news/science...

10.09.2025 21:09 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

T. Ocellus is an agent of chaos.

10.09.2025 16:30 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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NASA's Perseverance finds its first possible hint of ancient Mars life The NASA Mars rover examined a rock containing organic compounds and β€œleopard spots” that, on Earth, are associated with microbial life.

There's a NASA presser happening now in which acting admin Duffy said "This very well could be the clearest sign of life that we’ve ever found on Mars." That doesn't mean it is a sign of life. We covered this cool rock in 2024, paper in Nature is out today: πŸ§ͺπŸ”­
www.sciencenews.org/article/nasa...

10.09.2025 15:33 β€” πŸ‘ 108    πŸ” 31    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 2
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Woot! Got my advances! New title but same great content. Use it to plan for your 2026 night sky planning! @fireflybooks.bsky.social

01.09.2025 03:13 β€” πŸ‘ 31    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

And that’s what I saw last night! Was absolutely amazing! @billlongo.com

14.08.2025 03:37 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

So sorry. Just saw this now. 10:35 pm

14.08.2025 03:13 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

There were a couple of launches today, but I'd need to know what direction you saw itmand what direction it's moving. I see other posts about it here too; it was seen from South Dakota.

13.08.2025 02:55 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Jonathan thinks it’s the Ariana launch, which makes sense.

13.08.2025 03:41 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

From Canada I think it's much more likely to be the Ariane 6 launch which was polar, rather that the Vulcan launch which was at 28 deg inclination and which is still on it way to GEO altitude.

13.08.2025 03:27 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

I believe so.

13.08.2025 03:03 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Was it ULA’s Vulcan?

13.08.2025 02:47 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Okay. Was looking for Perseids, but caught this instead! From Toronto. Amazing! What rocket launch is this from? It’s going the wrong way! @philplait.bsky.social @planet4589.bsky.social

13.08.2025 02:45 β€” πŸ‘ 69    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 10    πŸ“Œ 2
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An incredible JWST image of an immense city of galaxies Abell S1063 is a jaw-dropping example of the power of the big telescope

I bet it's been a while since you've had your mind vaporized by a JWST image so here's one of a cluster of galaxies so immense it's visibly warping space.

Bonus: I explain what you're seeing! Because that's kinda my thing!

badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/an-incredi...

πŸ”­πŸ§ͺ

11.08.2025 15:11 β€” πŸ‘ 731    πŸ” 155    πŸ’¬ 10    πŸ“Œ 9

Meow.

08.08.2025 16:55 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
At the centre of the image is a comet that appears as a teardrop-shaped bluish cocoon of dust coming off the comet’s solid, icy nucleus and seen against a black background. The comet appears to be heading to the bottom left corner of the image. About a dozen short, light blue diagonal streaks are seen scattered across the image, which are from background stars that appeared to move during the exposure because the telescope was tracking the moving comet.

At the centre of the image is a comet that appears as a teardrop-shaped bluish cocoon of dust coming off the comet’s solid, icy nucleus and seen against a black background. The comet appears to be heading to the bottom left corner of the image. About a dozen short, light blue diagonal streaks are seen scattered across the image, which are from background stars that appeared to move during the exposure because the telescope was tracking the moving comet.

🚨 Interstellar news!

β˜„οΈ The unexpected comet 3I/ATLAS has been captured in the sharpest picture yet by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Discover more about this visitor from outside our Solar System πŸ‘‰ www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed... πŸ”­ πŸ§ͺ

07.08.2025 14:45 β€” πŸ‘ 114    πŸ” 32    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 3
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A planet for Alpha Centauri A? JWST spots what might be a Jupiter-sized world around the nearest Sun-like star

WHOA.

Astronomers may have found a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, the closest sun-like star to the Sun! It's a binary system, too, so if this is confirmed it'll be an AMAZING discovery!

badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/a-planet-f...

πŸ”­πŸ§ͺ

07.08.2025 15:11 β€” πŸ‘ 452    πŸ” 69    πŸ’¬ 21    πŸ“Œ 12
Interstellar Object Comet 3I/ATLAS as seen by NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory!
β˜„οΈ Say hello to Comet 3I/ATLAS as seen by NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory! Comet 3I/ATLAS is just the third interstellar object ever spotted in our Solar System. Rubin Observatory didn’t discover it, but… Interstellar Object Comet 3I/ATLAS as seen by NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory!

β˜„οΈ Say hello to Comet 3I/ATLAS, just the third interstellar object ever seen in our Solar System!

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory didn’t discover the comet, but even during testing, it caught a glimpse. Imagine what we'll find once full science operations begin later this year! πŸ”­πŸ§ͺ

30.07.2025 18:30 β€” πŸ‘ 89    πŸ” 29    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 2

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