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Luis Calçada

@luiscalcada.bsky.social

luiscalcada.com Graphic artist. Scientist. Musician. Works at http://eso.org

377 Followers  |  285 Following  |  58 Posts  |  Joined: 28.11.2023
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Posts by Luis Calçada (@luiscalcada.bsky.social)

The Extremely Large Telescope can't work without these key systems
YouTube video by European Southern Observatory (ESO) The Extremely Large Telescope can't work without these key systems

Without them, the ELT simply would not function!

We are talking about the ELT's giant Pre-Focal Stations. Currently undergoing final tests, they will guide the light collected by the telescope to the scientific instruments that will analyse it.

More: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWCB...
🔭 🧪

27.02.2026 07:00 — 👍 48    🔁 18    💬 0    📌 0
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Sim, vinha dizer exatamente isso. Disse o troglodita do meio: “O senhor do meio acabou de dizer “hoje em dia não se pode chamar preto a um preto, cigano a um cigano; mas pode-se chamar mulher a um homem”

18.02.2026 20:46 — 👍 10    🔁 1    💬 2    📌 2

👏

04.02.2026 09:34 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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By pure chance, Stefan observed the Sun last Friday with a custom-made telescope. The active region seen here close to the edge of the Sun's disc have now rotated more towards us. A so-called coronal mass ejection coming from this region has caused the ongoing geomagnetic storm.

📹 S. Ströbele/ESO

20.01.2026 16:36 — 👍 21    🔁 5    💬 1    📌 0
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#Aurora over Europe!

We're currently experiencing a strong geomagnetic storm, which caused a stunning auroral display all over Europe last night. This time-lapse was captured by our colleague Stefan Ströbele over our headquarters in Garching near Munich. 🔭 🧪

📹 S. Ströbele/ESO

20.01.2026 16:35 — 👍 108    🔁 37    💬 1    📌 1

Fantastic!

20.01.2026 11:29 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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RXJ0528+2838, a dead star creates a bow shock as it moves through space. Captured with MUSE on @eso.org VLT and alternates with an image from the DSS taken about 30 years ago.

Credit: ESO/K. Iłkiewicz and S. Scaringi et al./DSS2.
www.eso.org/public/news/... 🔭🧪

13.01.2026 12:15 — 👍 27    🔁 5    💬 1    📌 0
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In a few hours in some areas of the world, interstellar visitor 3I/Atlas is going to be occluded by the moon. Interesting unique (and challenging) shooting opportunity, astrophotographers out there? 🔭🧪

11.12.2025 13:54 — 👍 5    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 1

I produced with my colleagues at @eso.org a new episode of our Chasing Starlight series about 3I/Atlas, where we interviewed comet specialist Cyrielle Opitom #astronomy 🔭 🧪

05.12.2025 10:29 — 👍 8    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Runs in VR too ;) We're pretty excited about it, we'll release more info later

20.11.2025 14:15 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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It's an app we're currently developing for virtually exploring the ELT. We're planning to release it for free to educators next year and also as a video game on gaming platforms, at a later stage

20.11.2025 13:56 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Assistant for the day.
Working on the ELT model in Unreal Engine @eso.org 🧪🔭

20.11.2025 12:18 — 👍 14    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
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Unique shape of star’s explosion revealed just a day after detection @eso.org. Some background info on how I produced the image and illustration using @jangafx.bsky.social Embergen luiscalcada.com/supernova-ex... 🔭🧪

13.11.2025 13:58 — 👍 25    🔁 9    💬 2    📌 1

Whooooaaaa, this is extremely neat!

And spectropolarimetry (which is the best, and what we used in my first paper too!) is at its core 💙

In a nutshell: astronomers used the polarization of light to study the shape of a supernova explosion before it interacted with surrounding material.

🔭🧪

12.11.2025 22:26 — 👍 170    🔁 41    💬 6    📌 0
A digital illustration of a star going supernova, surrounded by a gaseous disc in orange and red tones. The star is seen exploding in an olive shape, directed above and below the star.

A digital illustration of a star going supernova, surrounded by a gaseous disc in orange and red tones. The star is seen exploding in an olive shape, directed above and below the star.

For the first time ever, astronomers have unveiled the shape of a supernova explosion just a day after detection, as the blast was breaking through the star’s surface.

Achieved by our VLT, this feat will help us understand how massive stars die: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2520/

🔭 🧪 ☄️

12.11.2025 19:02 — 👍 670    🔁 286    💬 8    📌 37

Great job on the poster!

21.10.2025 15:48 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Beautiful lands

27.09.2025 23:24 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Groundbreaking new image! The EHT reveals the dynamic environment around black hole M87*.

The 2021 image shows a distinct shift in polarization patterns, tracing changes in magnetic fields near the event horizon.

eventhorizontelescope.org/new-eht-imag...

16.09.2025 07:00 — 👍 105    🔁 31    💬 3    📌 6
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Forged in fire. My cover for the latest @nature.com issue.
www.eso.org/public/news/...

ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al.
🔭 🧪 ☄️

16.07.2025 16:05 — 👍 27    🔁 3    💬 2    📌 1
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Double detonation: Zooming into Supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5. New observations with @eso.org shows remains of star destroyed by pair of explosions.
#astronomy 🔭
(ESO/L. Calçada/N. Risinger/VMC Survey/DSS2/P. Das et al. Background stars (Hubble): K. Noll et al.)

03.07.2025 15:01 — 👍 16    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 1
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ICYMI, our VLT has imaged the remains of a star destroyed by a pair of explosive blasts! 😲

Learn all about this ‘double-detonation’ mechanism in our video summary 📽️

Full story: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2511/

🔭 🧪

03.07.2025 08:02 — 👍 39    🔁 14    💬 0    📌 2

What an embarrassment, NYT.

01.07.2025 21:01 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Somehow the whole system smaller than the orbit of Mercury 😂

18.06.2025 11:30 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

As for your second point, in the very beginning of the video we are using adjectives people typically associate with BHs, regardless of whether they are valid for all BHs or not ("reputation"). Perhaps we should do a video about dispelling black hole myths at some point." 3/3

13.06.2025 12:07 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

But you are right that we should have made it clear in that first segment that we were referring to stellar black holes in our galaxy. We’ll add a comment about this. 2/3

13.06.2025 12:07 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Thanks for your comments Markus and thanks for watching. There’s only so much we can fit in a video about how massive black holes get and, this being an ESO video, we gave preference to BH recently observed with ESO telescopes. 1/3

13.06.2025 12:06 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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How massive can black holes get?
Our latest Chasing Starlight episode is out:
youtu.be/_HSHxxOIZCE
#astronomy @eso.org 🔭

13.06.2025 09:33 — 👍 30    🔁 4    💬 2    📌 0

Great job! I know Igreja do Carmo in Porto when I see it ;)

05.06.2025 11:53 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Incredible!

27.05.2025 09:01 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

👏

26.05.2025 10:42 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0