Fun Fact Science with Kovi

Lightcurves from all ASKAP, ATCA, and MeerKAT radio observations phase-folded to the radio period of 2147.27 s. Green shading indicates the range of uncertainty in predicted pulse time around the expected pulse phase of 0.5. Pulses are only detected in the ASKAP and ATCA observations between 2025-01-09 and 2025-01-17.

New LPT who dis? #radioastro

We've found a new long-period radio transient to add to the small but growing population! 📡🔭🧪

In a recently accepted @pasajournal.bsky.social Letter, Joshua Pritchard details the bursts detected from this system during a brief active period.

arxiv.org/abs/2603.07857

But by the transitive property isn't eating off a grounded table the same as eating off the ground?

vermiculite rocks

this rocks

Ali Khamenei Is Dead, but Iran Is Not Yet Free

His death closes one chapter of repression, but the Islamic Republic’s entrenched security, political, and economic power structure remains intact, and the fight for a truly free Iran is far from over.

My Full Piece Here: bit.ly/46ukJEj

Post a pic you took, no context, to bring some zen to the feed.

Illustrated graphic with the boot-shaped Rubin Observatory atop its site on Cerro Pachón beneath a sparkling night sky and the glowing band of the Milky Way stretching from lower left to upper right. Sprinkled throughout are many "Data alert!" popups, labeled with icons that represent supernovae, asteroids, hungry black holes, and more.

A 3-by-4 grid of grayscale astronomical images zoomed in on single objects. From left to right, the columns are labeled Template, New image, and difference. From top to bottom, the rows are labeled supernova, variable star, active galactic nucleus, and solar system object.

The largest spot-the-difference effort EVER has begun!🚨

On the night of Feb 24, NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory officially released its first ~800,000 public alerts of detected changes in the night sky!🔍

A new era of discovery is here✨ 🔭🧪☄️

🔗: rubinobservatory.org/news/first-a...

Associates degrees awarded in Parks & Recreation correlates with Google searches for 'tummy ache' (r=0.98) As more students entered the field, there was a parallel surge in highly competitive playground tag matches, leading to an epidemic of tummy-aching laughter. Maybe all those degrees were just too hard...

how does this correlate with the number of Google searches for "tummy ache"? www.tylervigen.com/spurious/cor...

Excellent points made here, which I mostly agree with.

Even though I don't think LLMs are just "text-interpolators" as Hogg says,* I do feel strongly that they are not scientists, and cannot be made accountable in the way a scientist must.

* This is because of RL training objectives

But here I was wondering whether all astronomers except me are part of the "Gothic Industrial Music" community

This is fun, and I am... in my expected location, amongst #Astronomy people.

Two of my closest neighbours are @astrolaura.com and @cosmicpudding.bsky.social - very appropriate!

And is that @funfactscience.com just out of view...

🔭 ☄️ 🧪

How Many Kilonovae Will Rubin Observatory Help Us Spot? - AAS Nova Vera C. Rubin Observatory will detect an astonishing number of transients — including kilonovae from colliding neutron stars.

When two neutron stars collide, they shake spacetime and light up the cosmos in a brilliant flash called a kilonova. OzGrav researchers Dr Anais Möller, Dr Jade Powell and Dr Simon Stevenson explore how the Vera C. Rubin Observatory could help spot these rare events.
aasnova.org/2026/02/04/h...

Ugh are they already forcing us to move to SciXplorer?

Kent Brockman from the Simpsons saying: " AND I, FOR ONE, WELCOME OUR NEW rubbery OVERLORDS."

Fascinating work by Linda!

Why speak? In an information free-for-all why should scientists bother to add their voice? In this commentary piece I argue there is an increasingly important role for scientists amongst the growing ranks of pub...

"We are not motivated by personal profit, but by the close interrogation of the world around to constantly improve our understanding, and edge closer to the truth."
jcom.sissa.it/article/pubi...

Amazing photos! I'm extremely jealous 🤩

#astro plot of the week right here!
Really interesting work @conairedeagan.bsky.social

A slide advertising the Stibbs Lecture at University of Sydney. The key information is: Join us for the 2026 Stibbs Lecture - Deciphering the Music of the Stars: Asteroseismology, presented by renowned astrophysicist Professor Conny Aerts. See main post for registration link.

Join us @sydney.edu.au for the annual Stibbs Lecture.

Deciphering the Music of the Stars: Asteroseismology, presented by astrophysicist Professor Conny Aerts.

Listen to the music of the stars, and see them in a whole new way!

Thurs 12 Feb 6pm.

Register: www.sydney.edu.au/science/news...

🔭 ⚛️ ☄️ 🧪

Meme of a guy in a red uniform shirt sweating and deciding between several buttons. The guy has a brown circle obscuring his face and is captioned "Brown Dwarf Gaining Mass". There are three buttons labeled "Pink", "Beige", and "Maroon"

If you add mass early, you basically take a brown dwarf and put it in a region of parameter space that is red dwarf-like. So naturally we call these maroon(~ red+brown) dwarfs. These are basically indistinguishable from ordinary low-mass stars as far as we can tell.

Why speak? In an information free-for-all why should scientists bother to add their voice? In this commentary piece I argue there is an increasingly important role for scientists amongst the growing ranks of pub...

"We are not motivated by personal profit, but by the close interrogation of the world around to constantly improve our understanding, and edge closer to the truth."
jcom.sissa.it/article/pubi...

A much needed glimmer of good news after a tumultuous year of redundancies, uncertainty, and budgetary strain. Here's one interesting takeaway:

"NASA has its largest budget in nearly three decades, but has fewer employees than it had in July 1960 at the dawn of the space age."

A much needed glimmer of good news after a tumultuous year of redundancies, uncertainty, and budgetary strain. Here's one interesting takeaway:

"NASA has its largest budget in nearly three decades, but has fewer employees than it had in July 1960 at the dawn of the space age."

An infographic explaining the IK Pegasi system. Panel 1 shows the puzzle: a massive white dwarf with a Barium-rich companion. Panel 2 shows the solution: a hierarchical triple system where an inner binary merges. Panel 3 shows the destiny: a double merger leading to a Type Ia Supernova. Infographic created using Gemini.

📢New paper alert!
"IK Pegasi and the Double Merger Path to Type Ia Supernovae", co-led with S. Shahaf
How do you get a massive white dwarf paired with a Barium-rich companion? It started as a triple system!
A potential major pathway to SNe Ia.
ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2026arXi...
#astronomy #stars

it gets me every time

Super cool to compare the way the accretion streams flow in the polar / IP cases. Thanks for sharing!

This is spectacular Mark! Have you played around with what a closer orbit/shorter period would look like? Something like an AM Her star.

So sorry for your loss. She's having zoomies in a better place 🥹🙏

Perfect Baryonic fraction 😉

Baj(oran) Blast?