astrodunham.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Please join us Wednesday, February 19 at 11am Eastern time for another installment of VAST! We have two great speakers: Rhys Taylor will be talking about FRELLED and Marc Pound will be talking about PDR Toolbox. Hope to see you there!

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

I've convinced myself that Sonic would look stretched out. Since he's moving, by the time the light from his back gets to his front, he has covered some distance. That will make him appear stretched out. His observed length, Lobs, and his measured length, L, are related by Lobs = L / ( 1 - v )

submitted 25 days ago • 2 comments

In light of this deeply illegal activity at NSF and the ongoing attack on American science, I'm posting the slides from my 2017 talk at the American Physical Society about the Nazi take over of German physics/why German is no longer science's lingua franca 🧪 🧵 1/26 drive.google.com/file/d/1_MCm...

submitted 27 days ago • 28 comments

Things are bad and scary in the US right now and it’s hard to think about anything else. For a brief distraction to folks, I got an email on behalf of a nine year old yesterday asking about Sonic and what he would look like when he’s running close to the speed of light. (1/3)

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

a lot of junior faculty are worried about tenure cases given the funding uncertainty. While it's not at the same level, invited talks carries weight with tenure as well. If you are on a colloquium committee this year, perhaps try focusing on some of the bright junior folks in our field. #astro

submitted 29 days ago • 1 comment

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has built his fortune and reputation on disparaging the government scientists and institutions he's now in line to lead as HHS secretary.

submitted 30 days ago • 108 comments

One thing that I think may be worth remembering going forward is how fast the government is working right now. They could have worked this fast to criminalize guns, provide universal healthcare, feed the poor, house the homeless, etc. Change doesn’t have to be slow and now we have evidence of that

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Declaring a national energy emergency immediately before halting any new leasing for offshore wind farms is quite a move

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

From Catherine Slaughter @catieslaughts.bsky.social : Recent research indicates that some supernova fail to ever explode. Today’s authors study what this means for our understanding of iron enrichment and star formation in nearby globular clusters. 🔭✨ astrobites.org/2025/01/17/f...

submitted 40 days ago • 3 comments

Definitely gonna keep my eyes out for job postings 👀 www.mlive.com/news/ann-arb...

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

For SoCal friends, Here is a list of resources for shelter, animal boarding, free items, and distribution hubs. These places can also use donations (e.g., food, water, masks, and blankets). Please consider donating if you can. For more info, visit Instagram: mutualaidla

submitted 49 days ago • 83 comments

Here is an ongoing list of LA restaurants that are offering shelter, food, and support to first responders and evacuees: bit.ly/LAaid

submitted 49 days ago • 86 comments

New episode is up! We talk to Derek Guy, @dieworkwear.bsky.social—aka the Menswear Guy—about how dense, walkable cities influence what people wear, what the great fashion capitals of the world have in common, how the housing crisis is affecting style, and much more. thewaroncars.org/2025/01/07/1...

submitted 51 days ago • 46 comments

A reminder that you can (and probably should!) invite me to give a talk at your institution in California until June! C’mon, I need to collect UC schools visits like infinity stones.

submitted 58 days ago • 2 comments

How would the human eye have evolved differently if classical electrodynamics were a nonlinear theory?

submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

RFK Jr. has bragged that he’d tell researchers at the National Institutes of Health to give “infectious disease a break for about eight years.” Well, he isn’t giving infectious disease a break but leading its promotional tour. My latest for the Nation. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

submitted 72 days ago • 17 comments

A professor from whom I’d never taken a class or worked with asked someone to give me an interview when I was rejected from all the phd programs I applied to. There are of course other moments of luck, but that’s probably the biggest for me

submitted 76 days ago • 0 comments

Chicago!! Great food and museums galore

submitted 78 days ago • 0 comments

Ham yam

submitted 80 days ago • 0 comments

FINALLY got dual boot with arch and Ubuntu to work. It was unnecessarily difficult but worth the effort and I learned a LOT about grub in the process, so definitely an overall win 🤓

submitted 80 days ago • 0 comments

Seems a little forward and a little grim wikifolks 😬

submitted 86 days ago • 0 comments

Making my slides for the "25 Years of Science with Chandra" conference, and here's the supernova remnants imaged with Chandra in the first two years of the mission in the order they were observed! 🔭🧪 #SaveChandra

submitted 86 days ago • 10 comments

Broke: periodic boundary conditions Woke: pacman boundary conditions

submitted 91 days ago • 0 comments

In honor of Jimi Hendrix, who would have turned 82 today, I wrote something for PBS about his incredible sense of style. He helped define not only the sound but also the look of a countercultural movement. www.pbs.org/wnet/america...

submitted 91 days ago • 97 comments

I took an Amtrak for the first time in decades. I expected there would be less security than flying, but I did not expect absolutely ZERO security. I just got on, enjoyed the nice, pleasant, quiet ride, and got off. It was bizarre but also great. 10/10 recommend

submitted 98 days ago • 1 comment

From @astrolamb.bsky.social: What’s better than a single gravitational lens? A double gravitational lens! Learn about how light from a distant quasar zig-zags across the universe because of the first double gravitational lens to be observed! 🔭✨️ astrobites.org/2024/11/20/z...

submitted 98 days ago • 1 comment

I just tuned in to the shutting-down ceremony of Summit. I thought it would be nice to pay respects in a way, but I did NOT expect to tear up. That was way more emotions than I was prepared for at 9am. When someone typed in the chat “sudo shutdown -h forever” I lost it

submitted 104 days ago • 0 comments