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squigglyvolcano.bsky.social
Award-Winning Science Journalist | Volcanology PhD | Stories in @nytimes @sciam @NatGeo etc | Author: SUPER VOLCANOES 🌋 and HOW TO KILL AN ASTEROID 🚀☄️💥☠️
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BREAKING PLANET NEWS 🪐 Rather hilariously, Saturn just got up to 128 new moons (thanks to some careful telescopic observations), bringing its total to…274? That’s just an absurd number of moons. (Not the MPC bulletin I was expecting today…!)

submitted 11 hours ago • 7 comments

BREAKING PLANET NEWS 🪐 Rather hilariously, Saturn just got up to 128 new moons (thanks to some careful telescopic observations), bringing its total to…274? That’s just an absurd number of moons. (Not the MPC bulletin I was expecting today…!)

submitted 11 hours ago • 7 comments

here's my review (in the february issue of bbc sky at night magazine) of one of the best popsci books i've read in quite a while (by @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social) 🔭

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

psst hey, you We’re very happy that the asteroid is all but certain to miss Earth in 2032. But it’s still got a 1% chance of hitting the Moon, and that would be awesome. Come on, 2024 YR4. Give us the lunar fireworks show we all deserve!

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

NEW: asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 3.1% chance of striking Earth in 2032—a new record for a dangerously sized asteroid. The odds will likely drop eventually. But if they don’t, this is what might happen if the space rock strikes water, or land. Me @NYTScience www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/s...

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

NEW: asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 3.1% chance of striking Earth in 2032—a new record for a dangerously sized asteroid. The odds will likely drop eventually. But if they don’t, this is what might happen if the space rock strikes water, or land. Me @NYTScience www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/s...

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

I don’t have any cellular service where I am right now, but via WiFi: asteroid 2024 YR4 now has a 3.1% chance of striking Earth in 2032. That’s a new record for a dangerously sized asteroid! I prepped a story for this moment that should pop up soon.

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

That people are effectively taking bets on Earth’s chance of being hit by a nearby asteroid is a reason to be genuinely optimistic about the future of the world, writes @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social:

submitted 27 days ago • 35 comments

Asteroid 2024 YR4 will probably stop being a threat very soon but until then, many people are planning how to face it. This is an exclusive look at what’s happening. Thanks to @esa.int and @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social for the insights! 🔭🧪

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

The threat of an asteroid crashing into Earth isn't just a favorite sci-fi storyline - it's reality. But just how likely is it that a "city-killer" will strike Earth? We discuss with science journalist @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social, author of "HOW TO KILL AN ASTEROID" https://buff.ly/3QizS2N

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

Also, when 2024 YR4 has been observed for long enough, it'll get a cool name, right? My vote? "Caleuche". It was discovered by a telescope in Chile, and in Chilote mythology, Caleuche was a ghost ship. Apt, given 2024 YR4 snuck up on us then vanished, the sneaky space rock.

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

NEW: Asteroid 2024 YR4 may threaten Earth. It won't be the last. But, there's good news: we're about to get two new anti-asteroid weapons. For @theatlantic.com, I wrote about Vera Rubin Observatory and NEO Surveyor—and how both will make the world safer. www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

Right, I'm off on a travel adventure for a few weeks. Back in March! But before then, just one more story...

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science! You can try to silence or erase us, but we aren’t going anywhere. We will keep fighting and being awesome 😤

submitted 28 days ago • 6 comments

hey everyone, quick, let’s introduce a bill to rename a random place in America as “fart mountain”, quick!!

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

Hey asteroid 2024 YR4 watchers! I'm seeing a lot of people claim that, if it is going to impact Earth in 2032, we can use a DART-like spacecraft to ram it out of the way. Well, not necessarily. The DART mission was fab, but might not be able to stop 2024 YR4. Let me explain 👇

submitted 28 days ago • 1 comment

Here are 70 clones of #asteroid 2024 YR4 that do hit Earth, highlighting the impact risk corridor. There are some big cities along that line: #Bogota, #Lagos, #Mumbai.

submitted 29 days ago • 11 comments

NEW: Everyone’s hoping asteroid 2024 YR4 doesn’t hit Earth. It probably won’t; the odds are 2.1%. But, rather awesomely, there’s a (slim) chance that it hits the Moon instead, with the force of hundreds of atomic bombs. And we’d see it happen! Me @newscientist www.newscientist.com/article/2467...

submitted 29 days ago • 2 comments

ew

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Here’s a question about asteroid 2024 YR4 that’s being emailed to me a lot: how can such a small asteroid, perhaps just 40m (130 feet) long, unleash a blast wave similar to a nuclear bomb? How can a rock like that devastate a city? Let me explain, with a some basic physics 👇

submitted 30 days ago • 1 comment