Redirecting funding from basic science to applied science isn't just wrong because you need to start with basics - because products are assembled out of *many* ideas. It's like asking farmers to pivot from making tomatoes, cheese, grains, mushrooms, herbs, and focus on making pizzas.
We are looking for two new PhD students to join our group at the University of Southern Queensland to work on exoplanet demographics and atmospheres. See AAS ad below.
aas.org/jobregister/...
Check out this fun gif of Artemis on its trip to the Moon!
@unisq.bsky.social π
Want to come see me talk about supermassive black holes?
Grab a ticket to @pintofscienceau.bsky.social on the 20th of May at the Coach & Horses in Randwick.
@unisq.bsky.social π π©βπ¬
I removed social media from my phone - it only exists on the ipad now. I can't accidentally end up on social media and it has really helped!
Got to talk to Channel 10 today about the NASA press release!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR1t...
We were lucky to get a break in the clouds to see most of the lunar eclipse! My photos are very blurry - but look at this gorgeous shot from UniSQ's Mt Kent Observatory π @unisq.bsky.social #eclipse
Perhaps if the Herzog protesters had turned up dressed as Nazis the cops would have left them alone
Pushing and injuring a prominent MP who clearly identifies herself as such and who is filming peacefully is the sort of thing you can only do if you expect impunity
Muslim organisations and civil liberties groups have slammed NSW Premier Chris Minns after NSW Police threw punches, used pepper spray, charged into pro-Palestine protesters and forcibly broke up a Muslim prayer group outside Sydney Town Hall yesterday.
www.deepcutnews.com/p/unfathomab...
The Town Hall Police Riot needs charges laid against cops who attacked protesters and resignations at the top. A total disaster for social cohesion
There continues to be a lot of conversation on how astronomers and researchers must βdealβ with the existing and incoming pollution caused by satellite constellations.
But I want to see this reframed into asking:
βWhy do these companies need this many satellites in orbit?β
Every wondered how we know that supermassive black holes are so supermassive? Well one trick is to watch how light echoes around them, using "reverberations" to map how big they are. In my latest paper I close out the Australian Dark Energy Survey (OzDES) to measure the masses of hundreds of SMBH.
They really need a train station in Bondi
Genuinely I don't understand why this government is trying to dismantle science locally when it's at its most vulnerable point globally. Like, what on earth are they trying to achieve. What's the endgame here. What's the constituency for just vandalizing expensively built societal infrastructure
I was very excited to receive a ππ’π π‘π₯π² ππ¨π¦π¦ππ§πππ ππ°ππ«π at last night's Queensland Women in STEM awards at the Queensland Museum.
Congratulations to all the other award winners and finalists, it was a privilege to be recognised among such an incredible group of leaders in science!
Very excited to be a finalist for the Queensland Museumβs Women in STEM prize, and very honoured to be named alongside such amazing women (like the fabulous @alicetwomey.bsky.social) π©βπ¬π
Check out these fun stickers I made for the Centre for Astrophysics and iLAuNCH! Both are drawings of University of Southern Queensland's Mt Kent Observatory (Queensland's only professional observatory!).
p.s. if you want a sticker I have a stash with me, and in the Astro lounge on campus π€«
USyd felt like a fan-forced oven when I was biking earlier! π₯΅
Yay Tam! Couldnβt have gone to a more deserving person.
Come and see @unisq.bsky.social astronomers talk and do some Space Trivia at Bribie Island RSL at 11am on Saturday!
www.facebook.com/share/1arBCH...
@astroshishir.bsky.social @elocinimages.bsky.social
Logo for sprigs is a wattle where each flower represents a different subfield, e.g. exoplanets or asteroseismology.
Lovely to see my art out in the world! I made this fun logo for the Stellar and Planetary Research in Greater Sydney (@sprigs.au) group. How many subfields can you spot in the flowers?
greta ily what an outfit
Itβs Friday night.
Iβve done enough this week.
Youβve done enough this week.
** correction.
This is a daytime event - running from 11-1pm!
Super happy about this paper today led by the brilliant @astroshashank.bsky.social - equations and information theory about what an interferometer really encodes about a stellar surface.
My fabulous student, @elocinimages.bsky.social, is organising Space Bar - an astronomy night on Bribie Island, hosted at the RSL. Come along to hear from @unisq.bsky.social astronomers, do some space trivia, and maybe win a prize β¨
If LLMs are widely being used to give legal, medical, and financial advice, why are they not being regulated accordingly
The March for Humanity across Australia should be a wake-up call for politicians who refuse to take action to end the genocide.
Thousands of people from all walks of life demanding in historic numbers that the government sanction Israel. Labor cannot - must not - ignore them.
