Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 23h

QRPing for the #sciart feed for good measure
🐡

Chop Shop Studio 🇺🇸+🇺🇦 @chopshopstore.bsky.social · 1d

New #crowdfund for #embroidered #patches. These designs have lived as posters for years and were recently converted to enamel pins. Now they're making the leap to patches. Back the campaign and if we hit our goals, we'll add four more designs to the set. www.backerkit.com/c/projects/c...

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

Chop Shop Studio 🇺🇸+🇺🇦 @chopshopstore.bsky.social · 1d

New #crowdfund for #embroidered #patches. These designs have lived as posters for years and were recently converted to enamel pins. Now they're making the leap to patches. Back the campaign and if we hit our goals, we'll add four more designs to the set. www.backerkit.com/c/projects/c...

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Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 1d

Milngavie

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 1d

What’s the word where you’re from that, when pronounced exactly as it looks, identifies a tourist immediately?

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

Yvette Cendes @whereisyvette.bsky.social · 1d

Are you interested in working on astronomical transients/ radio astronomy, all while exploring the beautiful Pacific Northwest on your weekends? I'm hiring a postdoc! Come work for me!

aas.org/jobregister/...

Please get in touch if you have any questions!

🔭🧪🎢

Postdoctoral Positions in Time-Domain Astronomy | American Astronomical Society

The department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Oregon invites applications for a postdoctoral scholar to work with Prof. Yvette Cendes in the field of time-domain astrophysics. This inc...

aas.org

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Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 2d

Found a legend in Walmart today

🔭

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

This Is My Glasgow @thisismyglasgow.bsky.social · 5d

Glasgow pubs can look very inviting on wet and windy nights like tonight. This particular one is the he Islay Inn on the corner of Argyle Street and Radnor Street in the West End of the city.

#glasgow #glasgowpubs #islayinn #argylestreet #architecture #nightphotography #glasgowatnight

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Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 5d

(apologies to everyone who followed me for art and/or science and is instead getting the most mundane nonsense ever 8 days or so. It's been a busy year)

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Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 5d

Me to the pistacchio I didn't manage to pry open

Frodo saying "All right, then. Keep your secrets"

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Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 6d

That brief feeling of complete calm when all the unit tests pass after a major update

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Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 7d

Back when we also all had to apologise to artists who worked on dystopian movies/video games/etc. because it turns out that yes, the graffiti really *is* that corny

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 7d

This week (!) is the 30th anniversary of the announcement of 51 Pegasi b, the first exoplanet found orbiting a star like our Sun - since then, we've found over 6,000!

To celebrate, @alexwitze.bsky.social and @nature.com collected some astronomers' favourite planets:

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

These alien planets are astronomers’ favourites: here’s why

Space scientists look back on 30 years of exoplanet discoveries — from rows of massive ‘super-Earths‘ to worlds with perfectly synchronized orbits.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

Mychal Threets @mychal3ts.bsky.social · 10d

🎶 Take a look, it's in a book 🎶

🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈

#FollowTheRainbow

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

👻SAAAAAAAAHHHHHHvik Ford 🎃 @saavikford.bsky.social · 9d

Are you in Louisville on Thursday? Do you wanna hear me talk about waves?

C’mon out:

Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 9d

Day after tomorrow with @saavikford.bsky.social !!

events.louisville.edu/event/2025-b...

2025 Bullitt Lecture in Astronomy: Wiggles From the Universe: Feeling Our Way Around Using Gravitational Waves, Seeing Our Way Around Using Light

events.louisville.edu

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Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 9d

Mia, thank you for enchanting my timeline on so many platforms for so many years with your photos.

I love that fourth photo because it's so close to the actual colour of the auroras I've seen!

If you can, consider donating a coffee or two ☕

Mia Stålnacke @angrytheinch.bsky.social · Jan 17

Friends.
These are lots of my all-time favorite images. I'm letting them go, frankly out of desperation.
You can download them all and make prints or use as backgrounds on your devices.

Pay whatever you think they're worth ❤️
buymeacoffee.com/angrytheinch

drive.google.com/drive/folder...

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

Mia Stålnacke @angrytheinch.bsky.social · Jan 17

Friends.
These are lots of my all-time favorite images. I'm letting them go, frankly out of desperation.
You can download them all and make prints or use as backgrounds on your devices.

Pay whatever you think they're worth ❤️
buymeacoffee.com/angrytheinch

drive.google.com/drive/folder...

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Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 9d

Sharing with the #sciart feed!
🐡🔭

Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 14d

Mirror, mirror, reflecting our [LASER] beam...
What is the loudest [gravitational wave] signal that we've seen?

It’s #GW250114!

(Yes, it’s been two weeks since it was announced, but I can still celebrate! 🎉 )

#EinsteinWasRight #HawkingWasRight
@ligo.org @egovirgo.bsky.social

An infographic created by @astronerdika titled “MIRROR, MIRROR, reflecting our LASER beam… what’s the LOUDEST signal gravitational wave we’ve seen?” explaining the gravitational-wave discovery GW250114 and how the observation confirms Hawking’s area law. The visual shows the mirrors in a gravitational-wave interferometer speaking about the loudest event they have seen. There are several illustrations as follows:

1. A simplified diagram of a laser interferometer. A red laser beam from a labeled “LASER source” hits a beam splitter, travels down two perpendicular arms, reflects off round mirrors, and recombines at a labeled “detector.” A label near the top-right mirror reads: “the DETECTOR, signal seen by LIGO Hanford & LIGO Livingston.” 
2. An illustration of a binary black hole merger, with two black circles spiraling inward. They are labeled ~34 solar masses and ~32 solar masses. Surrounding spiral lines represent gravitational waves. A nearby caption reads: “the SOURCE, Discovered in 2025, on January 14, at 08:22:03 UTC.”

3. A prominent speech bubble with white text on a purple background states: “GW250114 is the loudest & clearest signal we’ve seen!” A smaller note below reads: “as of January 2025.”

4. Another speech bubble reads: “AND we saw that Hawking was right too!”

5. Visual explanation of Hawking’s Area Law. Two small circles labeled “this BH” + “this BH” are shown to the left of a “<” symbol, pointing to a larger circle labeled “the surface area of the merged BH.” Below there is the explanatory sentence: “GW250114’s remnant event horizon area is larger than the sum of the individual areas.”

6. A section titled “the PAPERS” lists two arXiv references: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.08054 and https://www.arxiv.org/abs/2509.08099

Note: This infographic plays off the classic line from Snow White, “Mirror, mirror on the wall…” Here, the “mirrors” are the ones inside the laser interferometer, reflecting light to detect passing gravitational waves.

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 14d

Mirror, mirror, reflecting our [LASER] beam...
What is the loudest [gravitational wave] signal that we've seen?

It’s #GW250114!

(Yes, it’s been two weeks since it was announced, but I can still celebrate! 🎉 )

#EinsteinWasRight #HawkingWasRight
@ligo.org @egovirgo.bsky.social

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

LIGO Scientific Collaboration @ligo.org · 14d

Yesterday's Astronomy Picture of the Day #APOD featured #GW250114! This artwork imagines the ultimate front-row seat as two black holes spiral together on their way toward producing the strongest gravitational-wave signal we've detected so far

apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25092...

🎨A Simonnet 🔭🐚

This artwork imagines the ultimate front-row seat for GW250114, a powerful collision between two black holes observed in gravitational waves by the US National Science Foundation LIGO. It depicts the view from one of the black holes as it spirals toward its cosmic partner.

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 16d

The finished product!
As always, the most difficult part was knowing when to stop 😅

The same watercolour painting of a hobbit hole as the previous post, but with more depth and contrast

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

Science Explorer (SciX) @scixcommunity.bsky.social · 10d

A natural evolution of ADS, SciX brings its powerful capabilities into new domains. Expanded coverage, intuitive search, smart recommendations, and tools for collaboration. SciX makes research more discoverable, connected, and accessible than ever before. https://scixplorer.org/scixblog/scix-launch

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

Science Explorer (SciX) @scixcommunity.bsky.social · 10d

We have lift-off! Science Explorer, or #SciX to its friends, is excited to be your new home for open, connected, and trustworthy science. Explore. Share. Discover at scixplorer.org #OpenScience #ResearchInfrastructure #SpaceScience #EarthScience #PlanetaryScience

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Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 13d

I remember buying the 25th anniversary edition of the DVD so I feel very attacked by this post

ptklein @ptklein.com · 13d

The Rocky Horror Picture Show opened on US screens 50 years ago today. Initially a major box office bomb, cult cinema outsiders and queer audiences quickly took up the film’s mantle and turned it into a unique and exciting way of engaging with the movies. Remember kids, don’t dream it—be it!!

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 13d

I don't know about the rest of the book but I will confidently say that the ending of The Edge of Space-Time is actually pretty great and I am proud of it

Which is good because first pass pages are in, which means I have to read the book for the nth time

Please preorder!

The Edge of Space-Time by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein: 9780593701683 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

A fresh, charming, socially conscious tour of the mysteries of space-time, from the award-winning author of The Disordered Cosmos In her highly acclaimed debut, distinguished cosmologist and particle...

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

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Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 16d

The finished product!
As always, the most difficult part was knowing when to stop 😅

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Reposted by Laurence Datrier

Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 16d

I hadn't painted in a *while*, but here's a WIP of a birthday card for a friend!

A watercolour painting of a hobbit hole, with a separate "no admittance except on party business" sign

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