Arun Kannawadi
LightNews LightNews
astroarun.bsky.social
Arun Kannawadi
@astroarun.bsky.social
93 followers 110 following 26 posts
Physics Faculty @Duke working on cosmology & LSST/Rubin Science pipelines dev. Dog parent & Immigrant. Opinions are my own, and I mostly keep them to myself.
Posts Replies Media Videos
astroarun.bsky.social
Tank you for your attention to this matter!!!
planetdr.bsky.social Sarah Hörst @planetdr.bsky.social · Jul 25
Sean Duffy signed his first email to NASA employees “Tank You”
July 27, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Reposted by Arun Kannawadi
idontevencara.bsky.social
Awful news: CMB-S4 is cancelled.

This experiment was massively exciting for the cosmology community. It would have told us about the state of the universe some 400,000 years after the big bang, at a level of precision we can now only dream about

⚛️🧪

www.science.org/content/arti...
U.S. abandons hunt for signal of cosmic inflation
Now-canceled CMB-S4 project would have searched the afterglow of the Big Bang for signs of cosmic exponential growth spurt
www.science.org
July 11, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Arun Kannawadi
ebellm.bsky.social
🔭 Friendly advice for astronomers in the US and Chile--if you are excited to access @vrubinobs.bsky.social Data Preview 1 on Monday, request your account *now*--it has to get approved by a human. For best results use your university single-sign on, if available.

rsp.lsst.io/guides/getti...
Getting an account on the RSP
Before getting started: Understand whether you have Rubin data rights.- Rubin data rights are required in order to hold an account in the Rubin Science Platform., All scientists and students affili...
rsp.lsst.io
June 27, 2025 at 12:06 AM
astroarun.bsky.social
If you're in the triangle region of North Carolina, come see this and more on a big scoreboard at the Duke University watch party! #CaptureTheCosmos #RubinFirstLook
vrubinobs.bsky.social NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @vrubinobs.bsky.social · Jun 23
Introducing...your sneak peek at the cosmos captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory!

Can you guess these regions of sky?

This is just a small peek...join us at 11am US EDT for your full First Look at how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos! 🔭🧪

#RubinFirstLook
ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream
A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. The image focuses on a collection of interacting galaxies connected by delicate streams of stars. At top center lies a large elliptical galaxy that is dense and smooth, like a polished stone glowing with golden light. Like delicate spider silk or stretched taffy, these stellar bridges link the large elliptical to the few larger galaxies beneath, evidence of past collisions. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black. A cosmic tapestry of glowing tan and pink gas clouds with dark dust lanes. In the upper right, the Trifid Nebula resembles a small flower in space. Its soft, pinkish gas petals are surrounded by blue gas, and streaked with dark, finger-like veins of dust that divide it into three parts. It radiates a gentle, misty glow, diffuse and soft like the warmth of breath on a cold hand. To the lower left, the much larger Lagoon Nebula stretches wide like a churning sea of magenta gas, with bright blue, knotted clumps sprinkled throughout where new stars are born. Both nebulae are embedded in a soft tan backdrop of gas that is brighter on the left than on the right, etched with dark tendrils of dust and sprinkled with the pinpricks of millions of stars. A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. To the lower left is a region filled with the hundreds of golden glittering gems of a distant galaxy cluster. In the foreground, below and right of center, two blue spiral galaxies look like eyes beneath the entangled mass of a triple galaxy merger in the upper right. A few bright blue points of foreground stars pierce the glittering tapestry. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.
June 23, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Reposted by Arun Kannawadi
telescoper.bsky.social
In response to the ever-increasing number of submissions to the Open Journal of Astrophysics, I'd like to invite more astrophysicistsonto our Editorial Board. We're looking for volunteers with expertise in any area of astrophysics!

Please contact me or @ojastro.bsky.social

astro.theoj.org
The Open Journal of Astrophysics
The Open Journal of Astrophysics is an arXiv overlay journal providing open access to peer-reviewed research in astrophysics and cosmology.
astro.theoj.org
May 26, 2025 at 9:59 AM
astroarun.bsky.social
If you're in the triangle region of North Carolina, join us at the Rubin First Watch party at Duke and talk to those of us who made it happen in-person.
vrubinobs.bsky.social NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @vrubinobs.bsky.social · May 23
🚨 SAVE THE DATE: The world's First Look at images from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory is coming June 23, 2025! 🔭🧪

Get ready for a preview of how Rubin will soon #CaptureTheCosmos in its decade-long survey 🌌

More details soon—stay up to date at rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-first-look
Save-the-date graphic for the worldwide "First Look" at Rubin Observatory first revealed images. Text reads, "Save the date! June 23, 2025. NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory First Look"
May 23, 2025 at 5:03 PM
astroarun.bsky.social
What a milestone for the @vrubinobs.bsky.social ! I have been with the project for almost 6 years now but have been interested in it for more than 12 years. I was happy to be at the celebration virtually and excited for more things to come.
vrubinobs.bsky.social NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @vrubinobs.bsky.social · Apr 17
Eye to the sky…on-sky engineering tests have begun at NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory using the world’s largest digital camera! 🔭🧪

After installing and testing the LSST Camera, we turned the telescope to the sky—a moment 20 years in the making!

With that, Rubin #CommissioningNotes are back ✍️

🧵
Around two dozen people sit and stand at a long desk with computer monitors out of view. Several people are smiling or have their mouths open in amazement. One person in the back has their arms raised in celebration.
April 17, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by Arun Kannawadi
seshnadathur.bsky.social
A 2/3rds budget cut to astrophysics and completely dropping Roman 😱🤢
April 11, 2025 at 1:27 PM
astroarun.bsky.social
We should declare March 2025 as THE month of cosmology
astroroyalscot.bsky.social Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · Mar 26
Too busy to read the paper? Want the inside scoop? (6-month B-mode saga, surprise at unblinding, quintupling of our spectroscopic calibration sample, methodology updates!) What erased the S8 tension? @justshaun.bsky.social has asked all the questions for you! 🔭

🍿: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIQK...
March 26, 2025 at 1:38 PM
astroarun.bsky.social
Oh, the ivory
May 30, 2024 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Arun Kannawadi
mossmatters.bsky.social
Duke's destroying a globally recognized generational legacy. I know of 15 biology faculty and curators who trained at Duke and who used the herbarium, just in my 10 years there. Climate Commitment "for life"? A budget is a moral document and Duke has shown its cards.
www.science.org/content/arti...
‘A tragic mistake’: Decision to close Duke University’s herbarium triggers furor
Century-old institution boasts many unique specimens and is considered a “poster child for modern curation”
www.science.org
February 17, 2024 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Arun Kannawadi
fernway.bsky.social
sad news - Duke University decided to dump their herbarium, which has over 800,000 plant specimens, one of the largest among in America, and includes many type specimens of Lady Gaga ferns. What a shame. Please stop Duke admins for making this horrible mistake!!
February 14, 2024 at 4:40 PM
astroarun.bsky.social
What's a good alternative for "the universe is 'flat'"? I was speaking to a 6-year old about space who has picked that term from the Internet and thinks that the universe must be made of stacked sheets of paper. I had to tell him that the observable universe (he knew of that term) is a sphere.
December 3, 2023 at 4:54 AM
astroarun.bsky.social
We are hiring a research scientist and multiple postdoctoral researchers to join our ever-expanding cosmology group (pun intended) Duke Physics. Details are in our job ad jobregister.aas.org/ad/354aef95. Reach out to me or Prof. Troxel, or @evevavagiakis.bsky.social if you have any questions.
Postdoctoral positions in cosmology | AAS Job Register
jobregister.aas.org
October 29, 2023 at 3:44 PM