Benjamin Pope
@benjaminpope.bsky.social
Australian astronomer
he/him
Sydney/Gadi
he/him
Sydney/Gadi
Pinned
Beyond excited to see the announcement of the Lazuli Space Observatory project - a 3m optical space telescope concept developed by Schmidt Sciences, with an integral field spectrograph, coronagraph, and widefield imager. What a mission!
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
Sorry to hear that Sky at Night stalwart, historian of English astronomy, high powered lecturer and friend to astronomy societies everywhere Allan Chapman has died. He’ll be much missed.
January 24, 2026 at 11:12 AM
Sorry to hear that Sky at Night stalwart, historian of English astronomy, high powered lecturer and friend to astronomy societies everywhere Allan Chapman has died. He’ll be much missed.
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
🥁 Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2025: #10
#Hottest100
#NowPlaying
🕖 7:23 pm
🎵 Please Don't Move To Melbourne
🧑🎤 Ball Park Music
🎧 Apple Music / Spotify / YouTube Music
#Hottest100
#NowPlaying
🕖 7:23 pm
🎵 Please Don't Move To Melbourne
🧑🎤 Ball Park Music
🎧 Apple Music / Spotify / YouTube Music
January 24, 2026 at 8:24 AM
🥁 Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2025: #10
#Hottest100
#NowPlaying
🕖 7:23 pm
🎵 Please Don't Move To Melbourne
🧑🎤 Ball Park Music
🎧 Apple Music / Spotify / YouTube Music
#Hottest100
#NowPlaying
🕖 7:23 pm
🎵 Please Don't Move To Melbourne
🧑🎤 Ball Park Music
🎧 Apple Music / Spotify / YouTube Music
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
Indonesia naming its HSR "Whoosh" to stand for the Indonesian "Waktu Hemat, Operasi Optimal, Sistem Hebat" which means something utterly contrived (Timesaving, Optimal Operation, Outstanding System) is phenomenal, I love everything about it. More railways should have bilingual onomatopoeia names.
January 23, 2026 at 10:01 AM
Indonesia naming its HSR "Whoosh" to stand for the Indonesian "Waktu Hemat, Operasi Optimal, Sistem Hebat" which means something utterly contrived (Timesaving, Optimal Operation, Outstanding System) is phenomenal, I love everything about it. More railways should have bilingual onomatopoeia names.
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
Arxiv's lack of commitment to its author page feature is so disappointing. Why, when I click on the link that is an author's name, am I sent to a search page of "F. Lastname"? This is ridiculous
January 22, 2026 at 11:42 PM
Arxiv's lack of commitment to its author page feature is so disappointing. Why, when I click on the link that is an author's name, am I sent to a search page of "F. Lastname"? This is ridiculous
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
On Isherwood posts:
Cabaret is a great film and an outstanding play, but to get a real feel about early 1930s read the Isherwood source material: the Berlin stories and diaries.
Like Zone of Interest the menace and horror is what you can sense off-page/off-screen.
And it was written at the time.
Cabaret is a great film and an outstanding play, but to get a real feel about early 1930s read the Isherwood source material: the Berlin stories and diaries.
Like Zone of Interest the menace and horror is what you can sense off-page/off-screen.
And it was written at the time.
January 23, 2026 at 8:28 AM
On Isherwood posts:
Cabaret is a great film and an outstanding play, but to get a real feel about early 1930s read the Isherwood source material: the Berlin stories and diaries.
Like Zone of Interest the menace and horror is what you can sense off-page/off-screen.
And it was written at the time.
Cabaret is a great film and an outstanding play, but to get a real feel about early 1930s read the Isherwood source material: the Berlin stories and diaries.
Like Zone of Interest the menace and horror is what you can sense off-page/off-screen.
And it was written at the time.
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
I just thought everyone should see this
January 22, 2026 at 11:02 PM
I just thought everyone should see this
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
Q: How do I unlock Sunglasses Macron?
A: It's very difficult to unlock Sunglasses Macron in the course of a normal game because it requires a specific and unlikely sequence of events. While default Macron is ruler of France, the USA must choose the monarchy path and then lay claim to Greenland.
A: It's very difficult to unlock Sunglasses Macron in the course of a normal game because it requires a specific and unlikely sequence of events. While default Macron is ruler of France, the USA must choose the monarchy path and then lay claim to Greenland.
January 20, 2026 at 3:04 PM
Q: How do I unlock Sunglasses Macron?
A: It's very difficult to unlock Sunglasses Macron in the course of a normal game because it requires a specific and unlikely sequence of events. While default Macron is ruler of France, the USA must choose the monarchy path and then lay claim to Greenland.
A: It's very difficult to unlock Sunglasses Macron in the course of a normal game because it requires a specific and unlikely sequence of events. While default Macron is ruler of France, the USA must choose the monarchy path and then lay claim to Greenland.
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
Imagine making a shitpost on Cyberpunk only for William Gibson to answer it.
January 20, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Imagine making a shitpost on Cyberpunk only for William Gibson to answer it.
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
The jackets are here, but not evenly distributed.
January 20, 2026 at 10:07 PM
The jackets are here, but not evenly distributed.
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
I think we’ve got better and more culturally-varied street food than I could have imagined, cool jackets galore, and drugs that make us think we’re really fast and strong before they kill us.
we're getting all the downsides of cyberpunk (social alienation, ruthless hyper capitalism, digital mass surveillance state) but none of the promised upsides (cheap street food, cool jackets, super drugs that make you really fast and strong before they kill you)
January 20, 2026 at 10:02 PM
I think we’ve got better and more culturally-varied street food than I could have imagined, cool jackets galore, and drugs that make us think we’re really fast and strong before they kill us.
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
Join us @sydney.edu.au for the annual Stibbs Lecture.
Deciphering the Music of the Stars: Asteroseismology, presented by astrophysicist Professor Conny Aerts.
Listen to the music of the stars, and see them in a whole new way!
Thurs 12 Feb 6pm.
Register: www.sydney.edu.au/science/news...
🔭 ⚛️ ☄️ 🧪
Deciphering the Music of the Stars: Asteroseismology, presented by astrophysicist Professor Conny Aerts.
Listen to the music of the stars, and see them in a whole new way!
Thurs 12 Feb 6pm.
Register: www.sydney.edu.au/science/news...
🔭 ⚛️ ☄️ 🧪
January 20, 2026 at 11:24 PM
Join us @sydney.edu.au for the annual Stibbs Lecture.
Deciphering the Music of the Stars: Asteroseismology, presented by astrophysicist Professor Conny Aerts.
Listen to the music of the stars, and see them in a whole new way!
Thurs 12 Feb 6pm.
Register: www.sydney.edu.au/science/news...
🔭 ⚛️ ☄️ 🧪
Deciphering the Music of the Stars: Asteroseismology, presented by astrophysicist Professor Conny Aerts.
Listen to the music of the stars, and see them in a whole new way!
Thurs 12 Feb 6pm.
Register: www.sydney.edu.au/science/news...
🔭 ⚛️ ☄️ 🧪
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
Left: Assistant Professor coming into class
Right: Dean giving your department the news about the budget that prevents you from (re)filling the four retirements
Right: Dean giving your department the news about the budget that prevents you from (re)filling the four retirements
Left: writing the damn paper in the shadows of an archive nearby.
Right: presenting the said paper as a keynote at a fancy conference.
#academicchatter
Right: presenting the said paper as a keynote at a fancy conference.
#academicchatter
January 20, 2026 at 9:26 PM
Left: Assistant Professor coming into class
Right: Dean giving your department the news about the budget that prevents you from (re)filling the four retirements
Right: Dean giving your department the news about the budget that prevents you from (re)filling the four retirements
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
i'm going to spend the rest of my life figuring out how a small band of elites decided that acting as the global currency and primary military hegemon was gay and feminine coded
BREAKING: Europe may begin selling U.S. assets in response to a new conflict with the US, a move that could trigger a dollar collapse, per Bloomberg.
January 20, 2026 at 6:18 PM
i'm going to spend the rest of my life figuring out how a small band of elites decided that acting as the global currency and primary military hegemon was gay and feminine coded
Very sad news
Oh sad news for folks in Aus!
Dame Marie Bashir has passed.
The daughter of Lebanese immigrants, she went on to do lots of good things and was the NSW Governor for some years.
She was an enormous ally of queer and Indigenous communities from the get go.
Titan amongst us mortals.
Vale.
Dame Marie Bashir has passed.
The daughter of Lebanese immigrants, she went on to do lots of good things and was the NSW Governor for some years.
She was an enormous ally of queer and Indigenous communities from the get go.
Titan amongst us mortals.
Vale.
NSW's first female governor Dame Marie Bashir dies aged 95
NSW Premier Chris Minns says a state funeral will be held for the veteran public servant, who he describes as "an extraordinary Australian".
www.abc.net.au
January 20, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Very sad news
evergreen
the sydney sixers were invented to make me, specifically as an individual, upset
January 20, 2026 at 11:29 AM
evergreen
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
MLK's assassination (along with many other leaders of the civil rights movement) definitely warped our minds to make us think there was a lot more distance between what they fought for and what's happening today
January 19, 2026 at 7:41 PM
MLK's assassination (along with many other leaders of the civil rights movement) definitely warped our minds to make us think there was a lot more distance between what they fought for and what's happening today
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
It's wild that the maga base are so brain poisoned that the one time their cult leader legit does a great thing they finally stand up to him and demand he disavows it!
Operation Warp Speed was like the best thing he did and then he ran from it and became the antivax king
January 20, 2026 at 5:05 AM
It's wild that the maga base are so brain poisoned that the one time their cult leader legit does a great thing they finally stand up to him and demand he disavows it!
looking for strategy in Trump is just missing that he’s the kind of guy who defects in the prisoner’s dilemma because it’s fun
January 20, 2026 at 10:34 AM
looking for strategy in Trump is just missing that he’s the kind of guy who defects in the prisoner’s dilemma because it’s fun
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
Be smart: insiders say the president is only attempting to start WW3 with our closest allies to distract from bad optics brought on by the sacking of Minneapolis, which is a distraction from him breaking the law by refusing to disclose the extent of his involvement in the pedophile ring, which is a
January 20, 2026 at 12:59 AM
Be smart: insiders say the president is only attempting to start WW3 with our closest allies to distract from bad optics brought on by the sacking of Minneapolis, which is a distraction from him breaking the law by refusing to disclose the extent of his involvement in the pedophile ring, which is a
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
(Always possible that the median voter just wants to do less trade and breakdown NATO over Greenland, but my sense is specific issue polling says otherwise. I think the Rs just have a vibe of competence on these issues cos American politics is just Gender and people are stupid about Gender.)
January 20, 2026 at 5:32 AM
(Always possible that the median voter just wants to do less trade and breakdown NATO over Greenland, but my sense is specific issue polling says otherwise. I think the Rs just have a vibe of competence on these issues cos American politics is just Gender and people are stupid about Gender.)
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
Rob Hirst has had a massive impact on Australian culture. He was the engine driving one of the greatest live bands of all time. RIP, dear Rob. You are irreplaceable, one of a kind, and myself, my family, and all the rest of this great country will miss you so much.
January 20, 2026 at 7:05 AM
Rob Hirst has had a massive impact on Australian culture. He was the engine driving one of the greatest live bands of all time. RIP, dear Rob. You are irreplaceable, one of a kind, and myself, my family, and all the rest of this great country will miss you so much.
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
Bold move. If there's even a shadow of a risk of potential loss of IP, every single university in the world will immediately shut down any option to use any OpenAI product in research (or anywhere).
[making shit up as the words leave my mouth] Let’s say drug discovery [chatgpt does not do this] if we licensed our technology [chatgpt? GPT? You already sell api access what are you talking about] and you have a breakthrough [what?] and we get a licensed portion of sales [??? So you get…IP?]
January 20, 2026 at 5:21 AM
Bold move. If there's even a shadow of a risk of potential loss of IP, every single university in the world will immediately shut down any option to use any OpenAI product in research (or anywhere).
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
There is no strategy
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
January 20, 2026 at 6:41 AM
There is no strategy
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
Donald Trump could be naked, yelling at cars on the freeway, and Republicans would still be all "Democrats have just never witnessed a genius at work".
January 19, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Donald Trump could be naked, yelling at cars on the freeway, and Republicans would still be all "Democrats have just never witnessed a genius at work".
Reposted by Benjamin Pope
We're so excited to share the results of the ALMA large program ARKS that studied the distribution of dust and gas in a sample of 24 exoKuiper belts. With @lucaroundtheworld.bsky.social, Meredith Hughes and a large collaboration, we just published 10 papers presenting our first results arkslp.org
January 20, 2026 at 9:18 AM
We're so excited to share the results of the ALMA large program ARKS that studied the distribution of dust and gas in a sample of 24 exoKuiper belts. With @lucaroundtheworld.bsky.social, Meredith Hughes and a large collaboration, we just published 10 papers presenting our first results arkslp.org