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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 6h

The quote “We are stardust, billion year old carbon” is from Joni Mitchell’s song Woodstock, though Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s cover made it iconic. :)

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 6h

You’re right, the bright star cluster does look like a reflection on the Bubble Nebula’s surface. The cosmos is really stunning.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 6h

You're welcome!

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 7h

Image description: Artist's illustration of one model of the bright gamma-ray burst GRB 080319B.
The explosion is highly beamed into two bipolar jets, with a narrow inner jet surrounded by a wider outer jet.
(More at the link above)

Image credit: NASA/Swift/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith and John Jones

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 7h

"The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars.
We are made of starstuff."

— Carl Sagan. Cosmos (1980).

Image source➡️ imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/10sep08...

🔭 🧪 #science

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The image is an artist's illustration of one model of the bright gamma-ray burst GRB 080319B.
The explosion appears highly beamed into two bipolar jets, with a narrow inner jet (white) surrounded by a wider outer jet (green).

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Reposted by Nereide

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 1d

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In this fascinating image by Russel Croman you can admire a stunning 3D effect of NGC 7635: the Bubble Nebula, an H II region emission nebula in Cassiopeia.

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap05110...

The "bubble" is generated by the stellar wind from the...

🔭 🧪 #science

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The image shows NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula. It is a 10-light-year gas sphere, pushed by the stellar wind of star BD+602522. To the lower right, a giant molecular cloud glows, heated by the star’s radiation. Shown in scientifically mapped colors to enhance contrast, it’s part of a larger star and shell complex, visible with a small telescope toward Cassiopeia.

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Reposted by Nereide

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · Sep 3

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An interesting study shares JWST breathtaking images of a protoplanetary disk seen edge-on around the protostar IRAS04302+2247, still nestled in its birth cloud.

The young star is located 525 ly away in the Taurus star-forming region.

Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, M. Villenave et al

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"A wide-field image of IRAS 16594-4656 taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. The nebula’s bright core is split by a narrow dark band, with expansive rainbow lobes of light and colour radiating outward. Numerous background galaxies and stars are visible across the field."
From the press release.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 1d

The Bubble Nebula isn’t a bubble that can pop. It’s a stable gaseous orb, shaped by the stellar wind from a massive central star. The wind’s pressure maintains its form, but it won’t burst like a soap bubble. It’s a steady cosmic feature, visible in Cassiopeia.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 1d

A molecular cloud is a type of interstellar cloud where the density and temperature allow the formation of molecular hydrogen (H2) from individual hydrogen atoms.

Molecular clouds are the prime location for the birth of new stars.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 1d

massive central star, SAO 20575 (BD+60°2522).

NGC 7635 is close to a giant molecular cloud that contains the expansion of the bubble gas.

The dense molecular cloud itself is excited by the radiation from the hot central star and glows.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 1d

🧵
In this fascinating image by Russel Croman you can admire a stunning 3D effect of NGC 7635: the Bubble Nebula, an H II region emission nebula in Cassiopeia.

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap05110...

The "bubble" is generated by the stellar wind from the...

🔭 🧪 #science

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Reposted by Nereide

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 2d

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The Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 has just been awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, John M. Martinis

“for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.”

🧪 ⚛️ #science #NobelPrize2025 #physics

The image is an illustration of the three Nobel laureates in physics, from left to right: John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 2d

More at the official Nobel Prize press release➡️ nobelprize.org/prizes/physi...

Credit: Illustrations by Niklas Elmehed, via #NobelPrize

Nobel Prize in Physics 2025

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 was awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electri...

nobelprize.org

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 2d

Their work, by facilitating the understanding of quantum mechanics on a macroscopic scale, has opened possibilities for next-generation quantum technologies, such as quantum cryptography, computers, and sensors.

The prize is shared equally among the three laureates.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 2d

Their experiments, realized in 1984-1985 using a superconducting circuit with a Josephson junction, demonstrated quantum effects, like tunnelling and quantised energy levels, in a system large enough to be held in hand.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 2d

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The Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 has just been awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, John M. Martinis

“for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.”

🧪 ⚛️ #science #NobelPrize2025 #physics

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Reposted by Nereide

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 4d

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This spectacular image, by team ARO (astroaro.fr/en/home/), shows the Flame Nebula designated as NGC 2024.

It is an emission nebula located some 1,500 light-years away towards the constellation of Orion.

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap21041...

🔭 🧪 #science

The image features the nice Flame Nebula (NGC 2024), located 1500 light-years away towards the constellation of Orion. It resembles a a blazing fire, with dark dust lanes on the left. The bright star Alnitak, on the far left, lights up the nebula, making the hydrogen gas clouds shine. The image combines three visible color bands and a long exposure in hydrogen light, revealing details. The Flame Nebula is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 4d

opens a universe of discoveries!

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 4d

From that “red dot,” lasers have revolutionized everything, from artificial guide stars that let telescopes capture sharp images of distant galaxies, to eye surgery.
I’d add laser spectroscopy, which unlocks the secrets of stars. That’s the power of fundamental research: a spark of curiosity

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 4d

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The shining star Alnitak, visible here on the far left, radiates energetic ultraviolet light into the Flame Nebula making it glow.

Dark gas and dust in front of the bright part of the Nebula cause the dark network appearing in the center of the glowing gas.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 4d

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This spectacular image, by team ARO (astroaro.fr/en/home/), shows the Flame Nebula designated as NGC 2024.

It is an emission nebula located some 1,500 light-years away towards the constellation of Orion.

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap21041...

🔭 🧪 #science

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Reposted by Nereide

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 4d

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As a physicist, teacher, and sci communicator with a genuine love for astrophysics & particle physics, I really connect with the insights shared in this thread about the importance of fundamental research.

In addition to the great points already made, I’d like to emphasize

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🔭 🧪 ⚛️ #cosmology

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 6d

As a theoretical cosmologist, I'm frequently asked "what is the benefit of the work you're doing for people's lives?" Nothing I work on makes money or cures disease.

There are a few different answers one can give, at various levels of "convincing" / "actually relevant to why the work is done."

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Reposted by Nereide

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · Feb 3

🧵 🧪 #histsci #photography #SciArt
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Amazingly beautiful lenticular cloud (Altocumulus lenticularis) over Etna, taken during the sunset, on February 2020.

Did you know the earliest known use of the noun lenticular cloud is in the 1890s?

Image credit: Marisa Liotta

Image source➡️ bit.ly/3o3M88a

The pic shows an amazingly beautiful lenticular cloud (Altocumulus lenticularis) over Mount Etna, taken during the sunset, on February 2020. The cloud shines in the red light of the sunset like a large smooth hat.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 4d

inspired generations to dream big, sparking interest in STEM and shaping a global sense of possibility.

Fundamental research, like the Moon shot, often yields breakthroughs we can’t predict upfront, but history shows it transforms our world in ways that ripple far beyond the initial goal.
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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 4d

It’s tough to pin down exactly where we’d be without the Apollo program, but its impact is undeniable.
Technologically, it drove innovations like microelectronics, satellite communication, & advanced materials: think of the precursors to modern computers & GPS.
Culturally, landing on the Moon
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