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Fun Fact Science with Kovi
@funfactscience.com
3.8K followers 180 following 1.1K posts
Astrophysics PhD candidate studying stars that go snap, crackle, and pop - communicating scientist - meme aficionado.
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Fun Fact Science with Kovi @funfactscience.com · Nov 12
Woke up to a bunch of new followers so it might be worth reintroducing myself:

My name is Kovi (pronounced like ☕️) and I'm an #astrophysics PhD candidate with a passion for #science communication. I search the skies with radio #telescopes to find and study weird (and often exploding) stuff 📡🌌
Context: Photo of me at the MIT radio stars conference next to my poster about periodic radio emission from an ultracool brown dwarf. Description: Photo of man with olive skin and brown hair/beard wearing green/black flannel shirt, jeans and white sneakers. Next to man is landscape scientific poster in the style of Windows 95 computer desktop with images and text.
funfactscience.com
#astro plot of the week right here!
Really interesting work @conairedeagan.bsky.social
January 21, 2026 at 6:06 AM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
taramurphy.bsky.social
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...

🔭 ⚛️ ☄️ 🧪
A slide advertising the Stibbs Lecture at University of Sydney. The key information is: Join us for the 2026 Stibbs Lecture - Deciphering the Music of the Stars: Asteroseismology, presented by renowned astrophysicist Professor Conny Aerts. See main post for registration link.
January 20, 2026 at 11:24 PM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
redshiftless.bsky.social
If you add mass early, you basically take a brown dwarf and put it in a region of parameter space that is red dwarf-like. So naturally we call these maroon(~ red+brown) dwarfs. These are basically indistinguishable from ordinary low-mass stars as far as we can tell.
Meme of a guy in a red uniform shirt sweating and deciding between several buttons. The guy has a brown circle obscuring his face and is captioned "Brown Dwarf Gaining Mass". There are three buttons labeled "Pink", "Beige", and "Maroon"
January 19, 2026 at 6:41 AM
funfactscience.com
"We are not motivated by personal profit, but by the close interrogation of the world around to constantly improve our understanding, and edge closer to the truth."
jcom.sissa.it/article/pubi...
Why speak?
In an information free-for-all why should scientists bother to add their voice? In this commentary piece I argue there is an increasingly important role for scientists amongst the growing ranks of pub...
jcom.sissa.it
January 18, 2026 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
funfactscience.com
A much needed glimmer of good news after a tumultuous year of redundancies, uncertainty, and budgetary strain. Here's one interesting takeaway:

"NASA has its largest budget in nearly three decades, but has fewer employees than it had in July 1960 at the dawn of the space age."
leighfletcher.bsky.social Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 5d
Good write-up from @planetarysociety.bsky.social on the budget bill that passed Congress, explaining what space science has gained and lost, and which projects appear to be funded for FY26 (including Uranus, HabWorlds, & contributions to international missions).

www.planetary.org/articles/adv...
You just saved NASA's budget
Here's what Congress rejected of the draconian cuts faced by NASA in FY 2026.
www.planetary.org
January 16, 2026 at 12:20 PM
funfactscience.com
A much needed glimmer of good news after a tumultuous year of redundancies, uncertainty, and budgetary strain. Here's one interesting takeaway:

"NASA has its largest budget in nearly three decades, but has fewer employees than it had in July 1960 at the dawn of the space age."
leighfletcher.bsky.social Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 5d
Good write-up from @planetarysociety.bsky.social on the budget bill that passed Congress, explaining what space science has gained and lost, and which projects appear to be funded for FY26 (including Uranus, HabWorlds, & contributions to international missions).

www.planetary.org/articles/adv...
You just saved NASA's budget
Here's what Congress rejected of the draconian cuts faced by NASA in FY 2026.
www.planetary.org
January 16, 2026 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
hanaama.bsky.social
📢New paper alert!
"IK Pegasi and the Double Merger Path to Type Ia Supernovae", co-led with S. Shahaf
How do you get a massive white dwarf paired with a Barium-rich companion? It started as a triple system!
A potential major pathway to SNe Ia.
ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2026arXi...
#astronomy #stars
An infographic explaining the IK Pegasi system. Panel 1 shows the puzzle: a massive white dwarf with a Barium-rich companion. Panel 2 shows the solution: a hierarchical triple system where an inner binary merges. Panel 3 shows the destiny: a double merger leading to a Type Ia Supernova. Infographic created using Gemini.
January 15, 2026 at 11:03 PM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
funfactscience.com
it gets me every time
simpsons meme of Milhouse crawling out of mattress fort onto grass in front of Homer. Milhouse is labelled "random internet magazine" and is saying "physicists have broken science". Homer, standing in front of a blue sky background, is labelled "cosmologists" and is saying "no they haven't"
December 24, 2024 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
taramurphy.bsky.social
Sometimes when I'm quickly checking whether someone in my team has classified a #RadioAstronomy source correctly, I paste the coordinates into the Aladin Sky Atlas , and confirm...

Yes, it is a star!

Such a great #AstroSci tool :) (aladin.cds.unistra.fr)
Screenshot of the Aladin Sky Atlas astronomy tool, showing 4 images of a star. Top left - 2MASS (blue colour) Top right - DECaLs (red colour) Bottom left - DSS (yellow colour) Bottom right - allWISE (green colour)
December 12, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
arc-tracker.bsky.social
🚨 #CentresOfExcellence #CE26 announcement:

❗️Outcomes announced publicly for ARC Centres of Excellence 2026❗️

See ARC's RMS for list ➡️ https://rms.arc.gov.au/RMS/Report/Download/Report/a3f6be6e-33f7-4fb5-98a6-7526aaa184cf/288

/bot
December 8, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
funfactscience.com
It's very easy, and often justified, to feel negatively about LLMs and their impacts on humanity. This blog post is a great example of an important criticism balanced with constructive suggestions for how to overcome the main pitfalls of using LLMs for learning.
jwuphysics.bsky.social John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · Dec 5
In the era of LLMs, what does learning look like? What happens when are overconfident in our understanding due to AI sycophancy? Is it even useful to use LLMs for education without outsourcing our thinking?

New blog post: jwuphysics.github.io/blog/2025/12...
Learning with LLMs
AI is here, and its impacts on education cannot be overstated. Let’s put aside the issues of cheating; I assume that you want to learn, perhaps with the assistance of LLMs if they are actually helpful...
jwuphysics.github.io
December 6, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
funfactscience.com
the internet never fails to disappoint...
juliet-turner.bsky.social Juliet Turner @juliet-turner.bsky.social · Nov 17
POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success
November 18, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
funfactscience.com
Thanksgiving isn't really a thing in Australia but I am certainly thankful to have this majestical floof in my life 🥹
A white fluffy dog with his tongue out sits on a concrete ledge in the foreground on a sunny day. Behind the dog is a wide body of blue water with a large cable-stayed bridge spanning across it, along with docked boats and city buildings in the distance.
November 27, 2025 at 10:55 PM
funfactscience.com
It's very easy, and often justified, to feel negatively about LLMs and their impacts on humanity. This blog post is a great example of an important criticism balanced with constructive suggestions for how to overcome the main pitfalls of using LLMs for learning.
jwuphysics.bsky.social John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · Dec 5
In the era of LLMs, what does learning look like? What happens when are overconfident in our understanding due to AI sycophancy? Is it even useful to use LLMs for education without outsourcing our thinking?

New blog post: jwuphysics.github.io/blog/2025/12...
Learning with LLMs
AI is here, and its impacts on education cannot be overstated. Let’s put aside the issues of cheating; I assume that you want to learn, perhaps with the assistance of LLMs if they are actually helpful...
jwuphysics.github.io
December 6, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
funfactscience.com
Awesome new work by @emilykerrison.bsky.social discovering a whole heap of new peaked spectrum radio galaxies!
📡🔭🧪⚛️
arxiv.org/abs/2509.21233
RadioSED II: discovering the peaked spectrum radio sources in Stripe 82
This paper is the second in a series presenting \textsc{RadioSED}, a Bayesian inference framework for constructing, modelling and classifying radio spectral energy distributions from publicly-availabl...
arxiv.org
September 26, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
funfactscience.com
~ Frank, Destination Wedding
There are seven billion people in the world. So when one of them behaves badly toward you, he's actually doing you a great favor because he's saving you time. He's telling you that he's not worth your while. He's freeing you to say, "Thank you for the information. I will now move on to the 6,999,999,999 other people, some of whom may have some value.
November 6, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
funfactscience.com
When people ask what the scientific method looks like, show them this video.
November 20, 2025 at 8:50 PM
funfactscience.com
Thanksgiving isn't really a thing in Australia but I am certainly thankful to have this majestical floof in my life 🥹
A white fluffy dog with his tongue out sits on a concrete ledge in the foreground on a sunny day. Behind the dog is a wide body of blue water with a large cable-stayed bridge spanning across it, along with docked boats and city buildings in the distance.
November 27, 2025 at 10:55 PM
funfactscience.com
(un)surprisingly fun
ccanonne.github.io Clément Canonne @ccanonne.github.io · Nov 21
In case you aren't already aware of one of the nerdiest, nich-est online games: TeXnique, where the goal is to type LaTeX formulae as quickly as possible. texnique.xyz

It is "fun."
An example, here asking to recreate in LaTeX the definition of a pseudorandom number generator
November 22, 2025 at 1:21 AM
funfactscience.com
When people ask what the scientific method looks like, show them this video.
November 20, 2025 at 8:50 PM
funfactscience.com
the internet never fails to disappoint...
juliet-turner.bsky.social Juliet Turner @juliet-turner.bsky.social · Nov 17
POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success
November 18, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
funfactscience.com
Nothing like taking in a beautiful sunset after presenting your research, especially when you're at a conference about stars 🌟🔭

📸 @astrolaura.com

#astronomy #space #sunset #stars
A man with a beard and glasses, wearing a light-colored button-up shirt, is giving a presentation in a conference room. He is standing to the right of a large screen displaying the text "ALTERNATIVE PROGENITORS" and beneath it "Isolated white dwarf (Rea et al., 2024)" next to an image of a bright, blueish-white star against a black background labeled "NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScI)". The screen also features a university logo in the bottom right corner. Several audience members are seated in dark chairs, viewed from the back, watching the presenter and the screen. The room has light wood paneling on the back wall and white ceiling tiles. A long-exposure photograph taken at dusk captures a coastal scene in Newcastle A dark blue and deep magenta sky over the beach and the ocean on the left. On the right, streetlights illuminate a road, a promenade, and the beach below, creating streaks of light from moving vehicles. Buildings are visible on the far right, and a headland with scattered lights extends into the distance.
November 17, 2025 at 9:55 AM
funfactscience.com
Nothing like taking in a beautiful sunset after presenting your research, especially when you're at a conference about stars 🌟🔭

📸 @astrolaura.com

#astronomy #space #sunset #stars
A man with a beard and glasses, wearing a light-colored button-up shirt, is giving a presentation in a conference room. He is standing to the right of a large screen displaying the text "ALTERNATIVE PROGENITORS" and beneath it "Isolated white dwarf (Rea et al., 2024)" next to an image of a bright, blueish-white star against a black background labeled "NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScI)". The screen also features a university logo in the bottom right corner. Several audience members are seated in dark chairs, viewed from the back, watching the presenter and the screen. The room has light wood paneling on the back wall and white ceiling tiles. A long-exposure photograph taken at dusk captures a coastal scene in Newcastle A dark blue and deep magenta sky over the beach and the ocean on the left. On the right, streetlights illuminate a road, a promenade, and the beach below, creating streaks of light from moving vehicles. Buildings are visible on the far right, and a headland with scattered lights extends into the distance.
November 17, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
sciencesocks.bsky.social
🎂 It's #ScienceSocks 6th anniversary! 🥳

Celebrate with me by raising money for #STEM! 🤑

For the next 48h I will donate:

* 20% of sales on sciencesocks.co 👈
* $1 per repost

Get a head start on #holiday shopping 😎

Please like, repost and let's party🕺💃

🔭🐡🧪🎨#bsnm
mars rover socks showing zoomed in view perseverance rover analysing a rock and ingenuity flying above james webb space telescope christmas ornament jwst jewelry set featuring earrings and pendant necklace based on the 18 hexagon primary mirror Curiosity rover wheel pendant necklace in sterling silver being held in hand
November 15, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Reposted by Fun Fact Science with Kovi
funfactscience.com
a NEW PAPER led the incomparable Dr. Elizabeth Iles (accepted by PASA) quantifies how astronomers might be biased in how they judge galactic bars

Turns out that male astronomers are consistently more optimistic than their peers when it comes to measuring length

arxiv.org/abs/2511.09908

#astro
A stellar density map of a barred spiral galaxy viewed face-on. The image shows a dark background with a central bright, elongated feature (the bar) surrounded by fainter spiral arms. The color bar on the right indicates the log10 Stellar Density in units of solar mass per square parsec, ranging from 0 (black/dark) to 4 (white/bright). The x and y axes are labeled in kpc (kiloparsecs), spanning from -10 to 10. Overlaid on the image are several highlighted regions: a central white, bright feature is enclosed by a dashed cyan ellipse representing the full Bar region. A smaller, cyan dashed box labeled Inner-bar is located along the bar's major axis, excluding the ends. Two symmetrically placed, dashed teal boxes labeled Bar-ends are located near the extremities of the bar. This visualization highlights the key components of the galaxy's bar structure.
November 14, 2025 at 7:14 AM