Rowina Nathan ✨
@pinkastrophysicist.bsky.social
PhD in progress. Pulsar timer, gravitational wave cartographer, mad keen skier and lover of the colour pink 💕💫⛷️ | she/her/hers | Naarm 🇦🇺
Media enquires: https://rowina-n.github.io
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3922-2773
Media enquires: https://rowina-n.github.io
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3922-2773
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
"Ten years ago, scientists heard the universe rumble for the first time. That first discovery of gravitational waves began a new era of astronomy."
@simon-stevenson.bsky.social writes about gravitational-wave astronomy today
theconversation.com/10-years-ago...
#GW10Years 🔭🧪⚛️
🖼️: C Knox
@simon-stevenson.bsky.social writes about gravitational-wave astronomy today
theconversation.com/10-years-ago...
#GW10Years 🔭🧪⚛️
🖼️: C Knox
September 12, 2025 at 9:29 PM
"Ten years ago, scientists heard the universe rumble for the first time. That first discovery of gravitational waves began a new era of astronomy."
@simon-stevenson.bsky.social writes about gravitational-wave astronomy today
theconversation.com/10-years-ago...
#GW10Years 🔭🧪⚛️
🖼️: C Knox
@simon-stevenson.bsky.social writes about gravitational-wave astronomy today
theconversation.com/10-years-ago...
#GW10Years 🔭🧪⚛️
🖼️: C Knox
My cake decorating skills aren't quite there yet, BUT a HUGE congratulations to @astroteagan.bsky.social for submitting her PhD.
Occupation: Student'nt
Thanks @pinkastrophysicist.bsky.social for making me the delicious cake and taking this photo of me being equally excited and terrified 5 minutes after submitting my PhD 🥰🎂🧑🎓
Thanks @pinkastrophysicist.bsky.social for making me the delicious cake and taking this photo of me being equally excited and terrified 5 minutes after submitting my PhD 🥰🎂🧑🎓
September 1, 2025 at 3:30 AM
My cake decorating skills aren't quite there yet, BUT a HUGE congratulations to @astroteagan.bsky.social for submitting her PhD.
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
Congratulations to OzGrav's Deputy Director, Professor Tamara Davis AM, recipient of the 2025 Moyal Medal awarded by Macquarie University for her outstanding contributions to astrophysics and cosmology.
Read more here: lighthouse.mq.edu.au/media-releas...
Read more here: lighthouse.mq.edu.au/media-releas...
Milestone Moyal Medal awarded to astrophysicist Tamara Davis
Professor Davis, an astrophysicist at UQ’s School of Mathematics, will receive the medal and deliver the 2025 Moyal Lecture on Thursday 9 October. Her lecture, titled ‘New light on dark energy: the…
lighthouse.mq.edu.au
September 1, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Congratulations to OzGrav's Deputy Director, Professor Tamara Davis AM, recipient of the 2025 Moyal Medal awarded by Macquarie University for her outstanding contributions to astrophysics and cosmology.
Read more here: lighthouse.mq.edu.au/media-releas...
Read more here: lighthouse.mq.edu.au/media-releas...
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
Front page news! 📰 Monash PhD researcher Christian Adamcwicz leads new LVK results revealing the mysterious 40 M☉ gap in black hole populations. Exciting clues about how the universe’s heaviest stars live and die! #BlackHoles #LVK #Astrophysics www.theaustralian.com.au/science/grav...
August 29, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Front page news! 📰 Monash PhD researcher Christian Adamcwicz leads new LVK results revealing the mysterious 40 M☉ gap in black hole populations. Exciting clues about how the universe’s heaviest stars live and die! #BlackHoles #LVK #Astrophysics www.theaustralian.com.au/science/grav...
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
Look at 'em all!
It's like a big blue Phoenix rising from the ashes of a sea of massive compact objects that slammed together to shake the very fabric of the cosmos!
👀👀👀
🔭
It's like a big blue Phoenix rising from the ashes of a sea of massive compact objects that slammed together to shake the very fabric of the cosmos!
👀👀👀
🔭
Results from the first part of our fourth LIGO @egovirgo.bsky.social KAGRA observing run are out today!
We're pleased to share the largest catalog of gravitational-wave observations with more discoveries of black holes and neutron stars
📰 arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082
🔭🧪⚛️☄️ #GWTC4
We're pleased to share the largest catalog of gravitational-wave observations with more discoveries of black holes and neutron stars
📰 arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082
🔭🧪⚛️☄️ #GWTC4
August 26, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Look at 'em all!
It's like a big blue Phoenix rising from the ashes of a sea of massive compact objects that slammed together to shake the very fabric of the cosmos!
👀👀👀
🔭
It's like a big blue Phoenix rising from the ashes of a sea of massive compact objects that slammed together to shake the very fabric of the cosmos!
👀👀👀
🔭
2 years into my long covid journey. Finding it very difficult to do science at the level I’d like 🫠
Can confirm. I’m 3 years and 4 months in and I’m here to tell you long covid is not for the faint of heart.
Long COVID is more than fatigue. Our new study suggests its impact is similar to a stroke or Parkinson’s
Long COVID isn’t just a bunch of lingering symptoms. A new study shows it can stop peoole doing what they want to do, and need to do.
theconversation.com
August 26, 2025 at 8:33 AM
2 years into my long covid journey. Finding it very difficult to do science at the level I’d like 🫠
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
Results from the first part of our fourth LIGO @egovirgo.bsky.social KAGRA observing run are out today!
We're pleased to share the largest catalog of gravitational-wave observations with more discoveries of black holes and neutron stars
📰 arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082
🔭🧪⚛️☄️ #GWTC4
We're pleased to share the largest catalog of gravitational-wave observations with more discoveries of black holes and neutron stars
📰 arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082
🔭🧪⚛️☄️ #GWTC4
August 26, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Results from the first part of our fourth LIGO @egovirgo.bsky.social KAGRA observing run are out today!
We're pleased to share the largest catalog of gravitational-wave observations with more discoveries of black holes and neutron stars
📰 arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082
🔭🧪⚛️☄️ #GWTC4
We're pleased to share the largest catalog of gravitational-wave observations with more discoveries of black holes and neutron stars
📰 arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082
🔭🧪⚛️☄️ #GWTC4
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
The O4a results (GWTC-4) of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA are now out 🥳
We have 128 new candidates of which 86 have a false alarm rate of less this 1 per year
The new catalog results arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082
Update on black hole and neutron star population arxiv.org/abs/2508.18083
We have 128 new candidates of which 86 have a false alarm rate of less this 1 per year
The new catalog results arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082
Update on black hole and neutron star population arxiv.org/abs/2508.18083
GWTC-4.0: An Introduction to Version 4.0 of the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog
The Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC) is a collection of short-duration (transient) gravitational wave signals identified by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration in gravitational-wave data pro...
arxiv.org
August 26, 2025 at 2:44 AM
The O4a results (GWTC-4) of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA are now out 🥳
We have 128 new candidates of which 86 have a false alarm rate of less this 1 per year
The new catalog results arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082
Update on black hole and neutron star population arxiv.org/abs/2508.18083
We have 128 new candidates of which 86 have a false alarm rate of less this 1 per year
The new catalog results arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082
Update on black hole and neutron star population arxiv.org/abs/2508.18083
The results of the 4th Gravitational Wave observing run are out! 👀 arxiv.org/abs/2508.18080, arxiv.org/abs/2508.18081, arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082, arxiv.org/abs/2508.18083, arxiv.org/abs/2508.18079
GWTC-4.0: An Introduction to Version 4.0 of the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog
The Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC) is a collection of short-duration (transient) gravitational wave signals identified by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration in gravitational-wave data pro...
arxiv.org
August 26, 2025 at 2:35 AM
The results of the 4th Gravitational Wave observing run are out! 👀 arxiv.org/abs/2508.18080, arxiv.org/abs/2508.18081, arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082, arxiv.org/abs/2508.18083, arxiv.org/abs/2508.18079
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
A fun project I worked on during the weekend .... I made a new pulsar map!
The one used in the Pioneer and Voyager spacecrafts uses slower and less stable pulsars.
This one uses millisecond pulsars!
Might make a few more changes to it. Also thanks to folks who gave feedback on v1.0.
#Pulsars
🔭📡
The one used in the Pioneer and Voyager spacecrafts uses slower and less stable pulsars.
This one uses millisecond pulsars!
Might make a few more changes to it. Also thanks to folks who gave feedback on v1.0.
#Pulsars
🔭📡
August 25, 2025 at 12:21 AM
A fun project I worked on during the weekend .... I made a new pulsar map!
The one used in the Pioneer and Voyager spacecrafts uses slower and less stable pulsars.
This one uses millisecond pulsars!
Might make a few more changes to it. Also thanks to folks who gave feedback on v1.0.
#Pulsars
🔭📡
The one used in the Pioneer and Voyager spacecrafts uses slower and less stable pulsars.
This one uses millisecond pulsars!
Might make a few more changes to it. Also thanks to folks who gave feedback on v1.0.
#Pulsars
🔭📡
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
An international research team led by @astrosanne.bsky.social at ASTRON, identify a mystifying Long-Period Transient with 100% polarized radio emission, suggesting new type of cosmic radio source: www.astron.nl/astronomers-...
Astronomers uncover white dwarf system emitting bright radio pulses with strange rhythm | ASTRON
Researchers identify a mystifying Long-Period Transient with 100% polarized radio emission, suggesting new type of cosmic radio source. A team of astronomers at ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for…
www.astron.nl
July 17, 2025 at 7:48 AM
An international research team led by @astrosanne.bsky.social at ASTRON, identify a mystifying Long-Period Transient with 100% polarized radio emission, suggesting new type of cosmic radio source: www.astron.nl/astronomers-...
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
Congrats to Natasha Van Bemmel on winning an MNRAS Student Prize. The MNRAS editors selected her first‑author paper, An Optically Led Search for Kilonovae to z~0.3 with KNTraP, as one of six best student‑led publications this year, what a debut!
#OzGrav #Swinburne #MNRAS #NatashaVanBemmel
#OzGrav #Swinburne #MNRAS #NatashaVanBemmel
July 17, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Congrats to Natasha Van Bemmel on winning an MNRAS Student Prize. The MNRAS editors selected her first‑author paper, An Optically Led Search for Kilonovae to z~0.3 with KNTraP, as one of six best student‑led publications this year, what a debut!
#OzGrav #Swinburne #MNRAS #NatashaVanBemmel
#OzGrav #Swinburne #MNRAS #NatashaVanBemmel
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
It's a 'no' from me dawg
July 17, 2025 at 7:35 AM
It's a 'no' from me dawg
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
GW231123: Heaviest black‑hole merger yet detected in gravitational waves.
~100 M☉ + ~140 M☉ → ~225 M☉ remnant, spins near physical limit.
“This blip forces us to rethink how very heavy, rapidly spinning black holes come to be.” – Prof Eric Thrane
Read: www.ozgrav.org/news/ligo-de...
~100 M☉ + ~140 M☉ → ~225 M☉ remnant, spins near physical limit.
“This blip forces us to rethink how very heavy, rapidly spinning black holes come to be.” – Prof Eric Thrane
Read: www.ozgrav.org/news/ligo-de...
LIGO Detects Most Massive Black Hole Merger to Date - OzGrav
Gravitational waves from record‑breaking black holes challenge current astrophysical models The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration has observed the heaviest black‑hole merger ever detected,…
www.ozgrav.org
July 16, 2025 at 10:00 AM
GW231123: Heaviest black‑hole merger yet detected in gravitational waves.
~100 M☉ + ~140 M☉ → ~225 M☉ remnant, spins near physical limit.
“This blip forces us to rethink how very heavy, rapidly spinning black holes come to be.” – Prof Eric Thrane
Read: www.ozgrav.org/news/ligo-de...
~100 M☉ + ~140 M☉ → ~225 M☉ remnant, spins near physical limit.
“This blip forces us to rethink how very heavy, rapidly spinning black holes come to be.” – Prof Eric Thrane
Read: www.ozgrav.org/news/ligo-de...
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
![Comic. The Three Types of Unsolved Physics Problem (First panel) Vague. PERSON [next to curved diagram] What is the nature of time in quantum gravity? Is it a background parameter, a dynamic aspect of spacetime, or an emergent phenomenon? (Second panel) Precise. PERSON 2 with short hair [device with equation below: 71Ga + νe → 71Ge + e- .] Why does the *S.A.G.E.* Gallium Neutrino Capture Experiment produce only 75% as much germanium as predicted? (Third panel) Cursed. PERSON 3 with white hat [rectangular block with hairs growing out of it labeled Zinc Whiskers] Why does some metal randomly grow hairs? It keeps causing short circuits and we have no idea what’s going on. OFF-PANEL: Is this a joke? PERSON 3: No! Please help!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiguoi672ahbrlp4eewfdz6v2ynlajbtpmucqed6fl4npoeu3uypkm@jpeg)
July 16, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
The @ligo.org - Virgo - KAGRA Collaboration is happy to announce the detection of the merger of the most massive black holes ever observed with gravitational waves 🕳️🕳️
July 14, 2025 at 12:34 PM
The @ligo.org - Virgo - KAGRA Collaboration is happy to announce the detection of the merger of the most massive black holes ever observed with gravitational waves 🕳️🕳️
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
In this morning’s plenary at #GR24Amaldi16, Amanda Farah introduces the newest (and most massive and likely most rapidly spinning) @ligo.org - @egovirgo.bsky.social - KAGRA event, #GW231123! Read more about this exceptional event in the discovery paper: arxiv.org/abs/2507.08219
July 14, 2025 at 11:04 AM
In this morning’s plenary at #GR24Amaldi16, Amanda Farah introduces the newest (and most massive and likely most rapidly spinning) @ligo.org - @egovirgo.bsky.social - KAGRA event, #GW231123! Read more about this exceptional event in the discovery paper: arxiv.org/abs/2507.08219
Great talk from Lia Medeiros on the event horizon telescope results! Black hole shadows were not something I had thought much about before, it kinda feels like the Universe is putting on a shadow puppet show 🕳️💫 @ioppublishing.bsky.social
July 14, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Great talk from Lia Medeiros on the event horizon telescope results! Black hole shadows were not something I had thought much about before, it kinda feels like the Universe is putting on a shadow puppet show 🕳️💫 @ioppublishing.bsky.social
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
🔊 Two really massive black holes, COLLIDING💥!
LIGO has seen ~300 of these collisions since 2015, but this one is HUGE creating a black hole 256x the mass of the Sun. It's likely the merging black holes were themselves the by-product of previous mergers 🤓🔭🧪
ℹ️: www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
LIGO has seen ~300 of these collisions since 2015, but this one is HUGE creating a black hole 256x the mass of the Sun. It's likely the merging black holes were themselves the by-product of previous mergers 🤓🔭🧪
ℹ️: www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Scientists detect biggest ever merger of two massive black holes
Ripples in space-time from collision recorded by gravitational wave detector forces a rethink of how the objects form
www.theguardian.com
July 14, 2025 at 8:16 AM
🔊 Two really massive black holes, COLLIDING💥!
LIGO has seen ~300 of these collisions since 2015, but this one is HUGE creating a black hole 256x the mass of the Sun. It's likely the merging black holes were themselves the by-product of previous mergers 🤓🔭🧪
ℹ️: www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
LIGO has seen ~300 of these collisions since 2015, but this one is HUGE creating a black hole 256x the mass of the Sun. It's likely the merging black holes were themselves the by-product of previous mergers 🤓🔭🧪
ℹ️: www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
Scientists detect biggest ever merger of two massive black holes
Scientists detect biggest ever merger of two massive black holes
Ripples in space-time from collision recorded by gravitational wave detector forces a rethink of how the objects form
Scientists have detected ripples in space-time from the violent collision of two massive black holes that spiralled into one another far beyond the distant edge of the Milky Way.
The black holes, each more than 100 times the mass of the sun, began circling each other long ago and finally slammed together to form an even more massive black hole about 10bn light years from Earth. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
July 13, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Scientists detect biggest ever merger of two massive black holes
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
Vera Rubin has been selected to be featured on the back of a quarter. She is the first astronomer to be honored this way. Read about her research on the Andromeda galaxy and how it led to the discovery of dark matter in this article written by Rubin herself. doi.org/10.1063/1.24...
🔭 #WomenInStem
🔭 #WomenInStem
March 10, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Vera Rubin has been selected to be featured on the back of a quarter. She is the first astronomer to be honored this way. Read about her research on the Andromeda galaxy and how it led to the discovery of dark matter in this article written by Rubin herself. doi.org/10.1063/1.24...
🔭 #WomenInStem
🔭 #WomenInStem
I just updated my website. Check out the resources on there, including how to make nice FREE websites and how to make nice posters. rowina-n.github.io
Rowina
rowina-n.github.io
December 31, 2024 at 5:14 AM
I just updated my website. Check out the resources on there, including how to make nice FREE websites and how to make nice posters. rowina-n.github.io
Important education happening here #dachshund #ai
December 17, 2024 at 7:19 AM
Important education happening here #dachshund #ai
Reposted by Rowina Nathan ✨
For a while I had a gig answering astronomy questions online.
When I got "what is that bright thing I saw in the sky?" questions, I'd guess "Venus" and then go look it up, putting their location, and the time, and direction of the observation into Stellarium. 98% of the time that guess was right.
When I got "what is that bright thing I saw in the sky?" questions, I'd guess "Venus" and then go look it up, putting their location, and the time, and direction of the observation into Stellarium. 98% of the time that guess was right.
One of the most common celestial objects to be mistaken for a UFO is Venus.
(More: www.popsci.com/science/ufo-...)
(It is brighter than the brightest stars and never far from the horizon when visible, so people unfamiliar with the night sky can easily be thrown by it.)
(More: www.popsci.com/science/ufo-...)
(It is brighter than the brightest stars and never far from the horizon when visible, so people unfamiliar with the night sky can easily be thrown by it.)
December 16, 2024 at 5:21 PM
For a while I had a gig answering astronomy questions online.
When I got "what is that bright thing I saw in the sky?" questions, I'd guess "Venus" and then go look it up, putting their location, and the time, and direction of the observation into Stellarium. 98% of the time that guess was right.
When I got "what is that bright thing I saw in the sky?" questions, I'd guess "Venus" and then go look it up, putting their location, and the time, and direction of the observation into Stellarium. 98% of the time that guess was right.