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Sera Markoff

@profsera.bsky.social

5.7K followers 1.8K following 410 posts

Professor Astrophysics/Astroparticle Physics @ U Amsterdam. All things black hole, member Event Horizon Telescope, Africa Millimeter Telescope, Cherenkov Telescope Array. Space, sci-fi, cats, music, valve amps, other unabashed geekery. www.seramarkoff.com

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 22d

This is our biggest result so far this year (IMHO)! 🔭🧪 The M87* #blackhole is clearly cocooned in a turbulent, magnetised plasma and we can now resolve it changing in real time (albeit slowly). Excitingly we plan to do the first 2 month "movie" campaign looking ever 3-4 days in spring 2026!

Event Horizon Telescope @ehtelescope.bsky.social · 22d

Groundbreaking new image! The EHT reveals the dynamic environment around black hole M87*.

The 2021 image shows a distinct shift in polarization patterns, tracing changes in magnetic fields near the event horizon.

eventhorizontelescope.org/new-eht-imag...

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 21h

I went to a gastropub with my group today while visiting the UK and they had this adorable doggy menu!!

Photo showing a wicker basket dog menu full of little fancy dog meals by “Sir Woofchester’s” available to order in the pub. Flavored include Sleepy Bones, Bark Burgers, Sunday Roast, Bark Bangers and Fish and Chips dog bowl!

Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 1d

it was sent around our institute and really resonated as we focus quite a lot on encouraging good work/life balance!

Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 1d

I really enjoyed this post by @rawsignal.ca against the pressure (in industry, but also very true for academia 🧪🔭) to overwork at the cost of having time to think, breathe and yes, be creative (it is related).

mailchi.mp/rawsignal/yo...

You're probably not that hardcore

mailchi.mp

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 2d

My mom posted this picture of a scale from her primary care clinic, which I absolutely love, being an astrophysicist. But also the messaging is great!

Photo of a scale in a doctor's office and on the wall above it is a sign that reads "PLEASE REMEMBER: This scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationshp with gravity. That is it. It cannot measure (each word in a different colour): beauty, talent, purpose, possibility, strength, love or character."

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 4d

It’s a special happy birthday #caturday, this little lady is 8 today!

Photo of a fluffy orange cat in a black cubby box looking a bit startled, on a wooden window bench

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 14d

A lovely article about the region in Namibia where we are building the Africa Millimeter Telescope w/UNAM, a single dish telescope 🔭🧪 that will operate on its own and together with @ehtelescope.bsky.social, next to the H.E.S.S. gamma-ray telescope.

nightfallandelsewhere.substack.com/p/gamma-rays...

Gamma rays in the Gamsberg Highlands

Clyde's Spot, the H.E.S.S. telescope and Indigenous rock art in Namibia

nightfallandelsewhere.substack.com

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Reposted by Sera Markoff

👻 Pablo Hidalghost 👻 @infinata.bsky.social · 17d

Jodie Foster: "Okay to go... okay to go.... okay to go..."

Cliff @cliff.leaninto.it · 17d

What's the matter babe you've barely touched your event horizon ribs

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 17d

This is horrific.

Meg Schwamb @megschwamb.bsky.social · 18d

Quarter of UK university physics departments at risk of closing, survey finds www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Quarter of UK university physics departments at risk of closing, survey finds

Four out of five making staff cuts as physicists say findings are ‘great concern’ for UK’s leadership in important areas

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Sera Markoff

Léonie de Jonge @leoniedejonge.bsky.social · 18d

Anti-immigration demonstration in the Netherlands escalates. This is exactly what happens when far-right ideas are tolerated and normalised over an extended period of time. The far right gains confidence and grows, both at the ballot box and in the streets.
nos.nl/artikel/2583...

Anti-immigratie-demonstratie Den Haag escaleert, confrontatie met politie

De actievoerders steken vuurwerk af en zwaaien met Nederlandse vlaggen maar ook met prinsenvlaggen.

nos.nl

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Reposted by Sera Markoff

Keith Edwards @keithedwards.bsky.social · 18d

Let’s keep going

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Reposted by Sera Markoff

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 18d

I have to keep this deliberately vague, but this is a total disaster for academic research.

And imposing it so suddenly is just cruel. I’ve got friends scrambling to get back to the US before midnight tonight. Do you know how hard that is to do on 36 hours of notice?

Trump to impose $100,000 fee per year for H-1B visas, in blow to tech

The Trump administration said on Friday it would ask companies to pay $100,000 per year for H-1B worker visas, prompting some big tech companies to warn visa holders to stay in the U.S. or quickly return.

www.reuters.com

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 17d

Hair out of every toe #caturday

A large fluffy orange cat belly up on a couch, head coquettishly averted, hairy feet sticking up with toe floof poking out in all directions. Evening vibe.

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 18d

yep true, it's just the hypocrisy is so vivid right now

Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 18d

It's so interesting to see cancel culture now overtaking the right, I just saw someone refer to it as the "woke right" and that totally resonates. Guess people aren't that different from each other after all...no one likes to hear what they don't want to hear...🤷‍♀️

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 19d

Exactly!!

Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 20d

Ah the joys of Dutch weather. It's not actually raining, "het miezert" which means you are biking through a dense cloud of mist, and there's no raingear in the world that can keep your face from getting soaked...

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Reposted by Sera Markoff

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 22d

An abandoned plan to visit another star highlights the perils of billionaire-funded science

A $100-Million Mission to Another Star Just Disappeared

An abandoned plan to visit another star highlights the perils of billionaire-funded science

www.scientificamerican.com

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 22d

But wait, there's more! Our @ehtelescope.bsky.social outreach folk made a fun explanatory movie of the new M87* #blackhole results, complete with Game of Thrones style soundtrack! 🧪🔭

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 22d

Event Horizon Telescope @ehtelescope.bsky.social · 22d

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 22d

Argh and I forgot the 🔭🧪 --> new black hole results look at first post! And also see:

youtu.be/7P04NXrNp5U?...

New images of M87's black hole show its changing magnetic field

YouTube video by ESO Chasing Starlight

youtu.be

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 22d

Check out our new results on the M87* #blackhole w/ @ehtelescope.bsky.social ! We now have 3 frames in a 4yr "movie", including polarisation ⇔ magnetic fields. It's like tracking extreme sunspots just outside a black hole, the brightness and fields flip, yet the shape stays the same bc...gravity!

A tryptich of three images of the M87* black hole, from April in 2017, 2018 and 2021 (we lost 2019-2020 campaigns to technical/pandemic reasons). The fuzzy red donut shape is the same but the bright spot shifts in 2018 and seems to reset in 2021. Streamlines in the image indicate the polarisation vectors, that trace the magnetic field configuration. This too seemed unusual in 2018 and the whole field configuration flipped direction over the 4 year period!

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Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 27d

I somehow avoided ever seeing this until now but...wow. It's Get Him to the Greek but without the parady!

Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 27d

Very proud to have won the @api.uva.nl 1 minute elevator pitch prize, from the last year of pizza lunches! Whomever our wheel randomly selects has to give a 1 min pitch about their work, and mine came in at 59s! I now get the trophy for the next year, complete with a picture of pizza on it! 💪🍕

Photo of three women standing in front of a table full of pizzas at a gathering, the aftermath of our pizza lunch talks. The middle person (me) proudly clutching the pizza-topped prize trophy, the other two women are postdocs in my group.

Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · 27d

As a member of the Netherlands Royal Academy of Arts & Sciences (KNAW) I support our statement on the war in Gaza.

www.knaw.nl/en/news/stat...

Statement by the KNAW Board on the situation in Gaza - KNAW

The KNAW Board calls on the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science to actively press for suspension of Israel’s participation in the EU’s Horizon Europe programme for scientific and scholarl...

www.knaw.nl

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Reposted by Sera Markoff

Space Rocks @spacerocksofficial.bsky.social · Sep 5

Three days til registration opens. Watch this space! 🖖🤘

ESA in het Nederlands @nl.esa.int · Sep 5

Nog maar 3 dagen tot de inschrijving opent! 🚀
Maak je klaar om de breinen achter de ESA-missies te ontmoeten, je onder te dompelen in praktische wetenschap en te genieten van een buitenaardse ervaring met onze partner @spacerocksofficial.bsky.social 🌌
#ESAOpenDay #50YearsOfESA #SpaceRocks#NSO

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