​Bishop Ramón Bejarano has made headlines for his embrace of the LGBTQ+ community.

Pope Leo’s Recent LGBTQ-Friendly Appointments Include Bishop Who Had Drag Queen Speak at Mass

them.us

Lololololol (but also — so did I)

Kris Nordstrom@krisnordstrom.bsky.social · 6h ago

Thought it was a Cyber Truck for a second

Hey, so that article about Roman launching. Cool, nice, it's happening; I'm actually very excited for this telescope. Do me a favour. Go re-read the article. Ctrl+F how many times "SpaceX" appears in the article. Is it really an article about Roman, or an article about SpaceX?

Jim Carrey: My Brain Don't Say It

Alt: Jim Carrey: My Brain Don't Say It meme. Reference is to my uneccesary yet public outrage about Phobos, the fool of a Moon!

static.klipy.com

Riding With Robots@ridingrobots.bsky.social · 9h ago

From NASA: It happened again! Here's Phobos passing in front of the Sun as seen by the Perseverance rover from the surface of Mars on Aug. 12. science.nasa.gov/photojournal...

Totally agree. Queer/horror film made here in Australia — and it’s excellent. One of the best productions we’ve had in years. Highly recommend this (it’s not too scary, more thriller and it works with the underlying message).

Dan Savage @dansavage.bsky.social · 8h ago

Leviticus is really amazing, really scary, and — if you’re gay and from a religious background — weirdly very hopeful. I was profoundly moved by this film. I want to say things… but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it.

the absolute joys* of PhD'ing .... Writing a script that took ~5 hours to run, only to get to the end of the loop and realise that I left the rm -f <directory> cleaning block in there .... and so, it wiped the data I wanted to keep on each iteration. Guess there will be little sleep tonight. 🤬🤬🤬🤬

Devil Wears Prada: I Love My Job

Alt: Emily from the first Devil Wears Prada film: I Love My Job meme

static.klipy.com

Oh boy .... Sometimes I see things pop up in the news about places that I spent a tiny bit of time working at, and sheeesh, did I dodge a bullet for not sticking around there too long. Messy.

A couple years back (2022), Earth intersected with a powerful Gamma-ray burst, one that originated ~2 billion years ago. It was so powerful it literally shook our atmosphere (we can see this in radio). New #PrePrint provides interpretation of what happened.... and it reads like an epic movie!

24 Aug is Pluto Demotion Day! T'was on this day, 20 years ago in 2006, that the International Astronomical Union (IAU) changed the definition of what it is to be a 'planet' and so Pluto got 'demoted'. It's a big day of feels for astronomers! In that time, Pluto has traversed ~8% of its orbit.

Pluto Demoted Day - Fun Holiday

Commemorate the day in 2006, when Pluto was demoted from a full sized planet to a dwarf planet.

timeanddate.com

This really is a neat little calculator made by @astronerdika.bsky.social Have a play with it. Crush all of humanity down to a sugar cube, working out the equivalent density of a neutron star. shanikagalaudage.github.io/scicomm-outr... 🔭🧪

Really not sure why people still talk about Sabine Hossenfelder positively from the perspective of her work in physics being respectful (“she has done good work before”). Who cares? Is her “good work” in science of higher value to you than the harm she has perpetuated on others with her platform?

Lazy git is still in bed and snoring 😴 Trying to get out for our morning walk but also, he is very peaceful and enjoying his sleep — so don’t want to disturb him!

This is an excellent way to explain how the restricting the rights of some folks, impacts all folks. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 This is the way that politicians should speak (make a political point, provide personal experience and reflection, relate that to their political position on the issue to be voted on).

Abdul El-Sayed@abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 2d ago

We're being told that if we sacrifice the rights of some people, then the rest of us get to keep our rights. We all know that's some BS.

This really is a neat little calculator made by @astronerdika.bsky.social Have a play with it. Crush all of humanity down to a sugar cube, working out the equivalent density of a neutron star. shanikagalaudage.github.io/scicomm-outr... 🔭🧪

I have been working on NGC 2392 (Lion Nebula) bit by bit over the past couple of weeks. Pretty happy with it! As always, high quality image and perhaps overly verbose information is available at my Flickr gallery: flic.kr/p/2swHfCQ

We have not yet detected gravitational waves from isolated neutron stars, but this is already telling us something about what they are made from ligo.org/science-summ... #NeutronStarWeek 🧪🔭

So I decided to plot the amount of human that has accumulated overtime, in terms of neutron star matter in millilitres Because why not? 🤣 Make the plot here: shanikagalaudage.github.io/scicomm-outr... (and yes, a tbsp in Australia is different; happy #NationalScienceWeek 🤣) #NeutronStarWeek

continuing the calculation 😎 I used the median values from PSR J0030+0451 ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2026ApJ.... #NeutronStarWeek

Let's do a calculation together of just how dense neutron star matter really is; using a real neutron star's measurements 😎 Watch along, and try it for yourself here: shanikagalaudage.github.io/scicomm-outr... ✨ (the video is longer than 3min, so it's in two parts!) #NeutronStarWeek #SciComm

After weeks of working 7 days a week, I’m giving myself a night off! At Sydney’s coolest Martini Bar in town and sampling my fav drink — classic gin martini’s with different gin varieties. A true gin martini doesn’t need anything but olive garnish. Everything else is an cursed abomination. 🍸

That's a wrap from me for #NeutronStarWeek! Go check out the hashtag for lots of fun info, links, visualisations about these awesome astrophysical objects. @astronerdika.bsky.social has some more posts next few days, and a few QandAs to respond to as well. Hope you enjoyed! We made it fetch!

CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️@rami.spaceaustralia.com · last wk.

This is how I imagine the audience that follows me is split on #NeutronStarWeek It's def. gonna happen!

Not enough mass to begin with, so collapsing core is halted by something called neutron degeneracy pressure -- basically quantum mechanics prevents the neutrons from being squeezed together any further (as well as nuclear forces). It makes them incredibly dense though! #NeutronStarWeek

@t3dward.bsky.social · 2w ago

What keeps them from being black holes?

1. It would need to accrete A LOT of mass before it formed a black hole. Maybe ~1 solar mass if not more? (check out TOV limit; newish gravitational wave results for the Mass Gap) 2. Depends on the event, maybe? An asymmetrical collapse, perhaps? Not sure tbh! 3. Nuclear pasta! #NeutronStarWeek

voidshaper@voidshaper.bsky.social · 2w ago

1. Do we get anything special if a magnetar accumulates enough mass to become a black hole? 2. Does the transition from neutron star to black hole produce detactable gravity waves? 3. What is your favourite pasta?

Magnetars are neutron stars -- they just have these unbelievably strong magnetic fields, much stronger than other neutron stars. These powerful magnetic fields produce weird behaviour, like X-ray bursts and giant flares. Magnetars are cool, but also, terrifying. #NeutronStarWeek

Brian Halligan@halligan.bsky.social · 2w ago

What causes the difference between a neutron star and a magnetar?

For the SciFi story, I'd def. check out Roche-Lobe radius: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_l... It's related to each star's mass, and their separation distance. Also check out Low-Mass X-ray Binaries --> how millisecond pulsars spin up real quick due to mass transfer! #NeutronStarWeek

Roche lobe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

LINCARD1000@lincard1000.bsky.social · 2w ago

Been working on a SF story where there's a binary system (neutron & a "normal" - main sequence - star). Just wondering at what approximate distance a neutron star would start mooching material off its partner? Lots of other questions, but would love to know that to begin with, if you'd be willing! ☺️

It's gravity that pulls objects towards the neutron star, the magnetic field influences charged particles/plasma and direct these along magnetic field lines. The density is a consequence of ~1.4 solar masses squeezed into a city-sized sphere! Nibbler might be dark matter, though! #NeutronStarWeek

LavenderTrees'd@lavendertreesd.bsky.social · 2w ago

Does the magnetic field of a neutron star collect objects? What are the consequences of such a high density object? Is Nibbler of Futurama related to neutron stars ;)?

Well, o far no evidence of this one as yet, but there is a hypothetical object! They're called: Thorne–Żytkow objects -- where a neutron star exists inside a red giant star, likely the result of a collision. There are event a few candidates: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorne%... #NeutronStarWeek

DarkSapiens@darksapiens.bsky.social · 2w ago

When are we gonna discover one INSIDE another star, Rami? I want it😄

Neutron stars form from massive progenitor stars ~8-25 solar masses. The core collapse during supernova is halted by neutron degeneracy pressure and nuclear forces. In more massive stars (~25+ solar masses) the collapsing core is too massive and keeps collapsing into a black hole. #NeutronStarWeek

Anotherdemocrat@anotherdemocrat.bsky.social · last wk.

So, neutron stars are the last thing of matter before it collapses into a black hole, right? The episodes of How The Universe Works that talk about them struggle mightily to describe them. (and that's about the level my science is at)

Closest thermally cooling NS: RX J1856.5-3754 ~400 light-years Closest canonical pulsar: PSR J0108-1431 ~424 light-years Closest millisecond pulsar: PSR J0437-4715 ~511 light-years Closest magnetar: XTE J1810-197 (I think) ~8000 light-years We def. don't want them any closer! #NeutronStarWeek

Autistic Information Retrieval Service@cryogaijin.bsky.social · last wk.

What is the closest known neutron star (Of each kind?)

Time to get stuck into the QandA for the last bit of #NeutronStarWeek! Thanks to everyone who sent in fun questions ... I'll answer some and @astronerdika.bsky.social is going to answer the others too. For this one ... it would be a second or two! If NS was at Moon distance... ~10 mins!

Dr. Fred J. Calef III@mapperwocky.bsky.social · 4d ago

How fast with the Earth get sucked into that neutron star if it was that close? 😅