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First Light Con

@first-light-con.bsky.social

World’s First Fandom Convention for Scientific Discovery and Engineering Innovation! www.firstlightcon.org. Join us in building this new frontier of science engagement by contributing to our GoFundMe: https://tinyurl.com/support-firstlightcon

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First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · 2w ago

We're proud to partner with the Association of Science Communicators (ASC), a leading community of science communication professionals dedicated to connecting science & society. 🔭 🤝 🧪 Learn more: tinyurl.com/ASCFLC1 #AssociationOfScienceCommunicators #ScienceEducation #ScienceTalk

First Light Con Partners with the Association of Science Communicators (ASC) | First Light Con - First Light Con

First Light Con proudly partners with the Association of Science Communicators (ASC) to enhance science programming and inspire discovery through engaging science communication.

firstlightcon.org

First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · 2w ago

I love ALMA! And so should you. It images mm and sub-mm wavelength light, basically an infrared camera made of an antenna array! 🧪🔭 The distance between the antennas determines resolution. A zoom camera for the cosmos.

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · 2w ago

Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse! With ALMA! 🧪🔭 The roiling surface of the famous red supergiant star in Orion 800x size of the Sun, 600 light-years away. Long -lasting hotspots, seen here in mm-wavelength light, may relate to recently confirmed companion star. arxiv.org/abs/2608.19339

(ALMA, NRAO, NAOJ, ESO)
First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · 3w ago

The chart of infrasound detections tells a compelling story! First “sound?” What’s next, Smell-vision?!

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · 3w ago

Infrasonic bolide-detection!? 🧪🔭 Infrasound signal detected at 5 volcanoes in the early morning hours today by USGS and Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. Bolides are excellent infrasound generators because of their supersonic speed and fragmentation as they enter the atmosphere.

First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · 4w ago

Chemical engineering has done wonders! Thomas Midgley Jr excluded. In this case, PVC is among the most difficult plastic to recycle… every little bit helps. 🧪

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · 4w ago

368 million tons of plastic are produced annually; polyvinyl chloride (PVC) accounts for 80% of it and is EVERYWHERE! Water, soil, air... you. New process converts PVC into lube (the engine kind 😏). A small step to aid recycling. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.newswise.com/articles/sci...

Men's black PVC pants; Wikimedia Commons
First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · 4w ago

Love seeing planetary nebulas! (Note: I avoid Latin plurals outside of journal articles.) The name is a misnomer: early observers thought the roundness of there objects were somehow planet related. Nope: glowing sloughed off layers of a star! Still cool! 🧪🔭

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · 4w ago

Oooh! Pretty. JWST imaged the Lion Nebula, the expanding outer layers of a dying star: white dwarf star smack-dab in the middle. Come back in ~10,000 years and it will have faded. Come back in several billion years and our Sun will look similar. I'll wait. 🔭 science.nasa.gov/asset/webb/l...

The James Webb Space Telescope has gazed across the open “plains” of space to capture a snapshot of NGC 2392, also known as the Lion Nebula. This feline-shaped planetary nebula is the “mane” event, at least temporarily. After several thousand years in the making, it’s finally roaring to life before it will eventually disperse in approximately 10,000 years. In infrared light, Webb reveals complex structures of gas and dust that are illuminated by and migrating away from the source that is powering it all: the dying central star.
First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · last mo.

This is a compelling story of perseverance! A revolutionary achievement made possible by one visionary’s dedication. 🧪💉⚕️

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · last mo.

Do you know who Katalin Karikó is? She solved immune rejection problem thwarting mRNA technology: depite repeated grant rejections, pay cuts, and demotions! Her persistence continues to save lives. 🧪⚕️💉 Newly approved mRNA flu shot is ~27% more effective. www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-...

First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · last mo.

Something I have long speculated! The universe is really good at turning chemistry into biology! 🧪

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · last mo.

A second genesis? A new study posits the transition from chemistry to biology happened more than once. LUCA (last universal common ancestor) was "almost" alive. Time + chemical changes at deep-sea vents allowed LUCA to give rise to bacteria & archaea separately. 🧪🦠 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · last mo.

If you ever get the opportunity, visit both the VLA and ALMA! Iconic instruments… captivating settings! And cool science. 🔭

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · last mo.

Radio astronomy tag team! 🧪🔭 VLA (famed in film and music videos) and ALMA (famed for being ALMA) looked back when universe was 5% current age to find ginormous ocean of raw star-formation fuel (CO gas). Location? A reionization-era galaxy dubbed REBELS-25. public.nrao.edu/news/vla-fue...

First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · last mo.

The VLT It is one of the world's most advanced optical telescopes. It consists of four 8.2m diameter and four movable 1.8m diameter telescopes. Using 'maths' and powerful computers, they can combine their observations to form one giant telescope: an 'interferometer.' 🔭🧪

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · last mo.

ESO's VLT found it! The long-suspected but previously unobserved companion star to Betelgeuse! (I always have to double check the spelling.) B is a red supergiant star in Orion. Its changing brightness suggested it had a sibling; now we have the picture to prove it! 🧪🔭 www.eso.org/public/news/...

This image, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows the clearest image ever of what likely is Betelgeuse B, a star orbiting Betelgeuse. The image was taken with the SPHERE instrument in December 2024, when the companion was predicted to be furthest apart from Betelgeuse as seen from Earth. The circle indicates the size of Betelgeuse, which has been removed. The bright source to the left, marked with a crosshair, is consistent with being Betelgeuse B. Credit: ESO/M. Montargès et al.
First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · last mo.

This is the perfect blending of #science #engineering and #wonder! The Smithsonian has a new exhibit on NSF's ground-based observatories. Worth the visit! Geek out! 🔭

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · last mo.

Most of my career was dedicated to supporting NSF's ground-based observatories: the famed VLA in New Mexico, the 110-meter GBT in West Virginia, ALMA at 5000 meters elevation in Chile, and Gemini on Maunakea. Experience the wonder at the Air and Space Museum!🧪🔭 airandspace.si.edu/whats-on/exh...

First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · last mo.

I haven’t touched this story in decades… time to open old wounds and see if it can be improved.

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · last mo.

The first short SF story I bashed into existence centered on life below the icy crust of Enceladus. My plan to reach its subsurface ocean was ballistically creative but naive, according to new research on its cosmic cousin Europa. 🧪🔭 www.newswise.com/articles/why... @newswise.bsky.social

First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This is the intersection of science, engineering, and wonder! I have never seen the northern lights, even when the Sun was at its most active. But I really want to! 🔭

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The aurora australis imaged May 30 from 441 kilometers above the southern Indian Ocean. It is created by charged particles from the Sun colliding with Earth's magnetic field. My mother thought the northern lights were caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere. The truth is SO MUCH COOLER! 🧪🔭

The aurora australis streams across the southern Indian Ocean with an airglow outlining Earth's atmosphere in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 274 miles above. Credit: NASA/Chris Williams
Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The aurora australis imaged May 30 from 441 kilometers above the southern Indian Ocean. It is created by charged particles from the Sun colliding with Earth's magnetic field. My mother thought the northern lights were caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere. The truth is SO MUCH COOLER! 🧪🔭

The aurora australis streams across the southern Indian Ocean with an airglow outlining Earth's atmosphere in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 274 miles above. Credit: NASA/Chris Williams
First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Astrobiology is one of the MOST exciting fields of science! Join First Light Con as we talk with the experts at the forefront of searching for life beyond Earth!

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · 2mo ago

50 years ago today. Viking 1 landed on Mars to search for signs of life.🦠 Its Labeled Release (LR) experiment famously yielded positive results for metabolism on Mars. Other on-board experiments and later analyses refute that finding. I am among those who think LR detected life, then killed it.🧪🔭

First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · 2mo ago

A true moment of “first light” as stars are born in collapsing clouds of dust and gas triggered by the force of an exploding star!

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · 2mo ago

A star’s explosive death triggered the birth of stellar twins. 🔭🧪 In the aftermath of a supernova @almaobservatory.bsky.social discover two ‘hot cores,’ the cradles of infant stars. The massive star exploded about 1,600 years ago. doi.org/10.3847/1538...

First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The nexus of science fiction and engineering innovation! Clarke’s idea had one major difference. Humans had to live on it to replace vacuum tubes. Didn’t foresee transistors.

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · 2mo ago

On July 10, 1962, the US launched Telstar 1, world’s 1st active communications satellite engineered by John Pierce. It was directly inspired by Arthur C. Clarke’s story “Islands in the Sky.” Harold Rosen later engineered Syncom 1, 1st geostationary satellite. Had pleasure of working with all 3. 🧪🔭

First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · 2mo ago

HIV is hard to beat. It doesn’t give B cells a chance to develop effective antibodies and mutates wicked fast. @newswise.bsky.social #medicine A new vaccine produced the "best HIV-fighting antibody response ever seen in primates." Human trials have now started. www.newswise.com/articles/new...

Blue the Science Dude@science-dude.bsky.social · 2mo ago

HIV has taken so much from so many. Treatments have improved, but mitigation is not prevention. A breakthrough? Maybe. A new vaccine harnesses 'broadly neutralizing' antibodies to outsmart HIV's formidable defenses. Human trials have started.🧪 #HIV #AID #Vaccines www.nature.com/articles/s41...

First Light Con@first-light-con.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Evocative image! The universe is far more that human eyes can perceive. Hidden within dusky regions and at imperceptible wavelengths, galaxies churn and roil. #space #stsci #science 🧪🔭

Space Telescope Science Institute@stsci.edu · 2mo ago

NEWS: #NASAWebb gives us a new view of nearby, active galaxy Centaurus A. In infrared, a rich landscape of previously hidden features and stars—all shaped by a past galactic interaction—is revealed: https://news.stsci.edu/4xRetmd 🔭

A horizontal image of galaxy Centaurus A stretches across a black background filled with thousands of tiny purple, pink, and white points of light. The galaxy is brightest at its center, where a brilliant white and pale pink glow radiates outward. Delicate loops and wispy ribbons of pink and lavender arc above and below the center of the image in the shape of an ‘S’. A band of gray and white dust in the shape of a parallelogram cuts across the middle of the galaxy. Mottled patches and bright knots are scattered throughout the dusty band. The galaxy’s outer edges fade into soft, cloud-like plumes with feathery textures that stretch toward the left and right sides of the image. Against the surrounding darkness, a few bright foreground stars shine, while countless fainter stars create a speckled backdrop.