We’ve arrived in Parkes ... and I seem to be getting notifications from December on here?!
The space-time continuum is warped here ... must be a local, massive object distorting the local gravitational field ....
Just scouting locations for tonight’s astrophotography!
Popped into lovely Lithgow on the way for a bite to eat ....
I’m excited about the big blue skies out here!
Had a weird experience at a cafe at a town on the way. Big sign before we walked in:
“IF YOU’RE FROM SYDNEY YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO COME INTO OUR STORE”
Seemed a bit OTT, esp. given we had masks, hand sanitizer, and made sure we were not over capacity in store ...
I know this Covid stuff is scary AF, but it’s probably best to avoid creating “us vs. them” cultures that will make recovery difficult and start applying situational management / decision making based on risk.
The entire population of Sydney (5M people) is not infected.
Of course, we complied and went on our way (all we wanted was a soft drink!) .... but harms the business to be like that IMO.
Not their fault though ... is a downstream outcome of loads of misinformation that has been spread into towns and communities. Rather sad, actually.
Anyway, we didn’t mind ... was just weird .... about to grab a bite to eat before the magic show in the sky commences!
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Few days back the team from NANOGrav made an awesome announcement, up there with my studies & was similar subject to my last major research project for my #AstronomyMasters!
A (very long) thread about pulsars + the Barycentre + gravitational waves coming your way!
So, to begin, let me start by sharing this absolutely fantastic, balanced article by @riding_red about the announcement .... it's such a great article, and my supervisor from my last subject is quoted in there too!
Some upfront stuff (cause Lord knows you need it on this site in 2021):
- Not representing views of anyone here, just my own research project for Uni
- If I make a mistake, feel free to let me know, i'm still learning this stuff
- Long thread, so mute #PulsarSSB if you want now
Ok everyone, I'M REALLY SORRY but you're going to have to put up with a few tweets of my excitement right now ... as I have just come down from star-gazing and guess what ... I GOT MY SECOND GALAXY!
I've been after this one for about a year, so i've got tingly fingers et al.!
So let me first do the standard disclaimers ... still learning, still not processing images properly (i.e. not doing darks, flats etc.), still only taking a few shots (30 exposures X ~0.5 secs each) .... so they are not the best, and kinda grainy ... but I'm totally ok with that!
But here it is! The Centaurus A Galaxy! (NGC 5128).
This Galaxy was discovered in 1826 by James Dunlop in Parramatta, NSW.
It contains a supermassive black hole as massive as 55 million Suns!
And besides it’s visible structure, it has a HUGE radio signature!