I know that “experimental astrophysics” & “experimental cosmology” typically refer to research using observatories or detectors for signals other than visible light to learn about the universe but it’s still fun to imagine they’re cooking up stars and black holes in the lab 👩🏼‍🔬🪐
Fusion researchers talk about "creating a star" in the lab (e.g., lasers.llnl.gov/education/how-…) but that's more like triggering the physics behind how stars work, which is not quite the same. Creating a black hole in the lab, though, might actually be possible angelsanddemons.web.cern.ch/faq/black-hole…
If CERN *did* create a black hole in the lab, it would tell us some very interesting things about our Universe! It would confirm some speculative theories about the possibility of higher dimensions of space, and it would even give us hints about the stability of the Universe (!)
It would NOT be a threat to us, or to existence, though. If CERN's particle collisions created a tiny black hole (which would disappear immediately), that would tell us that the much more powerful cosmic ray particle collisions in space are creating them ALL THE TIME, harmlessly.
Anything CERN can do, the cosmos can do better. MUCH better. Cosmic rays that crash into Earth's atmosphere from space can carry a MILLION times more energy than the highest-energy collisions in the LHC. If those were dangerous, Earth would have been over billions of years ago.
(The reason this might be relevant to the stability of the cosmos is that it's been proposed that if tiny black holes could form in the cosmos, when they evaporate they could sort of... disturb the stability of the universe. If they form & we're still here, the cosmos is stable!)
So the logic is: if the LHC does manage to create tiny, short-lived black holes, it tells us (1) we have extra spatial dimensions 🤩 and (2) little black holes are popping off in the cosmos ALL THE TIME 💥 and (3) that's (probably) good news for the stability of the Universe 🙌

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More from @AstroKatie

30 Oct
In a couple hours I will be boarding a flight to London on roughly this route and I have a window seat on the left 👀🤞🏼✈️ #AuroraBorealis A topographic map of the region of Earth over the Atlantic,
I will report back as to whether I see any incredible aurora and/or discover any downsides to being airborne at high altitude during a geomagnetic storm 🤩😬
I’m ready. Come on aurora! A photo of an engine and another plane out an airplane windo
Read 4 tweets
26 Oct
Just spoke with @LBC about the discovery of what might be a planet in another galaxy: bbc.com/news/science-e…

Which is very exciting! But (and I didn't get to this in the interview) there are reasons to be skeptical about this claim.
The astronomers observed a dip in the bright x-ray light from a binary system consisting of a massive star locked in an orbit with a compact stellar remnant: a black hole or neutron star. The claim is a planet passed in front of the system and briefly blocked the x-ray emission.
Such a "transit" event is certainly plausible -- we've detected thousands of exoplanets via transits in our own galaxy! But this case would be a VERY lucky situation. The alignment would have to be perfect and the timing EXTREMELY lucky to have caught it.
Read 4 tweets
10 Oct
At Nashville Airport, heading home shortly. Mask use here (as in all US airports) is mandatory, but is currently standing at about 50%. Maaaaaybe as high as 70% if you pretend that noses don’t exist. 😑
See you soon Raleigh Me leaning against my arm a...
I am back in Raleigh! My suitcase, alas, is not ready to come home yet. The airline tells me it will be on its own flight tomorrow afternoon. While I respect its desire to assert its independence, I would really have preferred having access to my clothes and toothbrush tonight.
Read 4 tweets
2 Oct
[poll] Did you know? #MercuryRetrograde is when Mercury:
For a really great explainer of what #MercuryRetrograde actually means, check out this video by @JossFong vox.com/2016/9/10/1286…
The short version is that because Mercury is closer to the Sun, it orbits faster than us, and so if we were to chart its sky position relative to distant stars, when it’s scooting between us and the Sun it’ll look like it’s going the “wrong” way. But it’s a trick of perspective.
Read 5 tweets
2 Oct
Hello I am an astronomer, I have a small telescope and I’ve done lots of stargazing. I’ve never seen Mercury (it’s very close to the Sun) and I never pay attention to where it is in its orbit. The only impact it has on my life is unfortunate people blaming it for their troubles.
The thing people call “Mercury retrograde” is an accident of perspective by which if you WERE observing Mercury every night, sometimes it would appear a little east of where it was yesterday & sometimes a little west, from our perspective. But it’s just orbiting; nothing changes.
Unless you’re out there with a telescope and a sextant making charts of the position of a small dot near the Sun, you won’t observe apparent retrograde motion. Even if you were ON MERCURY you wouldn’t notice anything unless you were tracking Earth. It’s just not really a thing.
Read 5 tweets
10 Sep
I’m totally fine and there is no need to worry or anything like that (honestly!!) but I will not be answering e-mails today Me sitting in a hospital bed in a hospital gown, wearing an
Anyway if I tweet weird later, it’s just the anesthesia 😅
Thanks everyone for the well wishes! Surgery and post-op went fine and I’m home now and resting, looked after by @cavaticat. Still not answering any e-nails today 🙅‍♀️ Me peeking my face out of a giant mass of white blankets in Me reclining on a sofa at home looking woozy but smiling, we
Read 5 tweets

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