astro_jcm

astro_jcm, 3 months ago to opensource

Your periodic reminder that Stellarium is an amazing planetarium tool. Free, #OpenSource and very easy to use. There are desktop apps, mobile apps and a web version.

https://stellarium.org/

#astronomy #foss #science

astro_jcm, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago) to chile

1/ This is the longest exposure I've ever taken: 8 months long! It shows the Sun's path on the sky between Apr 17 - Dec 11 2018, as seen from ESO's Paranal Observatory in #Chile.

This is part of a collaboration with Diego López Calvín, an expert in solarigraphy: https://solarigrafia.com

Diego sent me some of his hand-made #pinhole cameras, which I placed all over Paranal. So what do we see here? See thread below 👇

#astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography #sun #photography

astro_jcm, 11 months ago to Astronomy

Like many other scientists I often get "debate me" emails from random people with weird ideas about #astronomy. If I answer, they feel validated. Same if I don't. So I always pick the option that doesn't waste my time. Don't fall for the "debate me" trap, folks, you can't win. #scicomm

astro_jcm, 9 months ago to physics

Fun #physics fact for #Caturday

#Cats exist in a quantum superposition of two states: "pet me" and "how dare you touch me you hairless ape". It is only by touching them that their wave function collapses to one of these states.

astro_jcm, 3 months ago to physics

I can tell you where I saw this, but not how fast I was going.

#physics #science #humour

astro_jcm, 1 month ago to Astro

The Event Horizon Telescope has unveiled how Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy, looks like in polarised light, which tells us a lot about the magnetic field around this monster.

The lines overlaid on the image below mark the orientation of the polarisation, from which astronomers can work out the structure of the magnetic field around the black hole.

More details: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2406/

📷 EHT Collaboration

#astrodon #astronomy #space

astro_jcm, 8 months ago to chile

Outstanding shot of the #Sun rising behind ESO's Extremely Large #Telescope, currently under construction in #Chile. The dome is about 80 m tall; look at the size of those cranes! The ELT will have a 39 m primary mirror — the largest optical-infrared telescope in the world.

More info: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2336a/

📷 E. Garcés/ESO. Ack.: N. Dubost

#astrodon #astronomy #space

astro_jcm, 9 months ago to books

Once again I find myself perfectly portrayed in Tom Gauld's latest #cartoon 📚

#books #reading #literature

astro_jcm, 6 months ago to cooking

Must try this #recipe !

#cooking #halloween #cartoon #comic #TomGauld

astro_jcm, 10 months ago to chile

Many newcomers due to what's happening in The Bad Place, so here's another #introduction. Hi! I'm an astronomer and science communicator at the European Southern Observatory.

Below is a pic from my previous "office" at ESO's Paranal Observatory in #Chile. I now work full time as Media Officer at ESO's HQ in #Germany.

I mostly post about #astronomy #space #photography and #astrophotography

Tips:

• fill in your bio
• follow hashtags
• share posts you like, you're the algorithm here

Welcome!

astro_jcm, 3 months ago to science

I'm tired of sitting through #science talks where all plots are properly credited but artist's impressions and photographs aren't.

As a researcher and astrophotographer who works with super talented artists, this attitude really bothers me.

You study galaxies at the dawn of time. You look for biomarkers in the atmospheres of distant planets. You can most definitely find who made that cool image you just pasted in your slides.

To those who do credit #art : you're awesome 🤗

astro_jcm, 5 months ago to chile

We just released a HUGE mosaic of the so-called Running Chicken #Nebula: 1.5 billion pixels full of young stars and glowing hydrogen gas. The mosaic comprises data acquired with the VLT Survey #Telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory in #Chile

🔎 Check the zoomable version: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2320a/zoomable/

📽️ Wanna chill out while flying over this nebula? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vULwpISvwU

ℹ️ More about this image: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2320/

#astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography #space

astro_jcm, 2 years ago to science

Can you trap a galaxy in a crystal ball? I tried! Back in 2018 I took this image of the Milky Way through a crystal ball from ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile.

#astronomy #astrophotography

astro_jcm, 1 year ago to space

Many people imagine professional astronomers hunched over a #telescope and taking notes. We no longer work that way, as light captured by the telescope is registered by complex instruments. But sometimes it's fun to use your eyes!

I took this pic a few years ago, when we removed one of the instruments of ESO's Very Large Telescope in #Chile. A screen was temporarily attached in its place, and we used it to project the #Moon and show it to everyone at the observatory

#astronomy #astrodon #space

astro_jcm, 10 months ago to twitter

Folks on #Twitter right now

astro_jcm, 1 month ago to space

Every time there's a #SolarEclipse, this computer-generated image by artist A4size-ska does the rounds on social media. Even though the artist clearly discloses it for what it is, a digital composite, many people share it as a genuine photograph of an #eclipse seen from #space

If you want to learn how to distinguish real #astrophotography images from altered ones, check out this article I wrote: https://www.eso.org/public/blog/csi-astronomy/

A4size-ska at Deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/a4size-ska/art/Eclipse-144235675

#astrodon #astronomy

astro_jcm, 11 months ago to space

Happy #TowelDay to those who celebrate! Pro #astronomy tip: never install Genuine People Personality software in a #telescope. We did that at Paranal Observatory in #Chile and, well, bad idea.

#DouglasAdams

astro_jcm, 1 month ago to Astro

1/ Most massive stellar #BlackHole in our galaxy found! With 33 times the mass of the Sun, this is the most massive black hole formed after the collapse of a star that we've found so far in the #MilkyWay.

ESA's Gaia mission found it via the wobble it induces on a star orbiting it, and data from ground-based telescopes helped confirm its mass and elucidate how it formed.

https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2408/

#astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space

astro_jcm, 1 month ago to chile

If you have the chance to see the upcoming solar #SolarEclipse on April 8, go for it! Even if you've seen an annular #eclipse or an almost total one, the difference between that and a fully total one is like night and day –– pun intended!

Here's a shot I snapped of the 2019 eclipse from ESO's La Silla Observatory in #Chile. I vividly remember seeing the #Moon 's shadow crawling towards us from the Pacific Ocean. Unforgettable!

#astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography

astro_jcm, 9 months ago to Trains

🚂 "The #train now boarding at Platform 3 is the 02:30 Paranal Express service to Proxima Centauri." 😉

I took this #photo at ESO's Paranal Observatory in #Chile back when I worked there. This wagon was donated by the FCAB (Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia). It's being restored by ESO engineer Roberto Castillo, and it will serve as a museum showcasing various astronomical instruments.

#astronomy #astrophotography #MilkyWay #astrodon #space #transport

astro_jcm, 5 months ago to Astro

This image is made of almost impossible events.

It shows the distribution of hydrogen in M101, a nearby spiral #galaxy. More precisely, we see the radiation emitted by hydrogen atoms during something called hyperfine transition.

The odds of this happening are very rare: on average, you'd have to stare at a hydrogen atom for 10 million years to see this transition. But there are LOTS of hydrogen atoms out there!

📷 THINGS survey

#astrodon #astronomy #space #physics

astro_jcm, 4 months ago to Astro

Here's my #ChristmasTree for y'all! At the base, one of the Auxiliary Telescopes at ESO's Paranal Observatory. Above it, the Magellanic Clouds, two small galaxies orbiting our own. The tree-topper is 47 Tucanae, a globular cluster containing millions of #stars.

The light from this and other telescopes can be combined to get the same level of detail as that of a huge "virtual" telescope using interferometry: https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/technology/interferometry/

#astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography #space #Christmas

astro_jcm, 2 months ago to mastodon

1/ After having tested it for some time, phanpy.social ( @phanpy ) is now my one and only #Mastodon client. The interface is sleek, and you can tell there's clear intentionality behind every single design choice.

First, look at how gorgeous nested replies look! I no longer struggle trying to decipher who's replying to what. And when you reach too many nested levels, a button gives you the choice to deploy them or not, to keep things clean.

astro_jcm, 8 months ago to mastodon

As someone who works in #communication , I'm baffled by some folks here on #mastodon who talk down about users of other #SocialMedia platforms in a patronising or even insulting way, only to immediately add: "I don't understand why they don't come here!"

From a goal-oriented comms point of view, this makes zero sense if your true goal is to drive people here, no matter how well justified your criticism of other platforms might be.

I really like it here, but come on folks... 😉

astro_jcm, 6 months ago to Halloween

Just in time for #Halloween, our colleague Juan Beltrán just sent us this amazing image of the #Moon rising behind ESO's Extremely Large #Telescope, currently under construction atop Cerro Armazones in #Chile

More details: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2344a/

📷 J. Beltrán/ESO

#astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography