astro_jcm

astro_jcm, 4 months ago to chile

The first 18 segments of the primary mirror of ESO's Extremely Large #Telescope have arrived safely to #Chile !

Our engineers at Paranal Observatory checked that they hadn't suffered any damage during their 10000 km trip from France.

The ELT's 39-m mirror will be comprised of 798 of these segments, working together as a gigantic eye on the sky.

https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann24001/

#astrodon #astronomy #space #engineering #technology

astro_jcm, 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago) to Astronomy

Ok, this is cool: using the upgraded GRAVITY+ instrument at ESO's Very Large #Telescope, astronomers have directly measured the mass of a very distant supermassive black hole, when the #universe was only a couple billion years old.

With GRAVITY+ we can actually discern gas spinning around the black hole and work out its mass –– a technique used in nearby black holes but never directly in such distant ones until now.

More details: https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann24002/

#astronomy #astrodon #space

astro_jcm, 6 months ago (edited 6 months ago) to Astronomy

A recent article in La Repubblica beautifully described ESO's Extremely Large #Telescope as "a gigantic egg, laid by who knows what mythological bird, on the highest peak" and it's a very accurate metaphor!

Article: https://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2023/11/19/news/telescopio_piu_grande_mondo_cile-420763639/

More info on this image: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2350a/

📷 ESO/G. Vecchia

#astronomy #astrodon #space #engineering

astro_jcm, 4 months ago to Astro

"Oh my God—it's full of stars!"

This infrared image of an area close to the centre of our #galaxy, taken with ESO's Very Large Telescope, might hold the key to solve a stellar puzzle.

There's evidence that lots of #stars were recently born around the galactic centre, but we see fewer young stars than expected.

But Sagittarius C, the region imaged here, is particularly rich in young stars!

More info: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2407a/

📷 ESO/F. Nogueras-Lara et al.

#astrodon #astronomy #space #science

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

Hey #mastodon I need some #help. I've noticed that the official web client shows fewer boosted posts than 3rd party ones, Elk & Tusky in my case

Even after waiting for a while those boosted posts never show up. Normal posts do keep appearing in a timely manner. The instance of the poster/booster doesn't seem to matter.

Just in case I tried disabling "Group boosts" (even though that's just supposed to group recent boosts, which is not the case here), but nothing changed. Am I missing something?

astro_jcm, 10 months ago to Help

I need some #mastdon #help. I know that users can block entire instances. But is it possible (either natively or via third party apps) to:

1. get a list of all the followers of a certain account (all of them, in all instances)

2. mass-mute or mass-block them

I'm asking at the level of individual users, not admins managing their instance.

Thanks!

astro_jcm, 10 months ago to academia

Friendly reminder to my friends in #academia that in the same way you credit #science plots when you give talks, write #SocialMedia posts, etc, you should also credit artist impressions and photographs. There's a lot of work behind them. Don't take #art for granted!

#AcademicChatter

astro_jcm, 9 months ago to books

I'm #reading in a park, and having to smile to every #dog that passes by my side —I have to, the law says so— means my reading pace is like two sentences per minute 😅

astro_jcm, 8 months ago to Astro

Ever wondered why astronomers need so many different telescopes and instruments? Different colours or wavelengths of #light tell us a lot about the objects we study.

In the latest episode of Chasing Starlight we tell you how we use this "super-powered vision" to capture what our eyes can't see.

➡️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcGRe38fPKA

#astrodon #astronomy #space #scicomm

astro_jcm, 9 months ago to Astro

Look, the Very Large #Telescope has imaged a cosmic #flower! 🌼 The blue "petals" are actually multiple images of the same object, a distant #galaxy seen when the #universe was only 20% of its current age. Light rays from this faraway galaxy were bent by the gravity of a foreground galaxy (the orange one at the centre) creating separate images of the distant source – a so-called Einstein Cross.

➡️ https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2337a/

📷 ESO/A. Cikota et al.

#astrodon #astronomy #space

astro_jcm, 7 months ago to chile

Happy to be back at ESO in #Chile for a couple of weeks, for the first time since I left in 2020! Always nice to reconnect with old friends.

Pictured here is a mock version of one of the 798 hexagonal segments that will make up the 39 m mirror of the Extremely Large #Telescope. And —very appropriately— we can see a pic of its sibling, the Very Large Telescope, reflected on it 🙂

#astrodon #astronomy #space

astro_jcm, 7 months ago to academia

Folks in #academia, here are some #spooky costume ideas for #Halloween

• reviewer #2
• grant deadline
• more of a comment than a question

#AcademicChatter

astro_jcm, 1 year ago to space

We've launched a new monthly hosted show at ESO! The first episode commemorates the 25th anniversary of our Very Large #Telescope, with some of its coolest contributions to astronomy. Check it out in the link below!

🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXS9nQfg8eM

#astronomy #astrodon #space #universe

astro_jcm, 6 months ago to Astro

Did you know that galaxies are almost empty? Stars within them are so far apart that when galaxies clash their individual stars don't collide – they just get tossed around due to gravitational interactions, distorting the shapes of the galaxies.

More here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJd8Z6SDx-M

#astrodon #astronomy #space #scicomm #galaxy

astro_jcm, 1 year ago to fediverse

I adore #Mastodon , but there's a stark contrast between the open and customizable nature of the platform and the sense of entitlement and ownership I see in certain users towards newcomers.

Telling newcomers that the issues they're assuring you they have aren't real, or claiming that <insert possible new feature> will destroy Mastodon even though you can't back it up with actual data, is a terrible communication strategy.

Build a fence or don't build one, but make up your mind.

astro_jcm, 10 months ago to chile

"The thing's hollow -- it goes on forever -- and -- oh my God! -- it's full of stars!"

An infrared image of the globular cluster NGC6723 snapped by ESO's VISTA #telescope in #Chile

➡️ https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2333a/

#astronomy #astrodon #space #stars

astro_jcm, 1 year ago to space

In case you missed it, ESO's Very Large #Telescope in #Chile just turned 25! To celebrate this, the first episode of our new hosted show Chasing Starlight recaps some of the coolest science done with this facility.

Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXS9nQfg8eM

#astrodon #astronomy #space #scicomm

astro_jcm, 1 month ago to Astro

1/2 I still struggle getting used to the fact that the smallest mirrors of the Extremely Large Telescope are similar in size to the primary mirrors of many current telescopes!

The M5 – the fifth mirror in the optical path – has reached a key milestone: its blank, the piece that will be later polished, has been finalised.

#astrodon #astronomy #engineering #technology

https://youtu.be/xI1IBpTHVX8?si=RekXIDlOG30h4PQU

astro_jcm, 5 months ago to random

Sentí una gran conmoción en la Fuerza, como si millones de uvas gritaran de terror, y luego fueran silenciadas.

astro_jcm, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

Started boiling some Weißwurst without realising I'm all out of sweet mustard, and stores are closed today. Should I...
(a) Go out and buy mustard in a gas station.
(b) Use sriracha, the only other sauce I happen to have at home right now, and risk being deported from Germany.

astro_jcm, 1 month ago to Astronomy

Red. Red everywhere. Alas, too much light pollution here in Munich 🙁

https://www.foto-webcam.eu/

#aurora #astronomy #astrophotography

astro_jcm, 1 month ago to Blog

Hace unos días tuve el placer de charlar de nuevo con Ángel Rodríguez Lozano en su programa Hablando con Científicos, donde expliqué algunos trucos para identificar imágenes astronómicas falsas.

Podéis descargar el audio aquí: https://cienciaes.com/entrevistas/2024/05/02/fake-astro/

La entrevista está basada en este artículo (en inglés) que escribí hace poco en el #blog de ESO: https://www.eso.org/public/blog/csi-astronomy/

#astronomia #ciencia #astrofotografia #podcast #fotografia

astro_jcm, 1 month ago to photography

#SilentSunday #sunset #photography

astro_jcm, 1 month ago to random

I mean, it can be an emergency!

astro_jcm, 1 month ago to Astro

Me getting mentally ready to be super jealous of the upcoming #aurora pics from those of you living at higher latitudes.

#astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography