Phil Plait

SCIENCE!

#Astronomer, #scicomm, #author, etc.

Newsletter: https://badastronomy.substack.com/

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Last Notes

2024-09-20 15:36:38

A *lot* of wee near-Earth asteroids have even more wee moons orbiting them. Why?
The main culprit could be… sunlight.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-so-many-tiny-asteroids-have-moons/

2024-09-16 15:26:14

Long ago, did a star pass really close to the solar system, royally screwing up all the icy bodies orbiting out past Neptune, dropping them to the inner system and creating havoc as well as lots of backwards-orbiting moons for the giant planets?
Maybe!
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/giant-planets-backwardsorbiting-moons-stellar-close-encounter-may-blame

2024-09-08 15:43:05

Happy (belated) second anniversary of Buddy adoption day! When we got him he was malnourished and unhealthy. Now he's happy and goofy and loves his big sister Daisy.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/102/692/499/521/796/original/e1680392fed3018d.jpg

2024-09-05 20:51:05

Hey RFK Jr! Kiss my vaxxed butt!
#COVID #Flu
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/086/914/179/202/739/original/bf26b177fd65485a.jpg

2024-09-02 17:17:34

A *staggering* view of Mars that you VERY much want to see. And it even has a case of phobobombing.
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/jawdropping-view-mars
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/069/086/904/183/054/original/bf4924cbf0b098eb.jpg

2024-08-30 16:52:33

If Hubble can see so much detail in distant galaxies, why can't it see the Apollo astronaut bootprints on the Moon?
This is a question with a definite resolution.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-cant-the-hubble-space-telescope-see-astronauts-on-the-moon/

2024-08-26 15:17:35

66 million years ago, a huge object from space slammed into Earth and gave the dinsoaurs a really, really bad day.
... and now we know what it was: an asteroid, not a comet, and it came from the outer solar system.
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/dinosaur-killer-asteroid-came-deep-space-outer-solar-system

2024-08-25 16:07:42

Mood
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/023/520/045/503/031/original/0f84250400d94f97.jpg

2024-08-19 15:20:45

It looks like there's a VAST OCEAN of water on Mars…or rather under its surface. At 11 - 20 km deep it'll be a bit hard to tap into, but still, *wow*.
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/mars-may-ocean-liquid-water-11-km-surface

2024-08-18 17:51:40

For your Sunday nature moment: an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (the Virginia State insect, for that matter) on a zinnia in my yard.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/984/286/891/078/891/original/74289129df5fe767.jpg

2024-08-15 13:05:18

I got up shortly after 4:00 am to see Jupiter and Mars still as a tight pair (lower left). The Pleiades star cluster is at the upper right and the V of the Hyades cluster (the head of Taurus) to the lower right. Totally worth it. Beautiful.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/966/171/318/784/252/original/d468136f60f20465.jpg

2024-08-10 20:54:14

Sunspot 3780 is so big you can see it with your naked eye! If you still have your eclipse glasses give it a shot (only use proper equipment to view the Sun, please). I took this with the 5x setting on my phone through a solar filter for my telescope. Another spot, 3784, is visible to the upper left.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/939/701/455/829/512/original/ed0045c9e8d1b432.jpg

2024-08-09 15:48:00

I have TWO articles up today in Scientific American!
1) If you get up early on the morning of Aug 14 you can see Jupiter and Mars kissing in the eastern sky. Bonus: meteors!
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/perseid-meteor-shower-joins-stunning-mars-and-jupiter-conjunction/
1/2

2024-07-30 15:07:56

Telescopes are time machines.
Hubble observations of a galaxy made a few years ago show a supernova... *before* it blew up!
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/glimpse-supernova-nearby-galaxybefore-blew
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/876/065/556/786/742/original/fd6d5ee8e90319dd.jpg

2024-07-25 15:05:36

VERY cool news: JWST has spotted a gas giant exoplanet orbiting a star just 12 light-years away! And by "spotted" I mean we have *actual images* of it.
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/jwst-finds-first-old-cold-giant-exoplanet
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/847/744/772/389/839/original/4c82b0a0d8ab4884.jpg

2024-07-15 18:08:22

In other news…
A new JWST pic for its anniversary shows a very cool colliding galaxy pair, where one of them looks like a penguin!
And somehow I makes this about not being able to let go of bad ideas long after they're really super clearly wrong.
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/new-cool-jwst-image-colliding-galaxies-looks-like-penguin
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/791/840/393/339/334/original/3aff90c2dd5803f6.jpg

2024-06-27 15:42:14

This Hubble image of a young trinary protostar system is simultaneously eerily gorgeous and gorgeously eerie.
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/hubble-takes-look-young-trinary-star-system
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/689/344/107/869/270/original/f94dfeb369253134.jpg

2024-06-25 14:30:18

DON'T PANIC
But on June 29 a decently large (200-meter) asteroid will pass Earth by less than 300,000 km, which is pretty close on a cosmic scale, but a long car trip for the rest of us.
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/another-asteroid-shaves-earth-storing-power-water
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/677/736/730/072/449/original/b4c02623251cc7b6.jpg

2024-06-24 14:34:27

Operating on only a single gyro, Hubble is back in business and taking spectactular observations!
This galaxy is a jaw-dropper.
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/hubbles-back-baby-also-global-warming-caused-humans
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/672/090/039/820/070/original/97388c196982271b.jpg

2024-06-19 15:35:27

I've been doing this writing thing for a long time, but it never gets old to see my name in print, especially in a magazine I've been reading since I was a kid. #scientificamerican
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/644/004/492/343/814/original/ebeac255cf1c42bf.jpg

2024-06-17 16:06:30

*Another* weird planet has been found?
Kinda makes you wonder if maybe we're the weird ones.
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/another-weird-planet-im-starting-wonder-us-whos-weird

2024-06-12 13:58:27

We as a society name a lot of stuff after a LOT of *very* problematic people and ideas. Thing is, it's really easy to fix... if we can admit to our mistakes.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/astronomers-should-take-a-deeper-look-at-naming/

2024-06-10 14:30:23

This incredible shot of Jupiter's hellish moon Io was not taken by spacecraft! It was taken from *here*, on Earth!
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/amazing-image-io-jupiters-tortured-hellmoon

2024-06-07 14:35:37

You have an astronomical revolution in your pocket I would've killed for when I was in high school.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-astronomy-helped-create-your-smartphones-camera/

2024-06-04 14:43:50

JWST has very likely seen the most distant galaxy ever found, and I'm still kinda boggling about it. It's too big, too massive, and too bright to exist according to our current understanding of how the Universe works.
We need a better understanding!
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/jwst-bags-distant-galaxy-ever-seen-hoo-boy-mystery

2024-06-03 14:38:01

A star so old it may be a member of only the *second* generation of stars born ever. Like EVER ever, just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, and it's right in our galactic back yard!
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/one-oldest-stars-universe-spotted-cosmic-back-yard

2024-05-30 14:06:55

Is it dusty in here or is someone just trying to land a rocket on the Moon?
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/dust-blown-around-land-moon

2024-05-29 15:34:55

Find the teeny toad. Difficulty level: expert. Answer in ALT
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/525/100/192/263/750/original/f39a87f007db26e7.jpg

2024-05-24 15:37:10

Fun fact, if by "fun fact" you mean HOLY CRAP WHAT
In the past, Earth has been hit by the physical debris blasted into space by nearby supernovae. And we have the radioactive seabed sediment to prove it.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-often-do-supernovas-strike-earth/

2024-05-21 17:57:42

This spiky fellow is a buck moth caterpillar, and it turns out the spines inject a painful venom. Ask me how I know! Well, my wife knows. I only had to smear antihistamine cream over the spots where it got her.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/480/366/508/899/187/original/2ae2818ed70ea8ea.jpg

2024-05-21 14:19:01

Global warming is slowing Earth's rotation.
It's a small effect, but it's measurable, and it's one more way our mucking about with the planet is having unintended consequences.
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/global-warming-measurably-affecting-earths-rotation

2024-05-20 14:16:28

A team of astronomers discovered some of the most ancient stars in our galaxy and used the moment to thumb their noses at ingrained GOP sexism, and I am so here for it.
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/planet-fomalhaut-three-ancient-stars-another-galaxy-orbit

2024-05-18 17:44:54

Wise ass
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/463/333/662/181/461/original/63364f05a9ba62f3.jpg

2024-05-17 16:17:31

This little guy is sitting outside my office window singing his heart out. I love Carolina wrens. They're so loud for such wee things!
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/457/324/770/348/474/original/ca0f9fa434c6cc85.jpg

2024-05-13 17:59:14

Peony
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/435/078/299/571/244/original/8e4178bae18579ed.jpg

2024-05-13 14:59:00

A new trippy NASA video shows you what it's like to take the last plunge you'll ever take.
[Bonus: Stuff about my book! And fun math!]
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/take-voyage-black-hole

2024-03-25 17:52:49

In news today that won't piss you off, there's a black hole out there that's eating the equivalent of FOUR EARTHS PER SECOND.
PER *SECOND*.
https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/scariest-black-hole-universe

2023-10-27 13:53:26

I convinced Scientific American to publish a scholarly article on werewolves and space exploration.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-happens-to-a-werewolf-on-the-moon/

2023-08-22 14:16:53

This is really weird: Despite being 4.5 *billion* km from the Sun, Neptune's clouds wax and wane with the solar magnetic cycle!
https://badastronomy.substack.com/p/from-45-billion-km-away-neptunes