Notices by Phil Plait (badastro@mastodon.social)

Time for, well, not a distraction so much as a palate cleanser: a truly phenomenal shot from Hubble of a galaxy that is rippling like a pond that had a rock tossed in it… because that's what happened! Kinda.

And YES you want to grab the hi-res version.

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/incredible-and-spectacular-hubble-image-of-a-galaxy-that-got-whacked-by-another-galaxy

Trump and the GOP are in a full-out war against science.

I have a lot to say about that.

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/the-attacks-on-science

Is this another Monday distraction from, well, everything?

Yes, but *what* a distraction: a jaw-dropping 416 megapixel mosaic of the Andromeda Galaxy!

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/a-n-d-r-o-m-e-d-a-redux

2024 was the hottest year on record. Ever.

In a few years you may remember it nostalgically as the coolest you've experienced since.

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/2024-the-hottest-year-on-record

YES, YOU *DO* WANT TO SEE THE MIGHTY 11,000 X 8,000 PIXEL IMAGE OF THIS NEARBY CLUSTER FULL OF GALAXIES UNLESS HAVING YOUR BRAIN LEAP OUT OF YOUR SKULL IN WONDER IS SOMETHING YOU *DON'T* WANT

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/the-antlia-galaxy-cluster-is-spectacular-but-which-galaxies-are-actually-in-it

Wanna get away from the news, or maybe family? Then how about taking a deep dive into a quasar with me?

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/take-a-deep-dive-into-a-quasar-though-not-literally-that-would-be-bad

2MASS J05551028+0724255!
2MASS J05551028+0724255!
2MASS J05551028+0724255!

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-we-name-the-stars/

My book Under Alien Skies was just translated into Estonian! That's a 1st for me. You can get it at fine Estonian booksellers. Also? I really like this cover!

So let's say you spot a rogue black hole bearing down on Earth and bent on destroying us all. How do you tell other astronomers where to find it? Let's talk celestial coordinates!

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-astronomers-navigate-the-sky/

Aw, Universe, why do you have to be this way?

We've been suspicious for a while that the expansion of the cosmos is doing weird stuff, and new results from JWST seem to confirm it.

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/jwst-yup-the-universe-is-expanding-weirdly

I got to write in Scientific American about one of my all-time favorite cosmic objects: Barnard 68! It's like a hole in space, except… it isn't.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/whats-inside-our-galaxys-darkest-place/

So here's a new way black holes can literally shake the fabric of the universe.

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/a-new-way-black-holes-shake-the-fabric-of-the-universe

So, um…

Scientists found life inside a rock from an asteroid taken from space.

Before you start screaming, though, you should know that the life is very much as we know it. It came from Earth, and contaminated the sample.

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/scientists-find-life-in-a-meteorite-this-headline-is-technically-true-but-not-what-you-think

Sometimes, the simplest questions lead to the most profound of results.

For example, a child might ask, "Why is the sky dark at night?" Astronomers asked that for centuries, but it took a poet to answer it. And you'll never guess which one…

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-is-the-night-sky-dark-olbers/

What's the roundest human-made object ever made? One of Einstein's most bizarre predictions led to a pretty dang spherical ball bearing because of course it did.

[also, more on kicking Elon's Nazi bar to the curb]

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/what-is-the-roundest-human-made-object-also-i-nuked-my-twitter-account

WHEN WE FIND IT WE'LL HAVE A BALL

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/whats-the-roundest-object-in-the-universe/

A reminder that last year at this time I wrote my favorite thing ever, my magnum lupus:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-happens-to-a-werewolf-on-the-moon/

HOLY HIGH-ENERGY SOLAR WIND PARTICLES!

I can see the aurora by eye! MY FIRST TIME EVER!!!

The bright star in the middle is Deneb. The glow shows up way better in photos.

Holy wow. Wow.

I had a lot of fun writing this one!

When it comes to the night sky, how dark is dark?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-dark-is-the-night-sky/

Paid subscribers to my Bad Astronomy Newsletter can read about how astronomers have found a dead planet orbiting a dead star that's like looking into a dark mirror of Earth's distant future.

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/a-dead-planet-found-around-a-dead-star