Digestible summaries of the latest astronomy research. Written by an international team of grad students for undergrads! Supported by the
@AAS_Office
.
#scicomm
From
@astrobites
: The genocide in Gaza demands our attention and our action. As astronomers and members of the global scientific community, we cannot ignore the immense suffering and devastation inflicted upon our colleagues.
We’re trying to get verified but unfortunately no one has written news articles about us. Would anyone from a verified news org. like to interview us about the upcoming JWST launch? We’re an international team of astro grad students who are always happy to talk
#SciComm
! DM us!
OPEN CALL: We want to use our platform to amplify Black experiences in astro/physics! If you're a Black researcher or student in astro/physics who would like to share your experience, please reply or DM us.
#BlackLivesMatter
#BlackInSTEM
Ever struggle to remember the mass of the Sun? Struggle no more!
Much like
@taylorswift13
, the Sun is a star. Taylor was born in 1989 & was 30 once --> Mass of the Sun is 1.989*10^30 kg.
Reply/RT with your favorite ways to remember useful astro constants!
From Guest: When harassers coauthor papers, the community suffers, but nobody is more affected than the Early Career Researchers within those groups. This is how we, the ECRs within the California Planet Search, have tackled the recent authorship debacle.
Black astronomers and physicists are drastically underrepresented in these fields. Here we break down the numbers, and look at research on the discrimination faced by Black students in STEM.
An Astro2020 white paper presents evidence that GRE is biased and a poor predictor of PhD success, and offers guidelines for eliminating the requirement from graduate school admissions.
Today’s post for
#BlackInAstro
week looks at the underrepresentation of Black women in astronomy and physics, and summarizes two papers on their lived experiences in the field.
From Sahil Hegde (
@sahil_hegde
): Today’s article showcases Dr. Arianna Long (
@astroarianna
), one of the organizers of the Rainbow Village at
@AAS_Office
, a new gathering place for people of color in astronomy!
We're hiring! Our application consists of one paper summary and one short essay about why you are interested in joining Astrobites, with an emphasis on what you will gain outside of science communication skills. It closes Nov. 14, 2022!
Happy birthday to Henrietta Swan Leavitt, the discoverer of Leavitt's Law!
Leavitt discovered the original period-luminosity relation for Cepheid variable stars all the way back in 1912:
Graduate student KeShawn Ivory writes on how being Black has affected his trajectory in astrophysics, what the field would ideally look like for him, what he needs non-Black folks in the field to u…
It's our birthday! 🥳🥳🥳 🎉🎉🎉🎈🎈🎈🎈
#OTD
10 years ago, we published our very first bite.
Look how cute we were back then!
And look how big we've grown today!
We are saddened to hear about recent revelations of harassment directed at an astronomy graduate student. We are currently investigating whether the perpetrator is affiliated with Astrobites.
Happy
#BirthdayVeraRubin
! Forty years ago, Rubin published a paper declaring "The conclusion is inescapable that non-luminous matter exists beyond the optical galaxy."
Today, dark matter is ubiquitous in work on galaxies & cosmology, and the
@VRubinObs
is named in Rubin's honor.
Today we share again our statement on harassment from July 2021, and we reiterate our call within it for the more senior members of our community, namely tenured faculty, to stand with us and stop giving voices to known harassers.
From
@macyjhuston
(with lots of help!): Astronomers have recently been putting pressure on astronomical publications to allow transgender astronomers to change their name on past publications. Here's why it matters and the current status of the effort.
Apply to write for us! Are you enthusiastic about science communication? Interested in developing your writing skills? Excited about joining a collaboration of over 100 astronomy grad students from around the world? We look forward to working with you ☺️
Astrobites is participating in the
#strike4blacklives
next week! On June 10, we will not post our usual paper summary. We instead encourage our readers to learn about anti-Black racism, particularly in STEM and academia, and how we can confront it.
#ShutDownSTEM
#ShutDownAcademia
Do you like exoplanets? Are you ga-ga for floofy pets? What about combining planetary theory and adorable animals?
Then you definitely want to check out this April Fools paper from some of our illustrious authors! Exo(plan)ets galore 🐶😼🦆🐍
Many astronomers want JWST to be renamed, but what are their reasons, and what does this mean as we enter a revolutionary new era of astronomy?
@lili_alderson
explores the history, controversy and future of the telescope
From
@astrobites
: There is a tradition in Astronomy to post silly science papers to the arXiv on Aprils Fools day. We’ve collected them all for 2024 and provided some “peer review". 🔭🧐
From Briley Lewis: Humans have been looking up for our entire history - today, let's take a look at the women of indigenous African communities and their relationship to the night sky!
In preparation for
#BlackInAstroWeek
(starting tomorrow!), here's Part 1 of a series by
@MiaDoesAstro
on what astro/physics institutions have been doing over the last year to address anti-Black racism.
If you are serious about "celebrat[ing] the contributions of our LGBTQ+ employees and continu[ing] the work to create an inclusive, welcoming, and supportive environment" this
#PrideMonth
, perhaps
#RenameJWST
.
When we can be our authentic selves, we can achieve anything. This
#Pride
Month, we celebrate the contributions of our LGBTQ+ employees and continue the work to create an inclusive, welcoming, and supportive environment.
Our decade:
---Came into existence
---122 authors (in 9 countries)
---2300+ posts
---Four languages!
---One podcast
---Partnered with AAS
---Took a few bites out of Mars, then switched our logo
---15 spin-off sites in other fields!
---ComSciCon!
What will we do in the 2020s?
From Astrobites: There is a tradition in Astronomy to post silly science papers to the arXiv on Aprils Fools day. We’ve collected them all for 2023 and provided some “peer review”
Many studies have been done within astronomy to investigate gender inequality between men and women. But, what can we do to better support the members of our community who don’t identify as p…
From Guest: Remember that you are also a creation of the universe. You are as mighty as the stars, the galaxies, and the planets. Billions of years and a series of miracles went into making you. You are, and have always been, enough.
From Mia de los Reyes: Machine learning is a powerful tool… but with great power, comes great responsibility. Learn more about it at Dr. Brian Nord’s talk at
#AAS237
!
The Winton Award is for research by a Postdoctoral Fellow in a UK institution in astronomy and geophysics whose career has shown the most promising development.
Today for
#BlackInAstro
week, we summarize a sociological study on Black students’ science aspirations & how to improve the “thinkability” of science careers.
Several of our authors met up in the Boston-Cambridge area (some are attending
#FirstLight2023
, others are local). For many it was their first time meeting so many astrobiters in real life despite being in the collaboration for >2 years! Cheers to our amazing community! ♥️
From Guest: For many students, community college is part of their undergraduate education. We take a look at what community college is, the perception of a community college student, and share experiences from a few astronomers that started undergrad at a
Missed some of your favorite sessions at
#AAS237
?
Our
@astrobites
authors covered all of the major events & more each day!
Day 1:
Day 2:
Day 3:
Day 4:
Day 5:
From
@SuchiNarayanan
: This Beyond Astrobites post discusses reconciling a career in astrophysics with eco-anxiety. When surrounded by our Earthly problems, specifically climate change, how can we find fulfillment in our career as astrophysicists?
From
@astrobalmer
, "Most astronomy is done by graduate students, but many aren't compensated fairly or treated well. Ongoing struggles to unionize, especially in the past year, might give the confused and frustrated graduate student hope headed into 2023."
What will the image of a black hole look like? Will it look like this? One of our bites talks about how we know what black holes look like even without a picture of one:
Do you teach undergraduate astronomy courses?
You may be eligible to participate in a research study investigating the efficacy of Astrobites-based lesson plans! Check out this page for more info:
Next up, we are covering Session 122:
(Plenary) — From Galaxies to Faces: Recognizing the Implications of Artificial Intelligence in Astronomy and Society, Brian Nord (FermiLab)
#AAS237
We are about to begin
@AAS_CSMA
's panel titled
#AbolishQuals
: Barriers to Success for Graduate Students of Color in Astronomy!!! Follow this thread to hear what the panelists have to say, moderated by the amazing
@jazztronomy
✨
We're excited to present our 2nd annual
#EarthWeekxAstrobites2023
(April 17–21). This year we explore "How do I as a [student/educator/science enthusiast] talk to people about climate change?"
RSVP at for the Zoom links + updates! Full program to come.
It's time for Dr. Dan Foreman-Mackey's plenary talk "Open-source software for data analysis in astronomy, and some of the things I've learned along the way"
#aas241
From
@katestoreyfish
: We interview 5-year-old space connoisseur Ryan and mom Tammy about their favorite space facts, becoming Twitter famous, and the representation of Black girl scientists!
From
@ITrierweiler
and
@astrogandhi
: 48,000 academic workers across the University of California system are going on strike starting tomorrow. We discuss their reasons for striking and describe how you too can help!
Do you want to become involved in astronomy research? Do you want to learn about college life from a university mentor? Are you excited to learn from space scientists? Then join the SciAccess Zenith Mentorship Program!
#DisabledInSTEM
The Astrobites collaboration stands in solidarity with international students at US institutions. We value international students as friends and as people regardless of their contributions, and we …
Reminder: The
#Strike4BlackLives
is tomorrow:
"The strike is not a “day off” for non-Black scientists, but a day to engage in academia’s core mission to build a better society for everyone, see below for suggested actions that you can take on strike day."
Astrobites is participating in the
#strike4blacklives
next week! On June 10, we will not post our usual paper summary. We instead encourage our readers to learn about anti-Black racism, particularly in STEM and academia, and how we can confront it.
#ShutDownSTEM
#ShutDownAcademia
delighted to be among an amazing cohort of
@NSF
postdoctoral fellows and incredibly grateful for this unique opportunity to carry out my research and outreach program!