Vanessa Graber
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drvgraber.bsky.social
Vanessa Graber
@drvgraber.bsky.social
UKRI future leaders fellow. senior lecturer in physics at Royal Holloway. loving astrophysics. especially neutron stars. machine learning. scientific software. EDI. she/her. views are my own 🇩🇪➡️🇬🇧➡️🇨🇦➡️🇪🇸➡️🇬🇧
Pinned
Want to hear the wonderful Jocelyn Bell Burnell talk about her discovery of pulsars, the struggles of minorities in science and see me spin some eggs 😄? Then this month's #SkyAtNight episode is for you www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis... Including some wonderful shots of @royalholloway.bsky.social
The Sky at Night - Queen of Pulsars
The team delve into the enigmatic world of pulsars and hear the inspiring story of their discoverer, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, direct from the subject herself.
www.bbc.co.uk
On my way to Brussels to kick off the new European SCALES network which brings together people working on superfluid physics across laboratory and astrophysical scales (yes the name was intended ... very proud of coming up with that acronym 🤣).
It's been a few really busy and exciting weeks on the science front, and we can finally share that our European network grant for SCALES ("Superfluid Condensates in Astrophysics and Laboratory ExperimentS") has been funded. So happy about this one www.cost.eu/actions/CA24...
Superfluid Condensates in Astrophysics and Laboratory Experiments
Superfluidity is a striking phenomenon observed in many quantum fluids, which can flow without viscosity when cooled to low temperatures. Recent experimental advances allow us to study and visualise t...
www.cost.eu
September 25, 2025 at 10:14 AM
The Astronomy group @royalholloway.bsky.social is organising the annual meeting of the UK #neutronstar community this week. We've already seen so much great science from our UK colleagues 🤩 and international collaborators and there are still several more days to go.
September 15, 2025 at 3:01 PM
In London today to kick off a collaboration with the Research Software Engineering group at UCL who will help me and the new team working on my FLF project write better software. Really excited about this.
September 12, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Graber
Explaining neutron stars... using eggs 🌟

This simple experiment, demonstrated by @drvgraber.bsky.social of our Department of Physics, is a neat way of conveying the complex makeup and movement of neutron stars.

Recently, Dr Graber conducted this on an episode of 'The Sky at Night' on BBC Four.
September 3, 2025 at 9:31 AM
In London today at the Royal Astronomical Society to give a lecture on "ML Approaches to Radio Astronomy" for the annual STFC Intro to Astronomy Summer School organised by UCL. Really excited to be here 🤩
September 4, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Want to learn some amazing facts about #neutronstars? Alex Andersson, Kaustubh Rajwade, Adriana Dias and Lucie Robbins have a few more exciting pulsar tidbits for you 🤩. #SkyAtNight @royalholloway.bsky.social
September 1, 2025 at 1:01 PM
First apple crumble cake of the season with apples from our own little tree. Awesome flavour 🤩
August 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Want to hear the wonderful Jocelyn Bell Burnell talk about her discovery of pulsars, the struggles of minorities in science and see me spin some eggs 😄? Then this month's #SkyAtNight episode is for you www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis... Including some wonderful shots of @royalholloway.bsky.social
The Sky at Night - Queen of Pulsars
The team delve into the enigmatic world of pulsars and hear the inspiring story of their discoverer, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, direct from the subject herself.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 14, 2025 at 8:36 AM
En route back home from a wonderful three-day leadership retreat with 19 other @ukri.org Future Leader Fellows in Manchester. We've shared so many great ideas and conversations. But mainly leaving with a sense of optimism about the future of research and HE, which I haven't felt in a long time.
July 24, 2025 at 4:13 PM
I spun and cracked some eggs today... all in the name of science 🤩. A great end to this week.
July 18, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Really looking forward to a week of full on radio astronomy in Görlitz for the 2025 SKAO Science Meeting. So much incredible science will be possible with this new radio telescope #skao2025
June 16, 2025 at 5:41 AM
It's been a few really busy and exciting weeks on the science front, and we can finally share that our European network grant for SCALES ("Superfluid Condensates in Astrophysics and Laboratory ExperimentS") has been funded. So happy about this one www.cost.eu/actions/CA24...
Superfluid Condensates in Astrophysics and Laboratory Experiments
Superfluidity is a striking phenomenon observed in many quantum fluids, which can flow without viscosity when cooled to low temperatures. Recent experimental advances allow us to study and visualise t...
www.cost.eu
June 12, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Reposted by Vanessa Graber
Here's another shocking infographic made by @planetarysociety.bsky.social that shows the impact of the 2025 presidential budget cuts on almost 20 successful space missions. The scale of US tax-payer-funded investment waste is really unprecedented.
June 2, 2025 at 1:44 PM
A wonderful and exciting week in Trento is coming to and end. We talked all things superfluid from neutron stars to helium and cold-atom system. Bringing together theorists and experimentslists. Always great to be back in the old villa with an awesome view of the mountains.
May 16, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Finally having some much needed few days off and taking the opportunity to introduce a bunch of Germans to hot cross buns. Everyone approved.
April 20, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Graber
𝗡𝗼, 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝟮-𝟭𝟴𝗯'𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲.

K2-18b is back in the news, now with a bold claim that biosignature molecules (DMS and/or DMDS) have been 'detected at 3σ'.

Most exoplanet astronomers are extremely sceptical about these claims, let's see why (1/n).

🔭🧪🪐 #exoplanet
April 17, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Graber
A serendipitous discovery illuminates the kinds of objects that might bridge the gap between pulsars and long-period radio transients. aasnova.org/2025/04/11/a... @ozgrav.bsky.social 🔭🧪
A Slowly Spinning Pulsar Below the Death Line
A serendipitous discovery illuminates the kinds of objects that might bridge the gap between pulsars and long-period radio transients.
aasnova.org
April 11, 2025 at 4:12 PM
My little Saturday morning contribution to Astronomy outreach
March 29, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Writing and reading emails really is the main productivity killer of academics .... I've literally done nothing else for 2 days. How on earth is this possible?!?! And I appreciate that 50% of these were necessary. But the rest definitely wasn't 😵‍💫.
March 18, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Graber
Astronomers! One of the best things about the old astro-Twitter was that there was frequent discussion of the latest research.

The new AstroSci feed is the perfect place to have this kind of science discussion! ☄️

If you see a cool paper - post about it!
March 5, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Thanking the universe for helpful and competent sysadmins today. Makes running simulations on a computing cluster infinitely easier.
February 21, 2025 at 9:30 PM
⚠️⚠️⚠️ Only one week left to apply for the two postdoc positions I am currently advertising. DL 28 February.
February 21, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Finally had some time yesterday to build a little book nook I got for Christmas. Such a wonderful present.
February 9, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reading expressions of interest for the next round of RHUL FLFs today. 2 take aways: (i) Sooo much exciting research. I'd love to sit down with each person & have a chat about their work. (ii) Incredible how much about grant writing one learns doing this. Definitely recommend, if you get the chance.
February 4, 2025 at 5:00 PM