Universal Equilibrium
@entangledskies.bsky.social
boring answers survive longer.
Independent researcher (theory & methods).
#FormalMethods #Foundations
Independent researcher (theory & methods).
#FormalMethods #Foundations
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
As a Sun-like star runs out of fuel, it begins shedding its outer layers and enters a brief stage known as a pre-planetary nebula. In the Egg Nebula, starlight escapes through thick clouds of newly formed dust, creating symmetrical beams and rippling arcs ... 🪐
#NASA #Hubble #Space #Science
#NASA #Hubble #Space #Science
February 10, 2026 at 8:09 PM
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
While scanning for alien signals, researchers found a possible millisecond pulsar near the center of the Milky Way.
If confirmed, it could help study the inner structure of our galaxy & map the gravitational pull of the supermassive black hole at the center. 🧪🔭
news.columbia.edu/news/researc...
If confirmed, it could help study the inner structure of our galaxy & map the gravitational pull of the supermassive black hole at the center. 🧪🔭
news.columbia.edu/news/researc...
February 9, 2026 at 11:44 PM
While scanning for alien signals, researchers found a possible millisecond pulsar near the center of the Milky Way.
If confirmed, it could help study the inner structure of our galaxy & map the gravitational pull of the supermassive black hole at the center. 🧪🔭
news.columbia.edu/news/researc...
If confirmed, it could help study the inner structure of our galaxy & map the gravitational pull of the supermassive black hole at the center. 🧪🔭
news.columbia.edu/news/researc...
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
William Smith reports for @astrobites.bsky.social on how active galactic nucleus disks might connect black holes across the mass spectrum, setting the stage for extreme-mass-ratio and intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals in the same system. aasnova.org/2026/01/27/t... 🔭
The Black Hole Meetup: EMRIs and IMRIs in the Same Active Galactic Nucleus Disk
Astrobites reports on how active galactic nucleus disks might connect black holes across the mass spectrum, setting the stage for extreme-mass-ratio and intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals in the same s...
aasnova.org
January 27, 2026 at 5:28 PM
William Smith reports for @astrobites.bsky.social on how active galactic nucleus disks might connect black holes across the mass spectrum, setting the stage for extreme-mass-ratio and intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals in the same system. aasnova.org/2026/01/27/t... 🔭
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
Vehicle efficiency - Have you every wondered how much energy it takes to drive an EV or fossil fuel car the same distance? I worked out the math so you don't have to. 🧪🔌💡☀️💨💧🔋, A 🧵
January 31, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Vehicle efficiency - Have you every wondered how much energy it takes to drive an EV or fossil fuel car the same distance? I worked out the math so you don't have to. 🧪🔌💡☀️💨💧🔋, A 🧵
Zooming out a bit — is the real test here whether many streams show gap patterns that line up statistically with subhalos, rather than how well any one gap can be fit by a specific encounter?
Stars in our galaxy aren’t distributed evenly. Collisions with smaller galaxies or clusters make “stellar streams,” which are long, thin trails of stars. They form as the smaller object stretches while it falls into the Milky Way.
So… why does this stream have a MASSIVE hole in it??
1/7 ⚛️🧪
So… why does this stream have a MASSIVE hole in it??
1/7 ⚛️🧪
February 2, 2026 at 1:48 AM
Zooming out a bit — is the real test here whether many streams show gap patterns that line up statistically with subhalos, rather than how well any one gap can be fit by a specific encounter?
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
The complex structure of the first image is caused by a combination of gravity pulling and stellar winds pushing at the dust and gas of the galaxy, sculpting it into filaments and webs. (3/3)
🔭⚛️🧪
Image Credit (Both images): ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST and PHANGS-HST Teams
🔭⚛️🧪
Image Credit (Both images): ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST and PHANGS-HST Teams
February 2, 2026 at 12:32 AM
The complex structure of the first image is caused by a combination of gravity pulling and stellar winds pushing at the dust and gas of the galaxy, sculpting it into filaments and webs. (3/3)
🔭⚛️🧪
Image Credit (Both images): ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST and PHANGS-HST Teams
🔭⚛️🧪
Image Credit (Both images): ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST and PHANGS-HST Teams
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
Even stars like to burp.
Nay, belch.
Nay, belch.
Another view of this impressive event which is not yet over - we are still above the M5 threshold over one hour in with multiple peaks over X-class. The largest flare was an X8.1 - one of the strongest flare intensities in 20 years and the strongest of this solar cycle.
February 2, 2026 at 1:07 AM
Even stars like to burp.
Nay, belch.
Nay, belch.
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
The night sky from Cerro Pachón just never gets old 🤩
In this long exposure shot, NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory is caught in action as the dome (and telescope inside) move to a new observing location on the sky. 🔭🧪
📷: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/W. O'Mullane
In this long exposure shot, NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory is caught in action as the dome (and telescope inside) move to a new observing location on the sky. 🔭🧪
📷: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/W. O'Mullane
January 30, 2026 at 8:35 PM
The night sky from Cerro Pachón just never gets old 🤩
In this long exposure shot, NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory is caught in action as the dome (and telescope inside) move to a new observing location on the sky. 🔭🧪
📷: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/W. O'Mullane
In this long exposure shot, NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory is caught in action as the dome (and telescope inside) move to a new observing location on the sky. 🔭🧪
📷: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/W. O'Mullane
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
More energy use translates into greater cost to operate. The big difference in energy use is due to efficiency. Fossil fuel have much lower efficiency than battery electric cars. Most of the money you spend on gasoline is lost as waste heat and noise. Switch to an EV and save money. 🧪🔌💡☀️💨💧🔋
January 31, 2026 at 9:12 PM
More energy use translates into greater cost to operate. The big difference in energy use is due to efficiency. Fossil fuel have much lower efficiency than battery electric cars. Most of the money you spend on gasoline is lost as waste heat and noise. Switch to an EV and save money. 🧪🔌💡☀️💨💧🔋
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
What’s the biggest space mystery you want scientists to solve next? 🧪
January 30, 2026 at 9:54 PM
What’s the biggest space mystery you want scientists to solve next? 🧪
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
This shows a very cool example of asteroids caught in Jupiter's L4 and L5 Lagrange points, as well as some which are in an unstable orbit bouncing between L1, L4, L3, and then L5.
February 1, 2026 at 5:09 AM
This shows a very cool example of asteroids caught in Jupiter's L4 and L5 Lagrange points, as well as some which are in an unstable orbit bouncing between L1, L4, L3, and then L5.
I’m curious whether overshoot reframes responsibility less as a state to assign and more as a path to interpret.
Exceeding 1.5 °C requires rethinking accountability in climate policy
A scientific foundation is required to establish nations’ responsibilities in a hotter ‘overshoot’ world.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪
A scientific foundation is required to establish nations’ responsibilities in a hotter ‘overshoot’ world.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪
Exceeding 1.5 °C requires rethinking accountability in climate policy
A scientific foundation is required to establish nations’ responsibilities in a hotter ‘overshoot’ world.
www.nature.com
February 1, 2026 at 2:24 AM
I’m curious whether overshoot reframes responsibility less as a state to assign and more as a path to interpret.
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
Microplastic emissions into the air from land sources are estimated to be about six hundred quadrillion particles per year, which is more than 20 times larger than emissions from the oceans, according to an analysis in Nature. go.nature.com/4jWQCei 🧪
January 31, 2026 at 2:47 AM
Microplastic emissions into the air from land sources are estimated to be about six hundred quadrillion particles per year, which is more than 20 times larger than emissions from the oceans, according to an analysis in Nature. go.nature.com/4jWQCei 🧪
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
Interesting new model for Long Period Transients, observed with three #RadioAstronomy telescopes - ASKAP, MeerKAT and the VLA!
theconversation.com/puzzling-slo...
☄️ 🔭 🧪
theconversation.com/puzzling-slo...
☄️ 🔭 🧪
Puzzling slow radio pulses are coming from space. A new study could finally explain them
Radio pulses repeating every minute-to-hour have puzzled astronomers, but a new paper in Nature Astronomy might finally shed some light.
theconversation.com
January 31, 2026 at 2:35 AM
Interesting new model for Long Period Transients, observed with three #RadioAstronomy telescopes - ASKAP, MeerKAT and the VLA!
theconversation.com/puzzling-slo...
☄️ 🔭 🧪
theconversation.com/puzzling-slo...
☄️ 🔭 🧪
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
Since late last year, Rubin has been doing tuning and optimization to finalize preparations for the start of its 10-year survey, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. LSST will begin once optimizations are complete, kicking off a decade (and beyond) of scientific discovery! ✨
🔭🧪
🔭🧪
January 30, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Since late last year, Rubin has been doing tuning and optimization to finalize preparations for the start of its 10-year survey, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. LSST will begin once optimizations are complete, kicking off a decade (and beyond) of scientific discovery! ✨
🔭🧪
🔭🧪
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
The JWST Cycle 6 deadline will be September 30th. I don't think past JWST proposal deadlines have coincided with ground-based telescope deadlines.
I have expressed my concerns to the JWST User's Committee Chair and I encourage you to do the same. #astronomy 🔭
www.stsci.edu/jwst/science...
I have expressed my concerns to the JWST User's Committee Chair and I encourage you to do the same. #astronomy 🔭
www.stsci.edu/jwst/science...
JWST Users Committee
The JWST Users Committee provides user advice to the observatory as a whole and ensures operations proceed as expected to maximize the observatory's scientific performance.
www.stsci.edu
January 31, 2026 at 12:04 AM
The JWST Cycle 6 deadline will be September 30th. I don't think past JWST proposal deadlines have coincided with ground-based telescope deadlines.
I have expressed my concerns to the JWST User's Committee Chair and I encourage you to do the same. #astronomy 🔭
www.stsci.edu/jwst/science...
I have expressed my concerns to the JWST User's Committee Chair and I encourage you to do the same. #astronomy 🔭
www.stsci.edu/jwst/science...
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
Researchers used distributed intercity quantum sensors to place new constraints on axion dark matter, showing how quantum networks can probe fundamental physics and cosmological mysteries with unprecedented sensitivity.
#Quantum #QuantumComputing #technology #Science
#Quantum #QuantumComputing #technology #Science
Constraints on axion dark matter by distributed intercity quantum sensors - Nature
Amplification and optimal noise filtering in hyperpolarized noble-gas spins of observations from distributed intercity quantum sensors monitoring for unexpected transient rotations of polarized spins ...
www.nature.com
January 30, 2026 at 11:09 PM
Researchers used distributed intercity quantum sensors to place new constraints on axion dark matter, showing how quantum networks can probe fundamental physics and cosmological mysteries with unprecedented sensitivity.
#Quantum #QuantumComputing #technology #Science
#Quantum #QuantumComputing #technology #Science
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
*cough* A little bit of extra info to add here:
There's only one transit, so the true period is unknown. It could be anywhere between 300 and 550 days.
This is an exciting candidate! But (a) we don't know if it's real, and (b) we don't know what its temperature is if it IS real.
There's only one transit, so the true period is unknown. It could be anywhere between 300 and 550 days.
This is an exciting candidate! But (a) we don't know if it's real, and (b) we don't know what its temperature is if it IS real.
New planet just dropped and it
1) is almost exactly Earth-sized
2) has a year that's almost exactly 1 Earth year.
3) orbits a star that is not a 💢temperamental little shit M-dwarf 💢but is instead a 🧡 good orange boi 🧡
Me for @science.org based on results presented at #RockyWorlds4: 🔭🧪
1) is almost exactly Earth-sized
2) has a year that's almost exactly 1 Earth year.
3) orbits a star that is not a 💢temperamental little shit M-dwarf 💢but is instead a 🧡 good orange boi 🧡
Me for @science.org based on results presented at #RockyWorlds4: 🔭🧪
Earth-size planet spotted with yearlong orbit
Long-overlooked Kepler signal discovered by citizen scientists reveals promising world worth a closer look
www.science.org
January 28, 2026 at 11:11 PM
*cough* A little bit of extra info to add here:
There's only one transit, so the true period is unknown. It could be anywhere between 300 and 550 days.
This is an exciting candidate! But (a) we don't know if it's real, and (b) we don't know what its temperature is if it IS real.
There's only one transit, so the true period is unknown. It could be anywhere between 300 and 550 days.
This is an exciting candidate! But (a) we don't know if it's real, and (b) we don't know what its temperature is if it IS real.
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
NASA Telescopes Spot Surprisingly Mature Cluster in Early Universe
This “protocluster” is located about 12.7 billion light-years from Earth, or only about 1 billion years after the big bang.
chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2026/p...
🧪🔭 #Chandra #JWST
This “protocluster” is located about 12.7 billion light-years from Earth, or only about 1 billion years after the big bang.
chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2026/p...
🧪🔭 #Chandra #JWST
January 30, 2026 at 5:19 PM
NASA Telescopes Spot Surprisingly Mature Cluster in Early Universe
This “protocluster” is located about 12.7 billion light-years from Earth, or only about 1 billion years after the big bang.
chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2026/p...
🧪🔭 #Chandra #JWST
This “protocluster” is located about 12.7 billion light-years from Earth, or only about 1 billion years after the big bang.
chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2026/p...
🧪🔭 #Chandra #JWST
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
Does greater biodiversity always increase ecosystem functioning? I used to think so, but now I'm not so sure.
How I stopped believing in the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning consensus
The E120 Biodiversity Experiment at Cedar Creek in Minnesota, from their website. It all began with the best of intentions. By the time the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was published in 2005, th…
treesinspace.com
January 29, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Does greater biodiversity always increase ecosystem functioning? I used to think so, but now I'm not so sure.
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
The Future DSM Strategic Committee is proposing that the DSM change its guidance for diagnosis and increase its focus on ostensibly more objective measures of disease—“biomarkers” that may indicate mental illness
Psychiatrists plan to overhaul the mental health bible—and change how we define ‘disorder’
The American Psychiatric Association has announced big upcoming changes to psychiatry’s big book of mental disorders, the DSM
www.scientificamerican.com
January 29, 2026 at 3:23 PM
The Future DSM Strategic Committee is proposing that the DSM change its guidance for diagnosis and increase its focus on ostensibly more objective measures of disease—“biomarkers” that may indicate mental illness
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
From Nathalie Korhonen Cuestas: Have we just discovered the first direct evidence of a runaway supermassive black hole? ⚛️🔭☄🧪
astrobites.org/2026/01/20/r...
astrobites.org/2026/01/20/r...
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a runaway supermassive black hole!
Have we just discovered the first direct evidence of a runaway supermassive black hole?
astrobites.org
January 22, 2026 at 12:39 AM
From Nathalie Korhonen Cuestas: Have we just discovered the first direct evidence of a runaway supermassive black hole? ⚛️🔭☄🧪
astrobites.org/2026/01/20/r...
astrobites.org/2026/01/20/r...
Reposted by Universal Equilibrium
AI may have killed the college essay, but grading ideas still matters. David Weinberger says educators should assess student dialogue with LLMs, which can challenge thinking, test claims, and help students build confidence in critical inquiry: thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/ai-can-teach...
January 21, 2026 at 1:16 PM
AI may have killed the college essay, but grading ideas still matters. David Weinberger says educators should assess student dialogue with LLMs, which can challenge thinking, test claims, and help students build confidence in critical inquiry: thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/ai-can-teach...