Robert Cumming
@robertcumming.bsky.social
Astronomer and communicator at Onsala Space Observatory and Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Starlight versus stardust: actually not how your holiday carbon and oxygen got delivered to Earth. New research from Chalmers, @eso.org:s VLT and sparkly red AGB star #RDoradus www.chalmers.se/en/current/n...
Stardust study resets how life’s atoms spread through space
Starlight and stardust are not enough to drive the powerful winds of giant stars, transporting the building blocks of life through our galaxy. That’s the…
www.chalmers.se
December 23, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Starlight versus stardust: actually not how your holiday carbon and oxygen got delivered to Earth. New research from Chalmers, @eso.org:s VLT and sparkly red AGB star #RDoradus www.chalmers.se/en/current/n...
Reposted by Robert Cumming
A note on learning physics ⚛️ for starting PhD students:
At the risk of saying something completely useless because everyone has it worked out
There is no magic trick, your classmates *may* be faster than you, but they are still studying as long as they need to and you are quite capable of the same
At the risk of saying something completely useless because everyone has it worked out
There is no magic trick, your classmates *may* be faster than you, but they are still studying as long as they need to and you are quite capable of the same
December 4, 2025 at 9:18 PM
A note on learning physics ⚛️ for starting PhD students:
At the risk of saying something completely useless because everyone has it worked out
There is no magic trick, your classmates *may* be faster than you, but they are still studying as long as they need to and you are quite capable of the same
At the risk of saying something completely useless because everyone has it worked out
There is no magic trick, your classmates *may* be faster than you, but they are still studying as long as they need to and you are quite capable of the same
Finns det astronomikunniga som är med i #nattvandring rörelsen? Här kan finnas win-win möjligheter både för vetenskapligt kapital och trygghetsskapande. Gräv för @popularastronomi.se kanske? (Tack för inspiration @vetenskapoallm.bsky.social och deras rapporten från Folk och forsking)
June 27, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Finns det astronomikunniga som är med i #nattvandring rörelsen? Här kan finnas win-win möjligheter både för vetenskapligt kapital och trygghetsskapande. Gräv för @popularastronomi.se kanske? (Tack för inspiration @vetenskapoallm.bsky.social och deras rapporten från Folk och forsking)
Reposted by Robert Cumming
An astonishing headline reporting on new observations from a team led to Nikku Madhusudhan claims they’ve found ‘hints of life’ on a planet orbiting a dwarf star some 124 light years away. What’s going on? (1/n) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 🔭 🧪
Promising hints of life found on distant planet K2-18b
Scientists find new but tentative evidence that a faraway world orbiting another star may be home to life.
www.bbc.co.uk
April 17, 2025 at 3:24 AM
An astonishing headline reporting on new observations from a team led to Nikku Madhusudhan claims they’ve found ‘hints of life’ on a planet orbiting a dwarf star some 124 light years away. What’s going on? (1/n) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 🔭 🧪
Reposted by Robert Cumming
A nice summary by @e-astronomer.bsky.social on the state of cosmology 🔭🧪. My take-aways:
1. Maybe the Universe isn’t designed to make all its secrets accessible to astronomers.
2. We always underestimate systematic errors, so shouldn’t get hung up on discrepancies.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
1. Maybe the Universe isn’t designed to make all its secrets accessible to astronomers.
2. We always underestimate systematic errors, so shouldn’t get hung up on discrepancies.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Invisible matter, invisible brains?
Cosmology finds itself in a paradoxical situation. We know everything and nothing. After years of accumulating evidence and debate, there is a consensus model about the makeup of the cosmos, known as ...
www.science.org
March 10, 2025 at 2:07 PM
A nice summary by @e-astronomer.bsky.social on the state of cosmology 🔭🧪. My take-aways:
1. Maybe the Universe isn’t designed to make all its secrets accessible to astronomers.
2. We always underestimate systematic errors, so shouldn’t get hung up on discrepancies.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
1. Maybe the Universe isn’t designed to make all its secrets accessible to astronomers.
2. We always underestimate systematic errors, so shouldn’t get hung up on discrepancies.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Robert Cumming
Science diplomacy is needed more now than at any time in history, given the scale of challenges the world faces. Research is often described as a form of ‘soft power’ diplomacy… The first step towards protecting science diplomacy must be to protect science itself.
🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Science diplomacy can help to heal global rifts — if research is respected
The universal language of science allows nations to reach a mutual understanding of shared problems. But that requires politicians not to meddle in how science is done.
www.nature.com
March 10, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Science diplomacy is needed more now than at any time in history, given the scale of challenges the world faces. Research is often described as a form of ‘soft power’ diplomacy… The first step towards protecting science diplomacy must be to protect science itself.
🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Robert Cumming
☄️ 🔭 The impact probability of asteroid 2024 YR4 has dropped from 2.8% to 0.16%.
Thanks to new observations, Earth is now at the edge of our shrinking ‘uncertainty window.’
If this trend continues, the risk may soon reach 0%.
Thanks to new observations, Earth is now at the edge of our shrinking ‘uncertainty window.’
If this trend continues, the risk may soon reach 0%.
February 21, 2025 at 10:09 AM
☄️ 🔭 The impact probability of asteroid 2024 YR4 has dropped from 2.8% to 0.16%.
Thanks to new observations, Earth is now at the edge of our shrinking ‘uncertainty window.’
If this trend continues, the risk may soon reach 0%.
Thanks to new observations, Earth is now at the edge of our shrinking ‘uncertainty window.’
If this trend continues, the risk may soon reach 0%.
🧪🔭📡 #RadioAstronomy
How do black holes launch their powerful jets? This visualization shows the center of the galaxy NGC 1052. Researchers led by Anne-Kathrin Baczko from Chalmers University now show that the final close-up of the black hole is within the reach of the EHT. www.chalmers.se/en/current/n... #BlackHole
December 17, 2024 at 4:25 PM
🧪🔭📡 #RadioAstronomy
Reposted by Robert Cumming
Here's a blog post (yes, I am still occasionally blogging) on viewing the recent solar eclipse and why you should use a disco ball for your next eclipse outreach event. visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2023/10/sola...
October 20, 2023 at 7:42 PM
Here's a blog post (yes, I am still occasionally blogging) on viewing the recent solar eclipse and why you should use a disco ball for your next eclipse outreach event. visiblesuns.blogspot.com/2023/10/sola...